Alt.religion.scientology Week in Review
Volume 3, Issue 21
08/31/98
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
The Associated Press reported that the Cult Awareness Network lost its bid to have the 9th Circuit Court hear an appeal of the judgment that put it out of business.
"Seven federal appellate judges said Wednesday that free speech was threatened by their court's ruling upholding $1.09 million in damages against an anti-cult organization for its role in trying to 'deprogram' a Washington state teen-ager. 'We have taken a great leap backwards in the protection of First Amendment freedoms,' Judge Alex Kozinski, writing for the seven, said in arguing that the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals should reconsider the ruling. He said the Cult Awareness Network did not employ the deprogrammer or approve his actions and was bankrupted by the ruling.
"But the court said the request for a rehearing had failed to gain a majority vote among the court's 21 active judges. Under its rules, the vote total was not announced. The ruling could be appealed to the Supreme Court.
"In Wednesday's dissent from the denial of a rehearing, Kozinski said CAN knew nothing about the referral to Ross or his attempt to deprogram Scott, and had no control over it. He said CAN had referred callers to people who would perform involuntary deprogramming on minor children, a legal practice as long as no violence is used. The organization opposed the involuntary deprogramming of adults. 'CAN effectively died as a direct result of this judgment, and the mission its supporters set out to accomplish died with it,' Kozinski wrote. 'This result is troubling regardless of where one falls on the political spectrum.'"
Message-ID:
<36bfea56.253927458@news.snafu.de>
Scientology's Citizen's Commission on Human Rights announced hearings to be held in the Los Angeles area.
"Scientology's Citizen's Commission on Human Rights will hold a public hearing at the Glendale Central Public Library Auditorium on the psychiatric abuse of children. The hearing will run from 10 am to 1 pm at 222 East Harvard Street. On the panel will be commission president Jan Eastman, TV personality and author Dr. Lendon Smith and pediatric neurologist Dr. Fred Baughman JR. Anyone knowing of about abuse in mental treatments and personal freedoms is encouraged to attend."
Message-ID:
<35E854B7.4380@dejanews.com>
The St. Petersburg Times reported this week that Scientology has reached a proposed settlement with the Clearwater Police Department over destruction of investigative records.
"The Police Department tentatively has agreed to destroy any 'unnecessary' records in the 40 boxes of documents accumulated during its 13-year investigation into the Church of Scientology, which ended in 1994. The agreement, if approved, would settle a four-year federal court fight between the city and the church. The church argues the intelligence files include false information and that their release to the media violated privacy rights.
"City Commissioners heard details of the proposed settlement in a closed meeting Thursday and are scheduled to consider final approval at their next meeting, Sept. 3. The settlement would not pertain to current investigations involving Scientology, said City Attorney Pam Akin, including the ongoing inquiry into the unexplained death of Scientologist Lisa McPherson in 1995.
"The most controversial document in the files is a 10-volume report authored in the mid-1980s by Lt. Ray Emmons, now retired. Emmons alleged Scientology was a criminal, money-making scheme, but could not convince the state attorney's office to prosecute. The police files also include other documents, including complaints by disaffected Scientologists who told police they'd been ripped off by Scientology and complaints of harassment against uniformed members of the Scientology staff in downtown Clearwater.
"The settlement calls for the police department to 'conduct a good faith review of the Scientology records to determine which of those documents they can destroy as unnecessary.' Police would have four months to accomplish the task. The review would be done by police personnel only, with no input from other city departments or the church.
"The settlement document concludes with two additional provisions. One is that the police department may never speak publicly about the settlement. The other is that church attorneys are to be notified immediately when the public or media seek access to the documents. Akin said the latter provision was 'a little unusual,' but is allowed under state records law as long as it doesn't delay anyone from receiving the documents they request."
Message-ID:
<6ru795$bp7@netaxs.com>
The Tampa Bay Business Journal reported that Beers Construction Company is preparing to build Scientology's Super Power Building in Clearwater.
