Presenting Rod Keller's
Alt.religion.scientology Week in Review

Volume 5, Issue 15 - July 23 2000


Lisa McPherson Trust

The Lisa McPherson Trust issued a press release this week on the visit of Ursula Caberta to Clearwater for a press conference. "The Lisa McPherson Trust will host a reception and press conference for Ursula Caberta, head of the Task Force on Scientology of the Hamburg, Germany, government, at 10 a.m. on July 25, at the LMT offices located at 33 N. Ft. Harrison Ave. in Clearwater. Mrs. Caberta will discuss recent revelations that German Scientologist Antje Victore submitted fraudulent documents to a Tampa, Florida, judge to obtain political asylum in the United States. Mrs. Caberta will highlight the activities of her task force and the harassment to which she has been subjected at the hands of the Scientology organization in Germany. "Mrs. Caberta will also discuss the case of a German former Scientologist who has brought suit against Scientology in Clearwater, Berlin and Copenhagen for lost wages and imprisonment. The suit claims he was held prisoner for two weeks in a six-foot square, windowless room in Clearwater, and that he was subjected to 'psychological torture.' A live audio stream will be available on the LMT website, http://www.lisatrust.net, during the conference." Message-ID: s0j6nsk7r2o3ed18vcb1igejrhddoappfs@4ax.com

Clearwater

From the letters to the editors of the St. Petersburg Times on July 19th: "The shortsighted and ignorant majority of Clearwater voters has spoken. The proposed redevelopment of downtown may not have been the best possible plan, but it would have given the city a chance to revive itself and become known for something other than roundabouts, voters who like living in a place that is dying, a deteriorating downtown. Downtown Clearwater's crown jewels are Scientology and the ever posh Stein Mart, in that huge, ugly 1960s building with an ugly, treeless parking lot on what should be the most valuable property in the area. I would like to congratulate all of you who have essentially buried Clearwater by voting no. You saved the city from a reviving shot of life. -- Fred Bollaci, East Lake" The St. Petersburg Times published an article on July 23rd on the Rolling Stones song Satisfaction, written during a stay at the Fort Harrison Hotel. "Thirty-five summers ago, (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction, possibly the greatest rock 'n' roll song of all time, was written here. The Rolling Stones had played to an estimated 3,000 teenagers at Jack Russell Stadium. They got in only four songs before the crowd turned rowdy and the police stepped in, ending the show and hustling the Stones away. That night, Keith Richards awoke in his room at the Jack Tar Harrison Hotel (today it's the Fort Harrison) with Satisfaction's opening guitar riff in his head. "Who 'can't get no' in Clearwater? Start with the city's civic boosters, who are still grumbling nearly two weeks after voters rejected their $300-million plan for the downtown waterfront. Voters said no; they didn't trust their city government. No satisfaction there. Much of their ire has been directed at Mike Roberto, the progressive-minded city manager who clearly has no job satisfaction. Downtown's biggest property owner, the Church of Scientology, can't buy any satisfaction, having spent millions on its legal defense. Cleared last month in a criminal case over the 1995 death of one of its members, the church still faces a nasty lawsuit from the member's family. "The hotel's place in rock 'n' roll history also was news to the Church of Scientology, which bought the building in 1975, after the name changed to the Fort Harrison Hotel. One of the first Scientologists in Clearwater was Mike Rinder, now a church spokesman, who says he never knew." Clearwater city manager Mike Roberto left this week with a big severance package. From the St. Petersburg Times on July 23rd: "In the hot meeting room at Clearwater City Hall on Thursday night, the standing-room-only crowd was more emotional about the issues of Scientology and long-term rentals of condominiums than about City Manager Mike Roberto's possible departure. Television news crews stood around the fringes of the room, thwarted in their effort to find drama worth recording. "'Mayor, I'd like to make a motion,' Commissioner J.B. Johnson intoned about three hours into the meeting, opening discussion of whether to accept Roberto's resignation. Exactly five minutes later, it was all over. A unanimous vote to accept the resignation, effective July 24 rather than Aug. 4 as Roberto had requested. A unanimous vote to give him most of the severance package he wanted. "Residents who feel shut out and abused by their city government now have city commissioners in their sights. Some are even urging them to resign before their terms end. A new wave of hostility toward the Church of Scientology seems to be washing over the community." From the Times on July 19th: "The proposed severance package, which Roberto either faxed or hand-delivered to each commission member Tuesday, asks for a year's salary, $18,200 in other benefits and a year's health insurance coverage. He also asks to keep a city handheld computer and fax machine. But under his current contract, a voluntary resignation entitles him to zero dollars in severance pay." From the St. Petersburg Times on July 20th: "Commissioners said they favor making Assistant City Manager Bill Horne, a retired Air Force colonel with an easygoing style, their interim city manager until a successor can be found for Roberto. Horne said he is willing to do it. 'This is a hell of a job,' Horne said. 'This is a difficult community to govern. I'm not a politician. But I can listen to what people are saying, and I definitely believe I can support my bosses.'" Message-ID: 8l445d$mgj@netaxs.com Message-ID: 8lfltu$14a@netaxs.com Message-ID: 8lfm1p$14a@netaxs.com Message-ID: pngd5.17479$8m.102111@typhoon.tampabay.rr.com Message-ID: 8l6pbh$1k0@netaxs.com

