Picket reports

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Subject: San Jose Org Humor 05/23/98
From: bstone@kudonet.com (Brent Stone)
Date: Sun, 24 May 1998

Well, nobody can say they don't have a sense of humor at the SJ org after today. I dropped by around 10:30 for a visit (42 cars counted at noon), and was greeted with a round of 'sprinkler tech' again. They usually try to turn them on before I arrive, but this time they just came right out and turned the things on while I was there.

Anyway, I took a picture of the guy turning them on. They called the cops and complained that taking pictures was harassment. Since the same cop was sent who had been there on previous harassment calls, he was the guy that they had told that the system was automatic. He was a bit amused at the fact that they called him to make sure he knew I was documenting their lie.

So, taking pictures (like the 200 or so that they have of me) is harassment? Don't ya just love that one. I forgot to ask the cop to see if they had a few pictures of me 'harassing' them that way -- I'll bet they had several, since they later sent someone out to just mess with the sprinkler controls (I would assume for the purposes of getting 'evidence' against me).

Anyway, I was just about to leave when the cop showed up (at 12:30 or so for a 10:30 incident), but decided to stick around for a while longer (left at 3:30).

Somehow, I gotta work on my stats --- I'm not making enough progress at repaying the debt they owe for the Henson thingy. Let's see, $75,000 owed; about 10 hours of pickets and a dozen flyers since then -- that's $22 (buck an hr, buck a flyer) I figure I've worked out, leaving only $74,978 to go ... gotta figure a way to get those stats going better than that. (Actually, I did about another 50 flyers and a bit of touring in the entheta van today, so that counts for a bit more, but I need suggestions on how to get SJ back upstat faster than that) - Brent

(Same picket, different post)
> Please, elaborate on this. The Police arrived -
> what was the sequence of events after that?

Actually, you already got about all of it. Single car with one officer arrived and motioned me over to his car. Asked me if I knew why he was called and told me he wanted me to leave for harassing them with my picture taking. I told him that I had taken one picture to document that they lied to him when they told him on a prior call that the system was automatic. At that point, he just kind of laughed. Nobody from the org was there at the time. After I talked to him for a couple of minutes, he went into the org and talked to them for 10 minutes or so. He didn't say anything to me on his way out, but waved as he left.

They already had taken my ID long ago, no request for it this time. Whatever story they had told when they called them, his immediate request was for me to leave. After a very short talk, he changed his mind and allowed me to stay (I don't think he quite gets it though, his comment was "have fun"). I have no idea what he talked to them about, but it sure was nice of them to emphasize my presence (and their "I'm gonna tell mommy on you" sooper powerz) for their members. The largest result of the whole thing was that they made me stay a _lot_ longer than I wanted to (I guess it did get to be a bit more fun), since I couldn't just leave like I was planning to after that bit of show ... wouldn't want to give anyone the misimpression that the tech works or anything (that would be false advertising).

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Subject: Picket Report, Mesa AZ 5/25/98
From: bpetty@primenet.com (BP)

We picketed an hour this morning. Traffic was light, but appreciative.

I used a lighter sign, one with "Just another UFO Cult" on one side and "Stop Harassing Critics, Scientology" on the other.

One of the perishoners (spelling intentional) came out to ask me to go away. I declined.
He claimed my "Scientology Kills" T-shirt was offensive to him. I said that death was offensive to me.
He claimed that the OTIII story on the shirt contained "bad data". I told him it was word-for-word consistent with the first page of the "Wall of Fire" writings in Hubbard's handwriting that were posted in GIF form on the web, and that the facts were verified by ex-scientologists.

Do to (happy) changes in my employment, I will be able to drop in and picket more frequently. I have some new witnesses and co-picketers to help make this summer very interesting for all concerned. Bruce Pettycrew

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Subject: Picket Report San Jose Org 5/27/98
From: SPAMBLOCK_jwissick@pacbell.net (Jim Wissick)

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

Arrived at 2:30pm.
I was only gonna put in a few mins, but it quickly turned into over an hour. First a homeless person ran to the back of the org to raid the ashtray for the butts. He was quickly chased off by some clams... He stopped by to tell me my sign were right.

