December 3-5, 1999
Picket report; Clearwater, Florida
From: wynot@arscc-atl.com
Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology
Subject: Picket Report: Counting Coup in Clearwater
Message-ID: <384d95a7.151408024@news.atl.mediaone.net>
Date: Wed, 08 Dec 1999 04:18:55 GMT
I really haven't wanted to write this picket report; hitting the
send button always seems to give me a feeling of closure, and I did
not want the weekend past to end.
Arriving at the Holiday Inn Thursday night, ethercat and I walked in
to a nest of SPs - Arnie Lerma, gypsyblue, don_nots, Gregg Hagglund,
so many people there to show the cult that the critics cannot be
silenced.
After a good breakfast Friday morning we rode Arnie and Kim Baker to
downtown Clearwater. My first sight of the Fort Harrison sent
shivers down my spine. Knowing that this was the spiritual center of
the criminal cult made me think of Lisa McPherson, and the pain to
which she was subjected. I couldn't wait to begin picketing.
ethercat prepared the Xenu Babies in their stroller with their
xenu.net picket sign. As soon as we got to the Fort Harrison Arnie
began cutting loose with the cardboard megaphone he had assembled on
the way. It was easily the best I ever heard - you could hear him
calling out "No OTs here!!!" over a block away! ethercat and I
picketed the hotel for a spell, then headed dontown to share the
entheta. I carried the 'Scientology - Tax Exempt UFO Cult' sign,
backed with 'Scientology Harrasses it's Critics!'.
We were immediately struck by the amount of acks we received from
the people of Clearwater. From the moment we began picketing there
was a never-ending stream of honks, waves, thumbs up, and 'thank
you's from the cars passing by, no matter where we were in
Clearwater - in front of the Ft. Harrison, or over on Drew St. At
least 8 of every 10 cars gave us some kind of recognition and
encouragement. I really got a sense of how the good people there
feel about the criminal cult.
Up on Cleveland St., where the cult had set up a number of open air
stands selling various things from sodas to jewelry, with young
children manning the tills, we met several more critics, including
Gerry Armstrong and Tilman Hauser. Gerry led us (and the Xenu
Babies) on a tour of the cult's properties. We picketed FSO, the
Freewinds offices, and CCHR headquarters - all strangely empty and
closed looking for a Friday afternoon. We stepped carefully around
where they had the sidewalks torn up at the Sandcastle, and shared
our picket signs with the culties working on the Winter Wonderland.
Occassionally we were followed by Kroc (Croc), the tired looking
scieno with his always-on vid camera. He looked very warm in his
green jacket, and we had to wonder why he did not take it off; in
fact, I noticed that he did not appear to change clothes the whole
weekend.
When ethercat strolled the babies on Clevaland St. the first couple
times, the kids were all smiling, and pointing at the stroller. But
later in the day, and the rest of the weekend, the smiles were few
and far between. I guess someone told them that we were bad people,
and they were not supposed to show amusement. On Saturday I gave
one of the kids an eraser, and she said 'You know we are
Scientologists.' I told her 'That's okay, it's just a rubber
eraser.' I hope she got to keep it.
We picketed all afternoon, then headed back to the hotel. Again the
hotel bar was filled with folks whose posts we have read for years,
whom we have chatted with on #scientology, whose web-sites we have
visited and admired. I honestly cannot remember ever being among
such a wonderful group of people. Later, several of us went to the
Crab Shack around the corner for dinner, including the Lottick's,
whom we had just met. I was overwhelmed by the feeling of being with
them; they have lost so much, and yet it has not made them bitter or
afraid.
Saturday morning we attended the conference for a brief time. We
were able to listen to Stave Hassan's talk, and to Ken Dandar's. We
would have loved to have stayed, but we came to Clearwater to
picket, so we headed on downtown. The picketing was not much
different from Friday, but there were more of us as many had arrived
the night before.
There are too many picketing highlights to list, but I did want to
mention a couple occurances. At one time I was picketing solo
catacorner from the southeast edge of the hotel when a nicely
dressed, and very elderly, woman came walking up the street toward
me with a very serious, almost stony look on her face. She was
obviously reading my sign, and I thought she was afraid to be
walking by me - until she got about 3 feet (1 meter) away - then she
gave me a wink. I could almost read her mind - I have to live here,
she seemed to be saying, but thank you. I got the same feeling all
weekend from the locals, as if many of them were afraid to openly
acknowledge us, but were happy to have us there. Another time
ethercat and I were picketing in front of the beautiful Spanish
style church next door to the Ft. Harrison, when several people came
out. One woman approached us, and said that she really appreciated
what we were trying to do, but that she had given up hope after the
cult was given tax-exempt status. I asked her please not to give up
hope - that there were people working to correct that, and that
there was always a chance, but I don't think I convinced her. Later
I thought of other things I could have said, like reminding her that
Pat Robertson had lost his tax exemption for less illegal stuff than
what we knew the cult is guilty of, but by then it was too late, and
she was gone.
Saturday night was the candle-light vigil. After a minister
delivered a prayer, we walked slowly, single-file to the back of the
Ft. Harrison, near where Lisa McPherson was killed by the cult's
cruel neglect. Gregg Hagglund spoke movingly of Lisa's life and
death, and the gathering of people from all over the world who were
willing to come to Clearwater to tell the cult "Never again!"
There are so many wonderful stories to tell about the weekend past,
I could never fit them into a single post. ethercat and I met so
many men and women we have admired for so long - Jeff Jacobsen,
Arnie Lerma, Warrior, Gregg Hagglund, Kim Baker, Dell Liebrich,
Jesse Prince, Deana, Bruce Pettigrew, the Lotticks, Rod Keller, Bob
Minton, Mark Dallara, Michael Ruesse. We felt a vast renewal of our
purpose - to let the world know about this cult, and how they lure
people in with false promises of super powers and mental healing. We
experienced a rededication to let the culties know - we are
watching!
'Til next time;
Wynot (Tony Williams)
Next year, in Clearwater!
