Volume 1, Issue 43 vom 23. 02. 1997

Alt.religion.scientology Week in Review
Volume 1, Issue 43
02/23/97
by Rod Keller [rkeller@voicenet.com]
copyright 1997

Contents

1. Jeff Jacobsen
2. Lisa McPherson
3. Operation Clambake
4. Ray Randolph
5. Colorado Picket
6. Clam Web
7. Scientology Front
8. Germany
9. Grady Ward
10. Cynthia Kisser
11. Luckman
12. WISE Course
13. Annette Funicello

Alt.religion.scientology Week in Review summarizes the most significant
postings from the Usenet group Alt.religion.scientology for the preceding
week for the benefit of those who can't follow the group as closely as
they'd like. Out of thousands of postings, I attempt to include news of
significant events, new affidavits, court rulings, new contributors,
whatever. I hope you find it useful. Like many readers of a.r.s, I have a
kill file. So please take into consideration that I may not have seen some
of the most significant postings. 

The articles in A.r.s Week in Review are brief summaries of the articles. 
Many include an excerpt, and all include message IDs for the articles I
cover. This may or may not be useful to you, depending on how long your
site stores articles in the newsgroup before expiring them. 

Free A.r.s Week in Review subscriptions are available, just email me at
rkeller@voicenet.com
It is archived at:
        http://wpxx02.toxi.uni-wuerzburg.de/~krasel/CoS/ars-summary.html
        http://user1.i1.net/~mallen/scn/arswr/ars-summary.html
        http://users.aimnet.com/~jdiver/scieno.htm
        http://www.thur.de/religio/publik/arsfaq.html

#####

Jeff Jacobsen

"As I type this, Eugene Ingram, Scientology private investigator, is in South Dakota visiting my father's business establishments, asking questions about me. It is a written practice of the church to noisily investigate someone that they are upset at."

"I was warning my neighbors that there might be private investigators hanging around the area again. One neighbor then told me that 2 women were picketing my house a few nights ago about 9:30pm. The neighbors told the women to leave or they'd call the police, and they left. The Scottsdale police told me that there is a law against picketing in a residential area here."

"Tonight as every Friday night I went to my dj'ing job at the All Singles Dances. I went out to see about 20 or so people walking along the hotel property next to a busy major street (speed limit there about 45 mph). I remember 2 signs; one said 'Jacobsen sued his family!' and another said 'Jacobsen sells XXX rated videos.' I asked the guy holding the first sign what that meant since I had never sued anyone in my life. He said 'you'll have to ask that guy' pointing up ahead to someone or other. I guess he didn't even know what his own sign was about!

"My father has video rental stores in South Dakota, one of which won an award for best store in the state. He does rent x-rated videos, as well as Disney and everything else in between. Do you see what they're doing? Rather than address what is on that page, they go after my family! Can you think of anything more despicable?

"I heard that after about 45 minutes of picketing the hotel called the police. The police told the picketers they were interfering with the hotel driveway (they had been marching right through the entryway) and also were distracting traffic and setting up a situation where someone driving by would likely be rear-ended while trying to read the signs. So the picketers left."

"http://www.primenet.com/~cultxpt/picketme.htm
. This has photos of last night's picket of my employer by Scientologists."

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Lisa McPherson

"She was phoned by Sgt. Andrews but didn't talk to him. She testified in written form. The SCN-lawyer won't come back again. Susanne gave evidence only after the SCN lawyer visited her first. Her testimony was forwarded to the police by the SCN lawyer."

I posted some details of the events in Clearwater:

"Scientology recently published a tabloid edition of Freedom. This issue contained an article 'Turning Lies Into News: How the Tampa Tribune and Reporter Cheryl Waldrip Create Stories to Fit a Corrupt, Bigoted Agenda.' Cheryl wrote the first story on Lisa McPherson, and she was honored with a distorted picture in true Freedom style. They put bags under her eyes that make her look very evil, even according to her friends.

"As angry as Scientology was at Cheryl Waldrip, they were saving real fire for Dr. Joan Wood and her staff. They're seeking access to all the records relating to the case, including 'records' such as medical specimens taken during the autopsy. Dr. Wood and Chief of Operations Larry Bedore were deposed last Monday and Tuesday, the 10th and 11th."

Local television and the Tampa Tribune ran stories on a suit filed by the family of Lisa McPherson against Scientology.