Around 3:00pm, Mark came out of the org to talk to me. We covered a few subjects including Lisa McPherson, the outing of my Grandfather, the rmgroup, copyright, ect. Soon another bum (who was definitely 6 cans short of a 6 pack) came by, commented my sign was right ($cientology is a criminal cult - $cientology is socially harmful), and then asked if Mark would like him to blow up the building!!! Needless to say, Mark was quite worried and left to deal with this new problem....

Mark expressed interest in stopping the more heinous crimes of the cult, but I don't really believe him for some reason. He can, of course, change my belief by working to bring about change.

Interesting day... Left at 3:30pm. Jim Wissick

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Subject: Picket Report, San Francisco, May 27
From: jour0@aol.com (http://members.aol.com/jour0/) (Jour0)

SUMMARY:
Suppressives: just me
Date/Time: 5/27/98, 11:55 am - 12:05 or so, then 12:45 - 1:10 or so Handouts: fliers ("Don't Be A Sucker", "Why I Picket", Lisa, Xenu), suckers, postcards!
Weather: Drizzling
Foot Traffic: Light to Steady
Street Traffic: Steady
Scn Response: Non-Confront/Hiding (well, it WAS raining)
General Passerby Response: Favorable
Stats: 15 suckers w/ sucker fliers; about 20 "Why" fliers; about 5 Lisa fliers; 9 postcards

OVERLONG NARRATIVE:
I did two short solo pickets at the San Francisco org today, with a nice chat with Taniwha at a cafe in between. It was drizzling pretty much the whole time, but it was a light enough rain that I closed up my umbrella and picketed without it.
I had my usual sign (USING YOUR TAX $$$ TO DEFRAUD etc. / NO SCIENCE IN $CN / $CN DESTROYS FAMILIES), plus a bunch of "sucker" fliers and some postcards pre-addressed to the California Attorney General.

THE PRE-PICKET PICKET
On my way to the bus stop a woman passed by me and nodded approvingly at my sign and said "Good message." I promptly turned around and asked, "Would you like a postcard to send to the attorney general?" She said "Sure" and took one. I love handing out info before I've even gotten to the bus stop.

PTS = PUBLIC TRANSIT SUPPRESSIVE
Two people on the bus asked me about my sign. One took a flier and one took a postcard. In both cases, they asked good questions that let me provide more info about $cn that other riders could hear.

ALL BY MYSELF
When I got to the org, no Scientologists were visible on the sidewalks. There was no one body-routing and no stress test table set up. I juggled my equipment for a moment (closed the umbrella and stuck it in the straps of my backpack), then began my picket.

SHOW ME THE CANDY!
I had "Don't be a sucker!" fliers with me, nearly identical to the ones I gave out last week - although I have added the URL for my own "Why I Picket" web page, and since I didn't glue the suckers to the fliers this time, I added a simple graphic of a sucker in the middle of the flier.
I also tried an innovation which turned out to be the key to a successful sucker giveaway: Use a clear plastic bag.
I had the lollipops in a clear plastic bag today, and people came up to ME to try to wangle one. (One gentleman said, "Are you gonna eat all those tootsie pops yourself?") As a result, despite the rain and the short time I spent picketing, I gave away 15 suckers and sucker fliers.

HELP WANTED
One of my first takers spent at least two minutes ranting to me: "I HATE those guys. I went in there for a job, and they wanted me to work for NOTHING!"
I asked whether he had reported the incident to the labor commission. He said he hadn't, but that that was a good idea. He waved and took off - as if heading off to the labor board right away.

