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September 20, 1997 - Gregg HagglundAs announced at the end of Picket Report #7 and on ARS, the Toronto Contingent of ARSCC(wdne) staged a Protest Demonstration at the Toronto Hilton Hotel today. This was the location of the local Borg Auditors Day Event. The Picket was attended by Gregg Hagglund, Artemis,
Slippery Jim, {Shadow}, 3 Deep Wog Agents, two
Light Standard Picketers The Picket was scheduled for 6:30 to 9 pm and was visibly attended by the Metropolitan Police Force at all times to ensure our Freedom of Expression. [Hilton Security found this to be contrary to what they were told, by Bill and Al, the Police presence was for.] I had several new respondents to my public call, on ARS, for Demonstrators for the Auditors Day Event. Four new faces volunteered to be "Deep Wogs" (was called 'deep clams'). The mission of the four Deep Wogs was to attend and observe the Auditors Day Celebration and provide concise reporting to me of the event for posting to ARS and the Web. They were specifically enjoined to not be disruptive in any way. All agreed to this. Three made the attempt, one had to cancel due to other commitments. Note: the Toronto Org falsely advertised this event as open to the public. The Org failed to mention a caveat: to enter the Event one had to fill out a complete information sheet on oneself. Many of the questions were personal in nature and inappropriate. Mr Buttnor himself lamely explained to one Deep Wog that the event was for Scientologists only. This was another lie. If the event were closed then why the sign up/in sheets for fresh faces? [Does filling out these extensive and intrusive forms, as at the Auditors Day Event, make one a Scientologist? If so then I myself am one, as I filled one out, long ago when the Borg was on Avenue Road in Toronto! Therefore: I WANT MY DECLARE!] " Bill Osvath of the Toronto Org told the Hilton Hotel that the evening event was open to the general public and there should be a *huge* influx of people due to the 'New Slant' campaign." -source:{Shadow} [This optimism on Bill's part cost the Org dearly, for they booked Hilton Facilities that far exceeded those necessary. Very expensive optimism Bill.] This conversation took place between one of the Deep Wog Agents and the Cos on Thursday, September 18. I called a few minutes ago from a pay phone (Queen&University) and the conversation went something like this: [ring] When they asked if I was "confirmed", it wasn't immediately obvious they were speaking in a "reservation" sense. At the time she asked, I was wondering what possible meaning "confirmed" has in this so-called "religion" ... Anyways, I'm now expecting them to ask for my name at the door when I arrive. This could be a short visit... And indeed it was. I am proud to say all Deep Wog agents, when faced with having to choose to deceive the Co$ by lying in writing in order to penetrate and peacefully observe, chose not to. One Deep Wog was actually asked to leave by Buttnor. [I posted that report seperately but will include it at this point when I can *finally* update my Website this week.] The other two Deep Wog agents, when directed by Sea Ogres to the "Registrars Desk" demurred at filling out the forms and left without being asked to. There were other individuals who desired to attend, drawn in one way or another, who also balked at this condition of entry and were asked to leave. Several of them spoke to me outside, more on that later. *** [This next portion posted with permission and has been edited by {Shadow}:] My day started early as I had been in email contact with an individual who called themself {Shadow} and claimed to be on Staff at the Toronto Org. I had my doubts as to trusting such a source, but I did engage in a most interesting series of posts, (all wiped BTW). The net result of this exchange was the finding of common ground. {Shadow} is a scientologist who is convinced, by personal experience, that the tech can be self enabling. {Shadow} objects to several aspects of the Co$, including: the prices, the religious aspects, the culling of PC Folders, all the BT nonesense after going Clear, the attitude of several staff members at the Org, especially [.....{S}.....] and especially 'Wimpy' whom {Shadow} regards as more suited in a Brown Shirt and Swastika than in Sea Ogre Blue. { 'Wimpy' should be actually called 'Limpy' and *is* behind his back, due to some significant 2d failures - S} {Shadow} understands the nature of my objections to the conduct of the Co$ and wants to see the Tech made available without the rest of the 'Railroad'. {Shadow} has volunteered to supply, from time to time, inside snippets of the Toronto Org for awhile until {Shadow} leaves.{Shadow} is unafraid of being uncovered by Sec Checks because [.....{S}....] ! I met {Shadow} in the [......