France

The Associated Press reported on July 21st that an investigation has been opened into files that disappeared from a French court during the trial of several Scientologists for fraud. "Prosecutors opened an investigation Friday into the disappearance of hundreds of documents that were to be used as evidence in a case against Church of Scientology members, judicial officials said. The dossiers, which disappeared in 1998 from the Justice Ministry, were part of a case opened in 1990 against 16 regional Scientology leaders for alleged fraud, illegal practice of medicine and premeditated violence. The case stemmed from a complaint by a former Scientologist, Juan Esteban Cordero, who accused the Church of Scientology of 'progressive mental conditioning' that led him to spend more than $177,000 on Scientology-related courses." Message-ID: 8lbg8v$n70$1@nnrp1.deja.com

Germany

Scientology critic Renate Hartwig has written a novel on the dangers of cults. From Suedwest Presse on July 19th: "Ulm Scientology critic Renate Hartwig wrote the novel Dangerous Curiosity. As an author, her non-fiction books have sold more than a million copies. In the past ten years she has been involved to a great extent in covering the practices of the controversial Scientology organization and is widely sought after by private individuals and companies who have problems with the organization. "On 167 suspenseful pages her readers can learn how an 'Organization for Applied Philosophy' recruits members among 16-year-old Anna's fellow students - and how the young people defend themselves. All German ninth-graders can read 'Gefaehrliche Neugier' - at no charge. This nationwide operation is to be financed by corporations who are part of Engagierte Unternehmer liefern Einblicke." "Even though the name 'Scientology' appears nowhere in 'Dangerous Curiosity,' even if the forward states that all persons and the plot are sheer fabrication: the way the OfAP is organized, how it recruits new members, its system of informants and the secret goings-on are strongly reminiscent of Scientology, an organization about which Renate Hartwig has been warning people for the past ten years. Why not call a spade a spade? 'Because it is not just about Scientology,' said the author. 'In the meantime there are a great deal of these psycho-groups which operate in a similar way and are exactly as dangerous,' she said." Stuttgarter Nachrichten reported on July 21st that Scientology will be able to resume advertising, despite the recent case of a Scientologist striking a girl during a recruitment campaign. "Executive Mayor Wolfgang Schuster currently thinks further legal proceedings against public recruitment campaigns by Scientology is 'not called for.' That can be gathered from his position on an inquiry which had been directed to the executive mayor by city councilman Andreas Reissig. In his inquiry, Reissig had asked the city administration, after a female student was attacked by a Scientology member, whether a so-called special-use clause could not be applied to a part of the controversial organization's public advertising. As far as Andreas Reissig is concerned: 'In the unanimous opinions of all parties, Scientology is an enterprise with totalitarian ideology and is primarily active in the area of white-collar crime,' countered the city councilman, 'and I call the executive mayor's position negligent, irresponsible and innocently wide-eyed.' Meanwhile, charges have been filed against the Scientologist who is said to have struck a girl during a recruitment campaign on the 'Kleinen Schlossplatz.'" Hamburger Abendblatt reported on July 21st that Scientology can go forward with an exhibit in Hamburg later this month. "The exhibition planned by the Scientologists about the 'Life and Work' of their founder L. Ron Hubbard in the state-owned 'Bieberhaus' starting July 25 cannot be prohibited. That is according to Holger Koester, board member of the state-owned Sprinkenhof AG, which manages the Bieberhaus. The exhibition is actually taking place in the 'Broadway' movie theater which is located in the Bieberhaus and which is leased to an operator. The operator is using the exhibition to advertise for a movie with John Travolta based on a Hubbard novel." From taz on July 20st: "'Complete non-comprehension' was expressed by the Regenbogen Gruppe about Scientology being able to hold an exhibition on its founder, L. Ron Hubbard, this coming Tuesday in the municipal 'Bieberhaus.' Representative Susanne Uhl had submitted a minor inquiry because of it. She wrote that it was 'not acceptable that a city building be used to recruit for Hubbard's cynical ethics.' She said it was absurd that the exhibition would be presented in the building in which the Interior Agency's Work Group on Scientology had met until 1999. The 'Bieberhaus' on Hachmann Square is managed by the city's Sprinkenhof real estate management." Message-ID: Pine.LNX.3.96.1000719170241.116A-100000@darkstar.zippy Message-ID: Pine.LNX.3.96.1000719170319.116B-100000@darkstar.zippy Message-ID: Pine.LNX.3.96.1000722073218.120A-100000@darkstar.zippy Message-ID: Pine.LNX.3.96.1000722073252.120B-100000@darkstar.zippy Message-ID: Pine.LNX.3.96.1000722073314.120C-100000@darkstar.zippy

