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ade donations totalling.

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successful litigation campaign to

destroy Church of Scientology.

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http://thepaperlessoffice.org/about

L.A

.WE

EK

LY

FE

AT

UR

ES

April 4-10, 1986

Vol. 8, N

o. 19

Inside Scientology

16T

he Other S

ide of the Looking Gloss

by Ron C

urran with Jennifer P

raft

41%

ON

TH

E C

OV

ER

:

Rev. K

en Hoden and R

ev. Heber

Jentzsch photographed by David

Jacobson.

TH

E O

TH

ER

SID

E O

FT

HE

LOO

KIN

G G

LAS

Sby R

on Cum

in with Jennifer Pratt

IL. R

on Hubbard]

has now m

oved on tohis next level of .

..

research. This level is

heYand anything any

-of us has everim

agined. It is alevel, in fact, done in

an exterior state,com

pletely exteriorfrom

the body. In thislevel .

.. the

body isnothing m

ore than anim

pediment, an en-

cumbrance to any

furthergain

.

.

. Thus, at

2000 hours, Friday,the 24th of January,

A.D

. [1986], L.

Ron H

ubbard dis-carded the bO

dy hehad used in this lift-

'tim

e for 74 years, 10m

onths and 11-

Hubbard,protege--"C

aptain" David

Miscavige,to 1,800

Scientologists at theH

ollywood Palla-

dium,

January 27, 1986

Com

mander H

ubbard

Hubbard's "F

reedom" A

rmy

TH

E C

HU

RC

H O

F SCIE

NT

OL

OG

Y's

headquarters on Berendo Street off Sunset

Boulevard is the busy m

ecca of L.A

.'s sub-stantial Scientology com

munity. A

pproachthe "blue building" and young childrenscurry up and offer to sell you copies ofScientology m

agazines. As you enter the

lobby and near the reception desk (which

bears a banner urging mem

bers to "Get

Trained"), staffers w

earing the naval-motif

uniform of the church are quick to greet

you, eager to help current mem

bers orrecruit new

mem

bers. A steady stream

ofnon-staff Scientologists floods the lobbyaround you. Som

e are on their way to or

from counseling sessions, others have just

dropped by to peruse the latest Scientology"technology'-'for sale (such as a set oftaped-L

; Ron H

ubbard lectures, selling for

The m

ostvisible non-traditional"religlin" in Los A

ngeles is-Scientology.

Everybody sees its buildings; few

knoww

hat goes on inside them. C

ritics call it a"M

oonie-like" cult; devotees such asJohn T

ravolta, Chick C

orea,AI Jarreau

and Karen B

lack swear it has changed

their lives for the better. Opponents say

it coerces, menaces and m

anipulatesm

embers and critical outsiders alike;

supporters say it has merel) defended

itself against outside assaults. One thing

is certain: Scientology is different.

$1,888). ThO

urdi of Scientology is in-deed a w

orld vir tuitling activityand

bristling anxiety.For w

hen the staffers learn that you are a"w

og" (Scientology-speak for non-Scien-tologist) or, w

orse yet, a :mog journalist,

their warm

smiles change instantly to icy

defensiveness. "What do you w

ant?"snaps the receptionist, w

ho only secondsearlier w

anted to be your best friend. Itdoesn't take long to realize that althoughchurch literature stresses that " 'L

ove thyneighbor' is a basic tenet," unless a Scien-tologist's neighbor is a fellow

mem

ber ofthe church, Scientologistscan be zealouslyself-protective.

A-dbier look behind the facade of good

will offers further evidence of this. Security

guards are everywhere. Sophisticated locks

(whom

combinations

are continmilly

:" seal off the buikling's catacomb

of;

-files and counseling cubicles. A

wanted

offering a $500 reward for

flII

f..inform

ation onseveral

..

church "-I" hangs near one of the

corridors, And

Scientology claims

to be a "major

'encouraging "allm

an's inalienable. . ." to

thinkfreely, to talk' freely, to

'te freely theirow

n opinions- Ind to coor utter or

write upon T

he opinions o"m

othez church" seems m

oreress than a forum

to an outsider, 'phere m

ore hlte a city under siegecitadel of learning.

But to C

hurch of Scientology officials, \this hyperprotectionism

is a basic necessityif the m

ission that L. R

on Hubbard has

bestowed upon his flock

nothing lessthan "buildings new

civilization"is to

be achieved. That the battle lines had been

drawn w

as dear when three of the Scien-

lology leadas most responsible for fulfill-

' ing Hubbard's vision gathered one recent

Sunday morning in the office of C

hurch ofScientology

International's51-year-old

president, the Reverend H

eber Jentzsch.Seated in front of a w

all-size photo of thecontinued on next P

age

,t itsa fort-

I'I

I A W

EE

KLY

Arvil 4-1a 1986

17



SCIENTOLOGYcontinued from previous page

Andromeda galaxy were Jentzsch, with anornate Scientology cross hanging from thecleric's collar of his powder-blue shirt; theReverend Ken Hoden, the gaunt, intensepresident of L.A.'s Scientology flock; andEarle Cooley, a blustery man of consider-able girth who serves as the church'sprimary attorney. Three well-groomedyoung aides sat at the ready should the

" leaders need documents to support theirpending points. And above all (literally andfiguratively) was L. Ron Hubbard, keep-ing a watchful eye from a portrait hanginghigh on the south wall. (Though Hubbardofficially "retired" from church leadershipin 1966, disappeared from the public eyealtogether in 1981 and died last January,the spectre of "Ron" still hangs heavy overevery nook and cranny of the Scientologyscene.)

The Reverend Jentzsch offered to ex-plain the reason for the Church of Scien-tology's history of controversy. "We arethe victim of an international assault led bythe psychiatric community, Cointelpro,the Rockefellers and governmentsthroughout the world," said Jentzsch, aformer journalist (L.A. Free Press) and ac-tor (Paint Your Wagon) who joined thechurch in 1967 and became president ofChurch of Scientology International, itsmanagement arm, in 1981. "The Churchof Scientology is determined to stand upagainst this attack on First Amendmentrights." (See Sidebar: "The Government'sWar Against Scientology.")

"I think it goes much deeper," addedCooley, who has served as the church's at-torney for 16 months, but who has been achurch member for only six months."What we're dealing with is really a deepunderlying problem. Since the dawn oftime, man has been interested in unlockingthe secrets of the mind, of human nature.All religions are engaged in this pursuit,but Scientology focuses on it more intense-ly. This places Scientology on a collisioncourse with psychiatry, psychology and theforces of government who are committedto behavior modification, thought controland the manipulation of mankind We areengaged in a war for the human spirit."

"So we have to protect our church andour freedom to believe in the religion ofour choice," interjected Hoden. "We havebeen singled out and been the center of somuch attention because we have dis-covered a workable way for man to achievetotal freedom. The freedom of mankind isour goal, and we will defend our right tostrive for that freedom."

L. Ron Hubbard surveyed the scenefrom his portrait. He seemed pleased.

L.A.'s Most

Conspicuous "Cult"?

Scientology is certainly no stranger toattention, and when the reclusive L. RonHubbard died of a stroke at his San LuisObispo ranch, the bright light of publicscrutiny was again cast upon his progeny.But despite the walls of defense evident atScientology headquarters, the church has,ironically, done everything in its power tokeep its product, if not its parishioners, inthe public eye. For in the 35 years sinceHubbard founded Scientology, basing it onprinciples propounded in his 1950 best-seller Diane&s: The Modem Science of Men-tal Health, it has consciously positioned it-self as L.A.'s most conspicuous religion.(Some say "cult.")

Just look around. In a city of outlandisharchitecture, Scientology's bright blueBerendo Street headquarters (once Cedarsof Lebanon hospital) certainly catches theeye while its 70-foot-tall green neon"SCIENTOLOGY" marquee dominatesthe Hollywood strip. Celebrities such asJohn Travolta, Karen Black and Al Jarreaupublicly praise Scientology's role in theirsuccess. Glossy newspaper supplementstrumpet Scientology as a "major reli-gion . . . [ike] Protestantism, Buddhism,Judaism, Catholicism." TV commercialsshow attractive woman scaling mightycliffs thanks to Scientology principles.Circuslike court trials brought by andagainst Scientology continually grab prom-inent coverage in the local and nationalpress. (A $100 million fraud suit againstthe church is currently being tried infederal court here.) Indeed, in LosAngeles, where a high profile is often moreimportant than high standards, the Churchof Scientology has made itself a star.

But despite its pervasive presence, Scien-tology remains an enigma to most people.The questions are many: What exactly isScientology? Is it really a religion or is it abusiness disguised as a religion? Howmany members does it have? Who wieldsthe power? Why does it generate so muchcontroversy? Has it, as critics havecharged, been taken over by a money-hungry, manipulative and exploitativecoterie who deceive and use the membersfor their own ends, turning them intofanatics, or is it run by a truly conscien-tious group? Is Scientology "the only roadto total freedom," as its many supportersinsist, or a "greedy, brainwashing moneymachine and vicious cult engaging in some-times despicable acts," as detractors claim?Or is it something in between?

To answer these questions, the Weeklyspent the better part of a year tracingScientology's history, studying its doc-trines and interviewing former membersand other critics of the church. Perhapsmost important, the Weekly's editors ap-proached the press-paranoid leaders ofScientology with a deal: "Allow us to ex-amine Scientology from the inside tointerview current church members, tourrestricted church buildings and experimentwith Scientology technology. In return, wepromise to print a fair and accuratepresentation of our findings."

Initially, the offer was met withresistance. During a meeting with thesereporters early last year at a restaurantacross from Scientology headquarters, KenHoden made it clear that, because ofprevious critical articles in the Weekly,"We don't want anything to do with yourstory." Days later, a prominent advertiserwho is a Scientologist threatened to pull hisads if an article critical of the church ap-peared. But a meeting between senior of-ficials of the church and a Weekly editoreventually took place, the deal was struck("We've taken so many shots from thepress, we have to be careful," apologizedHoden) and the Weekly was granted un-precedented access to the inner workings.of the Church of Scientology. (Not withoutrestrictions, however. Church financeswere ruled a taboo subject. We were barredfrom random interviewing of churchmembers and allowed to tour Scientologygrounds only with Hoden as our guide.This defensiveness seems` to stem from acombination of justified apprehensionresulting from past press fixation on Scien-tology's controversial aspects and aparanoia inherited from L. Ron Hubbard,who considered reporters pawns in theglobal psychiatric conspiracy. Hoden con-firmed that all Scientology officials receiveinstruction on how to deal with reporters.)

Still, Hoden was surprisingly coopera-tive, spending nearly 50 hours explainingthe structure and philosophy of his church,arranging interviews with current Scien-tologists and rebutting the allegations ofsome 30 representative former Scientolo-gists. (There is also an official oppositiongroup called FAIR Freedom for All inReligion consisting of about 200 formerchurch members, many of whom still prac-tice "auditing" at independent centers butwho oppose the current church hierarchyas "lying, fraudulent, money-motivated"and "Gestapo-like," to quote one FAIRmember.)

Both sides had their axes to grind.Hoden and current church members feelScientology is a ground-breaking religionunfairly persecuted because of its uniqueeffectiveness. Former members (vastlyoutnumbered by current members) claimthat abusive church policies have left thememotionally, spiritually and financially "bankrupt and feel that attacks on thechurch are justified.

What did we conclude? That Scientologyis neither patently good nor patently evil.Rather, there is a curious dichotomy. Themajority of Scientologists attest to beingperfectly happy with the church, whileformer members tend to carry with themintense bitterness and resentment. Thechurch criticizes psychiatry while sellingpseudo-Freudian counseling. Scientolo-gists accuse its enemies of launchingmalicious attacks against the church, butthe church itself has a history of harass-ment and of vengeful (and sometimes il-legal) clandestine operations againstenemies, real or imagined. But above all,Scientology promises total freedom whileundermining that noble theory too oftenwith disturbing practices.

Therapy as Religion

Though the Berendo Street headquartersis the hub of Scientology activity in LosAngeles, the church's showplace is itsCelebrity Center at Franklin and Bronson.A grand gothic chateau built for WilliamRandolph Hearst in the 1920s, this com-plex of Scientology offices and apartmentshas retained much of its charm, repletewith garden grounds and flowing foun-tains The idyllic setting is reinforced asyou enter the mansion's foyer. The wallsare lined with original art, and music froma grand piano wafts around you. Indeed, itis a serene setting.

That is, until one is confronted in themain lobby by a large advertising displayselling a series of taped lectures by L. RonHubbard titled "Radiation and Your Sur-vival." A brochure quotes Hubbard from alecture: "There is actually such a pointwhere a person's beingness can be suffi-ciently great that he becomes practicallyindestructable." The inference? WithScientology training, you will surviveradiation poisoning. The cost of the lecturetape? Nearly $300. Welcome to the schizo-phrenic world that is the Church of Scien-tology: Enlightenment costs money.

It was at the Celebrity Center that wemet 39-year-old Ken Hoden for the first ofseveral formal interviews. A former electri-cal engineer who is the son of a Baptistminister, Hoden says he became attractedto Scientology after reading Dianetia in1973 and realizing he "was not as effectiveas [he] wanted to be." He joined the staffthe following year and was named titularhead of Scientology's influential L.A. con-gregation in 1984.

Henceforth, Hoden would be our per-sonal guide through the church's complexlabyrinth of "freedom" and finance.

18 L.A.WEEKLY Apn7 410, 19615For more information on OCR and PDF Compression visit ThePaperlessOffice.org


Wearing-a traditional priest collar undera well-tailored gray suit, sad sipping coffeefrom a sterling-silver service set in one ofthe Celebrity Center's conference rooms, ,

Hoden articulated his confidence in the-4church. "Scientology is the best way I'vefound to help people improve their lives. IfDianetics and Scientology are applied stan-dardly, it will work 100 percent of the timewith every single person everywhere. Com-pared to anything else, it is the only road tototal freedom."

According to Hoden, the Church ofScientology currently boasts more than40,000 members in Los Angeles and 6million throughout the world. (Church of-ficials concede the world total includes any-one who has taken any Scientology course

To eventually ridoneself of the

"negative influenceof the mind," a -

person must beginby "confronting"memory images of

painful experiencesaccumulated in pastand present lives.

411kAllk,

Builders of "a new civilization."

Hubbard's "shrine."

E-meter auditing.

over the last five years, though of coursemany of these people now have no affili-ation with the church.) Of the L.A. -members, 1,500 are full-time staff, 760 ofthem living and working out of the Beren-do complex, earning $24 per week plusminimal room, board and expenses asmembers of the "Sea Organization," anelite, almost monastic segment of theScientology community.

The remainder of Scientology's L.A.members are those who take courses at anyof the five area churches or numerous fran-chise missions in the L.A. area. (Scien-tology claims to operate 600 churches andmissions worldwide.) L.A. also serves ashome to Scientology's more upper-levelContinental and American Saint Hill

According to Hoden, these peopleassumed power "based on their record ofproduction. If you make things go, you'llmove up in the church. It's based onstatistics . . . on graphs." (Quotas are im-posed on Scientologists to =courage themaximum number of new recruits and thehighest level of production. Critics claimthese quotas often lead to overaggressiverecruiting and fraudulent promises ofresults that warp the church's altruisticgoals. The church's "Code of Ethics" lists"mistakes resulting in financial lose" as a"misdemeanor" offense.)

Ken Hoden also confirms that some ofthe church's most influential advisors camefrom an inner citcle of aides who servedHubbard in his final years. People like Pat

ma 10

Conspiracy pawns, sincere critics, or justplain broke?

churches, as well as to "Advanced Org,"at which progressively more sophisticated(and expensive) services are offered.