{S}....] part of Toronto so as to make the likelihood of observation minimal. This was to be the only time we were to ever meet face to face as long as {Shadow} was still on staff and in the Co$. The meet came off without a hitch. We conferred and came to terms which I have somewhat revealed above. There are more, but all are reasonable and necessary to protect the identity of {Shadow}. *** At about 5 pm, wearing my Priests Garb, (surprise OSA, I am an Ordained Minister in my Order and infact the Head of that Order. Now try and find out just *what* Order that is!) I entered the Hilton Hotel and briefly conferred with Hotel Staff. I then took the escalators down to the lower Convention Floor Lobby. The Toronto Org, having rented the meeting facilities on the South side of the Convention Floor was entitled to use the Southern half of the lobby for displays. I stood at the bottom of the escalators and observed a few Toronto Org staff whom I knew know me as a Protestor. However, there were several Co$ites who did not. One of whom saw me and approached me and asked: " Hi! My name is --- Are you onlines?" "No, I am not a Scientologist, but I have read Dianetics, New Slant and other works by Ron." "Well, you are a little early, nothing will be happening until Seven." "I know, but I was in the area early on other business and I thought I'd stick my head in and see what was being set up. I am curoius by nature." (Big Smile) " Are you a Priest?" "Yes, I haven't sat in on any of the local Ecumenical meetings that Rev. Buttnor has, but we are, ahh, acquainted." "Well feel free to look around then, Father. You will excuse me but I have to run and change. If you have any questions everyone is taking a break at the other end over there. Bye" "Good bye and thank you" "You are welcome, Father." The moment she reached the top of the escalator I whipped out my camera and started taking shots. I knew I would have only a few moments. First a shot of a terrible likeness of Hubbard done in bronze and on a Pedestal. Then a shot of a table with forms for filling out and much literature. (None of which I felt was ethical to take.) Then a full shot of the Co$ half of the Lobby. I then advanced to the displays and the staff behind the escalators. Staff were beginning to be aware of my flash. I hoped my camera batteries were fresh enough to cycle into 'flash-ready' fast enough. I got a shot of a display of Emeters, seven in all. ( Retail $35,000 total, manufacturers price: $50.00 each.) One Co$Lady was closing in and was not happy. I got one more shot in of the book display of "Truth" and "Mest". Now they were closing in from all sides except the way had come, so I began to walk back to the escalators as I put my camera away. The Co$Lady was quite upset: "What are you doing!?" she asks. I felt like launching into the invnetion and history of the camera and its evolution in modern times, but I guessed this wasn't the right time, so I said, "Taking Pictures." "Oh no," she says, "Why are you taking Pictures?!" "For publication", I answer. "Publication?! Where?! For who?!" "On the Internet and the Web for the education of the general public. I like to keep people abreast of the activities of the Church of Scientology in Toronto." " Who told you you could take pictures?!" " Who says I can not?" "Well, no one, but you should ask first!" "Why? This area is a public one and besides I was invited by ---- to take a look. Also, if I had asked would I have received permission?" "NO!" "That is precisely why it was important for me *not* to ask. Scientology hides a lot, doesn't it?" "What is your name? Are you a Priest or something?" At this point I am almost on the escalator, six Sea Ogres and others are converging. " Yes, and my name is Gregg Hagglund." She hurriedly grabs paper and a pen from the Registrars table, knocking things about. Now I am on the up escalator. "You needn't write it down," I offered," Mr. Buttnor is well acquainted with me." There is now a small group crowded at the bottom of the escalator watching me ascend into the rational world. One shouts up at me, "I know you! You have know rights to be in this building!" " You forgot something" I shouted back, now nearing the top of the escalator and facing backwards to my direction of travel. "What?" that one yelled back. "Wog Law Rules" I said and did a nicely timed back step off the escalator at the top. I stopped neatly without a jar and looked back down at them. I felt a deep saddness sweep over me for the angry group at the Bottom of the Up Escalator. There they stood impotently or milled about, trapped in the Fantasy Hell woven by a meglomaniac. Most unfortunate. They are all victims. I headed for the Hilton Security Office. No one was there, but the door was standing open and the phone was ringing and blinking. The button flashing showed the call originating from the Convention Level. I briefly toyed with anwering it and driving the Co$ites crazy, but did not. It was not my phone. I waited ten rings and it stopped. I waited a little longer, just outside the door and then I left the Hotel to meet with Artemis at the CITYTV speakers corner for a Television Appearance. It was a 500 meter walk. The weather was holding. Sunny, but cool and the wind was a bit gusty. It was 5:30 and traffic was picking up. Richmond street, upon which we would be At Cause soon, is the gateway to the parking areas in and around Toronto Theatre district. And at this corner, where Richmond, (which runs 4 lane wide oneway east), meets University (which has 4 lanes north and 4 lanes south) the lights are very, very long. I was looking forward to a good Picket and Information Dissemination to the well heeled, car bourne,theatre goers attending the very expensive Sat Nite Shows. But first to meet with Artemis and to create for the Toronto Co$, the Sound Bite From Hell. End Part One. Part two follows: I walked back