Lermanet

A review of Lermanet.com appeared this week on www.no-bullshit.co.uk. "Arnaldo (a former Scientologist himself may I add) has gathered together a plethora of articles by ex-scientologists and experts alike to try and present to the general public (and from what I can gather current scientologists) the reasons why this 'cult' exists and how dangerous it can/is to members old and new. From what he believes to be the original source material that L. Ron Hubbard used to form his Scientology/Dianetics theory through to legal cases concerning fraud and harassment and full histories on the main protagonists, this site is a resource as well as a warning sign to anyone who has this romanticized view of this 'organisation' read and be aware. This site could not only save your bank balance from all accounts it may even save your life." Message-ID: 8lfllp$16e0@edrn.newsguy.com http://www.no-bullshit.co.uk/thisweek/3.html

Lisa McPherson

A judge has released the remaining autopsy photos of Lisa McPherson to the public. From the St. Petersburg Times on July 21st: "The church's last-minute attempt to keep the photos sealed was denied by the Second District Court of Appeal and they were given to media outlets Thursday afternoon. They also were made available for public inspection at the Circuit Court Clerk's Office in Clearwater and at the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office. Two of the 40 photos will accompany this story on the newspaper's Internet site and users first get a warning of what's to come. "Bob Minton, head of a Scientology watchdog group in Clearwater, said he had no plans to publish the photos on the Internet, but expected others would. The photos show a woman who is thin, but not skeletal. They show a large black bruise on her lower left thigh and a number of abrasions on her hands, arms, legs and feet. They also show large areas of her body that are purple -- areas that lay people might interpret as bruises but in fact are places where a lack of circulation has caused blood to settle. Tampa lawyer Ken Dandar, who represents McPherson's family in the lawsuit, said the leg bruise couldn't have caused the blood clot because his medical experts say it was too fresh." From the Times website: "This photo shows McPherson's upper right arm, which is so thin it is narrower than the elbow. Scientology's records of McPherson's care show that church staffers had trouble feeding her while she was in the throes of a severe mental breakdown. Michael M. Baden, a nationally known pathologist hired by Scientology, says of the photo: 'It absolutely is not evidence of malnutrition.' "The cause of a dark bruise on Lisa McPherson's left thigh, just above the knee, has been hotly debated. The Church of Scientology has hired an auto reconstruction expert who says the bruise likely was caused by a minor traffic accident just before McPherson came under the care of church staffers at Scientology's Fort Harrison Hotel. The consultant says the force of the accident would have pushed McPherson's left leg against the driver's side handle of her 1993 Jeep Cherokee. Prosecutors and the lawyer for McPherson's family say this scenario is unlikely. They say the more likely cause of her death was dehydration." From the Tampa Tribune on July 21st: "The struggle over the Lisa McPherson autopsy evidence is over. Pasco-Pinellas Circuit Judge Crockett Farnell ruled Thursday that the autopsy photographs are a public record now that criminal charges of practicing medicine without a license and abuse of a disabled person have been dropped against the Church of Scientology. Church official Mike Rinder said that in addition to the concern that potential jurors in the civil case could be tainted by viewing the pictures, the church does not want to see such personal photographs of a member posted on the Internet and plastered on protest signs by church critics." Message-ID: 8l9gmm$eel@netaxs.com Message-ID: 8l9gpf$eel@netaxs.com Message-ID: 8l9hi9$eel@netaxs.com