"Just caught the channel 8 news (St.Petersburg), they just reported that Lisa McPherson's family filed a lawsuit today against Scientology. It was about 5 minutes long and said she was chained in the basement and had cockroach bites on her, they even mentioned the introspection rundown."

"The family of a woman who died while in the care of members of the Church of Scientology is suing for unspecified but 'substantial' punitive and compensatory damages. Relatives say Lisa McPherson was treated only by untrained medical personnel before her 1995 death, but the church maintains the woman was in good health until a sudden, severe staph infection led to her death.

"Scientology lawyer Elliot Abelson told the St. Petersburg Times McPherson's family has no grounds for a lawsuit. 'This type of lawsuit, based on no facts, is an extortion attempt,' Abelson said."

Scientology is reacting to the attention with a "noisy investigation" of the Clearwater Police. The Tampa Tribune ran an article on their unwanted interference in a discrimination suit.

"Representatives of the Church of Scientology's magazine Freedom are examining the personnel records and internal affairs files of the police department's top brass. They have called at least five black police officers with questions about racial harmony in the department, police spokesman Wayne Shelor said.

"Attorney Andra Dreyfus, who represents several officers in personnel matters with the department, says she has received numerous telephone calls from the publication's representatives over the last few weeks. 'They are attempting to unearth dirty laundry,' Dreyfus said, adding that she will not talk with them. She says the callers are not honest about who they are until she presses them."

Finally, Martin Ottmann posted some speculation about two of the missing witnesses.

"Ildiko Cannovas last name is probably false. In 1994 there was a Ildiko Szabo from Hungary posted in the Qualification Division of the FSO. Originally she was programmed for the 'Freewinds', but couldn't make it due to visa problems.

"Laura Arrunada: There exist a Laura Rigo, a very spanish looking girl, who was transferred from the FSO during summer 1996 to Saint Hill in England. She was posted there as a 'wordclearer'."

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Operation Clambake

"A new Clambake mirror-site is now online, you can find it at: http://moonlight.eller.no/maja/cos/

Andreas Heldal-Lund, author of the site, predicted that more mirrors have been established, and that Ingar Holst's site has been removed.

"Are you aware of how many people in Norway that because of your pressure on my ISP now have seen my pages and therefore want's to join in? You couldn't even imagine how many mirrors there are out there because of this.

"Page is up again, correct address is: http://home.sol.no/heldal/CoS/ Ingar's page is down. Title Operation Clambake. Includes NOTs, OTs (handwritten and transcript), The 'L' Rundowns, OCA, HCOB's, Lron lectures and 'The Greek Papers'."

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Ray Randolph

"You have on your web page two copies of an unpublished, copyrighted work, Class VIII, Tape 10, in which Religious Technology Center holds the rights. They are at: www.ezlink.com/~rayr/binaries/xtian.ra www.exlink.com/~rayr/binaries/nochrist.wav

"I've taken the following offline: www.ezlink.com/~rayr/binaries/rj67-1.ra -- Ron's Journal 67 www.ezlink.com/~rayr/binaries/rj67-2.ra -- Ron's Journal 67 pt 2 www.ezlink.com/~rayr/binaries/princ-1.ra -- Principal Incidents www.ezlink.com/~rayr/binaries/princ-2.ra -- Principal incidents 2 www.ezlink.com/~rayr/binaries/thx.ra -- thank you for listening (are they THAT ashamed of the Phatards singing?)

"I've removed these documents: www.ezlink.com/~rayr/hcob/hcopl20.988 www.ezlink.com/~rayr/hcob/hcob23.174

"I left these things up on the page...and will tell Kobrin to stuff it regarding them: www.ezlink.com/~rayr/binaries/casualty.wav www.ezlink.com/~rayr/binaries/corvette.wav www.ezlink.com/~rayr/binaries/xtian.ra www.exlink.com/~rayr/binaries/nochrist.wav"

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Colorado Picket

"The Boulder Scientology Mission will again be host to a peaceful protest on March 15th. This years protest will be held in honor of Lisa McPherson, age 36, who died under suspicious circumstances at the church's headquarters in Clearwater Florida in late 1995.

"The theme of this years event is, 'Stop Hurting People, Scientology'. Protesters will focus on the church's policies that hurt both critics and members of the church. Church critics believe that these policies were instrumental in the death of Lisa McPherson in Clearwater.

"Organizers invite the public to their peaceful picket on Saturday, March 15th. We will gather in front of the Scientology mission at 1021 Pearl Street in Boulder, from 12 noon to 3 pm."

