Clearwater Florida

=====
Subject: A few thoughts on the CW picket
From: smokesig@ix.netcom.com (Neal Hamel)

I just returned from the picket. (I took a music, food and beer detour in New Orleans on the way back.)

Shelley T. will probably be writing her own story and will do her usual good job, so I don't want to upstage her much with my own dribblings, so I will keep it short.

I am so pleased to have had the opportunity to meet the people who have been so instrumental in organizing this and previous pickets. They are brave and resourceful people. Special kudos go to Jeff, Mark, Rod and Arnie for their organizing and publicizing the event. (I hope I haven't overlooked someone.) They worked very hard and the results speak for themselves.

The effect Dennis has on the scienos is fascinating. The scienos vigorously fought his appearance. They partially succeeded with a TRO because a judge was overly cautious about discounting the scieno claims that Dennis was going to be violent. I believe that Dennis will have the last laugh, however. For as the Saturday morning picket proceeded, Dennis was being interviewed nearby for a national NBC news show which should appear shortly. Maybe even tomorrow evening, 12/11.

It is amazing to me how scared the scieno leadership is of just a few people with signs. Hubbard never told them how to handle a person with a sign (or a poster on the internet). OSA's tactics are to lie, distract and intimidate because they cannot cope the holes in their "shore story".

The truth is that the application Hubbard's tech killed someone and they are so screwed up they cannot and dare not understand that. -Neal H.

=====
Subject: CW picket: no ears nor tail awarded this time
From: dst@cs.cmu.edu (Dave Touretzky)

For this past week's trip to Occupied Clearwater I decided to sign up for the ARSCC package tour, which included three nights at the Holiday Inn, an evening vigil, a morning picket, and a ride in Arnie's fabulous Enthetamobile. I was looking forward to a chance to once again stand my ground against the Scientology bull, as we did in March. Maybe mess with its head a little too. We were bringing the Xenu costume, a bullhorn, and more than a thousand flyers. If picketing is like bullfighting, then we were ready and willing to jump back in the ring. This was gonna be fun!

But what I observed in Clearwater this time was a very sick bull. After attending the obligatory safety lecture, we walked out and waved our capes, but when the animal charged, it ran past us and straight into one of the concrete supports of the viewing stand. It stood there, repeatedly bashing its head against the support, as blood dripped into its eyes and nostrils. The press was appalled; the crowd booed; the picketers stared in disbelief.. What could be done about this? After several minutes of self-abuse the creature ran from the ring back to its stall, where it lay down in its own waste, confident that it had shown all of us a thing or two. Indeed it had. Ech! What a disgusting spectacle.

I'm afraid the Scientology bull is even more brain damaged now than we previously thought. It's become a danger even to itself. Sigh. Somebody call animal control.
-- Dave Touretzky, KoX (SP4.9): disgusted

PS: special note to OSA: find out about the evil psych named Delgado, and what he did with bulls in the 1970s. You'll be amazed.
=============

Some more observations from the Clearwater picket:

When I went down to the hotel lobby Friday morning to help prepare for the Lisa McPherson Memorial press conference, I passed Bob Minton heading the other way, who warned me that the two folks standing by the couch were OSA. A man and a woman.

I walked past them and headed up the stairs, pausing on the landing to take their picture with my disposable camera. The flash caught their attention. "I think you already have my picture" -- those were the first words Beth Akiyama ever said to me. Glen Barton said nothing. I smiled and continued up the stairs.

Beth is OSA PR in New York City. She's tall and skinny, well-dressed and immaculately groomed, but not a natural beauty. Looks like a moderately successful real estate agent. (A lot of Scientologists look to me like real estate agents. But not Brian Anderson.)

Later in the day, Beth got into a conversation with Grady Ward and me about the McPherson case. According to her, Scientology had uncovered crucial evidence that shed an entirely new light on how Lisa had died. "You mean they found the missing babywatch logs?" I asked her. Grady laughed at that, but Beth just continued with her story. It seems the medical examiner had turned over only 19 laboratory slides, but 21 had originally been made. Scientology had just gotten access to the remaining two, which, she claimed, provided proof that Lisa had not suffered from dehydration after all. So, the whole flap about Lisa's death had come about because of incomplete data, and Beth urged us to get the whole truth. I'll return to this concept in a moment.