Operation Clambake

Operation Clambake was the subject of an article in the the New Straits Times in Malaysia on July 20th. "Operation Clambake at http://www.xenu.net is a fantastic source of information for anyone interested in the Scientology cult. This cult which has been banned from recruiting members in various countries relies on a mixture of brainwashing and legal intimidation to milk members of money. This group is distinguished here because on October 23, 1996, the law firm which has represented the Church of Scientology for years purchased the logo and license agreement of the Cult Awareness Network. AFF warns that any publications or communications using the CAN name or logo after October 23 (1996) should not be regarded as emanating from or having the approval of the CAN personnel or officers who were associated with CAN before October 23, 1996." Message-ID: 8l946k$15mv@drn.newsguy.com

Hold Music

The Los Angeles Times published an article on July 14th on the music used while callers are on hold at Los Angeles institutions. "The music that plays when someone is put on hold can largely shape your perception of who you're calling. And the music of most phone hold systems, calls to several phone companies has confirmed, are programmed by the individual business. Over at the Hollywood headquarters of the Church of Scientology on Sunset Boulevard the hold music is composed and performed by church members, according to a church representative. Sounding like a new-age commercial jingle, compositions include Scientology-inspired lyrics like, 'The right place to be, is to be, if you want to be in pain, let others into your brain.'" Message-ID: 8l1g1d$obu@netaxs.com

Nigeria

Bob Minton reported developments in Scientology's campaign to discredit him for business dealings in Nigeria in the 1980s. "From the very beginning of Scientology's operation to destroy, discredit and jail me, OPEC's Rilwanu Lukman, a long term Scientologists, has been the key Scientology operative/facilitator on the Nigeria side of the equation. There is no doubt that Lukman, with his Scientology handlers hand-picked John Fashanu to be their boy for the frontal assault on me The Scientology PI, David Lee/Lebow, using the alias of Robert Clarke, did the infamous Fashanu Report and wiretapped Fashanu to be sure of his loyalties. Lee recently played an audio tape in Washington D.C. of Fashanu talking on the phone with a Nigerian Senator discussing how they were going to blackmail some Nigerians whose names and offshore account details had been uncovered by David Lee. "Fashanu can't get out of the Scientology blackmail trap. There's no where Fashanu can go to extricate himself from this quagmire. Lukman has been peeping out from behind the Scientology mask. In June he personally arranged for the Nigerian president Obasanju, during a state visit to Switzerland, to meet with David Lee to hear the Scientology spin on the Fashanu report." From the Nigerian newspaper Vanguard on July 16th: "One person whose role have been x-rayed maximally in recent times is that of the successful US professional banker, Mr. Bob Minton. His role was recently further celebrated by the announced 'discoveries' of former footballer, John Fashanu, of some assumed debt buy back transaction carried out in the former President Ibrahim Babangida regime with Minton as a principal beneficiary. "In his own published records, Minton said the initial plan of his group was to make profits of approximately 1 per cent of the value of re-purchased Nigerian debt, and by the close of 1993, they had collected '1.1 billion dollars of CBN Promissory Notes and approximately 3 billion dollars of Nigerian Bank debt. These were external debts of foreign currency of banks all over the world such as Barclays, Standard, Chartered Bank, etc.' How also could our top rate investigators ignore the Minton's revelation that $4.5 billion of debt was bought back for the country with the average price of that debt being 34 cents on the dollar? It is also remarkable that Minton's insistence that the transaction was good for Nigeria has not been publicly refuted by any concerned government official or even Fashanu himself. "I believe this because Fashanu has not responded satisfactorily to charges that he is being used by the Church of Scientology, an organisation that considers Minton to be their greatest enemy. It is said that he could not have done the so-called investigation on his own, while his investigator is allegedly a full time worker for Scientology. What is his response to the position that he was given the report to discredit Minton as an effective critic of Scientology in USA, Europe, France and Germany? Minton has been quoted undisputedly as saying: 'This is a vendetta on Scientology's part against me and they are using Fashanu and Nigeria as a tool to beat me on the head with the clock and that is the bottom line.' The investigator, Robert Clark for Fashanu goes by two other different names i.e. David Lee and David Laubach. With this explanation therefore, why should a whole government get involved in mudslinging? "Persons with ulterior motive should not be accommodated in the bid to tarnish the image of this man - a bid that cannot succeed, given the usual triumph of good over evil, of truth over falsehood and of righteousness over unrighteousness. Nigerian government should more significantly not be brought into the smear campaign. Let's leave Minton, a man who closed business with Nigeria early 1993, before the dark days of Abacha, alone." Message-ID: qd18nsgps8u3enrcf9psf5abdi6f63dmdr@4ax.com Message-ID: rsr7ns8ibem0bdjjfio3qmjrprc8jool0u@4ax.com

