Picket reports

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(two reports)
From: rkeller@netaxs.com (Rod Keller)
Picket report - May 9th, 1998. Founding Church of Scientology - Washington DC.

I was putting my sign together in Dupont Circle when I was approached by two men. "What's that say?", they asked.
"Scientology Hurts People", I replied.
"Oh, cause we were just over there watching a movie."
"Orientation? That's the one ends by saying that if you don't join right now, you might as well jump off a bridge."
"Well, we didn't get to the end, we walked out. But how do they hurt people?"
"They hurt this woman," I said, turning my sign to the other side, "Lisa McPherson. She died at their spiritual headquarters in Clearwater, Florida. They held her in their hotel for 17 days until she died of dehydration."
"Oh, wow. And you're going to walk in front of that mansion with that sign?"
"Yes."
"God bless you. I knew there was something not right about them. You got guts, man."
"I've done this before, I don't think they'll try to hurt me."

I arrived at the org at 12 noon. Nobody was outside, but there were some multi-colored helium balloons tied to the columns by the door, obscuring the signs welcoming people for tours and the help wanted sign. I came prepared with 300 fluorescent green flyers. Lisa McPherson details on one side, a full page of quotes from judges on the other. I started handing them out, walking, carrying my sign.

The Scientologists came out and began to set up some decorations. Michelle Rochefort, Danya Fradkin, Sue Taylor, Thierry Duchaunac, Matt Bratschi, one or two others I didn't recognize, including a woman in a Sea Org sweater. They put bunches of balloons on the posts by the sidewalk and near the corner. They hung a Drug Free Marshals banner along the low stone wall next to the entrance. They put out two round metal tables, and leaned a bunch of signs against the column, covered in trash bags. I asked Thierry what they were planning. He refused to tell me, so I went back to handing out flyers.

About 1:00, Thierry informed me that they had obtained a permit for a "Mother's Day Drug Free Marshals" event, which was to be held on both sidewalks near the org, the sidewalks on the triangle across the street, and all three sidewalks within a two block radius of the org. I was free to continue my picket way down by some closed restaurant down Connecticut Ave. I told him that regardless of his permit, I was within my rights to picket in front of the org. He went to discuss this with the police he had called for, and an officer approached me. He wanted to know where my permit was for picketing. I told him I didn't need a permit for picketing. He wanted to know why I was trying to "clash" with this Mother's Day event. I told him I had no desire to clash with anybody. He became very agitated, telling me through his blue mirror shades that I wasn't listening to him, and that we were starting to have a problem here. I said I was listening to him, and that there was no problem, it's just that their permit can't force me off the sidewalk, and all I want to do is walk with my sign and hand out flyers. He went back to discuss this with more officers who had arrived.

A different officer came over to discuss the situation. He was much calmer, and we got along fine. Thierry tried to stir him up by saying he was concerned for the safety of the children. I told the officer that I had picketed this location 5 times previously, with no violent episodes, and that when I picketed in Clearwater, Scientology sent 200 children out to harass picketers on the sidewalk. This was obviously a ploy to keep me from picketing, not even a real event. He said he would check with a supervisor. Eventually, he agreed that their permit doesn't close the sidewalk. We discussed the evils of Scientology, the death of Lisa McPherson, he took a flyer, and that was the end of that. Sue Taylor continued to plead their case for a half an hour across the street. They observed the peaceful events for another hour, then left.

Now we need to remember the last picket. The pick flyers distributed by Miss Mary Happy ass gave me the idea about the bright green flyers this time. The event consisted of little kids and a few adults distributing Drug Free Marshals flyers. Pink DFM flyers. They steered people, particularly kids, over to the round tables where they had set up a cardboard sign-up stand. You would give the DFM pledge, sign the poster, and get your badge. The design was poor, and required two people to keep it upright in the wind or when anybody signed it. Scientologist kids also gave the DFM pledge to each other, mostly right in front of me, not on the other corners or sidewalks. Kids numbered about 8, adults about 5, including Alex Jones.

I kept giving out green flyers. They were running out of the few flyers they brought out, so they came with a new stock -- the same shocking green that I was using for my flyers! Apparently they wanted people to think they already had my flyer, and didn't need another copy. "This is a different flyer" worked fine to get them to accept mine as well. Eventually the green ran out, and they switched to blue. When I was describing the color wars to a sympathetic bystander, one of the Scientology kids said copying the green color was a bad idea.

Seeing the kids used this way was a very sad experience. Thierry was in charge of them, having Dania march them back and forth in the area I was picketing. They were allowed to rest once in a while, sitting on the wall. The small ones were marched a lot longer than I thought they should have been. At one point, a kid was sitting on the wall when word came relayed from Thierry that he had to carry a sign. The questions they asked were very upsetting. I'll detail those under a new False Data Stripping post. But it was just upsetting to have Thierry or Dania silence them when they asked me questions.

I did have one public come up to confront me. A very pregnant woman started shouting "You love drugs. What crimes have you committed?" I turned away, and she was quickly brought into the org by the woman with the SO sweater.