A recent issue of High Winds, the magazine of the Sea Org, had an article about how Hubbard resolved continuing problems with the church management after he had left to pursue his own research. The new leaders failed to lead; instead they screwed up and then called in Hubbard to clean up the mess. This supposedly happened several times. According to the article, Hubbard used his admin tech to investigate why this was occurring, and discovered that there was no "hat writeup" for the executive director position. He'd written one, but somebody had lost it! With this miraculous discovery he was able to go on to solve the management problems.

This is, obviously, a ridiculous story, but it demonstrates a recurring theme in the Scientology belief system: that human thought and behavior are so highly mechanistic that they can be fully characterized by a few simple laws. Hence, the explanation for any problem is a simple one. In this case, somebody lost a document, and that's why the management of the church failed. One of the essential requirements for being a Scientologist is a willingness to believe such nonsense. Magical, ridiculously simpllistic explanations are what "the tech" is all about.

When Beth Akiyama happily gushed to Grady and me about the "missing data" the church had uncovered in the Lisa McPherson case, she was exhibiting classic Scientologist reasoning. A couple of new laboratory slides had turned up, and that was supposed to miraculously change everything? Would it change the horrifying account of Lisa's treatment in the Fort Harrison that was documented in the cult's own log entries? Would it change the long string of lies the church had offered as explanations for Lisa's death? Would it change the bizarre facts of Lisa's finances, including her roommate and boyfriend forging checks on her account after she died? I didn't even bother to ask; there was no point. When Scientologists find an "on-policy" explanation for their latest disaster, they cling to it with religious fervor. Beth was one happy clam.

Grady tried to have a little fun with Beth, asking her how her weakling church was going to keep its secret scriptures from being spread all over the Internet. She went for the bait and tried arguing with him -- a big mistake, since Grady is very, very smart. "We are not a weak religion", Beth told us. "Grady, stop bullbaiting her", I said.

Personally, I was delighted that Beth and her colleagues had come to our hotel, especially when I found out they were going to hold a press conference in a room down the hall from ours. Knowing what clam press conferences are like, this would provide the media with the perfect demonstration of everything we said about the CoS's tactics. And sure enough, that night on the evening news we were treated to a clip of Mike Rinder, head of OSA, standing before a hotel podium and foaming at the mouth about us critics being a bunch of child molesters, criminals, and "paid antagonists." Wonderful. Rinder, by the way, looks like a shorter version of John Larroquette.

Oh yeah, Scientology is no weak religion. They really had us outgunned. With all we did to try to make CoS look bad, the effect was insignificant compared to what CoS did to make itself look bad. Operation Foot Bullet was proceeding in fine form. And that was just their press conference; the vigil fiasco, Operation Face Bazooka, came later. I would have loved to have had the chance to interview Beth afterwards to find out what she thought of their "big win". But I doubt she's able to acknowledge any critical thoughts about LA-directed policies. She is, after all, a good Scientologist.

I did run into Beth one more time, at the picket in front of the Fort Harrison the next morning. OSA PR types and OSA cameramen were the only clams on the street. I walked up to her with my arm around Xenu's shoulder and said "Beth, is this what you thought about when you read OT III?" She turned away.
-- Dave Touretzky, KoX (SP4.9): unpaid antagonist.

=====
Subject: Vigil report -Flag closed down!!!
From: exile49@aol.com (Exile49)

Flag Shut Down -Police Dept. Picketed

As about 50 critics of Scientology held a candle light vigil across from the Ft. Harrison Hotel marking the second anniversary of the death of Lisa McPherson, hundreds of Scientologists ringed the Clearwater Police and Fire Dept. Chanting, "Klein, Klein, whats' your Crime?" Sid Klein is the CW Chief of Police. Signs were also seen against the "St. Petersburg Times" for supposedly using McPherson's death to further their dark vendetta against Scientology. The Ft. Harrison hotel and the Christmas Village were completely closed, nary a light was to be seen anywhere. A sign in front of the hotel door said something to the effect that they were closed so that they could go off and do some good in the world.