along Queen and visited my van to pick up some RXSpecials to hand out while I waited for Artemis at City TV. During the short walk I had from my van to City I gave out about 30 RX's and another 10 while I was waiting for Artemis. Shortly I was joined by Artemis and he suggested that we do a little impromptu Demo! So we returned to my van to get a few more flyers and a couple of signs. Then we wandered back to City TV and walked right into the lobby, signs and all and spoke with reception. I ended up doing a five minute audio interview with the News who asked me if I was going to do a two minute spot on Speakers Corner? I said I had intended to and they said they would make a note of it and see if they could use it. So, I then stepped outside of City and into the Speakers Corner booth to tape a 'Suppressives Video and Sound Bite'. I had a ball doing a variety of two minute versions of my street harangue about Xenu and the Body Thetans. Each one costs a Dollar to do and then City TV picks up the ones they find interesting and broadcasts them. (Apparently they did later use one segment of me doing the "Scientology is Hiding Xenu the Galactic Overlord" but I missed seeing it myself.) While I was in the TV Booth Artemis was busy putting up and handing out Court Opinion and RX flyers too. When I was finished my antics for the camera Artemis and I went back to my van again and geared up for the Picket. I dressed down from the Priest garb put on all my hip backs for cameras and recorders and the M-Phone. And of course my Tilly Hat. Artemis pulled out the Picket signs and leaned them up against the van while I stuffed packets of flyers into the Carrier Bags. And suddenly we had a friendly inquistive crowd! Passersby were reading the signs and started asking us questions and asking for flyers. Several people remarked that they had seen us at the Org and wanted to know what we were up to in this part of town. When we said we were going to be picketing the Auditors Day Event at the Hilton we got a lot of laughs and much encouragement. We gave out a bunch of all types of flyers here too. Now we had all of our accouterments ready we made the short walk back along Queen and down University to the Hilton. As we approached the Hilton I saw a Bicycle Cop just parking himself at the front of the Hotel and so I approached him. As I had hoped, he was the first of our Police escort to arrive. I introduced myself and we exchanged a few pleasantries. I told him we did not expect too many Picketers today but we were glad to see him. Then a Police van pulled into the front of the Hotel and parked. The Bicycle Cop joined the two cops in the Van and I did another round of intros and conversation. I saw the Hotel Security Chief heading our way and asked the Cop behind the wheel, who had been out on our Demo's before, if he would fill the Hilton in on what to expect from us.He happily agreed to do this.( I had sent the Hotel a 'Fair Warning' email along with a briefing on our kind of Picketing, but I had no confirmation if it had been read. Also, Xenu knows what Buttnor and crew had told the Hotel about us! ) It was now 6:15 and Artemis and I had to set up for the Picket. I had anticipated an initial Suppressives turn out of not less than two and not more than six for the streetside portion of our activities. There was also the commitment of 4 others to observe the Auditors Day Event, if possible, and report back to me for public dissemination. Artemis and I had brought along all six signs and set about utilising the services of our most tireless Picketers: Light Standards! Using tywraps we affixed two signs each to two of the Light Standards in front of the Hotel at about a seven foot high point. These would easily be seen by passing traffic and by any of the Cosites entering the Hotel from the street or arriving by car. The height kept them visible even with the row of taxis out front. As we were doing this Artemis noticed we had attracted the attention of Mr Buttnor, who stood in the entrance to the Hotel and visibly fumed. Once our 'Standard' friends were set, we paused and took a few photos. Then right at 6:30 Artemis began to patrol the front of the Hotel on Richmond while I did a piece of the front by the busy street corner and a bit down University. We made sure we stayed on public grounds while Demonstrating. At about 7:00 we were joined by Slippery Jim, so we liberated one of the signs from our 'Standard' friends and Jim took over the patrol of University to Richmond side of the Hotel. And I was able to remain parked right at the corner of Richmond and University, both multi-laned roadways. The number of cars going west on oneway Richmond was amazing and mostly upscale types too. A lot of theatre goers and patrons of the 'Artsy' type restaurants in the theatre district west of University and south of Queen. These became my 'captive' audience for two minutes at a time as the lights at the corner cycled. The sign I carried had "Scientology: Secret UFO Cult" on one side and "Canada's only Criminally Convicted 'Church': Scientology!" on the other. As people drove by or more often were stopped by the lights I kept rotating the sign, giving them about 30 seconds per side. The number of smiles, thumbs up, hand claps, horn hits, waves and roll-down-the-window-to-make-a-postive-or-appreciative-comments were incredible. We