Alt.religion.scientology Week in Review
Volume 3, Issue 25
09/27/98
by Rod Keller
rkeller@voicenet.com
copyright 1998
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 articles posted to the newsgroup. They include message IDs for the original articles, and many have a URL to get more information. You may be able to find the original article, 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
Bruce Pettycrew
Bruce Pettycrew reported this week that Scientology has obtained a
restraining order which prevents him from picketing the org in Mesa,
Arizona.
"The Arizona branch of the Co$ is again attempting to deprive me of my right to free speech by abuse of the court system. This time they have an injunction from the Mesa, AZ municipal court. Needless to say, I will get this quashed and I will be seeking significant sanctions for this attempt to use the municipal court to impose a restriction that was already denied by the Superior Court of Arizona."
"I picket about once a week with a sign that says 'scientology lies' and 'scientology hurts people' At the municipal court level and with the lies contained in the document, these TROs are issued almost automatically. The Superior Court refused to issue an injunction without a hearing and refused to stop my picketing under the same law. That is why I am certain to get this quashed. The OSA representative lied on the petition."
"There will be a hearing on my petition to quash the injunction at 1:30 WPT (Weird Phoenix Time is MST, not MDT). I believe that will be the end of it, except for trying to collect on the sanctions that we will be asking for. Meanwhile, the pickets will continue without me."
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CAN Files
Jim Beebe reported that Scientology is still attempting to acquire the
files of the old, real Cult Awareness Network.
"When was driven into bankruptcy and CAN 's assets were purchased by agents for the church of Scientology, there was major concern over the disposition of the confidential CAN files. Within the files are letters and personal statements from people who had sought information and had asked for and were assured of confidentiality. And, of course, it is just these things that Scientology wants to get it's hands on. A public outcry forced the US Bankruptcy Court to place the Files under court Seal.
"Earlier this year the CAN files were released to the original CAN Board. They have been kept in a warehouse. Recently some supporters of CAN came up with funds to preserve CAN's records. The Court order states that the files can not be sold or destroyed. They can be copied and recently the project to preserve CAN's files began. Scientology , of course, knew about this and proceeded to try and intimidate the parties involved. Just today, scientology served the warehouse owners some 3rd party papers and did intimidate them into locking out the persons involved in this preservation project.
"Mr. Moxon has served notice that on Oct. 21 he is going to court to seize the CAN files to pay the Jason Scott $1.8 million dollar award, which by the way has been purchased by Beany, a scientologist who has Moxon acting as his attorney."
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Clearwater
The St. Petersburg Times reported on Scientology's planned activities in
Clearwater around the Christmas holidays.
"'We're really going to try to make downtown a showcase so (people) will see what we have to offer,' said Bennetta Slaughter, a business owner who heads up the Clearwater Beautification and Development Association. 'And they'll come back.' The Church of Scientology will also erect its elaborate Winter Wonderland display for the sixth year in a row.
"Brian Anderson, church spokesman, said the display will be moved to an empty church-owned lot on N Fort Harrison Avenue about four blocks north of the Fort Harrison Hotel. The church cannot use its usual location, across from the hotel, because construction has started there on a new church building."
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Germany
Nassauische Neue Presse reported this week that an ecumenical meeting in
Bad Camberg was planned to discuss sects and Scientology.
"The topic of sects is of concern to the public primarily because of the discussion about the Scientology organization and the horror stories about violent outgrowths elsewhere. Even here at home there is an unmanageable diversity of radical philosophical and religious groups of varying molds and flavors. Some make harsh claims, have people sign contracts, and lead them to some degree in radical opposition to churches and society.
"However, Dr. Schutz cautions against throwing completely different groups all together in one pot. From his ecumenical work, he knows that the question of whether a certain category is a sect often concerns Christian communities and associations, too, especially when they are still young, are small in size, or are unfamiliar to the public. Even the large popular churches are affected, according to the experiences of the Study Group of Christian Churches, since the fear of sects occasionally leads to distrust of religion in general."
Suddeutsche Zeitung reports that Scientology's attempts to infiltrate the public sector of Germany have been ineffective.