The media was on hand in great numbers. Many reporters and photographers were on hand, but not all who took pictures represented the press. Martin Ottmann, former Sea Org member, broke down and wept while recounting his experiences with the cult. Other moving interviews were taken, the sounds of a kilted piper playing "Amazing Grace" adding to the somber setting A few people carried signs including Gary Scarff whose large placard was a sharp indictment of the cult's hand in Lisa's death.

At the close of the vigil demonstrators walked over to place a wreath on the sidewalk in front of the hotel in memory of Lisa McPherson. Many people commented on the good turn-out, a lot of the usual suspects were there along with interested members of the public. Another bad day for the cult. The Exile

=============
Subject: The Exile at Cause
From: exile49@aol.com (Exile49)

Today i picketed the cruel cult of $cientology to express my contempt for the lies the cult has poured out concerning the death of Lisa McPherson. During the march around the Fort Harrison and the Sandcastle I met many of the critics that are found on ars. It was good to talk to them and put a face to a post. The march was a sharp blow to $cientology. The press were there in great numbers as were the flunky OSA agents and their hired stooges. These operatives of the dying cult did not affect the issue.

I will leave it up to others to recount the actions that followed the CW picket, my feet are so sore from walking (I should have worn tennys' instead of dress shoes) that I have retired to my chair with my toes soaking in a bucket of hot water. There is more going on tonight, I will wear more comfortable shoes this time. The Exile

=====
Subject: Protest update, 6-Dec-97, 3:00am
From: mdallara@kcii.com (Mark Dallara)

Tired, need sleep, gotta post. In a nutshell:

TRO granted on Dennis Erlich. 50 yrds, same as March 96. I attended because I was bringing videos of that picket that I had gotten copies of the night before. I ended up getting called to the stand to testify. New experience, rather interesting - first time in court, first time on the witness stand (glad I wore a suit). Clams in attendance were John Carmichael, Ben Shaw, Sylvia Stanard, Mary Story, Dana Holland, and Martin Lippman, and one other that I recognized from March 97. Ken Dandar represented Erlich, and he was very good in court, but the judge decided to err on the side of caution.

Press conference was good. Lots of media in attendance. Co$ was giving conference in the OTHER conference room in the same hotel. Shelley Thomson tried to enter, and Mike Rinder grabbed her by the arm and removed her. No Co$ admitted to protestors' press conference. Those of us who were at Dennis' hearing arrived late, but Dandar spoke, and scored serious points. Also speaking were Martin Ottman, Bid, Tom Padgett, and Dennis Erlich.

Ground rule laid out by CWPD: no intermingling. Barricades set up at Ft. Harrison entrance to allow access by clams.

Vigil was good. Bagpiper added a lot of atmostphere and emotion. Gabe Cazares attended. Several other locals. Instead of counterprotesting, the Co$ had several THOUSAND members picketing the CWPD and SP Times. (great idea, antagonize the police and the press - OSA can be such silly jackoffs...)

Full TV coverage. Mentions of tomorrow's protest. Mike Rinder was shown saying that we were all deadbeat dads, child molestors, and paid antagonists. Of course, tomorrow we will state on camera that Rinder is lying. Whatever the hell his accent is, it caused the TV station to put "Mike Renda" as the caption while he was speaking. I think it should stick.

Enjoying the experience thoroughly. Got to meet Grady Ward, Bid, Martin Ottman, Dennis Erlich, and others. Can't post some of the most interesting stuff yet.

Realized tonight that I am the youngest member of the ARSCC in attendance. ;) Crashing out... Mark Dallara

==========
Subject: Someone keyed my car... hmm, wonder who?
From: mdallara@kcii.com (Mark Dallara)

[posted to a.r.s]
Jeff Jacobsen and I were driving back out to Ybor City for some dinner last night, and to see if the Dianetics Center was open, and I stopped to get gas. That's when I noticed that my car had been keyed, on both sides, and near the gas tank inlet someone had inscribed "fuck you".