The day-to-day management of thechurch is carried out by Heber Jentzsch aspresident of the Church of ScientologyInternational. Vicki Aznaran is head of oneof the church's two major business sub-sidiaries, Religious Technology Center(RTC), which controls Hubbard's trade-marks. David Miscavige runs the secondsubsidiary, the for-profit Author ServicesInc. (ASI), which handles Hubbard's non-Scientology literary works (such as hisbest-selling sci-fi novel, Battlefield Earth).The "ecclesiastical top" of Scientology isits Flag Service Org in Clearwater, Florida.Mark Yeager is the church's highest rank-ing ecclesiastic official, assisted by RayMidoff. Earle Cooley coordinates all legalaffairs, while Lyman Spurlock is churchaccountant and Norman Starky serves asits marketing expert.

and Anne Broeker (who Hoden says serveas "consultants") are rumored to havegained substantial power in the churchsince Hubbard became an absolute reclusein 1981, while Hubbard's 24-year-old pro-tege David Miscavige (whom Hodendescribes as merely Hubbard's "literaryagent at ASI and a close friend") seems tohave been groomed for power in thechurch. Miscavige's role as announcer ofHubbard's death and host of his annualNew Year's message seems to confirm thisspecial influence.

Obviously, spiritual "enlightenment,"or higher levels of getting "dear," is no re-quisite for advancement in the church.

Scientology is based on principles Hub-bard first expressed in Dianetics basical-ly, that man can achieve "total freedom"by controlling his "reactive mind." Hub-bard later expanded his theories into themore elaborate scenario of human ex-istence and improvement known as Scien-

I 4 WEEKLY Arm/ 4-10 1 .9511 R



tology. Upper-level Scientokrgiis ire ex-posed to Hubbard's theories that aberrant

1, behavior was "implanted" in humans 75. million years ago by an evil ruler named; Xenu, who froze people and dropped them

into 10 volcanoes. After killing the human.swith hydrogen bombs to combat over-population, Xenu collected their spirits asthey rose in dusters from the volcanoesand implanted the spirits with evilthoughts. Hubbard dubbed these clustersof brainwashed spirits "body thetans."These thetans, according to Hubbard,literally attach themselves to humans as weare itincarnated over the eons and areresponsible for all aberrant behavior wecommit. (Hubbard collected these andthousands of additional theories into aseries of "red books" that serve as the bi-ble of Scientology "technology." A seriesof "green books" detail his daily rules andpolicies for church management.)

It needs to be noted here that Scien-tologists are not exposed to the "Xenu"theories until they have moved well upthrough the Scientology courses. Thesecourses deal with more mundanebehavioral patterns and relationships,much as any therapy does, and Scien-tologists insist they, are effective aids tohuman growth even without knowledge oracceptance of any of Hubbard's "higher"principles or theories.

Hoden and other Scientologists arguethat most other churches, at their core,have creation myths that are as strange tooutsiders as Scientology's "Do youknow what Mormons really believe?" oneScientologist asked. (Hoden was sotroubled by the impending discussion ofthe Xenu material that he asked the Weeklynot to print it. The material originally ap-peared in the L.A. Times.) And at any rate,church supporters argue, getting "clear"of psychological trauma is paramount inchurch practices, not forcing members toaccept unusual theories; and members mayhold traditional religious beliefs as well.

To eventually rid oneself of the "nega-tive influence of the mind," a person mustbegin by "confronting" memory images ofpainful experiences accumulated in pastand present lives. These negative mentalimages are called "engrams" and carrywith them a negative electric charge.(Scientologists don't consider the "mind"to be the brain, but rather a collection ofpictures surrounding the person, ac-cumulated throughout one's present andprevious lives. Scientologists consider aperson to be a spirit called a "thetan"that can be affected by these pictures.)

"Close your eyes and think of an apple,"offers Hoden as proof that these mentalpictures exist. "You can see an image ofthe apple, right? An engram is also a pic-ture. They're actual images of negative ex-periences that exist in your mind, andwhen you address them in auditing you caneliminate their harmful influence." In aneffort to "destimulate" the negative effectof an engram, Scientologists work theirway up a "bridge" of increasingly expen-sive auditing courses until they eventually"clear" themselves of this "source of aber-rant behavior and psychosomatic illness"and achieve "total freedom."

"A Scientologist starts at the bottom ofthe bridge and works his way up to totalfreedom one course at a time," saysHoden. "He or she spends as much time asthey need to achieve the results of eachlevel. They decide when they're ready tomove up."

The bridge is divided into two sections"processing" and "training." The

lower levels of the processing bridge,according to Hoden, "deal with the mind'seffect on the body, which would include

addressing the subject of drug depend-encies ancr self-coufidence and thepsychosomatic sourceOf :illness." Four.courses comprise this lower level:"Purification Rundown," which promises"freedom from restimulative effects ofdrug residuals and other toxins". "Objec-tives," which puts the Scientofogist "inpresent time and able to control and putorder in the environment"; "Drug Run-down," which "releases the Scientologistfrom the harmful effects of drup,medicine or alcohol"; and "ARC Straight-wire," which assures that the Seientologist"knows he/she won't get any worse." (Six-ty percent of the recruits, according to of-ficials, have drug problems.)

The next level of processing includesseven auditing steps that lead up to themuch sought after "clear" stage. Grade 0provides the subject with "the ability tocommunicate freely with anyone on anysubject"; Grade 1 provides the "ability torecognize the source of problems and makethem vanish"; Grade 2 provides "relieffrom the hostilities and sufferings of life";Grade 3 allows "freedom from the upsetsof the past and ability to face the future";Grade 4 assures that the Scientologist is"moving out of fixed conditions and gain-ing abilities to do new things"; "New EraDianeticsn proves that the subject isbecoming a "clear or well and happyhuman being"; and "clear" is the stagewhere the Scientologist is "a being who nolonger has his own reactive mind."

After the Scientologist has achieved thestate of "clear " he enters the final stagesof processin:g called the "OperatingThetan" ("OT") levels. The OTs "ad-dress the person as a spirit, improving theabilities of the spirit with the purpose ofachieving total spiritual freedom," accord-ing to Hoden. The ability gained in OTcourses 1 through 7 is listed as "confiden-tial" in church literature, but includessuch secret teachings of L. Ron Hubbardas his "Xenu" theory of man's beginnings.OT 8 is due out this year, while courses 9through 15 are scheduled for release incoming years.

"Auditing is a very specific process "says Hoden, who himself has reached tilelevel of OT 3, though, like many Scien-tologists encountered, he consumes vastamounts of coffee, adding to a general airof anxiety in the church (chain-smokingseems de rigueur). "It is a scientific,spiritual technology that must be practicedin a specific manner to be effective in help-ing people achieve spiritual freedom. If it iscarried out uniformly, it will not fail."

The person responsible for conductingauditing sessions at these various levels iscalled an "auditor" (or "minister").Auditors are trained on the "training" sideof the bridge in a series of courses titled"Class 0 Auditor" through "Class 12Auditor" (though an auditor cannot auditanyone in a processing course higher thanhe himself has achieved). When conduct-ing an auditing session the auditor at-taches subjects to an insirument called an"electropsychometer" (or E-meter) thatconsists of two small metal cylinders con-nected by alligator clips to an elementary,control board. As the Scientologist holds acylinder in each hand, a harmless amountof electricity (about one-half volt) ispumped through his body. The auditorthen asks questions regarding poistleareas of emotional distress.

At the beginning of most auditing ses-sions (no matter what level the course), theauditor asks the same three questions ofthe subject Scientologist who is hooked upto the meter: "Do you have an 'ARC'break?" (Meaning, "Are you upset about

continued on next page

L 4 WEEKLY April 4-10, 1986 19


,anything?"); "Do you have any present-time problems?". and -"Has a withholdbeen missed?" (kaning, "Is there anytransgressioli you . have withheld fromsomeone?").

If there are no specific problems, theauditor asks a series of literally hundteds ofpredetermined questions specific to thatauditing level. For instance, in the lowerlevel of "ARC Straightwire," the auditorasks such questions as, "Can youremember a time when you were happy?

&Or when you had just finished constructingsomething? Life was cheerfulnomebodyhad given you something? You ate some-thing good? You had a friend?'" After thesubject answers each question, the auditorprobes him for "sense-memory" details(e.g., sight, smell, touch, color, emotion)that accompany the memory.

As questions are answered, the auditormonitors a needle gauge to see if it registersany changes in "mental" electrical chaige.Experiences in the past that contain pain oremotional trauma are believed to cause achange in that person's electrical charge.The auditing minister then notes the E-meter response in the person's "PC "pre-clear] folder." Case supervisors later ex-amine these notes to assure that the prob-lems will be addressed at later sessions or inmore advanced courses. For each type ofproblem, there is a series of questions in-tended to neutralize the charge. (Themeter will also indicate when the "mentalcharge" is removed from the traumatic ex-perience, meaning that the engram in ques-tion has been adequately dealt with. Anengram that is extremely charged is refer-red to as a "rock slam.")

"The E-meter and auditing are reallyquite extraordinary," says Tony Hitch-man, a former South African journalistwho now conducts auditing sessions."They serve as a wonderfully specificguide to what's troubling a person.Through auditing and the E-meter, we canhelp that person remove engrams and bet-ter his/her life."

Our brief experience on the E-meterproved inconclusive. Though the needlereiestered in varying degrees when we werequestioned about general emotional topicssuch as our families and love lives, itseemed little more than an instrumentreacting to physical responses (rather than"spiritual pictures"), much like a liedetector.

Regardless of whether E-meter auditingis a scientific probe or purely a placebo, itis certainly popular among Scientologists.While being shown through the blue build-ing by Hoden, we witnessed literally hun-dreds of church members auditing and be-ing audited in the deep recesses of theformer hospital. Though we were notallowed to question Scientologists as theywere auditing, many church membersinterviewed after the session expressed un-qualified raves for the process that is thebackbone of Scientology study.

"Scientology auditing has added a lot ofmeaning to my life," said Barbara Clarke,a 60-year-old former chemist and teacherwho has studied Scientology for 18 yearsand served as a field auditor since 1975. "Igot involved because I knew there had tobe more to life than just getting up, work-ing and going back to bed. From the veryfirst lectuie I attended, Scientology madeso much sense. I know auditing works, andI've never felt any doubts."

Phil Gilbert, a 31-year-old plumbingcompany executive who began Scientologyauditing after reading Dianetics in 1974,



typically shared, Clarke's enthusiasm."Scientology is the only logical explanation

- of how the mind works that I've comeacross," he says. "Auditing has been in-valuable. I studied piano as a kid but hadforgotten how to play. My mind had justblocked out that talent. But after just a fewauditing sessions I suddenly remembered,and I've been playing and writing eversince. It's really something."

Jonathan Hawks credited a chanceScientology encounter in 1968 with in-creasing his communicative abilities. "Fwas having a lot of problems stemmingfrom my frustrated iheater career," said52-year-old Hawks; who now works as acomputer operator. "One day while myanalyst was hospitalized, I happened to seean advertisement for a Scientology lectureand I thought, 'Why not try it?' As soon asI started auditing, I turned my problemsaround. I could finally communicate withpeople."

Even many former members who claimto have been embittered by their ex-periences with the church say they believethat they benefited from Scientology audit-ing. "I achieved some benefits," remarkedJon Zegel, who spent 10 years with thechurch before leaving to help establish anindependent auditing group. "I'm moreemotionally stable, and there wereimprovements in my life."

Countering this are, of course, the in-evitable failures. While no statistics existabout whether auditing has been perceivedby a majority of the participants asbeneficial the church argues that thereare more current members undergoingauditing than ex-members certainlythere is at least a vocal minority professingproblems from the process.

More objective analysis of auditing ishard to come by (the Periodical Index listsno scientific studies in medical or psycho-logical journals), and independent psy-chologists and psychiatric professionals arereluctant to be quoted by name, notingthat one colleague who did criticizeauditing is being sued by the church,which has built a reputation for litigious-ness.

However, one L.A therapist whoworked with a former Scientologist said:"A lot of the practices these guys use arevery close to the truth, but I suspect it'svery dangerous for the average personbecause there's a tendency toward coer-cive, rigid misuse of otherwise goodmaterial. In this patient's case, it was hardfor him to have an individualistic view. Hesaw everything in terms of Scientology'sworld view and jargon. It's clearly not foreverybody."

Still another L.A. therapist who workedwith a former Scientologist noted: "Theprocess of simply having these auditingquestions put to him didn't help him. Hehad serious self-esteem problems and heneeded aggressiveness training and emo-tional release so he could learn to expresshimself. The auditing was too passive forthat. I suspect it doesn't work on manypeople for that reason; and also because itdoesn't truly give them a basis to under-stand the underlying causes of their be-havior." '

"Nancy," 42, is one such example. Sheclaims slie left the chifIch after eigheyearsbecause "I wasn't getting out of it whatthought I would. I had a drinking prob-lem, and my self-etteem was low becauseof it. I'd heard from a friend that auditingwas supposed to cure people of alcoholism.But I took courses for seven years, spend-ing $12,000, then left. I went back foranother year a year later to give it a secondchance and spent another $1,000, but I stillwasn't making progress. I was still drink-

ing. Then I enrolled in AlcoholicsAnonymous and I haven't had a drinksince September 1984. Auditing just didn'twork for me."

Yet another former member, "Betty"(who also requested anonymity), says shespent more than $80,000 during her 14years of auditing. "They kept telling mejust a little more auditing would solve .myproblems," she says. "But all it did wasmake them $80,000 and make me feelworse about myself."

Knowledgeable observers told the Week-ly that they believe Scientology does havesome positive effect, much of it comingfrom three sources: a) that Scientologytends to attract many young drug-damaged, truly "lost" personalities whobenefit from the structure, as they wouldfrom any rigid-rule behavior systems suchas prevail in many drug treatment pro-grams; b) that many of Scientology's sub-jects have so little intercourse withthemselves, or self-reflection, that evenwhat they can pick up from the auditingprocess is itself the beginnings of self-awareness and therefore changed behavior;and c) the "placebo" effect the fact thatScientologists believe themselves to be partof a process that helps them, and so theymove through life with more confidenceand fewer anxieties, creating their ownmore positive realities.

So what's the problem? If even manychurch critics are satisfied that the auditingprocess has improved their lives, why hasScientology been the center of so muchcontroversy?

Payment BeforeEnlightenment

"Total freedom" through Scientologydoes not come cheap. With registeredtrademarks affixed to every Scientologyterm and title, Hubbard's religion some-times more closely resembles K-mart than,say, Catholicism. Scientology's policy ofpayment before enlightenment is perhapsthe leading cause of questions concerningthe church's credibility as an altruisticinstitution. Although Ken Hoden initiallydragged his feet in supplying a promisedlist of auditing fees because, as he put it,"when you walk into a Baptist church orany other church, [finances are] just notsomething you commonly discuss," heeventually provided a breakdown of pricesfor Scientology courses and materials.

Scientology's "Donation Rate Card"shows that "public" Scientologists whocomprise the vast majority of churchmembers can spend more than $1,000per hour of auditing (purchased in121/2-hour blocks called "intensives") andbetween $50,000 and $100,000 (and more)to complete the dozens of Scientologycourses.