"The widely reported attempt by the Scientology sect to systematically infiltrate politics and the economy in Germany never got off the ground. According to a states security agency internal report, the Scientology infiltration of the civil service failed. Of the 3.2 million public employees, only 48 of them are Scientology members, according to the report. 14 separated from the service because of their membership in the sect; three were furloughed. For 16, membership could not be confirmed in the sect which maximizes profits and which has been categorized by German politicians as despising people. Things appear similar in the economy. Nationwide only 150 small companies are influenced by Scientology. The report, which has not yet been published, came to the conclusion, 'It is hardly likely that there is a systematic infiltration of the German economy by Scientology.'
"There is reported to be about 2,000 in the south and the southwest; compared to that only 25-30 Scientologists live in the new German states as far as the observing agencies can tell. In all of Germany, the total number lies 'significantly under 10,000,' according to the report. Heber Jentzsch, the American President of the Scientology enterprise, has been telling his members for years to build 'personal communication lines' with influential members of society such as politicians, judges and state attorneys, banks and artists. They were also to attain positions in companies and then take 'control over this area.' According to what state security has seen, only three Scientologists have gained access to the parties: two to the CDU, and one to the FDP. These parties are moving to exclude them. Scientologists occasionally show up in the police or in schools. A teacher used sect material in her class and was replaced as a result."
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Grady Ward
Grady Ward posted a submission to the court this week, to receive half of
Scientology's bond, posted to get a preliminary injunction.
"On September 15, 1998, Judge Jeremy Fogel entered an Order in this case reflecting his view of settlement negotiations between the parties. Part of that Order was a consent to judgment, although without an admission of liability, in favor of the plaintiff. On July 21, 1997, Hon. Ronald M. Whyte, entered an Order dismissing the plaintiff's trade secret claim with prejudice. This Order was a final judgment regarding plaintiff's trade secret claim and resulted in a judgment in favor of the defendant, Grady Ward. The plaintiff chose not to appeal this judgment, so that it now final.
"Since the defendant prevailed on 1/2 the claims of the plaintiff, he is entitled to 1/2 the $10,000.00 bond that that plaintiff was required to post to obtain a preliminary injunction. Since the defendant is appealing the Order by Judge Jeremy Fogel, the plaintiff is not yet entitled to 1/2 of $10,000 until such an appeal has run. Therefore, the defendant prays the court to remit $5,000.00 to him as a result of prevailing on the trade secret claim and retain the remaining $5,000.00 pending the outcome of the defendant's appeal on the copyright claim."
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Picket/Revenge Picket Summary
Alan Barclay reported that a one-person picket of Scientology was held in
Edinburgh, Scotland.
"This is from someone in Edinburgh, Scotland, who wishes to be known as 'Anne'. Sorry it's so brief, but this is all she sent me. Chickened out at last moment. Picketed down the road. End of Princes street. Lots shoppers. Lisa Leaflets - 150. Started 11am. Finished 1pm. Walked past org when done. Should have done it there."
Bill White reported that Scientology handed out flyers and posters in his former neighborhood in Derwood, Maryland. Scientology appears to have targeted an unrelated Bill White who was a former neighbor. Bill is a member of the Utopian Anarchist Party.
"The Church of Scientology thought it was slick, passing out large posters to the neighbors of Bill White. Little did they know though, that they passed out fliers to the neighbors of Bill White, auto mechanic, and Bill White, retired Air Force officer, and not Bill White the anarchist.
"So imagine the confusion when neighbors brought the signs, accusing 'their neighbor' Bill White, of being a Nazi, to the homes of these two innocent men. 'They knew it wasn't me,' said one Bill White, 'They knew it was the guy who had run for office, and they knew it wasn't true. They were asking me, this guy is an anarchist, not a Nazi? Who the hell passed these out?'
"The action was directed at people who already know me and my politics. Approximately a dozen people received copies of these fliers, all of whom know me, know my politics, and have known me and my family for nearly ten years. Three of the people contacted are regular subscribers to the UAP newsletter. No one took it seriously."
Keith Henson reported on a picket in San Jose, and a revenge picket at his home.
"We wound up with the org getting a four person picket from 4:25 to 6:10. It was a very good picket, though rather non-confront from the scns. We had by far the most traffic and support from the traffic I have seen, i.e., *many* honks and thumbs up.