Norway

Andreas Heldal-Lund reported on recent orders given at the Oslo, Norway org. "Last month CoS in Oslo, Norway sent out letters calling in all public Scientologists. The Oslo 'org' is now under direct command of SeaOrg to help Oslo expand to St Hill size. Publics had to come in to get interviewed. A lot of pressure from Sea Org staff there this summer, to get people on staff. Someone from SeaOrg found what caused the Oslo 'org' not to grow; all LRH the material was in English! Now they are working hard to translate everything and a lot is already finished. Still, no growth yet for the Oslo 'org'. The letter also said that they were going to send 10 people to Flag for auditor training. They've tried this before and then only one went." Message-ID: 4309nsgntu0boc0gl2aknu058rjon901t2@4ax.com

Protest / Revenge Summary

Keith Henson continued his protests at Scientology's Gold Base near Hemet, California this week, and also reported revenge efforts against him and his family. "This morning I found out that the Palo Alto police consider this picketing business enough of a problem that they have assigned an officer with the specific task of monitoring the situation. The clams had another bunch of PIs camped out in the neighborhood, and the neighbors had complained. Before the recent pickets and PIs, I didn't know too many people in the neighborhood. But recently it seems that just about everyone for several blocks knows I am a target for Scientology." I came down to Hemet yesterday, but the press of other entheta (and the heat) kept me from getting in a picket. I suspect they were seriously disrupted anyway, just from the nearby presence of an SP. "This morning I was out at 6:40 for an hour and came back about 9 for another 45 minutes. No thugs following me this morning. They took the black plastic off the tree planters and the 40 plants in two gallon cans stacked around the trees over the east underpass are dead or dying. "I have become so used to the west underpass not being used that I was not even looking at the stairs which go up the hill to the north of the road as I walked by. An older, grey haired woman called out to me. And when I looked that direction she said I should not be there." "The neighbors have been watching the PIs who are watching Ida's place (where I stay in Hemet). We were out switching some cars around in the driveway and I decided to go check out the PIs and give them a Xenu flyer. I wound up behind one of them and they tried to get away. They tried the trick of going around a corner and pulling into a driveway hoping I would lose them. They finally went north on Kerby and hit a dip so fast that their heads must have banged the roof of the car. I got their license number, California 4LHP 287, in the Walmart parking lot then let them go." "Got out to gold base again around 5 pm. Richardson and thug 2 were doing the usual provocations to get me to take a swing at one of them, and complaining about my taping them. I told them that if they talked, they were going on tape. I was starting on my second or third round and was near my car which I had parked just beyond the east overpass when a Sheriff Deputy by the name of Rowe pulled up. He jumped out and put cuffs on me. Richardson and thug 2 started bitching to him about me taping them when he blew them off by saying they had no expectation of privacy out on a public road, and to stuff it. "Rowe arrested me as a citizen's arrest on the say so of someone in scientology. That puts all legal risk on the one who has asked the deputy to arrest. And get what for - ICBM and cruise missile threats against Scientology! You remember that posting where I said modern missiles are more accurate than someone else posted about? "Since Scientology was actually doing the arresting, I would have to be taken over to Riverside, 30-40 miles away and booked. This generated a problem because I take a serious mix of drugs to hold down my blood pressure. About the time the paramedics said I really should not just be transported directly to jail, but should stop by a medical facility first, something had come unglued with the scns refusing to sign the citizen's arrest papers. This left the county with all the false arrest liability, not to mention who would get sued if anything happened to me while in custody. So I was 'unarrested' and stuffed in an ambulance to be checked out at the nearest open emergency ward." "After a short night I was out again at 7 am. I got thugs again and taped them. They kept up an intermittent chatter while I said only one sentence. Thug 