quite easily got our message, between Artemis, Jim and myself, to at least several thousand people between 6:30 and 8:00 when we quit and went to a local Starbucks for coffee. There were a few interesting occurances during the Picket. We had a fair share of razzing and baiting, some of it quite vicious, from Cosites entering the Hotel. I asked quite a few if they had heard of Xenu and those that did answer said the Xenu story was a lie made up on the Internet! My, my, what dishonest tales are being said within the Toronto Org.! One woman even told me that Lisa McPherson had been killed by psyches! I must say this was the most spontaneous verbal interaction I had ever had with Cosites and it was very encouraging. Big lies means big losses for the Co$ *eventually* and *inevitably*. The Co$ did plant an operative at the corner to 'watch' over me. He had a cell phone, but never used it. I didn't use my MegaPhone either as this was very much a show and show information picket. We had very little foot traffic that was not Cosites going into the Hotel. Artemis had a long talk with a newbie Scientologist who had IIRC just gone on lines and Artemis gave him an education. This fellow went into the Event in a strong condition of Doubt and with a battery of questions for which honest answers by Buttnor and crew would certainly cause this fellow to blow. This fellow had Internet access so he could easily verify our information given to him versus the pap the Co$ would feed him. Jim and I were accosted by a Cosite just after I had finished giving Jim a walk thru' of the Hotel property lines down University. This guy looked and acted very stunned. He came up to Jim and me opposite the Hotels University St. entrance and asked why we were opposing such a wonderful thing as Scientology and why did we tell lies about Scientology? I showed him my 'Criminal Church' sign and asked him if that was the truth and he said, yes it was, but it was done by renegades and psyche infiltrators. Then I showed him the 'UFO Cult' side and asked him if that was true and he said, no that was a lie. I asked him how did he know if he had not read all the scriptures, as I had, especially OT3 and the Xenu story and Hubbard's dismissal of God, Christ and all religions as evil thought implants by the Galactic Overlord Xenu? He said that was a lie from the Internet. He acted very, well, stoned. (If I had had him as an entrant at the border during my days as a Customs and Immigration Officer, I would have gone over him and any effects very carefully.) Jim and I didn't get a chance to further enturbulate this fellow, because one of the regular CosLadies came trotting down the sidewalk and tapped this guy's shoulder and said, "Dave, could I have a word with you?" And then she took his arm and steered him out of range of our evil suppressive grasp. He must be a good cash cow to get that kind of shepherding. Poor fellow. I am sure his mandatory KR would be interesting reading. At 7:15 I saw two of my Deep Wogs emerge from the Hotel. They came up to me and quickly said they had to back out because of all the info the CoS wanted inorder for anyone to get in. They went home, but offered to join the Picket lines soon. I thanked them for their efforts. Then a young couple came out of the Hotel and approached me and asked some questions. Seems they had been quite put out that they had to fill those information forms out. Infact, they had, but then they changed their minds and had to be quite adamant about getting the forms back. I told them their BS Meters might be slow but had saved them a wasted evening and possibly a large bite of their retirement, or kids college funds or maybe even their Home and Marriage, in the end. I gave them flyers and the standard answers about course costs, Xenu, "No Christ", poor Lisa M, the Internet War, etc. All eye openers for them. They soon left to get out of the wind, but not without getting my email address and giving me theirs. Nice folks. About 7:40 I took a call on the Cel Phone from my original Deep Wog. He was reporting he, too, had not wanted to fill out the forms and had been given the bums rush by no less than Buttnor himself! He said he'd join us in a few minutes so he could go with us for coffee. Now what is it about Scientologists and tardiness? I had a significantly greater and more vocal number of Cosites entering the Hotel between 7:30 ( the advertised start time ) and 7:50 then before 7:30 at all. Anyway, Deep Wog came by at about 7:50 and filled me in on his adventure. He promised to write it up and email it to me for posting to ARS and for my Website. I called it a night at 8:00. Road traffic had died down to a trickle, ( curtain time I guess ) and foot traffic into or by the Hotel was now virtually nonexistent. I made sure to thank our Police escort, now down to a single officer in a van, for protecting our right to Demonstrate. He said we were welcome and asked for a flyer or two for some friends. I ended up giving him a dozen RXs and Courts Opinions. We relieved our 'Standard' friends of the other three signs and went back to my van to put everything away. We didn't get tailed beyond Queen and University. Then it was off to Starbucks for coffee and a little planning for the next Demo at the Org. Halloween is coming. Tricks or BTs? Heh, heh. {grin}
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