Alt.religion.scientology Week in Review Volume 1, Issue 11 06/30/96 by Rod Keller [rkeller@voicenet.com] copyright 1996
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://www.amazing.com/scientology/ars-summary.html
http://users.aimnet.com/~jdiver/scieno.htm
http://www.thur.de/religio/publik/arsfaq.html
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News was posted this week that cult members on America Online are threatening a boycott of AOL in protest over the Former Scientologists folder, under the Religion & Ethics forum.
"'TheAlaskan', Ronn Stacy (an Ethics Officer, if I believe correctly) replying to a message from 'RonArtistR' (who also complained again about the existence of the Former Scieno-Folder):
"Datum: 26.06.1996 04:48:00 Von: TheAlaskan
"Well Ron, I am beginning to wonder about just how valuable several hundred Scientologist memberships are to AOL compared to a handful of twisted idiots. I wonder what would happen if we just all agreed to pull the plug. There may be several thousand in actual fact. I for one will see this folder deleted very very soon or there will be one created for all former Jews, one for former Catholics (just below the Catholic Folder) former Hells Angels, former Baptists, former twisted idiots, etc."
Message-ID: <4qr742$jil@newsbf02.news.aol.com>
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The office of cult lawyer Kendrick Moxon issued a press release concerning the recent demise of the Cult Awareness Network. Moxon litigated the Scott case, which led to the award that caused CAN's insolvency.
"The civil rights attorney who filed the motion to dismiss CAN's attempt to protect its assets in the bankruptcy court, Kendrick Moxon, said 'CAN's sole purpose now is to start paying off its victims and the people it has hurt' referring to the $4.9 million judgment against CAN and three others in the kidnapping of a Seattle area man who belonged to a Pentecostal church.
"That 1994 civil rights case was brought under the federal statute commonly known as the Ku Klux Klan Act and was the largest civil damages award rendered against CAN or any deprogrammer in U.S. history. CAN tried to avoid paying the punitive and actual damages assessed against it by declaring Chapter 11 bankruptcy late last year.
"Moxon, who has fought for civil and religious rights for decades, added, 'CAN was a hate group that promoted religious intolerance, broke up families and incited hatred. It had a long history of criminal acts and kidnapping activities. Religious freedom is a little more free now.'"
Message-ID: <4qs859$6uf@shell1.cybercom.net>
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Arnie Lerma posted his letter printed in the May 28th Virginia Sun.
"Yesterday I stopped in to my local quick stop, and the shopkeeper told me that a man had come in the day before and taken 4 diskettes that he had on display there, which I had given him, titled: Inside the Cult of $cientology #1 and Inside the cult of $cientology #2 which contain a collection of affidavits, personal stories, court records (none with sacred dropping) and suppressed books all available on the Internet.
"The diskettes were not for sale, they were 'available to anyone who wanted to take them'. I wanted MY NEIGHBORS, who might me interested, to be able to see what has been going on on the Internet....
"This little oriental shopkeeper looked at me and said, he threatened to sue me."
Message-ID: <4qme5q$5ra@news.dgsys.com>
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Fishman/Geertz Hearing
A series of messages from Ted Mayett at the hearing of Steve Fishman and Uwe Geertz against the cult kept a.r.s readers updated as the hearing was taking place in Los Angeles. The tone of the hearing changed dramatically following the lunch break.
"Welcome to the Fishman / Geertz update at the Superior Court of Los Angeles. At 8:30 A.M, two motions were heard in Judge Williams' Court. The following attorneys and spectators were spotted on behalf of Scientology:
"Attorneys: William Drescher Elliott Abelson Jack Quinn Laurie Bartilson Gerald Feffer David Zinn Jack Quinn's partner (Daugherty ???)
"Spectators: Mike Rinder (OSA RTC) Lynn Farny Ken Long ?? Sandy (last name unknown: an OSA Agent)
"For Fishman and Geertz:
"Attorneys: Ford Greene Graham Berry Steve Fishman (representing himself)
"Spectators: Ted Mayett Lavenda Van Schaick Dr. Uwe Geertz Two other friends of Fishman and Geertz who prefer to remain anonymous
"Judge Williams presided over the courtroom and gave the following tentative rulings (not binding) until oral argument which will occur and continue at 3:30 PM (we are on our lunch break right now)
"Church of Scientology's motion for summary judgment dismissing Fishman and Geertz's cause of action for the infliction of intentional harm is tentatively denied.
"Church of Scientology's motion for summary judgment for malicious prosecution tentatively granted.