2 was more active today, getting in front of me and slowing so much that I had to step out in the road to get by him. They also tried to block me taking photos of the largely empty plaza. I can tell when I am way to the east of the plaza that there are lots of people crossing the plaza and going into the underpass. But when I get there, very few people can be seen on either side of the road. I suspect they are huddling in the underpass till they get the all clear signal that I have moved on. "The rental car company I have been using put me on the refuse to rent to list. Every time I rented they got several phone calls asking about me, last time a woman came in asking about me, sometimes people call up claiming to be me who are not, and the Ontario police called. Records at the police dept in Ontario have no records with my name, so they were scammed by the scientologists." "I got out to gold base at 7. I got my thugs again, with slightly modified abuse today. I went back to Ida's to stash signs Just across Stetson two of the PIs were talking from one car to another. The one in the gold car with no license responded in a friendly way, but the other one in a white car was either a clam or really sick of being roasted in the heat. I got a comment that I should go back home. I asked if he worked for XXXX since that was the last license which came up. He was not pleased to be asked such a question and claimed not to be working for anyone. I got his license, Cal 2ZDA834. He pulled along side me and informed me that if I ran his plate it would come back police, so 'quit bugging me.' I was surprised by such a claim, so I said 'You with the police?' Too which he replied 'Yeah, now knock this shit off, quit bugging me.' To which I replied, 'Which police? Which police are you with? He made some comment about showing me his badge and a threat about running his license. "At least three of them followed me over to Ontario to the airport where I picked up my wife and daughter. My daughter is going to a nearby college this fall, and we were going there to discuss the hard-to-believe threats against her with the university administration. We called them as we were turning onto the campus. I managed to get one of the PIs tangled up on a narrow road and the campus security trapped him there. Edwin Richardson was in the other car which came by to bail the first one out of this jam. The campus security called the Redlands cops and a number of them responded. The hoorah sure solved our problem of getting the university people to believe our mad story about being hassled by the evil cult and the threat Rosen made against our daughter. The administration got a phone call within ten minutes of the confrontation with campus security asking if my daughter was enrolled there. The University does not give out such information, so the only thing the phone call confirmed was the ugly nature of the cult of scientology." "Brent Stone and I got out there about 7:30. All four of the buses were out picking up staff who had to work on Sunday. We walked apart a ways, Richardson went with Brent and thug 2 stayed with me. As usual I told him he on tape and he told me 'you do not have my permission to record my voice and it is illegal to record my voice in the state of California.' to which I replied 'You are in a public place and have no expectation of privacy.' Richardson's patter include 'what kind of drugs are you on?' and one about having hurt people and deserving to be in jail. He said this near the little memorial for Ashlee Shaner for a heavy dose of irony. "Thug 2 blocked me and forced me to walk out in the street to get around him, I called the sheriff's Dept. about this behavior. Eventually two deputies pulled up to the main gate. I told them that I didn't want thug 2 slowing down and forcing me into the roadway to get around him. They said this call would generate an incident report, warned thug 2 about blocking and left." Bruce Pettycrew protested at the Mesa, Arizona org this week. "We picketed from 8:45 to 9:45 this AM. The temperature was in the high 90's and it was muggy with monsoon moisture. The Borg and the front sign had been repainted recently, all white (the base of the sign had been yellow but is now white like the main building). Only 5 adults and an infant arrived for class/auditing today." "Barb" and David Rice distributed flyers in San Diego this week. "Signs: Scientology, $360,000 Space Alien Cult. Scientology Says You're Covered With Dead Space Cooties!!! Flyers: Xenu, scientology's Secret Space-Alien; Flyers distributed: 