"Beers will soon break ground on a new 300,000-square-foot ministerial training and pastoral counseling center for the Church of Scientology. The building, designed by the Tampa office of Hellmuth Obata & Kassabaum, will take two years to build. It will sit on Fort Harrison Avenue near the Fort Harrison Hotel.
"One part of the project -- transplanting a 100-year-old oak tree -- may set a world record as the heaviest oak tree ever transplanted, church officials said. The 412-ton, 65-foot tree took a day and a half to move. Preserving the tree was important to church officials and members, even though the city had granted the church permission to cut it down."
Message-ID:
<35e2c319.84596129@typhoon02.rcsntx.swbell.net>
The current issue of Mother Jones magazine includes mention of the medical claims for Ie Crystals being made by Scientology-affiliated American Technologies Group.
"Two years ago, Lo created extremely dilute solutions using a technique similar to Hahnemann's. Training an electron microscope on them, he discovered that in some cases the water contained bizarre ice crystals that didn't behave anything like the stuff that comes from the freezer. This strange new type of ice, which forms in solutions at temperatures well above freezing, gives off a unique electrical field. Lo calls these crystals 'IE' - ice with an electrical field.
"Building on Lo's work, Benjamin Bonavida, an immunology professor at the University of California - Los Angeles, discovered in 1997 that water with the biologically active IE crystals significantly increases the production of several components of the immune system - stimulating up to 100 times more biological activity than plain water. The implication, maintains Dana Ullman, director of Homeopathic Educational Services in Berkeley, California, is that homeopathic medicines work by creating IE crystals that stimulate the immune system."
The JC Whitney catalog is now carrying The Force, an Ie Crystal product for improving gas mileage.
"The FORCE(tm) MAXIMIZES FUEL BURN for More Power, Better Mileage, Greater Efficiency! The FORCE releases an airborne catalyst that supercharges the air coming into your gas or diesel engine. It treats the air, not the fuel.... Air treated with the FORCE(tm) cleans fuel injectors and the combustion chambers and eliminates carbon buildup on valves, rings, pistons, spark plugs. It's a 2-step engine performance system utilizing a powerful combustion catalyst encased in a porous nylon tube ... for best results use Formula One first.
"There's a chart which purports to show an 11% increase in horsepower at 3400 rpm, but oddly the curve seems to imply approximately 7% at the point labeled '11%,' and approx. 18% at about 2875 rpm, the point at which it drops off the scale. Extrapolating the 'before' curve correspondent with the 'after' curve would indicate even greater gains at lower rpms. What this amounts to is a very crudely fabricated graph with no truthful basis in factual data. Imagine arc segments of two radii with the same centerpoint."
Message-IDs:
<35e6b960.13269388@news.newsguy.com>
<MPG.104a38f31f0820ba98984c@nntp.lightlink.com>
Cable TV news station MSNBC aired an interview with Sky Dayton, in which he was asked about the Scientology origin of Earthlink.
"DON DAHLER--INTERVIEWER: It's public knowledge that you are a member of the Church of Scientology. Do you see any conflict with some of the practices of the church in regarding free speech on the Internet and the fact that you run one of the world's largest ISPs?
"SKY DAYTON: I mean, you know, I could be Jewish, I could be Catholic, Buddhist or atheist of whatever, you know. It's sort of irrelevant.
"DAHLER (outside Los Angeles Scientology church): Well, but if Sky Dayton were a Buddhist or a Catholic and the Catholic Church sued a competing Internet service provider over copyright infringement, it would still be an issue.
"DAYTON: The Netcom thing was, like, four years ago, and that's really water under the bridge.
"VOICEOVER: And except for some exuberant Internet chat rooms, that seems to be the consensus. Other than some early investors and advisers and a quote from Scientology's founder on Sky Dayton's personal web page, there is no evidence of church influence at Earthlink, no evidence of any breaches of privacy."