"Church of Scientology's motion for interference with attorney contractual relationship tentatively denied with regard to Dr. Geertz and granted with regard to Fishman.
"Church of Scientology's motion for interference with the psychiatric-patient relationship tentatively granted.
"Fishman and Geertz's joint motion to compel the deposition of David Miscavige is tentatively GRANTED. This is good news, because even though the scope of the Fishman / Geertz lawsuit (the specific counts against the cult) may be reduced, Miscavige may still be compelled to testify if these tentative rulings become permanent rulings at 5:00 PM
"When the Judge initially said Miscavige could be deposed an audible ripple went through the clam lawyers, the monkeys came unglued, one of them jumped up and asked for a five minute delay, it was granted. We all went into the hallway. The clams huddled and spoke furiously.
"Tell you what scares them people. David on the stand terrifies them!!! I saw terror in the courtroom today. Real terror. No doubt but that the next hearing, not this 3:30 one, finds 26 lawyers present."
Steve Fishman later posted the proceedings after the lunch break.
"After the lunch break, Judge Williams reversed his tentative ruling and granted Summary Judgment in favor of Scientology and the other defendants. Therefore the taking of the deposition of David Miscavige was moot."
"After lunch Judge Williams announced that he had lunch with the former partner of William Drescher, who was the lead counsel for the Scientology defendants at the hearing. Judge Williams announced it in open court and said that nothing was discussed regarding the Scientology case.
"After Ford Greene and I argued before him, he granted the Church of Scientology's Summary Judgment motions, effectively dismissing the case, and rendering the deposition of Miscavige mooted out or unnecessary.
"Judge Williams apologized for his verdict, would not confront us by looking at us, and reminded us as to our rights to appeal."
Message-ID: <31D2EE6A.274F@earthlink.net> Message-ID: <31D2FD92.7A8C@earthlink.net> Message-ID: <4r213p$1uv@sjx-ixn4.ix.netcom.com> Message-ID: <01bb661c.e1c93d00$75c720cc@xenu.ix.netcom.com>
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Steve Fishman also announced a campaign against Scientology defendant Dennis Erlich this week.
"I fully intend to locate Rose Erlich and her daughter, and present evidence to the State Attorney in California if indeed Dennis was guilty of beating his ex-wife and raping her daughter. If he did these things, I will not rest until Dennis goes to jail. And I fully intend to hammer away at the State Attorney and encourage him to prosecute Dennis and I plan to be at THAT hearing when they arrest him and throw him in jail. And I further fully intend to appraise Morrison Foerster of all of these developments (they are the attorneys representing him at no cost), and recommend to them that they look quite closely at the terms and conditions of Dennis' inheritance which his father left him so that he can turn that money over to his legal defense fund rather than continuing to take all of YOUR money while he pays none of his own from his inheritance to his legal costs."
Dennis Erlich's reply was brief:
"Hey, go for it you lying piece of psychotic slime."
Message-ID: <01bb661c.e1c93d00$75c720cc@xenu.ix.netcom.com> Message-ID: <31d5f68b.6674101@204.245.3.50>
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Cornelius Krasel posted a rough translation of an article from Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, June 25th issue.
"Court agrees with critics of Helnwein Artist may be called 'Minister of the cult of Scientology'
"The ruling of the superior state court (OLG) Frankfurt confirms that the artist Gottfried Helnwein who is an 'Auditor IV' may be called 'minister of Scientology'. Helnwein would 'advertise for a criminal organization', who 'advertises in countless publications for Scientology', and would serve the cult as 'auditor', cf. 'minister'. With the exhibition in the state museum of Mainz the responsible state minister [?] Goette (SPD) has given a forum to an important Scientologist, is also alleged by speakers of the CDU and the Green Party.
"The artist had defended himself against the allegations with strong words ('I shit on Scientology') and compared the Greens and the CDU with the 'Reichskulturkammer' [which watched the arts in the Third Reich].
"The Greens now say that Mrs. Goette remains suspicious of indirectly supporting the cult of Scientology with state moneys. The Greens and the CDU demand to strip Mrs. Goette of her ... for cults.
"The state minister refused to have been tricked by Scientology. 'Was it necessary to avoid an exhibition because it displays art which belongs to a person who is allegedly a member of a dangerous cult?' She did do the exhibition because, among other things, Helnwein had sworn to be not a member. However, already in May 1995 Mrs. Schweitzer had signaled that Scientology allows lying for a purpose.