(According to Hoden, staff members ofScientology's Sea Org the elite groupwhose members receive only $24 per weekallowance plus expenses receive auditingfree of charge, and other staff membersreceive substantial discounts. Hoden alsostressed that "people can get Dianeticsf:tonl a bookstore or library and auditthemselves at home for free [up to the"clear" level], or get their processing freeas they study to be an auditing ministerHowever, the "Donation Rate Card" doesnot spell outthis Option, advising potentialmembers to "contact the Registrar at yournearest Church of Scientology for in-dividual consultation and estimate." It alsomentions only "Scientology churches, mis-sions and field auditors" as outlets forprocessing services.)

According to Hoden, more than 90 per-cent of Scientologists enter the bridge byreading Dianetics and taking any of several"mini-courses" (such as "Anatomy of theHuman Mind") to see if they find Scien-tology helpful. ,

The Scientology rate card lists the cost ofthe lowest-level course on the actual bridge("Purification Rundown") at $2,000 total,while intensives for the next nine coursesup through "New Era Dianetics" cost$4,330. A "clear" level intensive goes for$1,690, while OT intensives range from$1,000 to $8,000. There are also literallyhundreds of periphery Hubbard teachingsthat range in price from $5 to $16,500."Recommended" E-meters are also forsale, ranging from $873 for the Mark V to$3,493 for the Black Mark VI.

Many Scientologists who work their wayup to the top of the bridge eventuallyspend more because the church historicallycontinues to add "revised" auditing levels,each requiring additional investmentbefore "total freedom" can be achieved.The recent Scientology brochure announc-ing the addition of a revised OT 5 levelprovides a good example. The brochureannounces a pending "miracle" auditingtechnology that promises to answer"beyond your wildest dreams" questionsabout "Ron's breakthrough into the SEC-OND WALL OF FIRE." The "dona-tion" required is $7,600 per intensive.(Though upwards of five intensives may beneeded.)

Ken Hoden is quick to justify Scien-tology's rates. "There isn't a legitimatereligion in the world that doesn't put anemphasis on money," says Hoden. "Peo-ple know how much our courses cost whenthey sign up. Besides, you can't put a priceon total spiritual freedom." Hoden addedthat members who question the adding ofnew study levels "are people who havegiven up the quest for total freedom. If youtalk to people in the church who are up tothat point, they're waiting on pins andneedles for the new levels to come out.People in the church have no complaints.Besides, without money the church couldnot expand and bring further hope tomankind."

Current church members also insist thatScientology is worth any price. "I've foundit's a great bargain because I'm more incontrol and therefore able to fulfill mypotential and make more money," volun-teered Carol Worthey Corns, a 43-year-oldprofessional composer who joined Scien-tology 15 years ago. "I'd undergone twoyears of psychotherapy after spending the'60s looking for life's answers in assortedphilosophies and the drug culture. But in

continued on page 22

fri

Critical former church members Hens endJerry Whitfield.

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20 L.A.WEENLY Ap#14-10, 19616For more information on OCR and PDF Compression visit ThePaperlessOffice.org


SCIENTOLOGYcontinued from page 20

my first three auditing sessions, I handled amajor problem that would have taken memany years and 20 times more money tosolve through psychotherapy. Scientologyhai saved my life at least 10 times. Howcan you put a monetary value on that kindof helpr

But Scientology's high prices havecaused many members to question thechurch's priorities. One such is "Steve"(who spoke on the condition that his realname not be used). Steve was introducecttoScientology 13 years ago while still in col-lege. He served as a member of Hubbard's

staff for eight years, bringing home thethen-standard salary of $17 for each ofwhat he describes as "our average six-day,80-hour work week[s]." Steve claims hespent more than $30,000 on Scientologybefore joining the staff (borrowing moneyfrom his parents and working a door-to-door job on his one day off) before begin-ning to doubt Scientology's motives.

"When the prices went really high, Istarted to feel that if Hubbard reallythought Scientology worked, he wouldmake it easier, not harder, for people to ex-perience it," says Steve. "Total freedomwas available, yet we couldn't afford it."

Jerry Whitfield, who is on the steeringcommittee of FAIR, is another formermember who became disillusioned by the

church's fmancial priorities. Whitfieldspent eight years and $20,000 in the churchbefore he realized that "though the tech-nology was helpful, the organization wasnot set up to let people make full use of it.It was arranged to maximize its profitmargin."

A History of Controversy

As anyone who follows the news knows,Scientology has been involved in a series ofcontroversial cases, many of them involv-ing vengeful church actions against itscritics. (More on this below.) Although thechurch always paints itself as the victim, itscritics suggest that Scientology hasn't been

L. A. WEEKLY April 4-1o, 1566

persecuted from the outside, but rather isthe victim of warped and misplacedpriorities inside the church. The criticsand there are more than the church is will-ing to admit assert that the fundamentalproblems afflicting the church are a directreflection of the complex personality of theman who sired it, and of the power struc-ture and money-bent nature of the church-itself, as divorced from Scientologypractices---

Steri inside the giant brass doors of7 Scientology headquarters' Fountain

Avenue entrance and you enter a shrine tothe legend of Hubbard. Hundreds ofproclamations honoring Hubbard fromsuch luminaries as former L.A. Council-woman Peggy Stevenson, MassachusettsGovernor Michael Dukakis and ColoradoSenator Gary Hart line the walls. Severalportraits and busts of Hubbard are prom-inently displayed. Collections of his detec-tive, science fiction and Scientologywritings are meticulously preserved. Un-fortunately for Scientology, it has oftenproven difficult for church members toseparate manufactuied leg-end from realityin Hubbard's life. Official churchbiographies have at various times describedHubbard as a nuclear physicist, an earnerof a Ph.D., and a Navy hero who was crip-pled, blinded and twice declared dead inbattle (but who completely healed hiswounds with Dianetics techniques.)"

In fact, Navy records show that Hub-bard's war record may have been exag-gerated and that he was hospitalized due tominor ulcers and a fall from a ladder. Inaddition evidence suggests that Hubbardobtaineci his Ph.D. from a diploma millknown as Sequoia University after failinghis only nuclear-physics class and droppingout of George Washington University.(Hoden claims Hubbard left schoolbecause "they couldn't teach him what thehuman spirit was so he went elsewhere)"

Hana Eltringh;m Whitfield has uniqueinsight into the man who was LafayetteRon Hubbard. Before leaving the church

- in 1983, Eltringham Whitfield served as asenior Scientology official for 18 years(after signing the requisite "billion-yearcontract" with the church), including astint as a personal aide aboard Hubbard's320-foot yacht, the Apollo. ("Com-modore" Hubbard established a navalmotif throughout his church, requiringstaff members to wear sailorlike uniformsand giving them various "officer" titles.)Says Eltringham Whitfield of Hubbard:"He was a very shrewd man, but he alwayswanted to be something more than he real-ly was. He wanted to be a nuclearphysicist, a war hero. He was an insecureman in that respect, so he felt the need toromanticize his past."

Ken Hoden dismisses Hubbard's bio-graphical inconsistencies as "errors byformer public relations people who havesince been removed." But whatever thecause of the confusion, there is no questionthat Hubbard was ambitious. After a pro-

- lific and successful career writing pulpscience fiction and detective stories, Hub-bard published a thin volume of hisDianetics theories in 1948. He expandedthose rudimentary principles in 1949 andpublished his full Dianetics book in May1950. The book was a runaway best sellerand a favorite among artists, writers andother intelligentsia of the day. (Dianeticshas sold more than 7 million copies. Scien-tology officials put total sales of Hubbard's589 published fiction and non-fictionstories and books at more than 50 million.)

Hubbard took the profits from Diane:laand created the Hubbard DianeticResearch Foundation in Elizabeth, NewJersey. When this initial venture proved



unsuccessful, Hubbard moved his founda-tion first to Kansas, then to Phoenix,where he formed the Hubbard Academy ofScientology in 1954. Later that year, asmall group of Hubbard's followers of-ficially established the Founding Church ofScientology, with headquarters inWashington, D.C., and field offices inL.A. Hubbard was named church directorand "founder of the Scientology religion."Less than five years after reportedly tellinga 1949 convention of sci-fi writers that "ifaman really wanted to make a milliondollars, the best way would be to start hisown religion," Hubbard had taken his ownadvice. (Although Scientology officialshave in the past confirmed the quote butclaimed Hubbard was only kidding, others

I

dispute the quote entirely, attributing it in-stead to George Orwell.) -

By then, Hubbard's philosophy hadalready come under serious attack. Hisclaims that with Dianetics auditing IQscould be greatly increased, that "arthritisvanishes, myopia gets better, heart illnessdecreases, asthma disappears, stomachsfunction properly and the whole catalogueof ills goes away and stays away," had ledto a 1951 New Jersey investigation forfraudulent medical practices. Similarclaims attracted the attention of federal of-ficials shortly after Scientology was found-ed, and ensuing years would see Hub-bard's religion investigated by the govern-ments of Australia, Canada, England,France, New Zealand and South Africa (aswell as the U.S.).

Scientology was banned outright inmuch of Australia from 1965 through1973. From 1968 through 1980, Englandbarred foreign nationals, including Hub-bard, from entering the country to practiceScientology. (Hoden claims that thechurch received apologies from govern-ment officials when the bans were lifted.)French officials in 1978 - convicted Hub-bard and two Scientology associates (inabsentia) of fraudulent medical practicesand fined them $7,000, before highercourts overturned these decisions. Suchclaims have also been the basis of severallawsuits, including one last year in which aPortland woman was awarded $39 millionin damages before the judge, perhaps in-fluenced by pressure from thousands ofScientologists protesting the decision,overturned his ruling on the grounds that itviolated Scientology's right to freedom ofreligion.

Ken Hoden confirms that Hubbard'searly claims are still taken as gospel byScientologists. "We're not saying that ifyou lose a leg we can grow another foryou," says Hoden (who stresses that thechurch "encourages members to see a doc-tor if they are ill"). "Through auditing,the psychosomatic causes of illness can beaddressed. Once these are handled, thebody is capable of healing itself." Hodendid, however, reassert that churchmembers including himself regularlyincrease their IQs while studying Scien-tology.

Another major assertion among Soien-tologists is that the continual investigationsare not only unwarranted but are part of aglobal conspiracy to destroy the church,orchestrated in part by the psychiatricestablishment (Hubbard often comparedpsychiatrists to Hitler and Genghis Khan.)"Psychiatry is a self-perpetuating fraudthat realizes we can do a better job of help-ing people without shock treatment andpills," says Hoden, who added that Scien-tology is now practiced without restrictionthroughout the world. "The governmentswho have harassed us are threatened by ourinvestigations into their excesses."

Scientology 's claims of government

harassment may, in fact, have some validi-ty. The church is a leading expert in the in-tricacies of the Freedom of InformationAct and publishes Freedom, a magazine oftough investigative reporting that hasbroken several stories embarrassing to itsprimary government targets: the FBI, CIAand IRS. (For full conspiracy details, seesidebar.)

Scientology and the IRS have long beenparticularly bitter opponents. Despite thecontroversy surrounding Hubbard, thepopularity of his philosophy and Scien-tology's bank accounts grew quicklythroughout the '50s. Money cazne so fast toScientology that Hubbard, the pulpauthorwho reportedly said he was tired of writingfor a penny a word in 1949 thoughScientology officials deny this attribution

was able just 10 years later to buy a30-room mansion and 57-acre estate inEngland, originally built for the Maharajahof Jaipur.

Soon after, the IRS began examining therelationship between Hubbard and hischurch. The years of investigations led to a1984 U.S. Tax Court ruling that theChurch of Scientology of California (CSC)had "made a business of selling religion"and had blocked the IRS from collectingtaxes by storing large amounts ofcash in atrust fund- controlled by high-rankingchurch leaders. "Money that was supposedto be used strictly for church actiVities wasgoing to individualsj" says IRS spokesman

. Rob Giannangeli.. "That misuse, corn-.

bined with othet violations of publicpolicies on the part of Scieitology officials,led us to determine that the Church ofScientology was not acting as a responsibleexempt organization.

The 1984 denial of tax exempt status ledthe IRS to bill Scientology for $1.4 millionin back taxes for the target period of1970-72, with bills for other years to beforthcoming upon investigation. Scien-tology has appealed the decision to theU.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals andcontinues doing business as usual. KenHoden insists this policy is fair because"we are confident [the court] will overrulethe IRS," though he added that a negativecourt ruling will "affect the church


L.A.WEEKLY April 4-10 1995




throughout the country." But Giannan-geli, while confirming that Scientology istechnically within the law in still encourag-ing such donations, questions the prac-tice's propriety.

"If the courts ultimately uphold the IRSdecision, Scientologists will have to payback taxes on any contributions totalingmore than $1,000," says Giannangeli. "Soif a Scientologist wrote off contributions of$50,000 a year, he's going to have a prettyhefty tax bill."

Allegations that Hubbard's immensewealth (estimated at up to $600 millionthough Hoden would only put the figure"in the millions, and we're getting all ofit") was due in large part to funds being il-legally transferred from his church's ac-counts have dogged Scientology since itsinception. Cash flow, certainly, has rarelybeen a problem for the church. Scientologybought its Berendo headquarters for $5.5million in cash in 1976 and continues tomake major real estate purchases. FormerScientology employees who once held sen-sitive financial positions within the churchhave testified that various subsidiaries wereused to transfer church funds illegally toHubbard's European bank accounts.

But to rnany Scientology critics, the con-troversy over financial misappropriation isa secondary concern. To these critics, thetrue danger of Scientology is the system of"control" used by church officials to keepdisgruntled members from reclaiming theirmoney and departing if they feel theirfunds are being mishandled. Ken Hodenclaims that members have that freedom:"If someone says they don't like the waywe do things, we say, 'Fine. Leave if youwant.' "

But critics assert that Scientology policyand practices are designed to manipulatemembers to stay (and keep their money) inthe church, or, if members do leave, to in-timidate the "squirrels" (Scientology-speak for former members) into notcriticizing Scientology.

Ideological Totalism?

Jnliann Savage is a clinical social workerin the Cult Clinic, six years a non-sectarianaffiliate of Jewish Family Services operat-ing out of the United Way building in VanNuys. Savage has treated more than 70 vic-tims of mind control, from Hare Krishnasto Moonies, in her two and a half years onstaff. She insists the 10 former Scientolo-gists with whom she has worked have beenher most difficult assignments.

"These people have given their entirelives over to Scientology in exchange forthe promise of 'total freedom,' " saysSavage. "But what they really get is the ex-act opposite. Scientology is a textbook ex-ample of systematic mind control andtotalism."

To support her assertion that brainwash-ing techniques are an inextricable part ofScientology practice especially with staffmembers Savage refers to one of theworld's definitive works on mind control,the much heralded "Chapter 22Ideological Totalism" of Dr. Rqbert JayLifton's book entitled Thought Reform andthe Psychology of Totaktin. Here, Liftondescribes how such psychological tactics as"milieu control," "mandatory confes-sion" and "language loading" are used tocontrol masses of people (in his specificcase, the Communist Chinese). It isSavage's contention that Lifton's theories,although they can be applied to many sub-

cultures, are especially applicable to Scien-tology.

"What we have with Scientology is asubculture that insists on absolute controlof every aspect of a person's life," saysSavage as she sips herbal tea in her smallVan Nuys office. "Adults are greatly dis-couraged from having relationships withnon-Scientologists. They are worked somany hours per week, either doing staff ac-tivities or auditing sessions, that they haveno time for outside activities. The churchencourages an all-or-nothing, us-versus-them, everything-outside-the-church-is-bad-everything-inside-is-good ideologythat can be very harmful. And if you ques-tion this, you're labeled a 'suppressiveperson' who doesn't have the ability tounderstand. The insular inbreeding inScientology is incredible."