Message-ID:
<35e4a91b.16487089@news.primenet.com>
The Patriot Ledger in Quincy, Massachusetts carried an article this week on the Delphi Academy in Milton, MA.
"Hubbard's study technology is not religious in nature. But it is what makes Delphi Adademy different from any other school in the area. Study technology is an approach to education that revolves around Hubbard's belief that there are three barriers to learning: the absence of a physical object to study, attempting to master a skill without fully knowing the material, and the misunderstood word.
"In nearly every classroom there are examples of how students are navigated around these learning barriers. During a recent summer class, 7- and 8-year-old students sat quietly in Trish Rouelle's class reading. When a student came across a difficult or confusing word, Hubbard's third barrier to learning, she marched up to Rouelle, spread the book before her and asked for an explanation. Together Rouelle and the student would search through the dictionary for the word in question. Once it was defined, the student was asked to recite several sentences using the word.
"But that wasn't all. The young girl was uncertain about what the word rubbish meant, so she and Rouelle found it in the dictionary. And then Rouelle handed the student a pass and dispatched her to investigate whether trash cans in other classrooms had any rubbish in them. 'Kids here are studying for the purpose of learning information and how it applies to life, rather then remembering it for an exam,' said Ellen Garrison, a Scientologist and owner and headmistress of the school. 'I was introduced to study technology, and it helped and inspired me,' Garrison said. 'When I thought about how this could be used in an educational setting, it was very exciting.'
"There are seven Delphi schools in the United States. Milton's Delphi Academy is the only one in Massachusetts; the others are in Florida, Oregon and California. When it opened 18 years ago, Delphi Academy was required to meet a list of conditions established by the Milton School District. Tuition for the nearly 120 students who come from the North and South shore, is about $6,900 a year. Some of the students may be Scientologists, but the school is open to all faiths. Among the students there are Roman Catholics, Hindus, Muslims and Buddhists.
"The 22 teachers at Delphi Academy aren't necessarily Scientologists, either. Garrison said she doesn't ask her teachers about their religious affiliations. She said the academy considers itself a private, non-profit school with a curriculum based on Hubbard's study technology approach to learning.
"A student's education at the academy concludes with form six, or ninth grade. Each form has a 'program,' which is a list of abilities that a student must acquire before advancing. The form two graduation requirements in language for instance include having read 200 pleasure books, 50 required books, writing clearly with correct letter formation, and acquiring a listening and speaking vocabulary of 100 words in a foreign language. Students move through the program at their own pace and go on to the next level when they are ready. But not until they are 100 percent ready, because Hubbard believed the second barrier to learning is trying to grasp a skill without mastering the previous step."
Message-ID:
<362ad244.194294044@news.snafu.de>
The Vice President of the Totally Fun Company, an amusement park design firm, discussed the reasons for their company leaving Clearwater for Tampa, Florida in a letter to Clearwater mayor Rita Garvey.
"In short, the downtown area has taken on the look and feel of a military base. The presence of thousands of uniformed Scientologists and their 'security police' swarming the downtown area is not only oppressive to those of us who have to work here, but is especially disconcerting to our clients that come here to our offices to meet with us.
"We are thoroughly embarrassed by the look and feel of the downtown area when we receive visitors to our offices, when we are forced to explain this blatant para-military presence. It's simply an unacceptable climate in which to expose our clients. Now, with the announcement that this cult will be expanding its presence in downtown, bringing in untold thousands MORE, well, I suggest strongly that you revisit this situation and prevent, what we perceive to be, a death hold on this otherwise lovely community.
"Best Regards,
Patricia Greenway
VP Business Development"
Peter Alexander and Patricia Greenway also posted to a.r.s to explain their moves.