"Meanwhile the confrontation with Scientology in Rhineland-Palatine goes on. The party court of the CDU which consists of three persons has recently revoked the membership of a person who had been a party member for 15 years because of his membership in Scientology. In the Koblenz area letters which advertise an 'Oxford personality analysis' were distributed. Behind this campaign is Scientology, the person responsible for the monitoring of cults in Trier, Neusius, claims. The organization would try to influence persons interested in the test by management courses and personality counseling. This would be done by the company 'Eichhorn and partners' which is located in the town of Heusweiler in the Saarland. The company would belong to the group 'Choice International', which would be a part of the global net of Scientology companies (Wise)."
Message-ID: <4qpmh6$i16@power5.rz.uni-hohenheim.de>
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Grady Ward was once again deposed by the cult this week. Damon Chetson posted partial transcripts and summaries of the proceedings. Some excerpts:
"Lieberman: you recently filed a motion to vacate the injunction citing that the NOTs had been posted. Grady: yes. Lieberman: How did you know? Grady: I read the index, and other people's accounts. Lieberman: did you download it, repost it, post it the first time. Grady: no, no, no. Lieberman: do you know the contents. Grady: from snippits that other people have posted, I know it's to get rid of bad feelings. Lieberman: could you do it.? Grady: I have no interest in the process.
"Lieberman: do you know of anyone who could do them? Grady: No, I don't know anyone.
"Scamizdat 8 is the next item up. From nobody@replay.com. Grady denies posting them. Lieberman asks if Grady posted about it. Grady says generally he would post warning people not to download them unless they were in a jurisdiction that permitted reading them. For instance, China was not a signatory. Lieberman wants to know where Grady was at the time. Home. Did you post it? No I did not. Do you know who posted it? No, I do not. If someone wanted to access it SCAMIZDAT 8, could they do it?
"Grady says, you'd go into the ARS Central Committee and the Cabal. Grady says it's a joke. Lieberman, this is no time for jokes. Grady says, it's a joke. Lieberman says, if you say it, the court will take you seriously.
"Grady says he doesn't know where any of the SCAMIZDATs are. but explains that within an hour he could probably get all of them because they're probably kept on at least 50 archives.
"On to rmgroup. Lieberman didn't it say 'please remove' Grady: laugh, unfortunately saying please is like coming up with a baseball bat and saying please give me your money. It's a forceable attack. Some systems are configured to destroy the group. Lieberman: but it didn't destroy ars. Grady: well on some systems, but there were newgroup commands issued. Lieberman: it was a request, wasn't it sir? Grady: well the text of the message was a request, but the command isn't for humans, it's for computers. The command automatically means destruction.
"Lieberman: did you make suggestions that RTC had bought justice? That Whyte/Brinkema had been paid off. Grady no, I'd never say something like that. Lieberman: So if they existed, they'd be forgeries. Grady: yes"
Also, a report that the cult member poster known as "Vera Wallace" has been inadvertently identified in their own filings.
"the cult was sloppy in editing their evidence and forgot to delete the line indicating the sender as vera wallace. normally, of course, usenet posts are hardly admissible evidence. however, since the criminal cult was submitting the evidence, federal rules of evidence dictate that they have authenticated it because they themselves relied upon that document as evidence."
Message-ID: <DttD98.1sF@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU> Message-ID: <Dtt3tu.J4H@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU> Message-ID: <Dtt9xM.MIo@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU> Message-ID: <4r1qnb$f76@nyx10.cs.du.edu>
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Martin Hunt posted a directory of people in Scientology, from A to Z.
"Elliot Abelson, Scientology lawyer in opposition to motion in Wollersheim case who declared that CSC was forced, essentially against its will, to litigate the case and, in essence, was thus rendered penniless because of Mr. Wollersheim's tenacity, unreasonableness and refusal to settle. (Abelson decl. 6 6). In an opposition brief he and CSC falsely contends that in 1990 Wollersheim passed up $4 million and then $6 million dollar offers. The truth is that these offers were made in 1987 when Mr. Wollersheim's judgment stood at $30 million. The decision of the Court of Appeal reducing the judgment from 30 million to 2.5 million was not rendered until 1989. He falsely stated that Stein had refused to participate in settlement discussions in one of Scientology's lawsuits filed against Wollersheim in Colorado; Stein has participated in 12 hours of discussions via telephone conference, as Wollersheim could not afford him to attend in person. - LegalA.
"Glenn Zottola, trumpeteer and Scientologist to OT. - FAQ1."