(Statistics and statements provided byScientology seem to lend at least partialcredence to Savage's claim. Church demo-graphics indicate that nearly half of allScientologists have family in the church,

positive result of such disconnection."In The Color Role, Celie was con-

nected to a suppressive husband," explainsHoden. "He used to beat her around andtreat her mean. But let's say one day shewalked up to the Church of Scientology.We'd tell her, 'Celle, you look like you'vegot a problem with your husband. Wewant you to sit down and communicatewith your husband and try to work it out.'But if that didn't work, we'd say, 'If youdon't disconnect from this person, thenyour life is going to be miserable forever.'Disconnection is just common sense insome cases. It is left up to the individual,though."

Critics claim, however, that Scientologyencourages far more than disconnectionfrom harmful persons, which every psy-chologist urges. Instead, critics say, Scien-tologists are often urged to sever ties withloved ones whose only "problem" is theirdistaste for Scientology a practice thatreinforces the insular, inbred world of"milieu control" criticized by Savage.

'

Cult Clinic social worker Juliann Savage.

while Ken Hoden confirms that manyScientology children attend private schoolsrun by Scientologists such as Delphi inMonrovia or the Apollo TrainingAcademy, a church-operated afternoon"day-care center" that operates after regu-lar schools let out. "But the church hopesto run its own schools soon," addedHoden.)

One Scientology practice that criticssingle out as a form of control is thechurch's "ethics" system. Scientologistsare subject to a highly detailed code ofethics drafted by L. Ron Hubbard andgoverned by "ethics officers" and "justiceofficers." This ethics code is divided intofour categories of "offenses" against thechurch: "Errors," "Misdemeanors,""Crimes" and "High Crimes."

According to Hoden, "The purpose of'ethics' is to keep a person living in such away that auditing can keep them living anethical life." But former members claimthat its motives are less noble.

Jerry Whitfield claims to have served on"several" Committees of Evidence. "Theywere just a reason to get people out of thechurch," says Whitfield. "We were in-structed by seniors on how to decide cases.li the higher-ups didn't like a certain mem-ber, they were history."

Another Scientology policy Savagesingles out as a control mechanism isknown as "disconnection," which takestwo forms, Savage argues. First, currentchurch members are often encouraged byauditing ministers to "disconnect" them-selves from "suppressive" relatives. KenHoden uses an example from The ColorMaple to illustrate what he feels is the

CD

"Robert" is a former member whoagrees with Savage. Last year, after 16years with the church, the 37-year-olddeparted. He recalls that shortly after hejoined the church, his parents sent himnews clippings critical of Scientology.Robert claims his "ethics officer" (whodetermines if Scientologists stay within theethical guidelines of the church) told himhe had to disconnect from his parents if hewas to achieve total freedom.

"Here I was, a 20-year-old kid lookingfor a little meaning in my life," recallsRobert, "and all of a sudden there's thisethics officer telling me I should never talkto my parents again. In retrogiect, I cansee that my folks were trying to look outfor me. But I did what the ethics officersaid. I wrote my parents a letter tellingthem I never wanted to see or speak tothem again."

A second form of disconnection requireschurch members to sever all ties withScientologists who leave the church, nomatter how close, the friendships. This onpain of being labeled "suppressive" them-selves. This practice has proved effective inkeeping people in the church, since no onewants to lose all their friends. And "dis-connection" from the church bas beenfound to be debilitatingly traumatic to anumber of people who have left the fold.

"Betty" is one such person. Afterspending more than 14 years in and$80,000 on the church, she decided "it wasjust not economically feasible for me tostay." Interviewing her, her pain was stillapparent, as it was with other former mem-bers who agreed to talk to us.

"The entire year after I left was the

24 L.A.WEEKLY April 4-10, 1986For more information on OCR and PDF Compression visit ThePaperlessOffice.org


worst time I ever went through," Bettysaid. "I had lived for many of my Scien-tology years with the same seven people ina small apartment. We did everythingtogether. We loved each other. But when I -said I had to leave, none of these peoplewho I'd known and loved for years wouldeven say hello to me. It was absolutelytraumatic."

Robert was also disconnected from long-time friends. "I realized a couple years agothat Hubbard was in this .whole thing justfor the money and power," he says, addingthat he spent $50,000 to reach the highestlevel of Scientology study (OT-7), only tobecome disillusioned when the churchadded "revised" levels. "So I decided toleave. When I officially left the church Itried talking to the friends I had beenclosest to for years, tried to tell them that Inow thought Scientology was a fraud. Butthey didn't want to hear it. They started ig-noring me. When I sent them Christmascards this year, I got back several discon7nection letters."

One letter, from a longtime girlfriend,reads: 'This is a disconnection letter. I donot wish any [thrice underlined] type ofcommunication from you. You havechosen to be a squirrel and I am a Scien-tologist. It makes it very black and white.Do not have any comm to [ Scientology-speak for "communication with"] me untilyou have handled your scene and are backin good standing with the church and mov-ing on the bridge (in Scientology, not yoursquirrel group)." The letter noted thatcopies had been sent to the church's"International Justice Chief" and the"Advanced Organization Master atArms."

"[Sending copies to ethics and justice] isto let her masters know that she is a goodlittle robot who is still properly brain-washed," says Robert. "If she'd botheredto talk to me, she'd have found out thatI'm not in any 'squirrel group' [a churchterm for groups of former members whopractice Scientology without church sanc-tion]. She's probably scared shitless thather cult-member peers saw her get a cardfrom a suppressive and will file a 'knowl-edge report' on her. [A church member isrequired to file such a report if he or shewitnesses a fellow member commit such ananti-Scientology crime.] But I don't reallyblame her she's just another victim ofScientology's brainwashing techniques."

The church's answer to this is that theonly individuals considered to be "sup-pressive" when they leave the church are,in Hoden's words, "those who are expelledfor doing something in violation of theethical codes and practices of the Church ofScientology. In that case, people from thechurch should not associate with that per-son. But if a church member still wants toassociate with the expelled person, fine.But he has to leave the church." Hodendenied that this is an intimidating practice,though obviously members find it justthat.

In arguing for the "thought control" vi-sion of Scientology, Savage and othercritics point to other church practices suchas "Rehabilitation Project Force" (RPF)duty, "Training Routines" and "securitychecks." RPF duty, they say, is forcedlabor intended to help the church minimizecosts, and is used frequently as punish-ment for church members believed to beout of line.

Though Hoden first explained the RPFas little more than "a work force wherechurch members are assigned so they canget five hours of exercise a day whileaccomplishing something constructive, likerepairing Scientology buildings and mow-ing lawns," he later conceded that any sen-

ior Sea Org member can put any underlingon the RPF as punishment for not workingup to his ability. "I was RPFed for ninemonths in 1982," says Hoden. "I had beenslacking off in some of my administrativeduties. But I liked the RPF. I could havegotten off earlier, but I asked to stay on."

"Who wants to scrub floors or cart trashfor a year?" says one former church staff-er. "The idea is to make you think twicebefore doing or saying anything thatchurch officials will RPF you for."

Critics claim also that "training rou-tines" (TRs) are used to control membersin a similar fashion. Former Scientologistshave testified that in TRs, Scientologistsare often made to sit absolutely still with-out moving at all, not even blinking. Theyclaim this drill is often carried out for hoursat a time, every day, for weeks.

While being escorted by Hoden throughthe deep recesses of the basement of theScientology "mother church," we in-advertently stumbled upon a TR session.From a distance, we heard a man shouting.When questioned about the source of thescreams, Hoden led us to a small room. Aswe approached, it became clear that theman was shouting "Thank you, thankyou" as loudly as he could to a Scientologyofficial. The unusual nature of the scenewas not lost on Hoden, who seemedMomentarily flustered. 'This is a TR,"Hoden then explained. "Did you everknow someone who was so timid that youcould barely hear him speak? This man isbeing taught to express himself more loud-ly and clearly."

"Security checks" are yet another formof control, disgruntled former membersallege. These "sec-checks" are performedwhile a member is hooked up to an E-meter. One sec-check form submitted asevidence in a recent trial included thefollowing questions:

"Have you ever had any unkindthoughts about LRH [L. Ron Hubbard]?""Have you ever had anything to do withpornography?" "Have you ever assisted inan abortion?" "Have you ever practicedsodomy?" "Have you ever been a news- .;paper reporter?" "Do you know of anyplans to injure a Scientology organiza-tion?" "How do you feel about being con-trolled?" (Hoden confirmed all but the"reporter" and "control" questions, whileadding that members are asked only if theyhad "done" anything against Hubbard.)

To outsiders this is obviously a signifi-cant invasion of a person's privacy, butKen Hoden and many current and formerchurch members insist that the ends justifythe means in these practices. "I've been inScientology for 10 years, and I'm here onmy own free will," says Kimberly Nesbig,a non-staff Scientologist who simply takesauditing courses. "Those claims [of brain-washing] are ridiculous. Scientology hassaved my life. I was on drugs and on myway. out. Scientology has given me thetechnology to do what I want in life."

"Claims that we're insulated, isolatedand out of touch with the world is just purepropaganda," adds Tim Skog, 34, who hasserved as a Sea Org public-affairs staffersince 1983. "I read the papers, I listen tothe radio, I go outside. More than anyother religion, we don't lead monasticlives." (Skog added that there is no "usversus the wogs" encouragement in thechurch. "Definitely us against the psychia-trists, but that's fine.")

Says Mike _Rinder, a 30-year-old ad-ministrative supervisor who's been withSea Org since 1973, "I consider [allega-tions of church mind control] to be ajoke."

Other Scientologists also add that theirpractices are not unlike those of more

mainstream religions, an assertion thatJuliann Savage is quick to rebut. "The dif-ference with Scientology lies in the degreeto which these control practices are carriedout and the amount a Scientologist isforced to sacrifice. If a person wants tobecome a Catholic, they are fully apprisedof what they are in for and they are giventime to prepare. With Scientology, you arenot told that you may have to spend$100,000 or give up your former friendsand family.

"The mandatory loss of one's self intothe Church of Scientology is more severethan in any other group I've ever dealtwith. I don't know of any group whosemembers are more fearful and intenselyangry after they leave."

Breach of Faith?One particular church policy has been

partially at the root of the fear and anger:Scientology's alleged use of personal infor-mation in members' "confidential" Pre-Clear (PC) folders information confessedduring auditing. There is substantial evi-dence that this information has beenculled, perhaps to pressure members eitherinto staying in the church or into not criti-cizing the church if they do leave.

Although Hoden denies such practices("In all my years here, I have never knownof any such action on the part of anychurch member; the confidentiality of aperson's folder is the most sacred rule ofScientology"), testimony and documentssupplied by former church members indi-cate that, with or without Hoden's knowl-edge there has been abuse of confidentialPC fOlders. According to the testimony ofand an interview with one former Scien-tology intelligence operative, the now-defunct church intelligence division knownas the Guardian's Office asked that files beculled for such desirable PC information as"specific things to use for blackmail suchas sexual promiscuity, sexual problems,problems with the family, troubles withparents, any alcoholic problem . . . any-thing a person would not want others toknow about."

Several memos from various church of-fices to the GO seem to confirm claims that


L.A.WEEKLY Apri14-7a 1986 25




PC folders have been culled for incriminat-ing information. One 1972 memo suppliedto the Weekly clearly notes that "thefollowing data was gotten from [namedeleted by the Week IA's PC folders." Itthen details a female member's auditinghistory: "Several self-induced abortions. . . two weeks' psych treatment . . . dueto alcohol problems . . . Drug history:Librium, Valium, Miltowns

'alcohol,

LSD, opium, heroin . . . Son isin jail . . .

Connected to a suppressive group . . .

probably the IRS . . . That's about it.Love, [name deleted by Weekly]."

A second mid-'70s memo (which Hodenclaims was not culled from a PC folder butfrom general church files) graphicallydetails the sex life of another femalemember: "She slept with four or five menduring [an early Scientology course] . . .

She has quite a record of promiscuity . . .

She let [three men] touch her genitals dur-ing sessions . . . She has masturbated regu-larly si!we she was 8 years old, mentioningdoing it once with coffee grounds . . . andonce had a puppy lick her . . ."

Presented with the memos during a re-cent Sunday morning meeting in the bluebuilding, Hoden was visibly disturbed."Okay. Fine. Good," he said after a longpause. "But was there ever any mentionthat this was used against her? She's stillwith the church. She's testified for us. Sheknows this exists. I don't know why some-one in the GO would have needed to seethis, but I can honestly say that I don'tknow of one case in the Church of Scien-tology [where] stuff in a person's folder hasbeen used against them. And this stuff is10 years old. What I'm saying is very sim-ply this: Nothing has ever been usedagainst a person out of their folders."

California Superior Court Judge PaulBreckenridge found differently in a 1984decision in which he agreed with Scien-tology's critics that the church has abusedthe "confidential" folders for unethicalpurposes. "Each [of the former Scientolo-gists] has broken with the movement for avariety of reasons, but at the same time,each is still bound by the knowledge thatthe church has in its possession his or hermost inner thoughts and confessions, allrecorded [in PC folders] or other securityfiles of the organization

'and that the

church or its minions is fully capable ofintimidation and other physical andpsychological abuse if it suits their ends,"wrote Breckenridge, siding with severalformer members including formerchurch archivist Gerald Armstrong suedby Scientology. "The record is replete withevidence of such abuse . . . The practice ofculling supposedly confidential PC foldersor files to obtain information for purposesof intimidation and/or harassment isrepugnant and outrageous."

The GO was officially disbanded in1981, and the church now officially dis-avows its activities, which Hoden insistsare not currently being duplicated by otherchurch departments. However, severalformer church members told the Weeklythat abuse of PC folders continues. Oneformer member claims he was contacted asrecently as last month by a church opera-tive who warned him that "if I didn't signa confession implicating myself and :my:friends in trumped-up crimes against thechurch, he would go to authorities withinformation from my folders that might beincriminating."

Told this, lloden again adamantlydenied that such abuse of PC folders couldhappen under the "skrict" guidelines in

force today. He insisted it was unfair toquote the former member anonymouslybecause the church could not then rebutthe allegation. "Maybe the reason theywant anonymity is because they are lying toyou," said Hoden, and later added, "Getme the name of the person making thisallegation and I'll report it to the police."

"The thing that I find disgusting,"Hoden said with an edge to his voice, "isthat someone gave those memos to you.Somebody went and dug them up and said,'Wow, boy, this will do it . . . ' just sothey could get some negative article in yourpaper. And that's a shame."

The Minutemen at theReady

[A 'suppressive person' is] Fair Game.May be deprived of property or injured by anymeans by a Scientologist without discipline ofthe Scientologist [sic]. May be tricked, sued orlied to or destroyed.

L. Ron Hubbard

On February 15, six police officers stoodnear the door of Leo Baeck Temple, await-ing the confrontation. They had beencalled by leaders of Freedom for All inReligion (FAIR), a group of former

security for the Flynn speech. They askedto check out the auditorium. But since Ihire all security, I knew they were not whothey said they were."

Fearing confrontation, FAIR leadersrefused entry to what they say were 70known Scientologists. Despite the tightsecurity, disruptions began less than aminute into Flynn's speech to the 200FAIR members. A man stood up in the au-dience and shouted, "Isn't it true, Mr.Flynn, that you are in this for the money?"The heckler was quickly escorted from theauditorium amidst a hail of boos, butminutes later another man stood up andshouted at Flynn. Then another. Andanother. Before the evening's conclusion,nearly a dozen alleged Minutemen wereescorted from the temple.