"I had heard recently that the scns were working on a new 'tech' so they could picket homes without some critic reading OT3 to them. There was a lone glassy eyed picketer out in front of my place with a Walkman turned up to the max. I pulled out my sign and walked with him for a few minutes and then just had to quit because I was very concerned about him. I could hear the sound *loud* every time he passed me and I knew he was doing serious damage to his hearing. I hope he turned it down after I went inside."
>From Jim Wissick, also at the San Jose org:
"[A] new handler; he is quite the condescending asshole. He made a comment along the lines of being able to put a bullet in me if he wanted to. I was there from 12:30 till 2:00. Left as rain was starting. There were a lot of cars there when I arrived, but they began to leave when I brought out my sign. The anger in this guys voice and his words again leads me to believe we are doing serious damage to them and that violence by the cult may be coming soon. No counter picket today."
>From Kristi Wachter at the Mountain View, California org:
"Keith and I took a nice one-hour walk in Mountain View today. We got WAY more acks (honks and waves) than I've ever gotten there before, and we gave out a few fliers, mostly to people exiting the parking lot where the Dianetics Foundation is or the lot right next to it. We were there from about 3 pm until around 4 pm. There are no signs that I was picketed in retaliation."
Bob Minton reported that Scientology picketers were removed from the Columbus airport by the State Police.
Three public Scientologists decided to picket us as we went to our gate at the Columbus airport. The three Scientologists were, of course, being handled by their OSA Spontaneity Supervisor. It is possible that she is Diane Stein, the DSA Atlanta who called Stacy's mother and was on the scene for the picket of Stacy's sister's house in Atlanta. We explained to airport security that it was against FAA regulations for this type of unlawful assembly and demonstration to occur on FAA property. Airport security called for the state police, who didn't seem to be aware of FAA regulations on this subject, but nevertheless made the picketers put down their signs and escorted them from the airport, much to the OSA woman's dismay.
"One of the three presumably public Scientologists called me a coward, whereupon I asked him if he was familiar with the Thetan Hand Technique. He had no idea what I was talking about."
>From Stacy Young:
"When Jesse and I arrived at the sanctuary on Vashon there were three picketers at the street waiting for me. Their signs said, 'Bob Minton was arrested for assault on September 10 in Boston,' 'The woman who lives here is the head of an anti-religious hate group: Stacy Young,' and 'Bob Minton, stop attacking our religion.' But my neighbor saw me later and said, 'These people picketing you are really crazy, aren't they? I don't know what they think they're accomplishing, but the people on Vashon can't stand them.'"
>From Sue Mullaney in Minneapolis:
"I had my usual sign ('Scientology: Space Alien Scam' and 'Does the Bridge really cost $360,000?') and my usual flyers (Xemu, Lisa, Scam, Minneapolis/Poole). Chris' signs said 'Scientology hurts people' and (I think) 'L. Ron Hubbard says 'There was no Christ'--from 'Assists' lecture'. He also had copies of a slightly modified version of JourO's 'Why I'm Picketing $cientology' flyer.
"It was actually fairly quiet at first; there wasn't quite as much pedestrian traffic as at other pickets. Two different women muttered things like 'You guys are pathetic, really pathetic!' as they walked by us into the org; I think one of them was 'Diane', the woman who had previously berated Chris at an earlier picket, demanding that he show his driver's license.
"At about 12:40 pm a tall, skinny, youngish Scieno woman with long hair came out. She had a picket sign saying 'Register to vote'! In a really snotty tone of voice, she introduced herself as 'Cynthia Kicker'--obviously a pretty lame-brained take-off on old CAN head and Scn archenemy Cynthia Kisser's name! She announced that she was going to picket with us. After taking a picture of us and taking one of each of our flyers, she starts asking Chris the usual 'Where do you get your information from?', etc. Then she said to me, 'Oh, Sue, are you all right? You look like you're sick!' I answered, 'No, I'm fine.' She started walking alongside Chris and was asking Chris what Scn books he'd read and he mentioned that he'd read part of 'What Is Scientology?' and 'Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health'; then she asked him, 'Well, what does that little weasel have to say?'. Chris says, 'Who?' She said, 'You know, your friend behind us, that little weasel, I want to hear what she has to say--you know, she's all pale, she looks like she's really ill or something!' Like I was supposed to be really crushed by some lame insult like that!
