April 13, 1999
Picket report; Atlanta, Georgia
Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology
Subject: Picket Report: Special Guest in Atlanta
Date: Wed, 14 Apr 1999 05:24:38 GMT
From: wynot-u@arscc-atl.com
Message-ID: <371411c0.353810486@news.mindspring.com>
At a quarter to seven, Ethercat, Joker, Stacy Brooks, and I began
picketing the Atlanta org.The parking lot was fairly full, and at
first there were some people coming and going. Joker operated the
video camera while the rest of us carried signs - Stacy had
'Scientology Banned in Greece' backed with 'Scientology Convicted in
Canada'. Ethercat had 'Co$ Stole My Friend' backed with 'Scientology
Suppresses Free Speech and Free Thought'. I had 'Scientology is a
Scam' and Scientology: Tax Exempt UFO Cult'.
As usual, we got a steady stream of honks and waves and thumbs-up.
After about 15 minutes Bubbles (she would not tell us her name; she
is the one photographing us in the pictures Ethercat put on the
arscc-atl picket report for the March 27th picket) came out to take
pictures of the picketers.Ethercat asked her what she was going to
do with the pictures, and Stacy asked if we could ever see them.
Bubbles shook her head no as she walked very quickly back into the
org. Then Linda, the OT6 showed up, asking where Mad_Cow was (hey
Cow, she remembered your name this time!). I just said that he was
with us in spirit. We talked for a while; she asked me what I had
against her beliefs, and I pointed out that I did not speak against
the free-zoners. She asked who they were, so I told her about
Scientologists who did not have to spend every penny they made on
auditing. She said they were probably changing the tech, and I said
no, that was what RTC was doing whenthey put out Hubbard's books and
changed the text from what was in the originals. She quit talking to
me.
Soon Susan arrived, asking me why it was alright for us to picket
her church, but not for her to picket us. I tried to explained the
difference between individual people and organizations, but she did
not seem to understand, or wish to pursue the matter further. She
recognized Stacy right away. Stacy and Ethercat both did a good bit
of talking with her, while Joker spoke with Linda. I will let them
tell what all was said, if they wish.
We had already decided to leave at eight, and when a DeKalb County
police officer arrived at 5 'til, we decided to mosey on. As we
crossed the parking lot next door, the police officer pulled in
behind us. He was interested in finding out what our picket was all
about, so Stacy gave him some interesting facts - talk about
straight from the presses! He ended up taking a selection of our
flyers (Stacy brought them - Xenu, and the WSJournal's IRS story).
He said he would put them on the bulletin board at the precinct.
It was neat meeting Stacy; she is great fun to picket with, and a
really nice person. And it was great having a new picketer joining
us - Joker did a magnificent job of taping, getting every important
minute on video. Hopefully, it will not be too long before we get
some stills on the web-site.
There is lots more to tell about, but it is late, and work comes
early. Ethercat, Joker, and Stacy all had experiences of their own
while I was talking with Linda, and then Susan. It was a great
picket, and likely will take several more posts to tell the full
story.
'Til next;
Wynot
The Few, The Proud, The Banned;
2x on the Scieno-nanny.
Scientology: now it is different. Now your abuses will be told and
memorialized forever on the Internet. We have each other and we
will see your criminal element eliminated before we are done.
Grady Ward