Message-ID: <4r2rlu$oun@freenet-news.carleton.ca>
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Russia has banned the use of the Purification Rundown in its health system. The "Purif" uses vitamin overdoses and dangerously long saunas in an attempt to remove stored radiation and other toxins.
"Dr Alexander Dvorkin of the Information and Consultation Center of St Innaeus of Lyon, Moscow, has been campaigning to have the Ministry of Health and Medical Industry put an end to the propagation of Scientology teachings within the Russian health system.
"The Ministry of Public Health and the Medical Industry of the Russian Federation
"ORDER 19.6.96 No; 54
"Re: cancellation of the 'Recommendations of the techniques of the detoxification programme.'
"In order to bring the basic standards of the Ministry of Public Health and the Medical Industry of the Russian Federation into conformity with current legislation I hereby order:
"That the heads of the public health authorities of the Russian Federation, the directors of public health establishments under Federal control, including scientific research establishments, those for preventative treatment and educational establishments, should consider null and void the 'Recommendation of the Health and Medical Industry of the Russian Federation, V. K. Agapov.
"That the propagation and use of the techniques of detoxification and other techniques of Scientology and Dianetics arising from the teachings of R Hubbard should not be permitted in public health practice.
"Signed A.D. Tsaregorodtsev, Minister"
Message-ID: <31d04f7f.7738110@194.72.6.227>
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Variety magazine published an article on a film to be made with John Travolta and several other cult members.
"At the same time he's looking at doing a film with Sean Penn, Travolta has also been circling 'Common Ground,' a character-driven action drama about LAX security police during a series of bomb threats at the airport.
"The last incarnation of the project looked to be a Scientology reunion, with cast members Travolta, his wife Kelly Preston, and Kirstie Alley (who insiders said Travolta wanted in the picture) all members of the faith. Sources said there is a time constraint involved and the project may not happen with Travolta."
Message-ID: <4r2m4f$6ib@basement.replay.com>
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A letter was posted from the Sydney Sun-Herald newspaper, concerning the erupting volcano the cult has built on a downtown street. "Zed" adds his comments.
"In response to the comments made about the George Street Volcano (Nightmare on George Street, S-H 26/5), I wish to make certain facts clear.
"My company, Woodbridge Associates Pty Ltd, owns the lease on the volcano. We are leasing some of the screen time to New Era Publications, not the Church of Scientology. New Era Publications is advertising the Dianetics book on the screen. They are the publishers of the works of L. Ron Hubbard. There have been no breaches of any advertising standards and this is just a ruse by a grouchy councillor to create trouble where there is none and to get her name in print.
"CARMEL UNDERWOOD, managing director, Woodbridge and Associates, Strathfield.
"Comments: I missed the article which prompted this response. I'm curious about the whole affair now. Which councillor's complaining, and about what? And what is Woodbridge's story? Why is New Era Publications being portrayed as completely independent of the Church? I have a hard time swallowing that.
"The last line of the letter has 'Dead-Agent' written all over it - is Carmel Underwood a $cientologist?"
Message-ID: <4qjhk6$l9j@gidora.kralizec.net.au>
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Tilman Hausherr found a number of new web sites created by the cult for some of their various front groups.
http://www.primenet.com/~csavage/raad/ this is Cory's new front group, which propagates what scientology hasn't (tolerance, etc).
"http://www.primenet.com/~csavage/" is a person working at Atkinson-Baker, then clamified court reporting company that once had the foolish idea to sue a judge.
"Also new:
http://www.cchr.org/
http://www.able.org/
http://www.thewaytohappiness.org/
http://www.appliedscholastics.org/
http://www.narconon.org
http://www.criminon.org
"On the page http://www.narconon.org/html/Kirstie.htm there is a foto with a congressman, Charles B. Rangel. The full text under the foto is:
"Drug Free Heroes Left to Right: Henry Lonzano, Founder of California Youth to Youth Alliance; Congressman Charles B. Rangel, U.S. House of Representatives; Kirstie Alley; Willie Gault; Donzella Lee, Representing Watts Health Foundation; and Monsignor William O'Brien, Founder and President of the drug treatment program Daytop Village Inc.
"Which of these organisations are scientology front groups? Also, is Willie Gault a scientologist? (And does he really qualify as a celebrity?)"
Message-ID: <31d4ee34.685244@news.snafu.de> Message-ID: <31D640EE.3989@berlin.snafu.de> Message-ID: <31d50b49.8034593@news.snafu.de> Message-ID: <31d50e74.8832818@news.snafu.de>