Hartley Patterson reported this week on a protest at the London org.
"Tuesday 5 Jan 1999 London UK. Our first picket of the New Year was a short afternoon visit to the London org by Martin,
Dave, Duke, myself and a guest SP from America. Dave sang some jolly ditties using his megaphone and a good few leaflets
were distributed to shoppers up in town for the January sales. Response was minimal - a silent leafleter and a brief attempt at
Handling Picketers Grade I: 'What is your problem?' 'Have you read any of Hubbard's books?'"
David Alexander protested at the Dallas org this week.
"Picket from 11:55am to 1:30pm. I reverted to the 'Scientology is Fraud' sign today. The issue was to expose 'fraudulent
deception' by revealing sales promises that Scientology is compatible with Christianity--to close sales on the order of $500.00
to $150,000.00.
"I had much better public contact today, with people approaching me supportively. One woman told me of her daughter who
disconnected from her after her marriage to a Scientologist. She found L. Ron Hubbard Jr's book and presented it to her. Now
she has her daughter and grandson back in her life, minus her son-in-law."
Bruce Pettycrew on a picket in Mesa, Arizona:
"Kristi Wachter was in town, so we picketed from 3:30 to 5:00 Friday. Kristi and her friend joined Jeff Jacobsen, Kathy and
myself in a picket that was covered by a reporter and photographer from the local edition of the New Times newspaper.
"The paper had called and told the cult that we would be there, so no handlers were present. After getting pictures and
background from the picketers, the reporters went to the Org front door to get their reaction. DSA Leslie Duhrman appeared
wearing a _clerical collar_ !!! I recall reading a directive that said that staff should all wear ecclesiastical garments for the
press."
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Protest Summary
The Boston org was the site of a protest this week. Jim Byrd, Martin O'Brien and Stacy Brooks posted reports on the event.
"Half a dozen of us picketed the Boston org from 2pm until 3:30. In the group were Marty O'Brien, Ladyada, Jim Byrd (me),
D.W. Pierce, Ron Newman, and Stacy Brooks. The temperature was freezing (in the 25-30 range), but the weather was
sunny, and there was no wind in front of the org. I think we took them by surprise. One person came out very quickly, and
seemed to try to 'handle' Stacy. He was asking her lots of questions, very quickly, and I didn't hear much of that. Shortly
afterwards, others arrived to handle us, and they started setting up their cameras. They made a big point of setting up a video
camera beside the steps. So we all posed for them, smiled, and said 'Xenu' instead of 'cheese' (Maureen didn't like that very
much). After Maureen arrived, she told Stacy's original handler not to talk to her."
"They threatened several times to picket Ron Newman's company every day, and several times mentioned the address. They
kept asking me where I lived, and said they were going to find out anyway." They brought out there sign comparing Ron
Newman to Alfred E Neuman (from MAD magazine) and kept asking passersby who they thought was more attractive....or
announcing to the passersby that they were in the presence of a celebrity! They brought out their religious bigot sign for Ada.
They also kept repeating Ada's and Ron's addresses and talking about flyers and pickets."
"Maureen, Maria and Kevin all shouted at me that I was an SP and that my only terminal is the International Justice Chief, that I
need to stop committing continuous present time overts, and that I need to do my A to E. A to E refers to the steps one must
take after being declared an SP (suppressive person) if one wants to get back in good standing as a scientologist. I told them
I've never seen a declare order on me and that if they have a copy, I'd love to get one. One of them also repeated the line
Marty Rathbun used last spring when Bob and I met with him and Rinder at Celebrity Centre, that I am unflat on my RPF
program and I should go back to the RPF and finish it.
"Maureen took Lady Ada aside and spoke to her for probably fifteen minutes alone. Even from a distance I could see that
Maureen was doing her usual 'heartfelt appeal' performance. Lady Ada later said Maureen was pleading with her not to hand
out fliers with any OT materials in them. This is the same thing Maureen has done when she has pulled Bob aside and spoken to
him privately. This seems to be one of Maureen's particular orders -- to get everyone to stop passing out OT literature."
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Protest Summary
Kristi Wachter reported on a protest held in San Francisco this week.
Date: Saturday, January 23, 1999. Start and End Times: 12:15 - 2:00 pm.
Picketers: Kristi Wachter, phr, Some Guy from Dallas, Administrati, Raven
"After hearing about all the rain in the weather reports, I bought some plastic wrap (just the usual leftovers-and-sandwiches
stuff) and made a plastic sheath for my new foamcore sandwich sign. I didn't have time to make TWO foamcore sandwich
signs, so I used one of my old posterboard signs for my rear sandwich sign. My hand-held sign said: SCIENTOLOGY
HURTS PEOPLE; SCIENTOLOGY HURT LISA MCPHERSON; SCIENTOLOGY HURT WAYNE WHITNEY;
SCIENTOLOGY HURT DOROTHY GEARY; WHO WILL BE NEXT? and on the other side: WHY WON'T
SCIENTOLOGY PAY MINIMUM WAGE? / ARE THEY BROKE OR JUST MEAN? My sandwich signs said, on the
front: SCIENTOLOGY CHARGED WITH FELONIES and, on the back: DID SCIENTOLOGY KILL RODNEY
RIMANDO?
"The org seemed unusually busy to me today. One thing we noticed was the preponderance of Sea Orgers. In addition, there
seemed to be quite a lot of publics coming and going. Whenever I notice that a pedestrian seems to be heading toward the org,
I usually just greet them, but don't offer a flier.
"I had been interested in the Sutter St franchise for a while, so I headed north this time, instead of west. I worked my way over
to Union Square, where I had heard they did a lot of recruiting. On the way, I met several people who asked for fliers and
shared their negative opinions of Scn. One gentleman told me that Scn usually recruits further down the street. As I was giving
fliers out in the center of the square, a trio approached, dissed Scn, and asked for fliers. One of them told me that an Asian
gentleman was following me with a camera and a cell phone and reporting on my every move. A few minutes later I walked up
to Sutter Street and then over to the franchise. Many people along Sutter asked for fliers. One gentleman walked with me for a
while and told me about his brother, who had been in for 17 years but had left shortly before his death from cancer.
"When I got to my building, I saw Stridenta busily writing down info from the intercom list. I greeted her and asked her how she
was doing, but she completely ignored me. I got home about about 3; Stridenta left at about 3:30. Someone later brought me
the fliers she had left stuck in the gate, all hand-addressed with the building address and the addressee's intercom code. It says
right on the intercom that the codes on the list are NOT apartment numbers."
Bruce Pettycrew reported on a picket at the Mesa, Arizona org.
"Kathy and I picketed from 3:30 to 4:30 this afternoon. After about 40 minutes, Jim Bennet and another man joined us with
picket signs. This makes our picket look twice as large, thanks Bozos! Jim's friend had a sign with the following:
"Just Kidding
<------------
"Since the arrow pointed at the Org half the time, I guess that he was admitting the fraudulent nature Hubbard's teachings."
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