"The hassle gets frustrating, but I'mused to it," said Flynn, who has been suedby the church more than a dozen times.Flynn asserts he has been followed byScientology detectives (including two whotook the room next to his at the hotel wherehe stayed for the speech) and has been setup for the forgery of a $2 million checkwritten on a Hubbard account. "It was ac-tually a quieter evening than I expected."

Hoden dismisses Flynn's charges withaccusations of opportunism, describingFlynn as a major "point man" in theglobal conspiracy against the church. (See

"Minutemen" line courthouse halls.

Church of Scientology members who weresponsoring a speech that evening by Bos-ton attorney and anti-Scientology leaderMichael Flynn. Flynn, who has repre-sented many former church members inlawsuits against the church, was appearingto discuss a new class-action suit intendedto compel Scientology to release PC foldersof former members. Because of the natureof the evening's topic, FAIR leaders antici-pated a visit from a group of Scientologistswho call themselves the "Minutemen"(because of their ability to mobilize quick-ly). To members of FAIR and otherchurch critics, they are known as "Scien-tology's 'Fair Game' Gestapo." (ThoughHoden stresses that Hubbard's "FairGame" doctrine was officially rescinded 20years ago, it has emerged through the yearsas a rallying cry among former churchmembers.)

Current church members allegedly hadmade their presence felt at the temple '4trouthout the week preCeirtrig ate stieVill4A prominent Jewish Scientologist badphoned temple leaders to warn thatMichael Flynn attracted .;tpublemakers.Other anonymous calls stressed similarwarnings. And according to the temple'sevent coordinator, Nancy Lachman, "Agroup of men came bY' daiming to be

"Conspiracy" sidebar.) Flynn does indeedhave a financial stake in his cases againstthe church. But irrespective of his motives,the Church of Scientology's history of har-assment of its "enemies " real or imag-ined, undermines its clainis of humanisticpriorities.

The seeds for aggressive defense weresown by Hubbard himself in several policystatements, which were fueled by increas-ing governmental and journalistic attacks.Hubbard was convinced that the "centralagency" carrying out the concerted, globalconspiracy to destroy Scientology was theWorld Federation for Mental Health,which he believed controlled the FBI, theCIA, the IRS, the Better Business Bureau,the American Medical Association, theAmerican Psychiatric Association, and thenews media.

"Only attacks resolve threats," wroteHubbard in 1966. " . . . Spot [anyone]who is investigating us. Start investigating

' them promptly for FELONMS or worseusing our own professionals, not outsideagencies . . . Start feeding lurid, blood sexcrime actual evidence [sic] on the attackersto the press. Don't ever submit tamely to aninvestigation of us. Make it rough, rough onthe attackers, all the. Tray . . Remember:Intelligence " We do ' with -a whisper. In-

26 L.A WEEKLY Apnl 4- la 1986For more information on OCR and PDF Compression visit ThePaperlessOffice.org


vestigations we do with a yell."To carry out these intelligence and in-

vestigative activities, Hubbard formed theGuardian's Office (GO) in 1966 and namedas director his third wife, Mary Sue. Head-quarteied in Los Angeles, the GO's pur-pose, according to Mrs. Hubbard, was "tosweep aside opposition sufficiently tocreate a vacuum into which Scientologycould expand."

"Use all possible lines of approach to ob-tain files, i.e., job penetntion, janitorpenetration, suitable guises utilizingcovers, etc.," instructed one GO policy. Itwasn't long before these counterattacktheories were put into practice. Hoden,himself a critic of the GO, confirms thatthe GO soon had agents working in theAMA and California Attorney General'sOffice and breaking into IRS, justiceDepariment and FBI offices. The WorldFederation of Mental Health was (coinci-dentally?) burglarized of stationery and alist of delegates for an upcoming confer-ence. Soon after, those delegates receivednotices on Federation stationery that thelocation of their conference had beenchanged from Washington, D.C., toHavana, Cuba.

The AMA was the target of an allegedGO campaign in the mid-1970s. Known asthe "Sore Throat" case it involved theleaking of international AMA memorandadetailing its often unethical politicalmaneuvers and secret attempts to kill a1970 generic-drug bill that it publicly sup-ported. An FBI investigation showed thatthe memos were most likely leaked by aScientologist who had recently been hiredby the AMA but who also served asPacific Secretary of the GO. (This opera-tive's husband had been director of Scien-tology's covert activities in Washington,D.C., and was later indicted by a federalgrand jury for bugging a high-level IRSmeeting in which Scientology's tax-exemptstatus was discussed.)

Scientology officially disavowed itself ofany knowledge of the " Sore Throat" caseand no charges were brought against theScientologist who had leaked thememoranda. But information made publicby the leaks led to IRS, Post Office,Federal Election Commission and congres-sional investigations into the AMA beforethe case blew over.

The GO's covert harassment was notrestricted to operations against facelessgovernment agencies. Individuals whochurch offirisils claim were "attacking"Scientology were the target of GO efforts aswell. A Hubbard policy released at theGO's inception offered a blueprint forScientology operations against individuals:

"As soon as one of these threats starts,you get a Scientologist or Scientologists toinvestigate noisily. You find out where heor she works or worked, doctor, dentist,friends, neighbors, anyone [sic] and phone'em up and say, `I am investigating .

Mr./Mrs. . . . for criminal activities ashe/she as been trying to prevent Man'sfreedom and is restricting my religiousfreedom.' Just be NOISY it's very oddat first, but makes fantastic sense andWORKS."

An earlier Hubbard statement was evenmore explicit: "People who attack Scien-tology are criminals. Politician A stands upon his hind legs in a parliament and braysfor condemnation of Scientology. When welook him over we find crimes embezzledfunds, moral lapses, a thirst for young boys

sordid stuff."Perhaps the most damaging GO opera-

tion against an individual bad as-its targetone Paulette Cooper, a New York freelancejournalist whose 1971 book The Scanclai ofScientology examined early Scientology

abuses. Upon publication of the book(which Cooper later admitted containednumerous factual inaccuracies), membersof the GO initiated a comprehensive cam-paign, the purpose of which was, accorcrmgto files uncovered in a 1977 FBI raid of thechurch's L.A. offices, "getting [Cooper]incarcerated in a mental institution or injail." (A file labeled "P.C.'s PersonalDiaries" was also found.) Scientologyquickly filed several lawsuits, and Cooper'spublisher chose to cease publication.

In 1973, Cooper found herself under fed-eral investigation on bomb threat and per-jury charges after a Scientology undercoveragent allegedly stole her personal stationeryand used it to forge two threatening lettersto a high-ranking Scientology official. Onlyafter two years of unsuccessfully defendingherself in the courts did Cooper agree totake a "truth serum" test, which shepassed. Cooper's total costs in clearing hername exceeded $28,000. (Hoden says thatthe church has since paid Cooper's at-torney's fees under the condition thatCooper not speak to the press regarding thecase, and has "mended the fence" for thisold GO activity.)

The GO's most embarrassing operationtook place in 1976, when two Scientolo-gists were caught late at night inside theFederal Courthouse in Washington, D.C.One of the intruders turned governmentwitness, and an ensuing investigation led tothe conviction of nine top Scientologyleaders among them, Mary Sue Hub-bard on conspiracy and theft charges.Although Mrs. Hubbard appealed theconviction to the U.S. Supreme Court onthe grounds that the FBI raid on the Scien-tology offices that followed her indictment(in which 90,000 documents, burglar toolsand electronic surveillance equipment wereconfiscated) was unconstitutional, she wasstntenced to five years in prison (of whichshe served one) and fmed $10,000.

Church documents provide startling in-sight into the detailed nature of the GO'sintelligence and subsequent cover-upoperations. One 1975 document (markedat the top, "DO NOT COPY!!!") notes asits "P1JRPOSE: To clean . . . files oflegally actionable evidence against the GOand it personel [sic]." After first explainingthe legal definition of "evidence," thememo describes foe proper way to "vet"(or censor) internal intelligence reports of"illegal evidence."

"Using a razor blade, cut out all parts ofreports written by us that would indicatesomething illegal was happening, alreadydid happen or was being planned," readsthe memo. " . . . When shredding all thepieces you have to cut out please ensureyou put the particle into the shredder sothat the teeth of the shredder cut the lineand not between the lines (put it in cross-wise)."

The same memo outlines the types ofinformation that should be vetted:"Evidence that anything was stolen by oneof our guys . . . Implications of posing as agovernment agent . . . Evidence of tappingphone lines or illegal taping of conversa-tions . . . Mentions of harassment of an in-dividual . . . Any evidence of bribery . . .

Wordings like 'this will get him' or 'let'swipe him out' . . . Any mentions ofentrapment setting up someone to commita crime either directly or indirectly."

Hoden is quick to admit that "a hand-ful" of GO members were out of control.But he repeatedly stresses that "we got ridof the GO and all those people in 1%1 andrestructured the church to make sure thoseabuses never happen again. It's unfair tokeep criticizing us for things that tookplace 10 years ago and have since been rec.Tied."

In fairness, there is another light inwhich to view all these activities. Accord-ing to Hoden, "there was not one criminalviolation on the part of the church from1950 until 1966" but then, faced with acoordinated attack from government agen-cies (see sidebar story), the church decidedit had to strike back and the GO overdidit. "The fools cost us a big black eye,"Hoden says.

Scientology president jentzsch goes evenfurther, claiming the GO was driven tosome of its acts by "agent provocateurs"infiltrated into the organization by govern-ment agencies under the federal Cointelproprogram (for more information, again seesidebar). Although he cites only one personby name Michael Meisner, a former

member who became a key governmentwitness.in the trial against Mary Sue Hub-bard jentzsch notes accurately that thereis considerable documentation that U.S.government agencies did mount a Cointel-pro operation against the church and thatthe use of infiltrated agents to drive organi-zations into acts they would not otherwisecommit was standard Cointelpro fare.Jentzsch, however, does not Cleny that theGO did some ugly things on its own. "Sowe've had some bad people do some badthings. But look at the whole person. Lookat who we are now."

Hoden confirmed, however, the ex-istence of the Minutemen, describing themas "a loose organization of church peoplewho stay in very close contact with each

other and can be instantly called to respondvery quickly to a problem." Hodenstresses, however, that "they rally againstcourt attacks on the church, not against in-dividuals." One such Minutemen opera-tion, said Hoden, took place last year whenthousands of Scientologists converged on aPortland, Oregon courthouse to protest a$39-million penalty against the church.(That decision was subsequently over-turned and must be retried.) Another oc-curred last November, when 3,000 Scien-tologists jammed three floors of the L.A.County Courthouse to block public accessto the OT-3 "Kenn" documents tempo-rarily made public by a judge in the Wol-lersheim trial.


L.A. WEEKLY April 4 10, 15W6



DavidGordon


e

Early church member Fred Stansfield,alleged "Minutemen victim."

Nevertheless, Hoden insists that the dis-ruption of the FAIR meeting at the LeoBaeck Temple was not a church-sanctionedMinutemen effort. "If I had wanted toorganize something, we could have put4,000 people in there," says Hoden. "ButI feel they have a First Amendment right todo what they're doing, though whatthey're trying to do is create a fight, createa disturbance so it'll get covered by thepress and make the church look like it'ssomething it's not. They sent a mailer topeople within the church announcing themeeting. That's really stupid. That's likerunning into a Jewish temple and saying itwas great what Hitler did to the Jews. But,no, we didn't do anything out there."

Hoden added that he would defmitelyknow of any such harassment operations.However, in a letter to temple RabbiLeonard Beerman dated February 13,Hoden made it clear that such harassmentcan take place without his knowledge andthat he has no intention of intervening orstopping it. "[Scientologists] are, as a rule,strong-minded, independent and ready tovoice their opinions and feelings," wroteHoden. "If any of these protests have beendistressing to your temple's staff, Iapologize. However, I cannot control theindividual lives of members of my con-gregation, nor would I consider doing, so."

When asked on another occasion about arecent "Stamp Out Squirrel Tech"demonstration at an independent auditingcenter (the Advanced Ability Center inSanta Barbara) one of 20 such incidentsidentified by church critics as allegedMinutemen operations over the past twoyears Hoden admitted, "Oh yeah, Iheard something about that."

Church critics adamantly disputeHoden's assertion that the Minutemen donot carry out church-sanctioned, GO-likeharassment campaigns. David Mayo, whoclaims he was abducted by Scientologyagents and "imprisoned" on ethics chargesin Gilman Hot Springs (the Scientologycompound near Palm Springs where Hub-bard resided before going underground)before "escaping," as he puts it, to formthe Advanced Ability Center, claims thatScientologists and private investigatorshired by the church have harassed him.

"They've held demonstrations out front,physically attacked members and circu-lated 'wanted' posters putting a price onour heads," says Mayo. "I feel Scientologyis a religion or philosophy, and I feel peo-ple who believe in it should be allowed to

practice it . . . [The attitude of church ,leaders) is a huge contradiction. Thechurch says it can give you the ability toreach self-determination, yet it handles dis-sent in exactly the opposite way."

Three alleged Minutemen incidents in-volved Fred Stansfield, a disaffectedchurch member who was one of Hubbard'searliest followers in the mid- '50s. Stans-field claims he received a death threat froma Scientologist "friend" on March 24,1984 (a threat reported to the FBI). An Oc-tober 20, 1985, incident allegedly involveda physical attack on Stansfield by fourlong-time church members who also peltedhis house with eggs, while a November 11attack saw Stansfield verbally harassed byseveral people who identified themselves asMinutemen.

"These Minutemen and Hoden's officework as the new GO," says Stansfield."The harassment is even more prevalentnow than it used to be."

Hoden dismisses the claims of Mayo andStansfield and, indeed, of most churchcritics as a combination of sour grapesand fmancial motivation. "We kickedthese people out of the church because wedidn't want them anymore," says Hoden,who notes that a federal court judge recent-ly ruled that Mayo must refrain from usingcertain religious scriptures until it is deter-mined whether they were stolen from thechurch. "And many are now involved inlawsuits against the church. But those fewpeople aren't our problem. They're justpawns being manipulated. Our actualproblem is that we have cut across variousplans by psychiatric associations and cer-tain people in government, backed withmillions of dollars, to control man withdrugs. That's our real problem."

None are more hopelessly enslaved thanthose who falsely believe they are free.

J.W. von Goethe

The question of who is enslaved and whois free Scientologists or their critics isa matter of personal judgment. However,two things seem evident. First, Scientolo-gists should be allowed to practice theirreligion as long as it operates within thelaw. The majority of Scientologists seemhappy (whether they are being controlledor not) and the First Amendmentguarantees their right to freely choose theirbeliefs. However, it's equally clear that ifScientology is to achieve the mantle of"major religion" it insists it deserves, itmust set aside its hyperparanoia and con-sider the constructive criticisms offered bypeople who obviously care about the Scien-tology process.

Whether Scientology's problems are dueto a global conspiracy outside the church ormisplaced priorities and a "greedy, power-hungry" ruling elite inside, as criticscharge, or a combination of both, the stub-born insistence of church leaders that theChurch of Scientology is without faultand that everyone who offers criticism is a"wog" pawn of psychiatrists and politi-cians who must be silenced betrays, atbest, an irresponsible tunnel vision or, atworst, a dangerous misunderstanding ofthe First Amendment and the church'sown putative creed.

As one former member puts it: "TheScientology process has done wonderfulthings for me and can help a lot of people.But the people who run the church have torealize that these problems of high pricesand aggressive defense are like engrainsblocking Scientology's road to totalfreedom. Until they identify these prob-lems and work to solve them, they can'tfault people for questioning theirmotives."