Around 3:45 Arnie Lerma and Nukewaster arrived. I had just finished off my 300 flyers, and Arnie had brought another 200 stapled packets of about 5 or 6 pages from his web site. There was some rain, and we distributed flyers from under the awning across the street. About 5:30, after finishing those flyers, we were followed by the kids to the restaurant down the street where we grabbed a burger before departing. If the kids had responded when I went to talk to them, I would have invited them to have a burger with us, my treat.

Numerous acks from cars and passers-by. About 50 people refused my flyer, telling me they knew all about how bad Scientology is. At least 20 people told me how glad they were to see somebody out against them. One woman told me about her friend that committed suicide after joining Scientology.

And the moral of the story is -- shame on Scientology for using children in an OSA op. Shame on Scientology for trying to misuse event permits to keep me off the sidewalks by the org. Shame on Scientology for the trickery with the green flyers. I never tried to keep them from distributing their DFM flyers, but I think they were very upset that one SP can out-create an entire org. I think they probably distributed about 200 between them.

I'll be back.

--
Rod Keller

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Subject: Saturday, 9 May 1998 FCDC Picket
From: nukewaster@aol.com (NUKEWASTER)

I arrived at Arnie's place about 1:00. We spent some time putting together picket handouts, 5 double sided pages with a day-glo yellow half page cover reading "WARNING the scam called SCIENTOLOGY" in black 3/4 inch lettering. No mistaking these fliers for Scn handouts. Packets were jammed with info, from the Crowley connection, to Lisa's death, Odhran Fortune, the lawsuits, and the church's criminal convistion around the world.

Arnie transformed his sign into a sandwich board to wear over his shoulders. I rigged "Scinetology: your money and your life" together with www.xenu.net into a picket sign mountable to my wheelchair.

Signs and 200+ info packs in hand, we headed for the Frasier Mansion. Arriving downtown about 3:30, we cruised by the FCDC, got Rod's attention, and found a parking spot near the org. We hooked up with Rod, discovering that he had been picketing solo since noon. He also explained that he had a little discussion with several D.C. police officers, resulting in no interference with his ability to walk the sidewalks and hand out fliers. Way to go, Rod. The FCDC has apparently obtained a permit to hold their Drug Free Marshals/ Mothers Day event over several city blocks. None of the sidewalks or streets had been barricaded for the event by the District Police. The right of assembly and the right of free speech was upheld, despite a feeble attempt by "CIGAR," Mr. OSA Invest himself, to have the police chase Rod off.

We cruised the sidewalks. I made several passes directly in front of the org. Arnie, the bouncing SP, had bopped off handing out fliers to pedestrians, as well as giving one to the bike cop on duty in DuPont Circle. The officer took the handout, and commented "The Scientologists already hate me--I am constantly writing them tickets for illegal parking. They're probably busy hacking my finances on the web."

A brief sprinkle turned into much heavier rain. The SPs took shelter under an awning across the street from the org, continuing to display signs, and handing out Arnie's fliers. Rod had exhausted his stock of 300 day-glo green fliers earlier in the afternoon. CIGAR wandered down past where we were sheltering. Having never encountered the dude, I gave him a handout. He said thank you, I said you're welcome, and off he went down the street. Rod explained who he was, and his post....I laughed and said "I'm an equal opportunity distributor!(G)"

The org adults finally got a clue after 10 or so minutes of downpour, and brought the soaking wet minor children in out of the rain. After the downpour finally let up, it was back to the sidewalks for both sides.

I found myself a handy spot on the sidewalk of a three-way intersection of pedestrian traffic. The 2 adult org body routers there were obviously not happy campers when I arrived on "their turf." For each person who took an Orientation Film Free Ticket and Drug Free Marshal flier, there I was saying "Would you like a flier, this is the other side of the story, great web addresses here." The Yellow WARNING page was like a magnet for some pedestrians. Others refused, saying things like, Oh, I know all about those (wackos, loonies, "THEM", and a few names not fit for repetition). I continually changed the direction my chair was facing, to catch whichever group was crossing over to my location as the traffic lights changed.

Ultimately, about 5:30 PM, we "stood down" to get some supper. After all, Rod had been on his feet all afternoon. While Arnie stashed the signs in my car, I approached a group of the Scn kids, 5 pre-adolescents, 3 teens, and one adult. I asked the kids various questions about the Drug-Free Marshals. After a bit of hesitation, a boy about 10-11 years old started to answer the question "What is a Drug Free Marshal?"...His answer was abruptly cut off by the adult, Mr. Jones, who pushed/slammed the kid back into a metal railing. Jones told the boy vehemently that he was not to speak to me. Ah, well, so much for that free speech I mentioned earlier. After that, none of the other kids would even look at me; in particular, the younger boys who had been staring curiously at my wheelchair, my sign, and at me earlier in the day.

Then it was off to a nice supper enjoyed by all. Total handouts:
300 Rod's, approx. 150-160 of Arnie's info packs.

Back to Arnie's (he got the 30 second lesson on how to drive using hand controls), Arn at the wheel of my car since I hadn't driven in that area of DC in over 20 years. Back at home base, mug of tea in hand, we both chilled out for a while. Discussed various other upcoming SP plans, media, and such. I headed home, popped onto IRC to give a quick update on the enturbulation of FCDC by one, then three SPs.