INSUFFICIENTLY HATTED
A pair of older ladies expressed interest in my fliers and were quite supportive. One of them reminded me that we lose 60% of our body heat through the top of the head and told me I should be wearing a hat. ;-)

COFFEE BREAK
About ten minutes into my solo picket, Taniwha appeared on the sidewalk, shaking his head. Being much more sensible, he decided NOT to picket in the rain, so we adjourned to a nearby cafe to see if it would let up.
By the time we'd finished our beverages, the mist was still falling. I decided to do another bit of solo picketing, since I'd come all the way downtown.
(A few of the passersby did ask me where the others were. ;-) Fortunately, most of the ARSCC(wdne) and those further down in the heirarchy (wadne) have enough sense to come in out of the rain.)

A young lady asked for fliers and told me about a friend of hers who had done the Purif. "$1300 for jogging and vitamins? I told him, 'give me $300, I'll go jogging with you.'" She said it had proven so expensive that he had lost his apartment. I asked if he was okay now, and thankfully, she said he was. Several minutes later, as she passed me again on her way back from wherever she had gone, she made a point of catching my eye and waving.

FLUNK FOR NON-CONFRONT?
The Scientologists did a pretty good job of ignoring me. They did come outside and cluster in little groups of two or three to smoke cigarettes. (At one point in their conversation I heard something about "dedication" but they probably weren't talking about me.) I did see a Sea Org lady walk past me rather quickly in her neat blue uniform. Usually, it seems to me that the Scientologists do a pretty good job of averting their eyes when they walk past me. I could be mistaken, but it seemed like two Scientologists actually replied and made eye contact when I inadvertently offered them fliers today. (I usually try to only offer fliers to people who make eye contact with me. Scientologist or not, if someone doesn't want to be bothered, I try to respect that.)

SO MANY MESSAGES, SO LITTLE TIME
I was pleased to notice that my different messages seem to attract different audiences. I have so many things I want to tell people about $cn, but there just isn't time in the five seconds I have to make an impression.
One lady asked about the tax angle - "I know that they're harassing critics in court and practicing medicine without a license, but how are they using our tax dollars to do it?" I explained about the tax breaks that nobody else gets, and handed her a flier with references to more info.
Another pair of ladies wandered by and said "They're practicing medicine without a license? How?" so I got to explain the Purif and the Introspection and hand them a Lisa flier (I think it's one of the most effective things I can say at a picket: "This flier is about a woman who died in the custody of $cientology.") and mention that there are many, many other instances of $cn practices that come under this category. I wish I could think of a good way to plaster myself with ten or twenty different messages, and still make them readable.

POSTCARD TECH
I think I've mentioned before that many people decline my proffered fliers, saying, "No thanks, I already know it's a scam" or something similar.
With those people in mind, I brought a dozen postcards as a test, to see how they'd go over.
The postcards call for an investigation into reports of $cn criminal activity, and they're pre-addressed to the CA attorney general (the Office of Public Inquiry). (I've posted the complete text in another message.)
As I mentioned above, the first person I encountered who already knew about $cn was happy to get a postcard. In fact, I had great response to the postcards, so I think I'll print up a bunch and bring more to the next picket.
I think many people feel like they'd like to do something to help out, especially if requires very little effort or money on their part. If they have the option of doing it anonymously, so much the better. The postcard fulfills all these requirements. (I probably could have given away more, but for today, I was limiting them to the people who seemed to already dislike $cn and seemed like they would be receptive to the idea of sending in a postcard.)
I had the usual supportive comments and conversations, although the rain does tend to make people keep to themselves.
My sign's a little weathered, but once it dries it should hold up for another picket. Then again, maybe it's time to make another one. Jour

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Subject: Sorry - late with thursday stats
From: "Åke Wiman" ake.wiman@swipnet.se
Date: 28 May 1998 14:42:54 GMT

Made a minor picket outside Malmoe Org in Sweden yesterday. Distibuted about 500 flyers together with a friend. (Xemu-flyer in Swedish and my own - *excerps from $cio criminal history* and *why do $cio have the same religion as Hitler*).

People living near the org really dislike them. Neighbours who have to pass the scios several times a day are really fed up with their *free personality test*, *come and watch our movie* etc.
-----
Åke Wiman
"You know, people die if they criticize scientology - I should take care if I were you". Marcus Nyman, OSA (former GO), $cio-org, Stockholm, Sweden.