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Clam Web

"http://members.aol.com/tfaquick1/index.html
http://www.emanationinc.com/tfaqo.htm
Time For A Quick One, Inc. They even advertise their WISE membership on their web site.

"http://texas-services.com/
Infogroup Services. They also advertise their WISE membership on their web site, and try to make it appear as if they had some relationship with the armed forces."

"Friends of Narconon has moved: http://friendsofnarconon.org/

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Scientology Front

"I let my business associates know the similarities between the management training program and Scientology, and gave them printed copies of much information off the net. We determined that we'd stick with it, but that our comptroller would question them on the Scientology linkup.

"[I]nstead of getting training, what I got was a high-pressure ass-chewing by the president of the training company - he was quite upset that any mention of Scientology had been made, and somehow knew it was me who'd blown the whistle. He did not deny his own Scientology training (he admitted it), nor that the training was the same material used in Scientology.

"During the meeting, I felt that he threatened me with legal action (for endangering his business relationship with my company), and also made an oblique reference that I may not be able to be 'hatted' (their term for jobs within a company) if I didn't acquiesce and accept the program willingly.

"In any case, I've now been relieved of the need to continue management training with those folks - discussions with the principals of my company have been quite supportive of me and my position. I'm quite satisfied to leave those people the hell alone, so long as they leave me the same way."

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#####

Germany

"German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel hotly rejected any suggestion the Church of Scientology was being singled out as Jews had been in Germany early in the Nazi period. 'We perceive Scientology not as a religion but as a profit-making organization,' he said. 'Scientologists are not persecuted.'

"Albright, at a joint news conference [held Monday], said it was 'historically inaccurate and totally distasteful' to draw parallels between the Scientologists and Germany's Nazi past."

The Independent ran this story from the Associated Press:

"Three Scientologists have taken Chancellor Helmut Kohl's party to court for expelling them as members. A civil lawsuit filed in Bonn accuses Christian Democratic Union of violating national laws and international conventions on human and political rights. The CDU ousted the three in December because they are Scientologists."

>From the Chicago Tribune:

"In just three years, Simone Christoffel said, she saw her family's comfortable middle-class existence destroyed as the money was repeatedly signed away. Christoffel, 35, said she spent $9,500 of her own money on courses run by the Church of Scientology between 1992 and 1995. Her husband Gerd spent another $95,000 on her behalf, and twice that amount on courses for himself.

"She said her husband's mother gave him some money to deposit in her bank account, but instead he spent it on Scientology courses. With virtually nothing left of his own family's savings, he contracted $444,000 in debts to keep paying for more courses and to contribute to a Scientology building fund, Christoffel said.

"Michael Ziegler, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry in conservative Bavaria, said: 'Scientology is a commercial organization but, more than this, it is an organization on the edge of organized crime.' Ziegler acknowledged he had no hard evidence of criminal activity in Germany but said Scientology, while claiming tax-exempt status as a non-profit organization, is involved through affiliate companies in real estate operations, computer software and other businesses that make enormous sums."

>From the Los Angeles Times:

"Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on Monday called the U.S.-German differences over the treatment of Scientologists 'clearly a subject for bilateral discussion' but downplayed the issue in talks with German leaders and termed members' claims that they suffer from Nazi-style persecution 'distasteful.' U.S. officials said the subject did not even arise in Albright's hour long meeting with Chancellor Helmut Kohl and came up only in the final minutes of a longer session afterward with Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel."

>From Reuters:

"The press approvingly highlighted Albright's blunt criticism of the Church of Scientology for charging Germany treated its members as the Nazis did the Jews. She called the comparison 'historically inaccurate and distasteful.' The Czech-born secretary, who was brought up a Christian, only learned last month that three of her Jewish grandparents were killed by the Nazis in the Holocaust."

>From the Associated Press:

"German officials were displeased, and Kinkel raised the issue toward the end of his meeting with Albright. According to State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns, Albright told Kinkel 'she hoped we could work this out amicably' and that 'in the great scheme of things around the world there is no comparison how the Scientologists are treated here' and human rights abuses."