28 L.A.WEEKLY April 0-10, 1996For more information on OCR and PDF Compression visit ThePaperlessOffice.org


The Government'sWar Against

SCIENTOLOGYcientologists say the church isengaged in "a war for thehuman spirit" against aglobal conspiracy, involvingpsychiatrists, the Rockefeller

family, the International Criminal PoliceOrganization (Interpol) and the U.S.government (including the FBI, CIA andIRS). According to Ken Hoden, Scientolo-gists feel that although each of thesediverse entities have different reasons forattacking the church, their enemies havebanded together as one to achieve a com-mon end "destroying the Church ofScientology."

Whether a conspiracy as vast as this ex-ists is problematical, but certainly Scien-tology has come under unwarranted in-vestigation and unconstitutional attackfrom most if not all of these agencies, to anextent that might make any organizationparanoid and defensive.

Scientology's adversarial relationshipwith the psychiatric community doubtlessbegan with L. Ron Hubbard, whose 1950Dianetics vilified Freudian psychiatry.Hubbard frequently compared psychia-trists to Hitler and Genghis Khan through-out the final 35 years of his life. In return,in the early '50s psychiatrists were quick toaccuse Hubbard of quackery for his prom-ises of what auditing could do. As the gov-ernmental and journalistic investigationsinto his controversial new religion multi-plied during the mid- '50s, Hubbard fo-cused his attention on the World Federa-tion for Mental.Health, a psychiatric socie-ty he claimed orchestrated worldwide criti-cism of the church.

Scientology officials still regard the psy-chiatric community, fearful of Hubbard's"bridge to total freedom," as the drivingforce behind the church's problems.

Scientologists believe, in fact, that it wasa prominent German psychiatric clinic, oneof the Max Planck Institutes, that firstdrew the International Criminal PoliceOrganization (Interpol) into a 'conspir-acy" against the church. The Max PlanckInstitutes, named after the Nobel Prize-winning physicist, were organizations re-constituted after World War II from theKaiser Wilhelm Society for the Advance-ment of Science and its subsidiarysocieties. A German Scientology magazinenoted the connections between the MaxPlanck Institute's psychiatric wing and itspredecessor, the Kaiser Wilhelm Institutefor Brain Research, believed responsiblefor the murder of 275,000 people duringthe Nazi era. Scientologists claim thePlanck Institute arranged for Interpol toexecute an elaborate smear campaignagainst the church.

To counter this, one of the church's"reform" groups, the National Commis-sion on Law Enforcement and SocialJustice, soon began an .investigation ofInterpol. Scientologists say its commissiondiscovered that Interpol, until as recentlyas 1972, had been led by former Nazis.(Their information was accurate.) The alle-gation infuriated Interpol leaders, whothen turned to the U.S. government.Scientologists say the Nixon administra-tion's shadowy Counter-Intelligence Pro-gram (Cointelpro) devised an international

network of "harassment and black propa-ganda" against the church. (Cointelpro, ofcourse, achieved notoriety in the Water-gate era for its illegal activities againstAmerican citizens exercising their rights tofreedom of speech and assembly. Twohigh-ranking FBI officials were ultimatelysentenced to prison terms for their roles inCointelpro.)

According to church officials, govern-ment operations involving the FBI, ClAand IRS had sought to undermine Scien-tology's credibility since the program'searliest days. "The strength of those gov-ernment groups lies in control and manipu-lation," says Ken Hoden. "We encouragefreedom, so there was immediate conflict.Cointelpro has since infiltrated and dis-rupted our church, accused us of sellingdrugs, and generally slandered our churcharound the world, just like it did to MartinLuther King."

Although there is considerable docu-mented evidence that some Cointelpro ac-tions against the church took place(including FBI insertion of undercoveragents in the church), their extent is notclear. But certainly government agenciessought to get other agencies involved in acampaign against the church and, as Scien-tologists charge, its freedoms were not re-spected.

Whether or not at Interpol's prompting,the church and the U.S. government have

.been at each other's throats for more than30 years. Scientology's Founding Churchin Washington, D.C., was listed on Rich-ard Nixon's infamous IRS "enemies list,"along with such groups as the Black Pan-thers and Students for a Democratic Socie-ty. Scientologists claim several key lettersbetween Scientology churches have myste-riously found their ways to IRS offices inFresno and Ogden, Utah. And the FBIstaged a massive raid on the church'sBerendo headquarters in 1977 after Scien-tology operatives were caught in federalcourthouses trying to steal governmentfiles on Scientology.

The conflict has escalated in recent years tas the church, desperate to ward off harass-ing government investigations and illegalgovernment actions, stepped up its coun-ter-investigation against the government.Scientology's Freedom magazine has bro-ken several major stories embarrassing toits government targets, including a report'of the Army's mid-1960s experiments inwhich unsuspecting travelers in Washing-ton, D.C.'s National Airport were exposedto dangerous bacteria in simulation of agerm-warfare attack. Freedom has alsoprinted confidential IRS memos docu-menting questionable IRS tax auditingpractices, and the magazine continues tosolicit testimony on IRS abuses throughprominent newspaper ads.

According to church leaders, the currentpoint man for the "legal assault" againstScientology is Michael Flynn, a Boston-based attorney who has represented severalformer church members in lawsuits againstthe church. Ken Hoden accuses Flynn ofcarrying out a "premeditated and very ex-act plan to destroy the church," backingthe claim with alleged notes removed fromFlynn's trash by Scientologists which

detail a plan to enlist witnesses against thechurch, though not beyond what any goodlawyer would do to support his case. Scien-tologists also accuse Flynn of forging a $2million check against a personal Hubbardaccount, a charge that is currently beinginvestigated by a Boston grand jury.

Flynn denies these accusations, and inturn accuses the church of hiring privatedetectives to follow him around the coun-try and harass his family. Hoden concedesthat detectives hired by church attorneyshave followed Flynn around the country,but claims the act was justified. "He[Flynn] has worked with the governmentand taken money to sue the church fromthe Rockefellers; who feel that Scientologyis a threat to their psychiatry and pharma-cological interests, in an orchestrated effortto bring down the church." (Documentsshow that Flynn has received about$135,000 in grants from a Rockefeller phil-

, anthropic trust.)Critics insist that church leaders have in-

vented this conspiracy scenario to unifymembers into an "us against them" armyfighting for mankind's freedom. But KenHoden and other church leaders expressunwavering confidence in their conspiracytheory. "The proof is there," says Hoden."Who's harassing whom?"

"Everybody always points at what thechurch has done, which was only to defendourselves," says church president HeberJentzsch. "But the real story that nobodywants to look at is what was done to us bygovernment agencies acting illegally.That's the story." - R.C.

MONEY PROBLEMSAS NOTED IN THE MAIN ARTICLE,

the one subject church leaders would notdiscuss in detail is money notably, howmuch the church takes in and where itspecifically goes. With 40,000 members in L.Aalone, some of them spending tens ofthousands on auditing, the sums can clearly belarge. A 1974 internal memo indicated thechurch grossed $24 million that year; formerScientologists have put the current gross at$100 million, a figure that cannot be proven ordisproven.

What happens to the funds? In a pamphletentitled "Where Your Money Goes," L. RonHubbard once told church members it goestoward administrative expenses and "fightingthe worldwide conspiracy" against the church,particularly for court costs. He denied receiv-ing any money other than the minimum salary,despite persistent reports to the contrary. KenHoden now will only say most church funds gofor "dissemination" to get the message out.

Critics are not so sure. They point to the factthat the church leadership is a closed opera-tion: Top leaders were originally appointed byHubbard and tend to be promoted on the basisof how many recruits and how much money

they've brought it. They also note that anIRS investigation found that large sums weredirected to individual church leaders and thatformer members have testified this was thecase. Especially now with Hubbard's death,the critics point out, the church and all itsmoney is controlled by a handful of peopleaccountable to no one but themselves. No de-mocratization of the church seems to be insight, either there are no elected trustees(local trustees are appointed) or elected of-ficials, as exist in many other churches. Whenthis is pointed out to Scientology leaders, theyoften cite the Catholic church "no church isricher than the Catholic church," Hoden says

as a traditional example of a religion thatdoes not divulge its fmancial resources and inwhich church officials are appointed, notelected though the Pope is elected.

None of this stops critics from questioningwhether the small group that controls thechurch is enriching itself to -a substantialdegree, despite their adamant denials to thecontrary. Doubtless, the questions will remainuntil such time as the church democratizes itsinternal operations.

_ WEEKLY -14:r , 4 '.; '48t, 25'For more information on OCR and PDF Compression visit ThePaperlessOffice.org


What do these individuals have in common?

1. They Are Successful In L.A.WEEKLYAttaining Their Goals. APriiii-iz ism

2. They Use Seinflolwye To Do It.s" cientology technolow has helped me enormously in achieving my goals in

life..

"Through studying and applying Scientolog philosophy and courses, myability to create and control my environment has continually increased; myability to

concentrate on what I am doing and understand and control my Own mind andemotions has expanded; my ability to observe life for myself and come to a greaterunderstanding of it has also grown; nw ability to love, relate to and workwith othershas been renewed, and I have achieved understanding of art and music and whatpositive effects and benefits these can have for myself and others.

"It's difficult to describe how much richness has been added to my life through myassociation with and study of Scientology philosophy. It can only be truly expressed

in a work of art." Chick CoreaI" have had a love for music and performing since I was very young"Since learning about Scientology several years ago, my abilities as a singer andcomposer have continued to grow. I also care for others and myself more. I

understand and control my emotions better and it becomes increasingly easy todecide what I want to do in life and then make that happen."

. Gayle Moran

Chick CoreaAwardwinningJazz Composer and Musician

Gayle MoranSinger, Composer, Recording Artist

Julia Migenes-JolmsonGrammy Awarduinning Singer

,

,

'10 'IN.

F" or fifteen years, Scientology has been there for me. It has been my way of lifeand has turned what was an unhappy, depressed, lost soul on sleeping pills,wake-up pills and diet pills, into someone who is strong enough to happily

face each day."For fifteen years, no more pills, no more weight problems, no more self.

destruction. I can concentrate on living a healthy, happy life with a genuine feeling ofpositiveness."

T" hrough Scientology, my abilities have expanded, and my versatility andfreedom as an artist have increased. Whatever is good in me has always beenthere, and that's me. The fact that anyone can see that at all is entirely due to

Scientology."The fact that I am winning, the fact that I come back from losses( and each time I

have come back I go further than before) all that is entirely because of Scientol-Ogy. Without Scientology, I would not have survived as an artist."

4. . Jeff PomerantzAlPtik 4444 J' Actor

jeti.-r) ScottEmmy -twat-el-winning Teter oro, .riter

44 ver the past ten years, using Dianetics* and Scientology technologies, mywife Sonya and I have created a successffil marriage, built a new home,made dozens of new and loving friends, and strengthened our ties with our

families. With Scientology counseling and training, we not only achieved a richer,more fulfilling Ilk, but more importantly, we gained the skills necessary to help our

friends and relatives."As a professional writer of children's television, Scientology counseling helped

me dissolve the mental blocks and self doubt s that can prevent anyartist from freely

mellowing his creal ivity. W ith new-6mnd certainty ot my abilities, I was able towrite and sell over 300 tek.vision seripts and win an Emmy to bmt.

-Personally and profession.ith Seteniol,igy has helped ine rekiidle lin goals, andgain the certainty to attain them There is no greater iely."

* Spinliltd &Wing 1,1 h, Id oxl. /he pen. PPPPP of WWII/4.1010 I

P /AID ADVERTISEMENT



Peter SchlessArtist Producer and Composer

( "On the Wings of Lime)

L.A.WEEKLY4Pfil,1147,

B" ring a songwriter is nut an ea msy thing to do. We have to deal with criticisfi-um others, not to mention self- criticism. This generally results in 'writer'sblock,' slow production, or even leaving the lield altogether.

"I have found L. Ron I I ubbard's discoveries in ilw art and music fields to be totallyrevolutionary and vital factors in my own Creal ion.% sl id SUCCMCS. The harriers thatexist for others are no longer there fur me.

"If you are experiencing problems in A creative lield, there is one thing you shouldknow. Scientology works!"

" G ening through the stress of auditions, rehearsals and first nights wasn't alwayseasy for me. I was looking for answers. flow could I be more serene? I lowcould I operate better in my career? Then, a few years ago, I was introduced

to son let hing that helped me get my career under control and gain confidence. 'I batwas Scientology and Dianeties technologies.

"These gave me a way to look at what was bothering me and really clear it up sothat I felt good about myself again. Now I fed positive about life and I'm in controland on a straight line towards my goals."

Christina Kumi KimballFilm Actress, Singer andplinCer on Broadway

Alfred GarbuttConsullant and Doctor fior We

1984 Olympic Field I Imlay Team

A- s a chiropractor, I have always wanted to help others feel better, andthus perlOrtu better in file.

"Ily understanding and using Scientology principles, I have increased myability to communicate and increased my awareness of the needs of others.

"When I help an athlete quickly recover and get back into action, I am fulfilling notonly my personal goal, but assisting another person to get back into the game. Andthat's what life Ls all about, keeping in tlw game, and winning."

" s an attorney. I face daily deadlines and worried clients, and work under theAconstant pressure of knowing that others depend on my performance."I have found that through my use of Scientology technolog, not only can I

handle the pressure in a positive manner, but my ability to communicate in thecourts and with my clients has greatly improved. I have been more effective in thelegal battles I am lighting, since success in the courtroom otien relies more on myability' to communicate Man on the actual law itself.

"Of course, the pressures continue but I wouldn'i want it any.other way. Whenyou can handle life, a good tough game becomes enilyahle. I have scientology tothank lor that."

Karen McCabe:Wormy

your potentialities are a great deal betterthan anyone ever permitted you to believe. ft

L. Ron Hubbard - Founder of Scientology and Dianeties tedinologies.

You Can Achieve Your Goals.FOR MORE INFORMKrION, CONTACT THE CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY TODAY.

CALL: Church of Scientolog of Los Angeles4810 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90027Phone (213) 660-7433 or 1-800-F01L-TRUTH (1-800-367-8788)

e Comeigly 9rAt by the Church utScieni Aso. Internal isnat Aliaka I-Pi MEWED. noArnis and tiCIENTOLl x;1' ate iraciemaelsi and%mice nurlo.1.1.1 by Wigs alb TechnotwyCom c..4.1 are ised S./Mb A. palmassua tju.Alloa. On I HUI

4.raietul acluunekAgeinow is made Kt L LAI iluithasal Ii.. prremwsn is teponi seko 1.01,0 wed wilatv

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4. :

I lettersScientology: defenders anddetractors.

Lett .e-r,s

to There and Back Again I

Dear Editor:Re: "Scientology: The Other Side of the

Looking Glass" (L.A. Weekly, April 4-101.I guess it's too much to expect a difficultthing like total truth to be approached inyour newspaper. You do pretty well withthe movie schedules, not bad with thenightclub billings either. But why do youhave to mess up with something thatcounts, something that has saved lives,salvaged marriages, made people happierand more able something that couldeven benefit you? You spent all that effortand time, so why didn't you go all the wayand learn what you were talking about andpresent not just partial truths mixed withdistortions and outright falsehoods?