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Subject: Picket Report, Mesa AZ, 5/27/98
From: bpetty@primenet.com (BP)

We picketed from 11:00 to 12:15 Wednesday.
There were 6 cars at the mi$$ion and several arrivals and departures during the hour.

The lunch hour traffic was fairly heavy, plus I talked to 3 pedestrians. The walkers asked "How does scientology hurt people?". I told them about Lisa M. and the cult's anti-psychiatry pogrom, etc.

As soon as I began to talk to people, OSA would emerge to make sure that I did not stop moving. So I can infer that I am watched fairly constantly. Handle me, Elmo!

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(two reports)
Subject: SF Picket Report, May 30, 1998
From: realpch@aol.com (Realpch)

Ah, a fine Saturday for a picket. Sunny and warm. I turned up late due to traffic, and Jour was already on duty in her red picketing jammies, with her sign looking a little worse for wear due to recent storms. She was doing Sucker Tech, and had her little bag of suckers, which people really liked.

It seemed to be family day at the Org. A number of Scientologists turned up, and had children in tow, which distressed me. Today I was spoken to by an older grey-haired lady who asked me if I had ever been a Scientologist. I told her no, but that I had once been ordered by the company I worked for to take an est training. To my astonishment, this lady turned out to be a Scientologist, and told me that they had been very concerned about est, which was nothing like Scientology. I asked how long she had been in Scientology and she told me it was thirty years. My face, I hope, continued to register polite interest, while my mind was saying, "Thirty years! Oh my god!" The experience was akin to meeting someone socially and having them say, "Have you accepted Jesus as your personal saviour?" There is so much to say, that one can hardly say anything at all.

There was a fair amount of foot traffic, and the usual cast of characters... though both Mr. Camera and the Stress Test Table Lady were not on duty. I had quite a long discussion with a very smart but decidedly wacky neighborhood regular, which was sparked by the "Now Hiring" sign in the Org window. This fellow had taken the Personality Test on two occasions, but had been turned down both times. The second time the recruiter had told him that they had a problem with the psychiatric drugs he was taking. I mentioned the official Scientology line about "making the able more able."

Phr turned up after I did, and brought bagels. One of the high points of the picket for me was watching him describe some of the more, ah, exotic facts about Scientology to an interested but bemused passerby. The passerby was having a hard time deciding whether it was Phr or Scientology which was nuts. I have noticed this problem myself when talking on the subject to people who know neither myself nor Scientology.

I had to abandon hightech dressing, due to extreme personal fatigue. But I did manage California Friday Office Attire, which consists of nice shoes, jeans, an indifferent top and a really nice jacket. I have a fushia wool interview jacket which seems to annoy most HR people, but it makes for good picketing visibility.

Oh and by the way, the fellow who flirted with me on another picket came back. He was not a Scientologist. He gave me his phone number this time, but alas, seems to live in a hotel room. He looked too doggone handsome for me to be able to afford him.

At about 1:30 the picketers repaired to the local coffee bar for refreshments, and met another interested party who had arrived too late for the picket.
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Subject: Picket report, San Francisco, 5/30/98
From: jour0@aol.com (http://members.aol.com/jour0/) (Jour0)

OVERLONG NARRATIVE:
It was a LOVELY day for picketing today, and Peaches, phr and I put in a good hour and a half at the San Francisco org. I ran out of "sucker" fliers and gave out a record number of "Why I'm Picketing" fliers (and a record number of Attorney General postcards, but since this is just the second time I've used them, that's not much of a record. Still - upstat!)
I had my usual sign (USING YOUR TAX $$$ TO DEFRAUD etc. / NO SCIENCE IN $CN / $CN DESTROYS FAMILIES), plus a bunch of "sucker" fliers and some postcards pre-addressed to the California Attorney General.