The car had been parked in conspicuous places during the demonstrations at least three times - twice near the courthouse, and once in Ybor City. I plan to find out if the ever-present videocameras in Ybor City captured any footage of the vandalism. There's even a possibility that the security cameras all over the Ft. Harrison could have taped the crime, so maybe I'll look into having those subpoenaed as well.

Once again, the cult of $cientology shows itself to be a petty and hateful group of jackasses. If the intention was to intimidate me, it failed. I have been procrastinating on a few projects, such as a letter-writing campaign to state and federal congressmen. You may now consider me much more motivated in that task. Mark Dallara

=====
Subject: A.r.s Week in Review - 12/14/97
From: rkeller@voicenet.com (Rod Keller)
Date: Mon, 15 Dec 1997 00:49:44 GMT, [excerpt from this issue]

Clearwater Picket
Scientology critics held events in Clearwater, Florida to remember Lisa McPherson and to protest her death in the care of Scientology. Flag Land Base was closed during a candlelight vigil and subsequent picket. From the St. Petersburg Times:

"Church of Scientology critics and supporters staged opposing demonstrations at the same time a block apart - the critics to remember a dead church member, the supporters to criticize city police. The activities, which began Friday and continued Saturday, included dueling candlelight vigils and dueling news conferences, with 1,400 church members on one side and a group of about 30 anti-Scientologists on the other.

"The hundreds of church supporters got off buses and picked up picket signs. One declared: 'Sid Klein, what is your crime?' Some seemed unaware Klein was the Clearwater police chief. 'I'm not from here,' said one man carrying a Klein sign. 'Sorry.'"

"Anti-Scientology protesters, meanwhile, cradled candles against the cool air as a bagpiper played Amazing Grace. They huddled quietly in front of the Fort Harrison to protest what they said were abusive Scientology practices that can lead to deaths like McPherson's.

"At a Friday afternoon news conference held by the anti-Scientology protesters, former members of the church spoke of what they said were abuses. Birgitta Dagnell, a Swedish woman, said she was ashamed she had spent 14 years as a Scientology staffer because it kept her away from her children and other family members. She spoke of extraordinarily long work days, of rough treatment for minor offenses and of being isolated under guard.

"Martin Ottmann said he worked in the church's sales office in Clearwater from August 1990 to July 1992. He said he and others were pushed by supervisors to pressure 'public' Scientologists to make bank loans and borrow from friends so they could pay for more church services. He said the Clearwater church had a sales goal of $3-million a week and took in $1.5-million a week.

"In a news conference scheduled immediately afterward, Mike Rinder, a top Scientology official from Los Angeles, said the allegations by Dagnell, Ottmann and others were false."

Scientology had attempted legal efforts to block the pickets. From the St. Petersburg Times:
"Saying it fears violence from a group of protesters, the Church of Scientology is asking city officials to close the sidewalks in front of its downtown headquarters this week. Police Chief Sid Klein rejected the request and has offered to seek a compromise, but the church is appealing Klein's decision to City Manager Mike Roberto.

"The protesters, meanwhile, say they are the ones who should be fearful. They cited the tactics of an estimated 200 Scientologists who surrounded and taunted them at a similar event in March. The protesters, expected to number 20 to 30, say they are planning two non-violent demonstrations to mark the second anniversary this week of the death of Lisa McPherson.

"Ben Shaw, a director of the church's Clearwater operations, appealed to Roberto in a letter last week, calling the protesters 'violence-prone demonstrators' who 'present a clear danger to the children and families who enjoy and participate in Winter Wonderland.'"

The Times also published an editorial supporting the right of the protesters to picket the Fort Harrison.
"In the past, the Church of Scientology has defended its actions by claiming the First Amendment right of free speech. Now, it would deny that constitutional right to its critics by stopping them from picketing in front of the church's main building in downtown Clearwater. Scientology can't have it both ways.

"In the Scientology letter, which asks Roberto to overrule Klein and close the sidewalks, Shaw writes: 'Chief Klein's insistence that the rights of a dozen protesters from outside Clearwater supersedes the rights of thousands of Clearwater citizens is, in my judgment, outrageous.'