"As far as WISE goes, we still use some of the systems--like the comm system and CSW's as part of our business--but we stopped using the bulk of the system some time ago, particularly stats and conditions. I found that using the stats in an artistically driven business like ours actually detracted from the quality of our work. By measuring our 'success' in terms of Gross Income, we were falling into a trap of taking projects that offered short term profits without long term value.
"When I came on board here almost 2 years ago, TFC was a WISE affiliated and mostly LRH tech-run company with all employees attending mandatory courses at the Hubbard College. This was begun and then proliferated under the authority of Jolie Kanat, Peter's then wife, who was the force behind getting him into Scientology.
"When I started work here, I was required to take an 'efficiency course' at the Hubbard College. The material was common sensical with no religious overtones, so I didn't mind it. What I DID mind was that the course designed to last an entire day, was easy for me to complete in 3 hours. When I asked to have them sign me out, they started parading me through several people's offices to 'interview me'. With numerous complaints to these 'Stepford wife-style' instructors that I HAD to get back to the office, they finally signed off on me a full FOUR hours after I completed the course.
"I started refusing to allow employees to attend their required courses at the Hubbard College. And THEN, all of a sudden, the few that were still going over there were taught how to write a KR (knowledge report)--which is NOT part of the biz courses we'd bought for them. Of course the KR's were being written against ME and put in to my file at the request of Jolie Kanat (staying in comm from CA).
"The next major event was when Jolie Kanat filed for divorce from Peter in Nov. '96 and she had all the employees here start spying on Peter, sending doc's by fax to her and demanding info from them (including a copy of my personnel file). When I found out about it, I fired each and every one of them. Then, as Scientologists in good standing, Peter and his wife agreed to a WISE arbitration in lieu of an official legal divorce. What I witnessed while my boss and friend went through this grueling 'mediation' that consisted of locking him in a room with his wife and a WISE mediator, was the absolute end for me. Perhaps Peter will someday post what that was like for him, but I can assure you that 'applying conditions' and 5 straight days of 12-15 hours per day of brainwashing can hardly qualify as mediation.
"He came back and had his attorney file a petition to the court to modify his WISE mediated divorce settlement. Then he sent a letter to WISE saying that because of the damage that they had done, that he was seeking relief from the courts (i.e. the legal system) to overturn the settlement. WISE responded by telling him to stick to the agreement or be held in 'liability' and indicated the 'handling charges' he was incurring. Peter had our in-house attny contact 3 different 'orgs' to request a refund for money he had left on account. (He was adamant that he didn't want any more of his money to be used for harassment, spying and litigation) The OSA came to his high security condo attempting to get in one night at 10 PM. They were unsuccessful. The security guards at the condo monitored them as they parked across the street trying to reach Peter by phone.
"Peter and our in-house attorney went to see the Chaplain (Sergio Mara) to demand the refund money. He handed the matter over to Glen Stilo at OSA. Glen Stilo dragged his heels, so Peter posted to ARS requesting suggestions on alternative methods to obtain a refund. Each time Peter posted to ARS, he got a part of his refund back the very next day. The fax indicating each org's willingness to pay up was waiting on the fax machine the morning after each of his posts -- sometimes sent at 4 or 5 in the AM.
"With the last part of his refund, he received a visit from Mr. Stilo and a woman, who came to the TFC office to make Peter sign a release demanding that he never speak about the church. Peter, who, even though he had read everything about their tactics, was taken aback and totally flabbergasted at their blatant disregard for his civil rights. He abruptly asked them to leave and said that under no circumstances would he sign such a document."
Message-IDs:
<35e4862d.159936@news.newsguy.com>
<1998082718183100.OAA15228@ladder03.news.aol.com>
<1998082721082800.RAA21948@ladder01.news.aol.com>
Gerry Armstrong reported that there will be a hearing in his case against Scientology on September 2nd.