Yes, I was glad to see a good amount offactual, positive data about Scientology'sresults and successes, but why taint it withyour obvious negative bias? I'd say youneed to do some extensive retreading ofyour journalism courses or take a look intoyour own ideas of integrity. You quote afew dissatisfied people, but fail to indicatewhether they asked for and got the refundsthat are due them per standard policy. Youstress the donation rates for professionalservices, but fail to stress the huge varietyof free and very inexpensive services thatare available. You indicate (accurately)how the number of satisfied Scientologistsfar exceeds the small minority of dissatis-fieds (many of whom still acknowledge theworkability of the subject), yet devote adisproportionate amount of space to quot-ing the latter. You omit anything aboutHubbard's technology of study, which hasgreatly increased thousands of people'sabilities. You also leave out any mention ofHubbard's great new music album withChick Corea, Karen Black, John Travoltaand others.

Mainly, however, you fail to capture thefeel and atmosphere of what really is goingon there. There is an excitement, a hope, afeeling of great morale and improvement,of life and future growth. How could youmiss that? Even if you are not up toexperiencing it yourself, surely you musthave seen more than the strange little pic-ture you painted.

Eric KrackowN. Hollywood

Lt1

Dear Editor:I want to commend you on your article

about Scientology. You did your home-work and presented a far more objectiveand truthful view than Scientology churchofficials or rabid former members evercould.

I was a Scientologist from 1977 to early1983, and there are a lot of people like me,ex-Scientologists who aren't rabidly angry,pressing lawsuits or anything else wesimply outgrew the whole thing. I thinkthe majority of Scientology as presented inthe earlier books by Hubbard in the '50sand '60s truly does tend to encourage ahigh degree of self-determination, freedomof thought, belief in one's own ability,belief in the natural goodness and rightnessof man, et cetera. A lot of us got interestedin Scientology through reading those booksand using the ideas to help us shrug off oldbeliefs or inhibitions that we no longerneeded.

On the other hand, we eventually Lin upagainst the "all-for-the-group" types whohad a totally distorted view of the churchand were into weird sorts of power tripsand what-not. The majority of people ac-

continued on page 12

L A WEEKLY Apra 18-24, 19*

Letters continued from page 10

malty running the Church of Scientologyengaging in the incredible politicking

and so forth necessarrta reach their pres-ent position are not necessarily well-versed in the philosophies espoused byScientology, believe it or not. Oh, they canquote you a few Hubbard hack phrases,but many of them are just young kids oryoung adults who grew up in the Sea Org,or people who were misfits in regular socie-ty and find within the church politicalstnicture a chance to be big shots, to be ad-mired, to have control. -

The majority of Scientologists, on theother hand, are not senior staff members orare among the majority of lowlier staffmembers who just quietly do their jobs.TheY are pretty decent lieople on theaverage a fair degree of intelligence, afair degree of philanthropic feeling, etcetera who feel that. Scientology hashelped them and want other people to behelped as well. But for many of them, itbecomes obvious that the more free, themore self-determined, the more capableyou become within the church, the lessdesire you have to have anyone else tell youwhat to do and think which would tendto put you into conflict with the churchauthorities. MOSt of the people I know whoare still in tht church 'are there becausethey lack self-confidence, feel that the"bridge" is essential to attaining theirspiritual goals, and have bought the churchline that the "bridge" is not available out-side the church which, of course, is nottrue. Theie are "independent Scientolo-gists" delivering the exact same product allover the world minus, of course, thedegree of threat and coercion that tends tohang over church interactions.

I enjoyed my period of time as a Scien-tologist. I learned a lot about myself,opened a lot of spiritual vistas, dared tobelieve certain things were posalle, andmet a lot of people who are still my friends.I think those ex-Scientologists who aremost bitter are probably pretty angry atthemselves for having given up their ownpower.

What Hoden said about church mem-bers, and particularly staff members, notbeing insulated from the outside environ-ment is absolutely incorrect. When you areworking literally from morning to night,six or seven days a week (with one day offto do your laundry if you're lucky), you areautomatically insulated. When all yourfriends are Scientologists the people youtalk to, the people you look up to you

' are automatically insulated to a certaindegree. That is true with any groupor ide-ology. And you only realize this is truewhen you step out of the group and beginto build a life apart from it. At that point,you can begin to appreciate what a narrowview of the world you were participatingin.

Joy Flynn-WatsonBurbank

Dear EditorI am a regular reader of the L.A. Weekly

and appreciate the information it gives meabout what's happening in L.A. It was allthe more disappointing, therefore, to seeyour article about Scientology. I wasreminded of the American Tourist whotakes the Grand European Vacation (10capitals in 14 days), comes back withplastic souvenirs and badly taken photos,complains that all the natives didn't speakEnglish and then wonders why theyseemed resentful.

Having studied and used Scientology for11 years, I could write you a book aboutthe increased joy, abilities and creativity IFor more information on OCR and PDF Compression visit ThePaperlessOffice.org


IVCCALY April 71.7-14, 1,9tri

have experienced myself and seen in others- -on a daily basis. I feel your-readers have the

right to know that there is no greater hap-piness than knowing there is a road outout of the synthetic, plastic nightmaremost people know as "life." You can jumpin the driver's seat and fly on the highway,or you can stand-on the sidewalk as the carswhiz by and pretend you're moving. Thechoice is yours.

David KlineLos Angeles

Dear Editor:Thank you for the informative and open

article on Scientology. It is important forScientologists to know that they can getvirtually all services and materials accurate-ly and easily without having to deal withchurch coercions. Scientology makes itsmembers feel that only their "guilt"makes them disagree with the church.Many people would like to "come out,"but are afraid of losing friends, family orbusiness associations through the "dis-connection" policy.

I am glad to offer, at no charge to anysincere seeker, the viewing and right tocopy any of the extensive documentationsupporting church critics. These includethe church documents you quote, video-taped confessions of former church officialsand numerous affidavits and court tran-scripts. Also we have all the data on joiningFAIR's class-action suit, which includesclaims for recovery of funds as well as con-fessional folders.

That Scientology does some things verywell is the source of its strength. That itclaims to do all one would ever need is thesource of its danger. It must allow peopleto study and practice wherever and how-ever they wish. The Church of Scientologymanagement promotes itself as an advocateof religious liberty for all. In practice, theydo not even allow their members to readwhatever they please.

Your description of the egg-throwing atthe Stansfields is accurate. I was there. Thereason for it, judging by the epithetsgarnishing the eggs, is that we have helpeddozens of people who leave the church toput their lives back together.

Valerie StansfieldThe Revitalization Center

Burbank

Dear Editor:Your article on Scientology surprised

me. From the title and after readinghow, having been shafted in the past,Reverend Hoden at first expressed fears ofnewsmen and then opened the doors to you

I felt that at last we might be getting abreak from the press.

I became a Scientologist at 18, in 1963. Iwas looking for the truth. (I knew it existedsomewhere, and no one would tell mewhere.) Well, I found it and have stuckwith it gladly for these many years. I haveworked inside the church and outside thechurch, even worked with L. Ron Hub-bard for a while. All in all, I itid that no-where is perfection to be found on Earth,but that Scientologists are at least trying tobe better and to treat others better, to helpand to free mankind.

And they get results . . . we get tesults.If it looks a bit odd to you, so what? Does itwork? I say yes! A great many others sayyes, and for that reason it deserves a bettershake than it got at your hands

Costly? Have you looked at the price ofpsychiatry lately? Or college? I am remind-ed of the story of the fellow who had awatch that didn't tell time. When hisfriend remarked on it, he said, "But it surewas cheap." Would you rather buy some-thing that was cheap but didn't work, or

would you spend your money on some-thing that worked? I am neither brainwashed nor duped. I just know what get-ting better is worth to me ind know whatlife would be worth if I had no way to im-prove myself.

The cost of health care is skyrocketing,yet no one balks at coming up with thebucks. It's that or die. There is somethingworse than dying. It's living forever know-ing there is no way off the merry-go-round.

Jon BatsonToluca Lake

Dear Editor:Your article on Scientology was one of

the best efforts to be objective about thesubject I have seen, and I hope that the factit wasn't a tract for the faith does not dis-courage responsible leaders like KenHoden from dealing with the press in thefuture. Given the generally sensationalisticand inaccurate reports that result from anantagonistic relationship with the media,retreating to a fortess mentality would bevery counterproductive.

Unfortunately, the article was not fault-less. Dwelling on past sins and on thedeeds of overzealous individuals andneglecting a serious look at and experiencewith the "technology" gave an unbalancedview. It would also have been fair to allowthe Scientology leadership to look at the ar-ticle before going to press and respond in asidebar. At the least, you should expandyour letters section to accommodate theresponse, lest you be accused of censor-ship. [Editor's note: So resolved.]

What makes Scientologists so aggres-sively defensive and overbearing inrelationships with outsiders is their certain-ty that their techniques work. Havingtaken a course and read some of Hubbard'swork, as well as having associated withScientologists while remaining an outsider,I can say with informed objectivity that theideas are pretty effective. (I did not pursuethe program, both because I found it dii-ficult to follow and because I was uncom-fortable with the institution.) As a PRprofessional who has handled various con-troversial groups, I have always foundthose immersed in a subculture lose theability to communicate effectively with theoutside world, forgetting how people outthere think and becoming their own worstenemies in public relations.

Whatever the weaknesses of the article,it did have constructive advice if Scien-tology is to overcome the negative publicityand get people to look at it seriously:Lower the cost of services to a reasonablelevel, provide a more humane milieu formembers and especially staffers, grant thatgeniuses like Hubbard also have theirpeculiarities, and replace the adversarial/conspiratorial mindset with a morecooperative attitude toward the rest of theworld. That the institution can change forthe better has been shown by recenthistory, and I have no doubt that these sug-gestions will be adopted if the leadershiphas the objectivity and courage that isneeded for change.

Scott SmithCalabasas

Dear Editor:My congratulations for your attempt at a

thorough report on Scientology. I havebeen a Scientologist for nearly 20 years andhave rattly seen anything but hatchet jobson Scientology in the press. You obviouslyheld in the reins of the writers, or thewriters are in themselves unusual.Although their preconceived conclusionsdo show through they're no Woodwardand Bernstein they did work at it. I

didn't burn the paper, after all.Your writers got one thing 100 percent

right: The attack of the powerful agenciesseeking to squelch Scientology has thepotential of making this spirit feel likeDavid in the grasp of Goliath. As the per-son who personally devised and institutedthe "Minutemen" you so grossly misrep-resented, I can assure you that Cointelprois not a fig-newton of Scientologists' imag-inations. Your comment about thechurch's ". . . facade of good will" (sub-stantiated by locks on doors and securitymeasures) is a slur. The fact is, manyagents provocateurs have been uncoveredand documented. The security measuresyou mention were initiated in defense ofthe "squirrels" who went on a spree ofstealing copies of the religious technologyso they could set themselves up in busi-ness. They also have a propensity for alter-ing the technology, cheating their marksout of the potential gains of the church'sStandardized Technology. You must haveput out a cattle call to find as many squir-rels as you did. Then again, Planet Earthisn't Gilligan's Island. Evil is quite real.

Incidentally, no one can responsiblystudy Scientology and make a statementlike 'Me (lurch criticizes psychiatrywhile selling pseudo-Freudian counsel-ing." The two are antipodal in concept andarch-enemies, both in technique and goal.Ask a psych-o-anything for a useful defini-tion of the mind if you want to observe ob-vious confusion. Then let him know that"psyche" means "spirit," so he can getthe idea of how far out in left field he iswithout noticing it. The shrinks hate anyconcept that is spiritual, because spiritswho know who they nre cannot bebehavior-modified. Shrinks have beenbrainwashed, by the best of them.

R.P.Eagle Rock

Dear Editor:The price we pay for religious freedom in

this country is that thugs like ReverendMoon, Jim Jones and L. Ron Hubbard canuse fraud and deception to prey on trou-bled people, subject them to all-or-nothingemotional alignment, and steal their lives,liberty and property. In your expose ofHubbard's con game, you bent over back-ward to be fair, an obvious effort to pre-clude legal harassment. But in doing so,you cut them enough slack to hang them-selves with their own lies and double-speak. Hats off to you!

One of the myths perpetrated by Hub-barcl is that Scientology is both a religionand a science. It is neither. Anyone not toolazy or brainwashed can discover thatDianetics and Scientology are an eclecticmish-mash of ideas stolen from psycho-therapy, Religious Science, Rosicrucians,Freemasons, Templars, the Cabala, YogaSutras, Aleister Crowley, et cetera. Hub-bard re-packaged these ideas, copyrightedthem and sold them back to the public fora profit. What a guy!

At best, Scientology is "in the businessof selling religion" a big "sting opera-tion" to separate the gullible from theirlife's savings with promises of immortality,increased IQ and supernatural powers.The only "thing that is "clear" in Scien-tology is the fact that L. Ron Hubbard wasa pathological liar, and in the obscurestratosphere of Xemu-land, this appears tohave been a communicable disease.

A Foimer ScientologistLos Angeles

Write to Editor, L.A. Weekly, P.O. Box 29905,L.A., CA 90029. Include name and address (with-held on request) and daytime phone. Letters may beedited.



10A Clearwater Sun

Clearwater SunFounded in 1914

BRUCE E. COURYPublisher

GEORGE W. GRAHAMEditor

; NORMAN S. MORGAN JR.Editorial Page Editor

DAVID F. PERONews Editor

Tuesday, April 22, 1986

MICHAEL E. RICHARDSBusiness Manager

RICHARD D. DOBSG1XAdvertising Dir.ector 4 ,

...TERRENCE L. VlAGIMi

Circulation Director

LEONARD BOUILLEZProduction Manager

Editorials of the Sun

Scientologists and thechild-molesting studyI

t is ironic that the Church of. Scientology has stepped forward

to object to the spending of$832,000 by the Florida Mental

' Health Institute (FMHI) in Tampa tostudy child molesters.

A Scientology-sponsored groupthe Citizens Commission on HumanRights says that child molestersare criminals, not sick people. Rep-

. resentatives of the commission'sClearwater chapter said the pedo-philes should be placed behind highwalls where they can no longer rapeor molest children.

Well, the commission may have apoint. With the FMHI's study not yetunder way (it will begin nextmonth), a great many questions arewaiting to be answered. Some au-thorities in sexual pathology feelthat a pedophile's obsession withsmall children is virtually untreata-ble, and that neither therapy norprison sentences will prevent a mo-'lester from returning repeatedly tohis old ways.

One of the risks the FMHI will betakingtvith its new study is that the-research itself may make the sexual

. offenders somehow appear more, respectable and less dangerous to

society than they actually are. Theinstitute's outpatient center will car-

' ry out the three-year program,-whose main goal is to try to prevent

relapses in the sex offenders. A cen-ter spokesman has emphasized thatnone of the patients will be sent tothe center as an alternative to court-mandated punishment.

It will be risky research. The FMHIwill try to find out why some pedo-philes relapse and others do not.But if an FMHI patient does relapseand commits an indictable offense,the institute may be blamed (fairlyor unfairly) for being involved withthe offender.

Getting back to the Scientologists:They have as much right as anyoneto comment on the proposed re-search. But Scientology's own trackrecord with psychological researchhas many blots. Many disaffectedex-Scientologists have accused thecult of brainwashing and coercion.

And when it comes to accusingpeople of being criMinals, Scientolo-gy has little room to holler. Severalhigh-ranking Scientologists were con-victed on federal charges a fewyears ago. Internationally, Scientolo-gy's standing with a number of for-eign governments has left a lot tobe desired.

Our point is simply this: Whateverflaws the proposed FMHI researchprogram may have, the Scientolog-ists are not the ones to raise a hueand cry about it.