Also from Reuters:

"The Church of Scientology on Wednesday upbraided U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright for saying comparisons between Germany's treatment of Scientologists and its Nazi-era persecution of Jews were 'distasteful.' The church also accused the State Department of glossing over Germany's alleged mistreatment of church members and couching its criticism in diplomatic language. 'Listen carefully to what's being said and what's not being said,' Rev. Heber Jentzsch, the president of the Los Angeles-based Church of Scientology International, said in a statement. 'The State Department still acknowledges that Germany's discrimination is real, but the diplomatic compromise with a major ally is to challenge the comparisons we printed about the discrimination.'"

"The Church of Scientology lashed out at German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel on Tuesday for remarks he made after meeting U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and said he should put himself in the shoes of one of its members. Kinkel told a news conference on Monday that Scientologists were completely free in Germany. But the organisation said his remarks revealed 'the hypocrisy of a man who has personally supported the exclusion of Scientologists from his party.' Heber Jentzsch, the Los Angeles-based president of Scientology, said members of Kinkel's Free Democrats (FDP) had to appeal to the party's highest internal tribunal to prevent themselves being excluded purely because of their religion.

"'It's Kinkel's lies which give diplomacy a bad name. Kinkel is concealing massive human rights violations behind the smiling face of diplomacy,' Jentzsch said. The Foreign Ministry declined to comment on Jentzsch's accusations, saying Kinkel had made his position on the organisation clear at Monday's news conference."

And on American television:

"Good Morning America did a segment on CoS and Germany this morning. Very fair. They had three individuals on the show to discuss it. An attorney, a priest and some other fellow. None of the guests on the show were scn or critics. However, it was mentioned that they were considered a cult. That they had a history of harassing their critics.

"Overall the show was VERY fair. The main message of it was that 'other countries have different standards for determining what is a religion and what is not. Each method of determination of religious status has its advantages and each has its disadvantages.'"

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Grady Ward

"The Judge first railed against the huge quantity of filings that he receives every week. While I could not see the stack that he exhibited on the desk to demonstrate his workload, presumably it showed hundreds if not thousands of pages each and every week.

"Then he complained about the letters directly to him which he forbade forthwith, and complained about their 'disgusting' content. (I have no idea what he is referring to here.) He also ordered that affidavits and declarations be connected with motions in order to maintain an orderly case file.

"Milgrim and Hogan argued that I 'destroyed evidence' by shredding materials relating to the identities of my correspondents. They also argued that I was violating my preliminary injunction by soliciting more 'secrets' of scientology, even though I carefully asked any potential respondents to provide specific facts -- not just their opinion -- supporting the view that their submission was not a violation of any trade secret or copyright laws. The Judge seemed to buy the plaintiff's arguments.

"Secondly, for my motion to enjoin the plaintiffs from harassing acts against me and my family, the plaintiff focused on the purported threats from David Miscavige to me concerning my children from the juno.com account. The plaintiff pointed to messages on a.r.s which seem to definitively dismiss the e-mail as total fabrications. The plaintiff pointed to postings in which I had asked whether others thought the e-mail was legitimate.

"[T]he Judge seemed to buy the plaintiff's arguments in this motion as well, despite my pointing to the *admissions* the plaintiff had made concerning their unlawful harassment of me concerning my wife's bank and my mother's photographs."

"Thomas R. Hogan phoned me to tell me that Warren McShane, nominal President of Religious Technology Center, Inc. and spear-carrier for 'Rear' Admiral David Miscavige will NOT be attending his duly noticed and scheduled deposition this coming Tuesday. Nor would any documents be produced as previously agreed.

"Hogan explained that before the criminal cult permits me to depose McShane they want a court order from Magistrate Judge Edward A. Infante demanding that I be simultaneously deposed for a *fourth* day. I have not been permitted to depose even a single criminal cult member so far. Even though David Miscavige and Warren McShane are the managing agent and president respectively of RTC, and even though no protective order was pending on the day set for their depositions, they simply unilaterally refused to appear. Thomas R. Hogan said that David Miscavige would not appear under any circumstances, including a court order."

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Cynthia Kisser

"Defendants Church of Scientology International, who have been charged with defaming and conspiring to defame Cynthia Kisser, Executive Director of the Cult Awareness Network, have brought three motions for summary judgment. To date, most of the issues in this case have been resolved after protracted litigation. What remains is a conspiracy claim and a claim for defamation based on statements the gist of which state that Kisser advocates criminal activity and has personally engaged in criminal activity.