"There will be an *evidentiary hearing* in my Nevada Federal case September 2, 1998. Each side will have two hours to present evidence. Attorney Sandy Rosen is to be there for defendants RTC and CSI. Attorney George Abbott of Minden, Nevada will be there for me. Rosen has stated that Scientology intends to call me as a witness and perhaps Scientology covert agent Sheila Werner who ran the op on me in British Columbia and executed the false declaration concerning my residence. I hope some of you can make it."
Message-ID:
<1998082800304200.UAA02314@ladder03.news.aol.com>
Lawrence Wollersheim reported on Scientology's harassment of Jesse Prince, a former executive with RTC.
"Never in the 17 years since I have left Scientology have I seen such intense intimidation, psychological terrorism and covert operations brought to such an immediate fever pitch as with the Jesse Prince situation. Scientology has put Factnet, our attorneys, our directors and Jesse under a state of total siege. Jesse has had two death threats, a Factnet director one, a PI tried to set Jesse up with some type of paid call girl, and Jesse is followed day and night by one to two cars from the Temple security agency in Denver.
"The PI's stalking Jesse were driving so recklessly (40 miles an hour in reverse for approximately 200 yards) that they could have killed someone. We have had to call the police and the FBI numerous times to have them involved and monitoring the situation. Scientology and its attorneys are doing all this to use total psychological terrorism and induced fear for only one purpose, to intimidate a federal witness into silence."
Message-ID:
<35E83CBA.DB0BC04E@cybertours.com>
Keith Henson reported on his bankruptcy hearing this week. Keith has been bankrupted by a $75,000 judgment won against him by Scientology.
"I spent the morning being deposed in a 2004 creditors examine by Rosen who had flown out from New York for the occasion. RTC has spent more money on me since the trial than they can be expected to collect, but as we all know, the object is not economic but to destroy anyone who is a critic of scientology. My bankruptcy lawyer said he had never seen anything like it."
Message-ID:
<hkhensonEyFyxL.3uF@netcom.com>
Scientology foe Bob Minton reported that a friend and business partner was picketed this week by Scientologists.
"A group of picketers are picketing the offices of a friend of mine who had the temerity to make a positive statement about me in the 12/21/97 New York Times article about the fight with $cientology, are handing out the following flyer:
"'Robert Minton, A man with links to Turan Corporation's Robert Smith, has blatantly lied to the American public and media about our Church, its members, its goals and actions. We refuse to allow our religion to be smeared and maligned any longer.
"'Minton has held himself out on national television and to the press to be an upstanding citizen, but he is using his many millions of dollars to force his bigoted views onto our Church and its parishioners to 'reform it-'. He promotes an agenda of bigotry. Robert Smith, the head of Turan Corp., touted Minton as a 'Man of Principle' in a newspaper article. Yet, as we have explained, these principles include lying to the American public and media as well as a special amorous relationship with Stacy Young. Minton and Smith did business in Nigeria. Minton made a lot of his money, he says, by helping the country's dictatorial leadership to successfully default on multi-million dollar loans. While millions were siphoned off in 'commissions,' and lenders had to write off huge losses, the leaders of the country completely ignored the human suffering and misery of its citizens.'"
Message-ID:
<35e9def6.85629391@news.tiac.net>
Peter Moy reported a visit from Scientologists in their attempt to remove his Internet domain "scientology.to".
"Two $cientologists showed up at my door on Tues., Aug. 25th, to talk about scientology.to, and my objections with $cn. They were 2 women: Marie Marilla and a younger lady who didn't speak at all. I asked if I could tape our conversation, and was asked if they could have a copy. When I said not right away, they said no; I offered to speak with them at a time when _they_ had a recording device, and we settled on 1 PM this coming Sat., Aug. 29th, at a local coffee shop.
"So, I am inviting any and all ARSCC members and members-to-be to join in a friendly and peaceful meeting in north Orange Co. California with at least one non-public scn-er. My main goal here is soul saving, and I'm starting one soul (maybe two) at a time; also, I wouldn't mind having a friendly and knowledgeable witness."