I headed for bed, but didn't sleep right away. I was intensely disturbed by the callous use of children by the org. Having been a scn kid at the very same org (different locations) years before, I wanted to scoop up these staffer's kids and whisk them away from Scientology forever. Impossible to do, so I'm settling for preparing to help them when they discover the fraud, the lies, the control, the deceit. I hoped in particular that the 17 year old girl (already OSA)would read and comprehend the package of information on the death of Lisa McPherson - some False Data Stripping, courtesy of Rod.

Moral of the Story: "Suffer the little children" is continuing. They are minors and have no choice in the deal.
Nuke
"I was a Scn kid"

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Subject: Picket Report, San Francisco, May 12
From: jour0@aol.com (http://members.aol.com/jour0/)(Jour0)

Picket Report, Tuesday, May 11, San Francisco org
I did a quick 10-minute solo picket at around 12:30 at the San Francisco org today.

It rained all morning, sometimes quite heavily. I had a nice big umbrella that actually covered my whole sign. (I decided not to use my Gnarly SP Oat Tea powerz to fend off the rain. Can you imagine how much it would scare regular people if I just stopped the rain with nothing but my bare will?)

Unfortunately, the rain lessens foot traffic and makes people hunker down a little so they're less receptive to fliers.
No one was outside the org when I arrived. Mr. "Get Your Facts Straight" (I wish I had names for these people so I didn't have to make them up - this is the gentleman who spoke to me at my first picket on April 22) came outside for a smoke while I was there. I wished him a good afternoon but I got no reply.

I did get to hand out a few fliers, and had a conversation with someone in the cafe across the street who asked about my sign. He seemed to know quite a bit about $cn already. He asked, "Does it really cost $360,000?"

Since it was a short picket, I took a nice leisurely pace on my way back. I'm glad I did. A construction worker crossed the street to shake my hand and thank me for picketing. He said he was in $cn for a few months, about a year ago, and he thought it was really dangerous. I invited him to future pickets and encouraged him to write to his congresspeople.

I got a "way to go!" yelled out the window of a passing car, and I got to give out more fliers on my way back (including, of course, at the bus stop) and lots of people at busy streets got to see my New and Improved sign. For now, I've changed one side of my sign. I still have

$CIENTOLOGY -
USING YOUR TAX $$$ TO
* DEFRAUD THE PUBLIC
* PRACTICE MEDICINE ILLEGALLY
* HARASS CRITICS IN COURT
on one side, but I've covered up my previous
$CIENTOLOGY:
* ANTI-FEMINIST
* ANTI-GAY
* ANTI-CHRISTIAN
& TAX EXEMPT
with
THERE'S NO
SCIENCE IN
$CIENTOLOGY
---
$CIENTOLOGY
DESTROYS FAMILIES

I have so many ideas for picket signs, it's hard to choose which ones to use.
Later, another gentleman crossed the street to tell me he had been the LA Times' spy inside the Sea Org. He seemed to think LRH was alive and living in France. I'm not sure I believed much of what he had to say. I think it was a successful but brief picket. It's definitely better when it's not raining.

I'd like to dedicate this picket to Keith Henson, fighting the good fight down in San Jose. Good luck, Keith! Jour

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Subject: Picket Report, Mesa AZ, 5/16/98
From: bpetty@primenet.com (BP)

Saturday was busy, including an SP luncheon, so we did not picket until 6:30.

There were only a few cars in the mi$$ion parking lot, and the people who were there were leaving for ( I suppose ) the video of the Shrine Auditorium event last week in LA. There was lots of traffic however, and that's why we picket.

While we were there a car with LA plates pulled in and two Sea Borg members got out, wearing dress blues but without their coats. They went into the building, then left a short while later. They did an incredible job of "not seeing" us and our signs, it was a real tribute to the self-imposed blinders that Co$ training creates.

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(two reports)
Subject: SF Picket 5/19/98
From: taniwha taniwha@taniwha.com

3 of us (Jour, phr and myself) went and picketed the San Francisco Org today at lunchtime. It was gusty, as I arrived the windy blew my sign off it's pole .... the body router outside stopped it with her foot, then she looked down and noticed what it was she had stopped, "oh" was her reaction .....

Jour had some cool new "don't be a sucker" leaflets, with a neat gimmick (I'll let her explain).

Things went pretty quietly with the usual great public reaction - although one passer-by wanted to bomb them and wouldn't let me persuade him that they weren't worth the trouble - it's a pretty tough neighborhood, I think that the local street people are pretty pissed about the "Now Hiring" sign in the window (and what happens when you go \in looking for job).

Somewhere along the way someone stole the pole from my sign, oh well, I needed a new sign anyway.
We'll keep doing these weekly, the days change from week to week drop us a line if you want to come out and picket. Taniwha
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From: jour0@aol.com (http://members.aol.com/jour0/)(Jour0) (Kristi Wachter)
Picket Report, Tuesday, May 19, San Francisco org

Full Report