22. "I've been toying with the idea of a stealth picket for a while now. Yesterday, Shydavid and I took the idea for a test drive. There's a little Happy Hour street fest, with a live band and a beer garden. Clad in cunningly matched 'Scientology Kills' T-shirts, hit the street with great stealth. We settled in the patio outside at the Blarney Stone. We gave out a few flyers at the Blarney Stone before casting off to troll other waters at the patio of Patrick's II. We had a small problem there, the bartender didn't want our signs facing the street. One guy said, 'Scientology! They suck!' Turns out he lives across the street from the org! He took a flyer, perhaps he'll share it with his neighbors!" "It's amazing how saying 'I'm -NOT- a Scientologist!' seems to make people gush with kindness and warmth and friendliness. It's almost as if Scientology had a bad reputation around here. We passed out more Xenu flyers. Received many stories about how folks had to deal with 'that crazy bunch of lunatics.' One guy did some sandblasting from the crime syndicate, and he said that he was astonished at how insane the clams were." David Rice also reported revenge for his recent protests at Gold Base. "I walked up to my car at Barb's place and looked around to see if anyone was watching the building. Mister Swarthy in a pale tan Dodge Challenger mini van with California plates 4KOY___ sitting up the street. I proceeded on my way to my new condo and we went like a two-car parade. Around the block, and down to First street until I did the 'fake him out at the red light trick.' I timed my car's approach to a stale green light, willing it to turn red. I pretended to be stopping, and then GUNNED THE ENGINE and flew across the intersection and 'pushed the legal envelope' as it were: my front tires crossed the line when the light was amber, but the hind tires crossed the line when the light was red. My PI gunned his engine and ran through the red light. I got a full tank of gasoline, hoping that he would not take the chance to pull over and fill his tank. I drove slow enough so that the mini van could keep up. "I saw my chance and made my pickup leap sideways into the left-hand lane, and as the lane I used to be in staggered ahead of me, the guy had to drive past me. His sudden acceleration caught the person behind him off guard, so there was suddenly a space behind him for me to leap back into his lane and I was five feet off his rear bumper. The flood of angst, dismay, and bewildered hysteria seemed to come pouring over my PI friend. I raised my camera with my right hand, steadied the steering wheel with my knees, and waved to him with my left hand as I took pictures of his van and license plate. He was not pleased. "I pulled off the freeway and PARKED in the emergency 'break down' lane. He would either have to pull off the freeway behind me, which meant having a chat with me and photo shoot, or drive past me at a turtle's pace. In desperation he grabbed his camera and held it to his face and took photographs of me taking photographs of him taking photographs of me taking photographs of him taking photographs of me." Message-ID: 8ku76t$o2$1@nntp9.atl.mindspring.net Message-ID: 8l50nj$lac$1@slb7.atl.mindspring.net Message-ID: 8l5ahr$s19$1@slb7.atl.mindspring.net Message-ID: 8l6j2r$ovo$1@slb7.atl.mindspring.net Message-ID: 8l7rbj$brm$1@slb1.atl.mindspring.net Message-ID: 8lb042$2ef$1@nntp9.atl.mindspring.net Message-ID: d2le5.37495$ll.245863@news1.rdc1.az.home.com Message-ID: 3979F77E.7A0F099C@pacbell.net Message-ID: 397A0F93.F7E9C0D3@pacbell.net Message-ID: 8lflg6$ad9$1@nntp9.atl.mindspring.net Message-ID: 397aa51f.12406450@nntp.lightlink.com

Switzerland

Tagesanzeiger Zurich reported on July 19th that Scientology demonstrated against the French consulate in Zurich. "Almost 50 Scientologists, half as many as expected, protested with a demonstration march on Tuesday from Buerkliplatz in front of the French consulate on Muehlebach Street against a newly planned law in France which was said to be meant to give the government the option of dissolving minority religions. On banners and posters, on which the name 'Scientology' did not appear, they demanded 'Religious Freedom for All.' The peacefully conducted rally was directed against an interministerial work group whose sole purpose was 'combating sects.' It was said that the consulate would receive a note of protest which it would give to the government." Message-ID: Pine.LNX.3.96.1000722073343.120D-100000@darkstar.zippy


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