Message-ID:
<35e6939e.1172861@nntp.ix.netcom.com>
Keith Henson continued his picket contest in San Jose, where Scientologists apparently plan to picket his home once for every picket Keith makes.
"About noon today two of them came by for a short (ten minutes) picket. I was helping a friend of mine with some carpentry which we had out on the sidewalk. They managed to be obnoxious enough to him, keeping him from using a power saw by crowding in too close that he called the cops. By the time the cops got here the clams were long split. I noticed they have not taken my advice about how to do decent picket signs, you cannot read their signs from more then about 5 feet away.
"Not wanting them to get ahead, I put in a ten minute picket late in the afternoon at the Palo Alto mission."
"20 minutes, 4:50-5:10 pm. 25 cars, the least I can remember seeing on a Monday at this time. Little in or out traffic, no interactions with the scns. I did cost them a couple I think. Black couple in a nice car drove up as I was leaving. The stopped a long time at the corner reading both sides of my sign, then nodded and drove away. No counter picket this evening, at least not any I saw. I am now up seven pickets on them.
"San Jose picket 4:20-5:20, 25 cars when I got there, at 5 PM there were about 28, net of 3, in and out perhaps ten. I was using my new sign that has the OT8 cog (for the scn side) and 'space cooties' for the public side.
"About 5 PM a red head dude name of John M went off to body route over on First. I turned north on First to see where he was working and by golly he had raw meat in tow. I rolled the window down and yelled 'It's a cult, don't go in.' I started walking toward them and when I got well within reading distance started back showing the other side of my sign (the $360k side). Looked back after going about 50 feet and saw that the guy had decided not to go along and John was chasing him down Rosemary. On my way out to the freeway I saw a rather forlorn looking body router on the corner at Rosemary and First.
"When I got home at about 6 PM, there were two picketer at my place. I jumped out and found that they were not staffers, just regular members who know next to nothing about the criminal activities of CoS. After about 40 minutes (I kept them there longer than they intended and one had left) a *reporter* from the local paper with a camera came by. There were some seriously nonplused clams, they were not expecting this, but to cut and run would have looked *awful.* Now two of them can expect to have their mugs in the local paper with a nice story."
From the Palo Alto Weekly:
"[Photo of the two guys] Two Church of Scientology members picket in front of the Palo Alto home of Keith Henson yesterday in protest of his protest of their church. Henson disagrees on the church's teaching, and the church members say his is trying to stifle their religious freedom. The protesters did not give their full names saying they feared that Henson would embarrass them over the Internet."
Deana Holmes picketed the Salt Lake City org and was the subject of a Scientology revenge picket.
"Got to the org just before 5:30 pm, parked just down the street and pulled my sign out of the trunk. Lots of cars; No flyers handed out (this is a busy street, only two people walked by); One car ack; Lots of car stares at Lisa sign. The inmates of the org noticed me right away. One guy was sweeping ut the lobby, and it was sure amazing to see three more people suddenly materialize to help this guy sweep. I guess it was to keep an eye on the picketer (me)."
"There were four women from the bOrg picketing my home, with a fifth woman (actually a teenager aged 14 or 15) handing out leaflets to all and sundry. I pulled into the driveway, shouted something unintelligible at the picketers, tore into the house, and found my camera which very nicely still had film in it. I then dashed out again and began taking pictures and talking to the picketers. I began telling them very loudly about Lisa McPherson. This in turn attracted my neighbors, all of whom seem to know about the criminal cult.
"I hopped back into my car, arriving at the bOrg at approximately 5:54 p.m. I parked on the Ramona St. side of the bOrg and got my sign out. I picketed them around until approximately 6:12 pm. I told one pedestrian with a dog that I was picketing because I was 'telling the truth and they [pointing] are selling lies.' One thing that I noticed that had changed from yesterday was the presence of two Sea bOrg women in their uniforms in the lobby of the 'Church'. I have been told that Sea bOrg does not usually show up at a Class V org, so it has occurred to me that they may have shown up to handle *me*."