THE PRE-PICKET PICKET
The busses were running slow today so I walked. Two homeless people, a gentleman and a lady a block apart, both made approving comments about my sign. It's a shame $cn can't help them.
I stopped off at the library before the picket for a good look at "Intro to $cn Ethics" and to check out WIS, which I've never read before. As I approached the library a gentleman came up to me and said $cn is very big and very powerful and he admired my courage. He gladly took an AG postcard.
At the library, I had to check my picket sign. The three security guards I left it with seemed very interested in my message.

FAMILY DAY AT THE ORG
When I got to the org, there was no one body-routing and no stress test table set up, but there were about five Scientologists outside having a smoke. As we picketed, a fair number of people arrived (10? 15? 20? I wasn't really keeping track), including at least two youngish couples with their kids. (I think I counted four or five kids.) They did a pretty good job of ignoring us, although I smiled a friendly smile at them as usual and wished one a good afternoon and commented on the pleasant weather to another. Since I've never done a Saturday picket before, I don't know whether this is normal traffic for a Saturday, or whether it was a special event.

TRUCKIN'
I generally don't pay much attention to the vehicles parked in the three spaces in front of the org, but it has occasionally seemed like SOMEBODY was parking (pickup-size) trucks there to make it harder to see us. Today, for the first time, I actually noticed someone park a truck in one of those spaces and go into the org. Someone mentioned to me that it's illegal to try to make it hard for the public to see us. Does anyone know if that's true? (I don't know that there's an actual pattern of Scientologists trying to hide us - and hey, if we end up in a condition of hiding because of this do we have to do conditions formulas? - but if it IS actually illegal, I might start paying more attention. Or maybe I'll just grow to Godzilla size.)

SAN FRANCISCO: A COSMOPOLITAN CITY
International visitors to San Francisco seem common at our pickets. One of the first people to get a flier from me today was from Germany. (In fact, we had another passerby later on who had lived in Germany for ten years, I think he said, although I think he was an American.) He was, of course, well aware of $cn's dark side.

Another gentleman talked with me for quite a while. He was from South Africa. Between his slight accent, his soft tone, and the passing traffic, I occasionally had trouble understanding him, but from what I heard he was also well aware of $cn's dark side. I believe he had come to visit the $cn org as part of his effort to learn about $cn, possibly for journalistic purposes - I think he said he was a journalist in South Africa. He looked carefully at my fliers (he got a "sucker", a "why", and a Lisa) and I THINK he was telling me he felt guilty going in and talking to the Scientologists now that I had given him my information. I assured him that I was sure he could be objective and that I thought it was good to get both sides of the story.

While we were talking, we were joined by a Sea Org lady, whom I shall refer to as Sea-Org-Lady, as I don't know her name. She came right up and joined our conversation - she had apparently talked with the South African gentleman before. He asked her what she thought of my sign (the side that was facing her was "$cn - using your tax $$$ to defraud the public, practice medicine illegally, harass critics in court). She read it and told him that $cn doesn't get any tax money. I explained to him that since $cn gets tax breaks nobody else gets, they're effectively being subsidized with our tax dollars, and that they abuse their non-profit status by lobbying. I also asked her whether Narconon got any tax money. She said she didn't think so, she didn't really know - an answer that transformed itself into a definite "no". I asked if she was sure, and she said she wasn't, but reasserted her "no" answer to the gentleman. I said I would have to look into it.

She invited him inside, and they went into the org together. He and I had talked for perhaps five minutes and he had my fliers (I didn't see her try to take them away from him), so I think I had covered pretty much all the ground I could with him. I hope I someday find out what conclusions he ultimately drew from our competing information.

SMILE FOR THE CAMERA
A young gentleman, not dressed in Sea Org blues, pointed a disposable camera at me, so I stood still and posed for him. As soon as he snapped the picture I said "My turn!" and whipped out my disposable camera, but unfortunately he didn't pose for me, so my photo shows him turning to go back into the org.

UNREALITY?
I did get at least two negative comments today - well, one negative and one sort of non-committal (he said he was a Scientologist and he disagreed with me). The decidedly negative comment was "That's the biggest load of crap I've ever seen." I guess he and I didn't have much Reality together.