"'Cynthia' said something about us being religious bigots or something like that and that all of our information was lies from the Internet. The pedestrian asked us what religion we were and we replied that we were Christian and then Chris referred to his flyer about how LRH was anti-Christianity and that Scientologists are eventually told they must choose between Scn and whatever religion they previously followed. Well, 'Cynthia' went ballistic! She starts yelling at the top of her lungs, 'That is ABSOLUTE BULLSHIT!! How DARE you malign my God by saying something like that! Me and my husband are both Methodists and our kids go to Sunday school! I've been a Scientologist for 13 years and I'm also a Methodist! You're a FUCKING LIAR!!' Chris mentioned the 'No Christ' quote from LRH and also the quote from LRH about Mohammed being a 'small town booster'."
>From David Alexander in Dallas:
"Through Wednesday and Thursday until 2:00pm, Scientology staff are scrambling to end their fiscal week and outdo their previous week's stats (to be upstat--a COS mandate). This makes for extremely boring picket time, although it's probably the most effective picketing one can do. So there I was interfering with the Scientologists' rush to make up for the week's procrastination, from 10:00a to 2:00p. The only thanks I get are the passers-by yelling their encouragement. Not even a notice by any of the Scieno angels. I think it's more fun when someone comes out and natters about my picketing."
>From "Wynot" in Atlanta:
"My sign said 'Scientology; 48 years of FRAUD', and the on the other side said 'Scientology: Tax-Exempt UFO CULT'. Mad_Cow had his usual multi-sign(R), but got immediate results with one that said 'Scientology is a SCAM!' Within moments of beginning our picket we had received several honks and thumbs-ups. Mad_Cow also had a fresh t-shirt with 'I am not a Scientologist'. There was a steady stream of pedestrians, and many spoke with us, asking about the cult, or telling us that they already knew all about 'them wackos'! They watched us very carefully, but looked away whenever they saw me looking at them. They never sent out a handler."
>From Jeff Jacobsen in Mesa, Arizona:
"Skippy had a new sandwich board sign - 2 foamboard signs with should harnesses. One side had WWW.XENU.NET in 6" letters, on green fluorescent paper with black lettering. His letters were twice as big as our normal signs. I handed out a record 4 flyers! today. There is very little foot traffic here so I was proud of myself."
>From Ted Mayett in Las Vegas:
"It was a two org kind of day. Big org 1:30pm, opening vehicles 11, uneventful, 30 min. Then the little org for 10 minutes, vehicles 1. Had my picture taken *again* by Janne Bjork."
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Switzerland
Blue Window reported this week that no changes will be made to the Swiss
report on Scientology, despite demands from the cult.
"The Consultative State Security Commission (KSK) will not change their report on the activities of Scientology. Scientology had described the report as 'disinformation' and 'public disinformation,' and demanded corrections. The KSK based their decision on the fact that the Scientologists had not been able to present any new facts that would justify an alteration of the report of August 31. They had not been able to point out any errors in the report, stated KSK Secretary Martin Keller to the SDA news agency."
Basler Zeitung reported that the Great Council of Basel debated a measure to limit street recruitment methods used by Scientology.
"The Scientology adherents have probably been following the debate in in Basel City Hall, where proposed legislation on aggressive recruitment by sect members on public ground promised a lively discussion. Apart from a single adherent who was waiting for the arriving members of the city council with a flyer, nothing was seen or heard of any Scientologist in the vicinity. The lack of interest might not have been surprising had the Scientology adherents not flooded the population of Basel with thousands of flyers which stated that today the Great Council was about to vote on a one time law 'which the extremist anti-cult cultists in Switzerland would greet as a milestone on the road to exclusion of and warning to religious minorities.'
"Last week the same theme was debated in the Zurich community council, but was cleanly dismissed with arguments such as 'this reeks of censorship,' or 'it contradicts the principle of the constitutional state.'
"Justice Minister Hans Martin Tschudi outlined the framework as an introduction. Freedom of expression and pluralism are important cornerstones of a democracy. Government intervention is only necessary when an outside source influences these cornerstones to some degree. In any case, the misuse of a right does not merit protection. It was not permissible to direct a 'unique case law' at a particular group - the Scientologists."
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