Ted Mayett picketed Las Vegas again this week.
"Arrived at the little org at 12:20pm, vehicle count was 1. So I did a few laps and suddenly felt rather stupid picketing a business with only one vehicle parked there. Started at the big org at 12:40pm, vehicles 12. Carried my NOTs with me, left at 1:05pm, uneventful."
"Wulfen" posted to report on the picket in Toronto this week.
"The complement when I left was five, all busily enturbulating the theta of the passers-by with invalid processes (uh, oops). Flyers were the usual Xenu/Canadian crimes/Greek ban, with added URLs. We had our pictures taken, for the first time in several pickets. Across the road, a guy was leaning against the corner of the hairdressers shop and taking pictures. I pointed him out to the other picketers and he left.
"A body router near the Hubbard Dianetics Foundation end of the Org was playing the usual games, trying to route passers-by away from whoever was there giving away flyers. I stepped to the other side of the sidewalk, problem solved."
"Bloody Viking" reported on a picket in Chicago this week.
"Having no signs yet, we went into stores in the area to pass out leaflets. Many of the people in the stores are already aware of the creepy nature of the cult. In one jewelry shop, the jeweler told us that clams live upstairs from the shop and gladly took the leaflet.
"At the outset, there was a clam by one of the area's restaurant, and she was camera-shy when I aimed my Eternal Battery Driven Camcorder at her. She and her friend ducked around a corner when shot with the camera."
Grady Ward and "Taniwha" reported on a picket in San Francisco.
"We started picketing at the Org on McAllister about 11 A.M. More picketers joined. We had Bob Minton, Stacy Young, Grady Ward, jour0, phr, taniwha, xmudder, and Keith Henson. The cult response was more muted than it had been in the past. While once they had stolen flyers from passerbys, now after an hour they sent two people (publics, not OSA) to distribute the same DA pack on Bob as they had in Boston. The publics actually smiled, so they must not be in too deep in scientology yet.
"The best response seemed to be the cult picketer who left with a picket sign to apparently counterpicket, not at the org, but probably back at Bob's hotel on Nob Hill. I doubt this was very effective because the people at the Mark Hopkins could probably care less about the 'crimes' of Robert S. Minton and even if they did care, the picketing merely raised him in status to the heads of state who also attract their normal retinue of picketers and sloganeers.
"I started a new mode of 'verbal tech' by bellowing out my simple appraisals of the criminal cult: 'scientology killed lisa mcpherson,' 'scientology is a cult of death' and so on. People in their cars waiting for busses and presumably auditing in the cult org itself were treated to these moral catcalls. People came out of their way to get out flyers. People honked their horns in support. The cult did not quite know how to handle this new tech."
"We got the usual comments from passersby - I heard 'it's about time someone was doing this' and of course the ever popular 'fuck scientology'. The funniest thing we had to deal with was the wonderful new Co$ video camera tech ... we had this guy who was in everyone's face with a video camera - after a while someone tactfully pointed out to him that the little red light wasn't on and that it was obvious to us that his battery was flat and he was pretending. His face fell. At this point he took it back inside only to return with - an extension cord - sadly, apparently no one in the org had been hatted for the extension cord tech - it took them about 1/2 an hour to get the cord to work - and even then it was a bit difficult following someone who's walking up and down picketing when you're tied to the org by a heavy wire.
"About this time we saw someone coming back from the xerox shop with the DA fliers about Bob .... (thus proving we'd caught them completely unprepared - hah!) - at this point we got a few leafletters out targeting the people we gave leaflets to."
From Bruce Pettycrew in Mesa, Arizona:
"I picketed from 9:00 to 10:00 AM, temperature only about 103, dew point 60 degrees. There were only two cars in the lot when I arrived, and only two more showed up in the hour. Scientology is expanding - expect a cleared planet about the same time from now as Xenu is in the past."