"What is outrageous is the Church of Scientology's hypocrisy. When it suits them, Scientologists claim to be the persecuted minority trying to exert their constitutional rights. In this case, it suits them to deprive other citizens their free speech. Roberto should not let the Church of Scientology bully him. Clearwater police are fully capable of allowing the demonstration and maintaining the peace."

Mark Dallara testified before the Clearwater City Commission to address the issues raised by the vigil and picket.
"As I'm sure you are aware, the church has tried to stop these pickets, by accusing myself and the other protesters as being of a violent nature. Not only is this a thoroughly dishonest attempt to interfere with a peaceful demonstration, but it is a perfect example of what the St. Petersburg Times editorial characterized as the outrageous hypocrisy of $cientology. I feel this is doubly true, because, UNLIKE the Church of $cientology, I have no criminal record.

"With that said, I have another paper by Dr. Stephen Kent, Professor of Sociology at the University of Alberta, that I wish to submit to the commission for review. It is entitled, 'Brainwashing in Scientology's Rehabilitation Project Force', and it describes the human rights abuses of the cult's forced labor and re-indoctrination camps, the RPF. I would like to quote from Dr. Kent's conclusion: 'Without question the RPF's operation violates a number of human rights statutes, probably involving such topics as freedom of religion and conscience, labor laws, arbitrary arrest, forcible confinement, and protection of the dignity of the human being. Ironically, as the United States Department of State heightens its criticism against Germany's handling of the Scientology affair, at least three of these abusive programs continue to operate on American soil.'

"This document includes testimony from former members who have been subjected to the RPF in Clearwater. The question that this commission should be asking now is whether or not these concentration camps are currently operating within the City of Clearwater. If so, then it is a stain upon this community that CANNOT be eradicated by any amount of money that the cult is funneling into the Downtown Development Board and PR projects like Winter Wonderland."

"The Exile" described the vigil event.
"As about 50 critics of Scientology held a candle light vigil across from the Ft. Harrison Hotel marking the second anniversary of the death of Lisa McPherson, hundreds of Scientologists ringed the Clearwater Police and Fire Dept. The Ft. Harrison hotel and the Christmas Village were completely closed, nary a light was to be seen anywhere. A sign in front of the hotel door said something to the effect that they were closed so that they could go off and do some good in the world. The media was on hand in great numbers. Many reporters and photographers were on hand, but not all who took pictures represented the press. Martin Ottmann, former Sea Org member, broke down and wept while recounting his experiences with the cult. Other moving interviews were taken, the sounds of a kilted piper playing 'Amazing Grace' adding to the somber setting. At the close of the vigil demonstrators walked over to place a wreath on the sidewalk in front of the hotel in memory of Lisa McPherson."

On the next day's picket, from Joe Harrington:
"Today's picket of the Fort Harrison was officially from 9:00 - 1230 this morning. Again, the Fort Harrison was closed down. Scientology did not launch a counter-demonstration and their only presence was their OSA people. Arnie Lerma rented a Ryder Truck for a drive-by picket. On the side of the truck were large signs which provided summaries of major court decisions of Judge Brinkema, Judge Richey and others. Also included were URLs for Web sites with more information about Scientology.

"Gregg developed a dialogue with a young male who had joined the Sea Org about one month ago. He had been assigned a camera by OSA, to take pictures of the pickets. The young recruit indicated that he had come from a Christian background. Gregg recounted the story of Xenu and Hubbard's remarks about Christ, using the summary of Judge Brinkema's decision. After some consideration, the young recruit literally throw his camera at his OSA senior and said 'I quit!'."

Protests continued into the evening with a picket of the Ybor City mission in Tampa. An OSA photographer recorded the event. Mark Dallara reported damage to his car during the event.

"Jeff Jacobsen and I were driving back out to Ybor City for some dinner last night, and to see if the Dianetics Center was open, and I stopped to get gas. That's when I noticed that my car had been keyed, on both sides, and near the gas tank inlet someone had inscribed 'fuck you'. Once again, the cult of $cientology shows itself to be a petty and hateful group of jackasses."