"[D]efendants sought to prove the substantial truth of the statements at issue. I held that a material issue of fact existed as to the gist of the statements that Kisser advocates and engages in criminal activity. Defendants' assertion that Kisser's refusal to testify regarding any involvement by her or CAN in the promotion, use or distribution of illegal drugs is irrelevant. The case, as it now stands, is clear on the point that the criminal activity that is the subject of the claimed libel relates to violent deprogramming activities that involve forcible restraint and assault.

"One of the alleged overt acts upon which Kisser bases her conspiracy claim is the statement that she was a topless dancer. Because I have found that the topless dancing statement was not actionable, Kisser cannot use it as a basis for her conspiracy claim as the overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy must be unlawful. Kisser also bases her conspiracy claim on the alleged overt act that CSI published the statement that Kisser engaged in and advocated kidnapping and other criminal conduct. To substantiate her claim, Kisser presents evidence that the members of the alleged conspiracy knew one another, communicated with each other, worked together at times, shared information that was critical of her and CAN with each other, and had a common animus toward her and CAN. Kisser claims that these acts furthered the goals of the conspiracy.

"The motion for summary judgment on the conspiracy claim is granted. The motion for summary judgment on the 'second gist' and lack of malice are denied."

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Luckman

"This derivative action arises out of an ongoing scheme by the individual defendants to loot the Company and misappropriate Company assets for their own personal benefit, in violation of their fiduciary duties.

"Rather than using the money raised in the offerings for the benefit of the Company and shareholders, the Director Defendants have squandered significant funds by, among other things: (i) diverting payments made by customers for Company products to personal control and only returning them on demand of the Company's counsel, (ii) using corporate funds for personal purposes such as purchasing home furnishings, stereo equipment and leasing luxury automobiles; (iii) 'donating' corporate funds to the Church of Scientology, a religious cult group infamous for its use of 'brainwashing' and other techniques of mind control to convince its followers to surrender their assets to 'Church' control; (iv) diverting corporate funds to 'friends' for which the Company received no value; (v) employing relatives and 'friends' in corporate positions for which they were unqualified at exorbitant rates of compensation; (vi) drawing 'advances' and submitting for payment purely personal expenses unrelated to Company business; and (vii) traveling first class and staying at luxury hotels at a time when the Company was in financial distress."

Zane Thomas posted email from an anonymous Luckman employee.

"I worked for Luckman Interactive from March96 - October96. Did you know they haven't been paid in 6 weeks? I left a little bit after we were told we *HAD* to go to the Celebrity Center one Saturday. For a presentation on Scientology."

"The thing that put this into a whole higher orbit for me was the revelation (I have no proof of this but I respect the source, and you can check the details on the Delaware suit) that Brent Luckman took 1/4 million bucks of the new financing and gave it to the Church of Scientology, and that this is one of the reasons that Yorkton is going after them."

>From Internet newsletter Windx-news:

"At this point, it appears that the entire staff of MicroHelp's Components Division has left the company, along with all the former managers. While our best information is that Luckman Interactive will continue to distribute the consumer product Uninstaller, the rights to the programming tools are either yet to be determined, or have reverted to various independent developers.

"The collapse of MicroHelp was precipitated by disagreements between the investors and the top executives of Luckman over use of funds invested for use in the acquisition. Specifically, Brent Luckman and Marco Pappa are accused of using those funds inappropriately to purchase personal goods, such as a Rolls Royce, and for contributions to The Church of Scientology."

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WISE Course

"Attendees were ecstatic with its release and the release was followed by a seminar on the topic of Human Evaluation by Mark Shreffler.

"Of primary interest to everyone in business or the workplace, the technology in this course is the lifeblood of anyone's survival potential. Your business and even your LIFE is utterly dependent on choosing the right people. This course is fully illustrated and contains five lectures by Mr. Hubbard on Human Evaluation. Every person hiring and promoting personnel is guessing without the technology contained in this course. Have our staff who deal with hiring staff and your executives do this course: it's your route to an organization that will survive rather than succumb."

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Annette Funicello

"Annette Funicello has turned to the controversial Church of Scientology in a last-ditch attempt to save herself from the deadly multiple sclerosis that is destroying her body, friends reveal. 'She started a Scientology treatment program a few weeks ago', a family insider confides. 'Although she's a devout Catholic, she agreed to try the sect, hoping it might halt the progress of her illness'.

"A group of therapists from the church came to Annette's home near Los Angeles and began working with her', a family friend confides. 'Their program consists of vitamin therapy baths and high colonics, which irrigate the intestines and rid them of toxins. Poor Annette is completely wiped out after she finishes these Scientology sessions.'"

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