Another gentleman who took a flier told me he'd just bought a $cn book. I told him I thought that was great and I hoped he would have a good read - I thought it was important to get both sides. On the plus side, I did get TWO actual honks-and-thumbs-up, one right after the other.

SWEETS FOR THE SWEET
I had my lollipops in a clear plastic bag again today, and once again, a number of people came up to get suckers from me. Others declined the candy but took the sucker flier and the "why" flier. All my takers showed a real interest in the fliers, even those who were attracted by the candy.

THE POST-PICKET PICKET
A friend of phr's came by just as we decided to head to the cafe for some liquids, so although she missed this picket, we're hoping she'll join us for a picket some other time. (Once again, one of the gentlemen who took my fliers expressed an interest in picketing with us. It's times like those I wish we had a set picketing schedule. I told him to email me, though, so I could let him know about upcoming pickets.)

The four of us had a nice little get-together, and then we dispersed. I had a good long chat with a woman at the bus stop (she said she was from New Orleans and that no one ever pickets anything there - I wonder if she ever gets over to Berkeley?) (Berkeley is has even more activists than San Francisco, but then you probably knew that already). She didn't know much about $cn other than the names of a few celebs, but she seemed quite interested in the info I gave her, asking a lot of good questions.

Another gentleman asked me what was wrong with $cn and I got to give him my fliers and my spiel (augh! it's a german word!). He asked me if I spent all my time protesting and I assured him that it's a very small part of my very full life.

For some reason, I made extra-sure I wasn't being followed after I left the picket today. I'm sure the $cn powers that be consider me too inconsequential to bother harassing me, and I'd like to think they've learned not to harass people anyway, but better safe than sorry. Definitely time for a new sign, if I can just get over to the art supply store. Jour

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(two reports)
Subject: SF Picket June 2nd - Wayne this one's for you
From: taniwha taniwha@taniwha.com

Today we did our weekly picket at the San Francisco Org. This is the same place that Wayne Whitney picketed by himself for so long - we had already planned this picket, but we wore black arm bands in Wayne's memory.

I'd always felt a bit guilty knowing Wayne was there by himself every weekend. I think that he found it empowering to go and stand there after his time inside, and I think it was part of his healing after leaving the cult. I also think that before ARS and the great upswelling of critics that it's produced he would not have been able to do that.

We will all be picketing in SF in Wayne's memory on Saturday 11am-1pm (83 McAllistar - take the BART to Civic Center, or park in the parking lot under the Civic Center and walk south down Mcalistar towards Market) afterwards we'll go for pizza and beer please come picket with us.

Anyway back to the picket - today it was just Jour and myself, her in her stylish red picketing-jammys, me in my boring geek clothes (Peaches doesn't do our style reporting anymore) [note to self - next time you wear a black armband, don't wear the black sweater and black leather jacket].

We got almost 0 response from the Co$ this time - it was a bit windy for them to set up a table so we really didn't see much of them, we got the usual great response from the people in the street.

I had a new sign (my last one destroyed by the wind last time):
Scientology believes
you are haunted by
SPACE ALIENS
(they'll tell you for $300,000,
I'll tell you for free)

and on the back

(PS: it's all a load of bull)

We're still doing regular weekly pickets in SF at lunch time (the days change from week to week), please let us know if you want to come. Taniwha, SP3*XVII
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Subject: Picket report, San Francisco, 6/2/98
From: jour0@aol.com (http://members.aol.com/jour0/) (Jour0) (Kristi Wachter)

Full Report

IN WAYNE'S HONOR

I hope I'll be able to make it to the Saturday picket, but if not, (sips beer), Wayne, this one's for you. Jour

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Subject: San Jose Picket Report 6/3/98
From: SPAMBLOCK_jwissick@pacbell.net (Jim Wissick)

Another interesting day. I do not want to get into the details right now, but I was there from 3:25 till about 5:15.