From Kristi Wachter, formerly known as "Jour", on a picket in Los Angeles:
"Suppressives: Zinjifar and me Date/Time: 8/26/98, about 11:45 am - 12:30 pm Tools: sign, disposable camera, tape recorder, bag-o-suckers Foot Traffic: Heavy on Hollywood, non-existent at CC Street Traffic: Heavy on Hollywood, light at CC Scn Response: Handly, lying?, following in traffic, waste of taxpayer money
"It seemed a good occasion to break out my brand new 'mint/breaking-the-law' flier. On one side, it says: $CIENTOLOGY COSTS A MINT! $CIENTOLOGY COSTS OVER $400,000! with subpoints: WHY DOES IT COST SO MUCH? DOES $CIENTOLOGY LIE ABOUT THE COST OF AUDITING? WHERE DOES ALL THE MONEY GO? DO $CIENTOLOGY EMPLOYEES MAKE A LOT OF MONEY? BUT THEY GIVE REFUNDS, RIGHT? and, on the other side: IS $CIENTOLOGY BREAKING THE LAW? THERE'S EVIDENCE THEY ARE.
"As we passed people, I said, 'I think $cientology's breaking the law. Would you like to know more?' Since this is in a crowded tourist area, I managed to give away all 20 mint/law fliers in just a few minutes. Our first handler, a well-built, stocky gentleman with whitish, short-cropped hair, stuck more with Zinj than with me. Right when we arrived, he asked if we were planning to be there long, and we said no - although I asked if he'd like us to stay a long time, to help bring in new recruits.
"One couple took my flier and asked in broken English for more information. The lady said, 'We're Argentine,' and I got to practice my Spanish on them. I was able to communicate the gist of Lisa's story, my concern with $cn policies on false imprisonment, and their total opposition to psychiatry. The gentleman, a neurologist, told me about a case in Argentina regarding a woman who delayed medical treatment because of her involvement with a cult. I thanked them for their interest and they thanked me profusely for picketing. 'Sigue, sigue!' said the lady - 'keep it up.'
"I got a handler of my very own. She was VERY unhappy - definitely hostile - and her comments to me verged on ranting. She said that I was interfering with her religious freedom; I told her I respected her right to her beliefs but not $cn's history of locking people up. I let her rant for a bit and kept handing out fliers. She told me a couple of times that I was out of control. Finally, she said, 'You're going to have to leave.' Well, I was chagrined, because Zinj and I had already decided to leave, so I told her we were leaving but not because she asked us to.
"We hit the road en route to our next picketing spot, and lo and behold, the security gentleman followed us through the streets, sitting right on our tail. We lost him in traffic, drove around a bit, and ended up at Celebrity Centre. When we got back to the car, our follower had illegally parked in front of our vehicle, in an apparent attempt to block our departure. We decided to call it a day and managed to make it out of the parking space. Our dedicated follower tailed us again, but after a few minutes we lost him.
"After the long drive north, I arrived home to learn that a couple of representatives from $cn San Francisco had picketed the apartment building where I live."
Message-IDs:
<hkhensonEy67Ey.Hn7@netcom.com>
<hkhensonEy85Gq.CtB@netcom.com>
<hkhensonEyC1qC.5nG@netcom.com>
<hkhensonEyDxIv.Fzx@netcom.com>
<35e6fdb7.91312803@enews.newsguy.com>
<35e74cc9.75622423@enews.newsguy.com>
<35e8648b.465636@enews.newsguy.com>
<6s9hej$240$1@nnrp1.dejanews.com>
<6sa1bs$j17$1@hirame.wwa.com>
<35e8887b.4053463@news.newsguy.com>
<6sa711$skc$2@nnrp02.primenet.com>
<humanrights-2908981826140001@racer.vip.best.com>
<35E8EF6E.59318D2D@taniwha.com>