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works into t e air, L

ewis

said.B

ut the project required a per-m

it because the materials

in-

volvedare

classifiedas

fire-w

orks.Flares w

ill be plantedaround

the cone's fiber-clothedexterior,

he said, and other devicesw

illpum

p smoke

through the open-ing at the top of the

volcano.C

hristiansen'sonly

requestw

as that thevolcano's fiber cov-

ering be flame retardant.

Lew

is said he had noproblem

with the volcano as long as

to-night's w

ind gusts to no more

than 10 mph.

If winds w

hip beyondthe 10

mph m

ark, however,

Scientolog-ists w

ould have to put alid on

the volcano eruptionbecause

smoke and any burning

debrisw

ould be carried tosurrounding

properties, he said.A

National W

eatherService

forecaster in Ruskin

said north-easterly w

inds are expectedto

bluster between 15 and

20 mph

at midday today, but

will proba-

bly die down after

dusk.



1 2A Clearwater Sun Sunday, May 11,1986

People

JOHN TRAVOLTA... supports sect

Travolta laudsScientologyFrom Sun wires

LOS ANGELES ActorJohn Travolta showed up incourt to support the Church ofScientology, and told reporters,"It's been the reason I've beenable to survive Hollywood."

The organization is fighting aSuperior Court lawsuit by for-mer member LarryWollersheim, who accused it offraud and claimed it destroyedhim financially and mentally.



LAW

RE

NC

E E

AG

LE-T

RIB

UN

E, Law

rence, Mass.

Thursday, M

ay 29, 1986

Kattar jailed; prosecution

saysit fears for w

itnesses

BO

STO

NG

eorge Kattar

and Harvey B

rower arrived in

court together and sat side byside, but only B

rower left the

courtroom a free m

an after theirarraignm

ents yesterday.!U

ttar was led aw

ay by US.

marshals and jailed after prosecu-

tors said he threatened to kill aw

itness.T

he 67-year-old retired Me-

thuen businessman w

as refusedbail by U

S. District C

ourt 'JudgeL

awrence C

ohen.B

rower, 49, of Sw

ampscott,

was released w

ithout bail.K

attar and Brow

er pleadedinnocent in U

S. District C

ourt tocharges of fraud and extortion inconnection w

ith a scheme to take

money aw

ay from the C

hurch ofScientology by providing

falseinform

ation to the church."M

r. Kattar had threatened to

kill a cooperating witness in this

case and he had discussed killinga w

itness in another matter. ...

and he discussed other killings,"said

Assistant

U.S.

Attorney

Brackett B

. Denniston, w

ho pros-ecuted the case.

Denniston also cited a raid by

FBI agents

three and ahalf

weeks ago on K

attar's summ

er

home in M

eredith, N.H

., duringw

hich some 100 sem

i-automatic

firearms, explosives and other

weapons w

ere confiscated.K

attar is now in the custody of

US m

arshals pending his deten-tion hearing in B

oston at 11 to-m

orrow m

orning.E

arly yesterday morning, K

at-tar and B

rower w

ere arrested byFB

I agents and charged with try-

ingto defraud the C

hurch ofScientology of $100,000. K

attarw

as arrested at his 131 JacksonSt. hom

e in Methuen and B

rower

was arrested in R

evere.D

uringtheir

arraignments

yesterday in a courtroom filled

with reporters, D

enniston said theprosecution has at least 10 w

it-nesses and four hours of recordedconversations in the case againstK

attar and Brow

er.T

he trial is set for July 16 at10 a.m

.If convicted, D

enniston said,K

attar and Brow

er could facem

aximum

jail sentences of 45years and $23,000 fines.

The July trial is expeeted to

last a week and a half, D

ennistonsaid.

Who's w

ho in Scientology case

0 HA

RV

EY

BR

OW

ER

, 49, 451 Essex

St., S

wam

pscott. A disbarred Law

-rence attorney, he w

as fined $3.750last year for his role In a $100-m

Illion-- a-year gam

bling ring. He served six

months in jail in 1979 for conspiring

to help a convicted embezzler Jum

pball.

Brow

er successfully defendedform

er New

England crim

e boss Ray-

' mond L.S

. Patriarca 15 years ago.

0 GE

OR

GE

T. K

AM

A S

R., 67. 131

Jackson St., M

ethuen. Katter's nam

ehas been linked in the past w

ith thenam

es of organized crime figures.

Agents earlier this m

onth raided hissum

mer hom

e and business in New

Ham

pshire In connection with loan-

sharking, firearms investigation. N

ocharges have been M

ed in connectionw

ith that raid.

>

steuw

o

CI M

ICH

AE

L J. FLY

NN

,42, 72 H

ighR

idge RO

ad, Boxford. Law

yerw

hosays he Is num

ber one on Scientology

Church's enem

ies list. He has

filedm

ore than 20 lawsuits against the

church.

0 L RO

N A

UB

BA

IID,

foundedC

hurch of Scientology 30 years ago.

He died a m

ultimillionaire earlier this

year, setting off a squabble for hisassets betw

een church and his es-tranged son. A

lso a well-know

n sci-ence fiction author.



LAWRENCE EAGLE-TRIBUNE, Lawrence, Mass. Thursday, May 29, 1986

Was church cheatedor part of a larger plot?By Paul Van OadolEagle-Tribune Writer

Four years ago, two menwalked into a New York bank andtried to cash a $2 million checkdrawn on the Bank of New En-gland account of L. Ron Hubbard,the head of the Church of Sciento-logy.

The bank refused to cash thecheck after it could not verify thesignathre.

Since then, the church hasbeen on the warpatb to find outwho forged their now-dead found-er's check. It offered a $100,000reward, bought full-page adver-tisements in the country's largestnewspapers and hired a privateInvestigator.

Yesterday, two men were ar-rested by the FBI and chargedwith trying to bilk the church outof $100,000 in return for bogusInformation about the check.

They are disbarred Lawrenceattorney Harvey Brower and re-tired Methuen businessmanGeorge T. Kattar.

That's not the whole story,says a Boxford lawyer, who hasbeen fighting the Scientologists incourt for seven years and who atone point was accused of trying to

This indictment rep-resents only the outerskin of o very strong-smelling onion which thechurch intends to peeluntil it is fully exposed.

95Harry Manion

Scientologists' lawyer

steal the $2 million check."The church set the whole

thing up," said attorney MichaelJ. Flynn.

Flynn said the church hiredKattar and Brower to help framehim in the check case.

"I didn't know anything aboutthat," said Harry Manion, the iScientologists' national trial coun-sel.

"All I know is that MichaelFlynn has used every resource athis command to try to obtaincontrol for his clients of theChurch of Scientology. He hasinitiated numerous suits. It's nosecret the church and MichaelFlynn are adversaries."

The FBI also refused to corn-merit on Flynn's charges.

Flynn is well-known for hisbattles with the church.

The New York Times, Wash-ington Post and Time, Newsweekand People magazines have alldetailed his legal spars with Sci-entologists.

The church has tagged Flynnits number one enemy because ofhis victories in court, according tochurch documents in Flynn's pos-session.

Flynn's biggest victory camein 1984, when a California judgeruled that Hubbard was a "patho-logical liar" and that the churchwas a "massive fraud" that en-gaged in a "form of blackmailagainst its members."

The church counter-attacked.Church publications and adver-tisements have repeatedly accus-ed Flynn of conspiring withfederal authorities to attack Sci-entology.

A full-page ad in the Boston- Herald March 1 offered a $75,000reward kit "information concern-ing the complicity and-or obstruc-tion of justice" by U.S. AttorneyWilliam Weld, Flynn and otherfederal attorneys and investiga-tors.

"The church is satisified thatthere is a complex web or con-struction and conspiracy involvedIn this entire affair," Manion saidfollowing yesterday's indictments.

"This indictment representsonly the outer skin of a verystrong-smelling onion which thechurch intends to peel until it isfully exposed."

Two years ago, the church'sprivate investigator gave federalsuthorities an affidavit signed bya resident of the United ArabEmirates saying that he andFlynn collaborated to cash theforged check.

A federal grand jury in Bostonindicted Ala Tamini for perjurylater that year and Tamini fled toItaly.

Tamini is now in a West Ger-man jail, said Assistant U.S. At-torney Brackett Denniston.Tamini mailed Flynn a telegramin March saying the church's pri-vate eye had paid him to set upFlynn.

The investigator, Eugene M.Ingram, was fired from the LosAngeles Police Department in1981 after being charged withpimping, pandering, conspiring torun a house of prostitution andprotecting drug dealers. Thecharges were dropped for lack ofevidence.

Flynn says that without Tami-ni, the church turned to a federalinformant and eventually Kat-tar and Brower in an effort todiscredit him.

According to Flynn and hislawyer, the federal informant wasLarry Reservitz, who agreed totape conversations with Kattar,Ingram and others for a lightersentence on separate bank fraudschemes and drug trafficking. Re-servitz taped 11 conversationswith Kattar in 1984. Flynn said.

Reservitz met with RobertKilborne, Flynn's attorney, seve-ral times last spring and ex-plained the details of hisconversations with Kattar andIngram. Kilborne said he plans touse his statements in Flynn's suitagainst the church filed in a LosAngeles court.

In yesterday's indictments, theU.S. attorney's office said Browerand Kattar tried to cheat thechurch out of money by givingthem false information about theforged check scam. Kattar wassent to jail after being chargedwith threatening witnesses.



LAWRENCE EAGLE-TRIBUNE, Lawrence, Mass. Thursday, May 29, 1986

Brower:'A magnetfor trouble'

By SUS= ForrestEagle-Tribune Writer

BOSTON Harvey Brower, inhis own words, is a magnet fortrouble.

Once a lawyer, college profes-sor and classical musician, the 49-year:old Brower now has a 45-yearJail sentence banging over his head.

"I seem to attract trouble like amagnet," he said after his arraign-ment in US. District Court oncharges of defrauding the Churchof Scientology.

Despite his trouble, Browerseemed unsinkable yesterday as hereeled off one-liners and chain-smok}d cigarettes with an Eagle-Tribune reporter in the ninth-floorroom of the U.S. District Court.

"I should have stuck to thedrums," he said. "I wonder whatmy music teacher would say now."

Harvey Brower, a man who 15years ago successfully representedNew England crime boss RaymondL.S. Patriarca, is a study in con-trasts.

He was a brilliant criminallawyer, disbarred in 1979 fromdoing what he did best.

He chain-smokes cigarettes, butthe brand he smokes is "True," thelowest tar and nicotine brandaround.

He is known as fashion-con-scious wearing only tailor-madesuits from big-name designers. Yethe wore to court a white and bluestriped shirt and khaki pants with astretch waist band in the back.

He once avoided the press afterserving time in a Louisiana prisonin 1979 for conspiring to help aclient jump bail and flee to Mexi-co. Today, Brower calls himself afreelance magazine writer.

"Why are you hanging out withme?" Brower asked a reporter."I'll probably give you a bad repu-tation."

But the son of a Revere bar-tender, who was valedictorian atNew England Law School In 1961and a former Massachusetts assis-tant attorney general, wasn't al-ways known as a bad boy,according to his uncle, BenjaminAbrams.

"He had such a brilliant career,but he liked life in the fast lane,and that's what ruined him," saidAbrams, 77, who remained at hisnephew's side all day in court. "Heis a compassionate and good-heart-ed man whose only problem is thathe never grew up.

"He has such nice clothes athome," Abrams added. "I wish thathe got dressed up today."

Brower replitd, "They (theFBI) came to the house at 7:45 thismorning and I didn't even have

, time to take a shower."

`You owe me one, kid'

At.

t

4.

Harvey Brower Wanted to leave the courthouse by the backto avoid media. As a favor to a reporter, he went out thefront. As cameras flashed, Brower smiled and said, "Youowe me one for this, kid."

It was when he talked about hiswriting that Brower seemed mostat ease yesterday. He said he isnow working on a master's degreein creative writing and is writing abook based in part on his earlydays as a musician.

It is a book Brower calls half-fiction, half-fact.

"It's loosely based on real-lifeinstances," he said. "I guess youcould call it a fictionalized-factsituation."

As the conversation ended,Brower walked away, saying hehad to report to the probationoffice on another floor of thecourthouse.

He said he wanted to leave bythe back entrance .to avoid the.crowd of cameramen waitingdowntairs to converge on him.Cameras are not allowed in theBoston courthouse.

"Why should I go down there in" that circus?" Brower asked.

"Because my photographer isdown there and I don't want to goback to work and explain to mybosses why we couldn't get yourpicture."

Brower shrugged his shouldersand said, "OK, let's go and get yourpicture."

When the elevator door openedand the lights flashed everywhere,Brower smiled and said, "You oweme one for this, kid."

Then he silently pushed himselfthrough the crowd and walkedaway.



HE BOSTON GLOBE THURSDAY, MAY 29, 1986

Ex-lawyer, N.H. mancharged in plan to bilkChurch of Scientology

:By William F. DohertyClobe Staff

FBI agents yesterday arrested aNew Hampshire man and a dis-'barred lawyer on chargt. s of ex-torting $33.000 from the Churchof Scientology by offering false in-formation about a scheme to steal$2 million from the church.

George T. Kattar, 67. of Mer-edith, N.H.. formerly of Methuen,was held without bail 'pending adetention hearing tomorrow. Har-vey Brower. 49. of Swampscott. aformer lawyer turned writer, wasreleased on $50,000 bail.

According to an indictment is-sued by a federal grand jury inBoston, Kattar and Brower ob-tained the money from church of-ficials by offering to provide themwith information about a forged$2 million check drawn on an ac-count of L. Ron Hubbard. thechurch founder.

Kattar and Brower allegedly of-fered the information - whichproved to be false - in return for a$100,000 fee, one-third of whichwas to be paid in advance.

The indictment does not speci-fy what information was allegedlysupplied by the defendants in re-turn for the $33.000.

Kattar and Brower. accordingto the indictment, used threats ofviolence. The scheme allegedly oc-curred between September andDecember 1984.

In January 1984, full-page ad-vertisements were placed in TheBoston Globe. The New YorkTimes and other publications of-fering a $100.000 reward for infor-mation that would help determinewho presented the forged check tothe Bank of New England in June1982. A teller questioned thecheck's validity and It was notcashed.

Harry L. Manion 3d, a lawyerfor the church, said yesterday theindictment is only -the tip of theiceberg."

He said "the church believesthis is the beginning of the unrav-eling of the circumstances sur-rounding the forgery.-

Argued against bail

In arguing that Kattar be de-nied bail. Assistant US AttorneyBrackett B. Denniston 3d saidthat releasing him before trialwould pose a danger to witnessesand the community in general.

Denniston said Kattar "put outa contract on a cooperating wit-ness In the case," and, in conver-sations that were secretly tape-re-corded. he discussed killing wit-nesses in other cases.--2

The prosecutor said onechurch official was told by Kattar:"Pay up or I'll drop your name in ahat."

The tapes were reportedlymade by another disbarred law-yer, Larry Reservitz. who has co-operated with federal investiga-tors in several cases following hisconviction on drug charges.

Besides extortion, the indict-ment charged Kattar and Browerwith three counts of wire fraudand one count of receiving stolenfunds.

They pleaded innocent to allthe charges at a hearing before USDistrict Magistrate Lawrence P.Cohen. Their trial was scheduledfor July 16.

Seized 131 guns

During an unrelated raid onKattar's home last month, FBIagents seized 131 guns and mili-tary supplies. The armaments irr-eluded three homemade explosivedevices, a number of machineguns. an Israeli submachine gun,automatic weapons, shotguns. ri-fles and handguns.

Also found in the raid. the FBIsaid, was the name of an individ-ual who lives in Lebanon. Investi-gators said they planned to tracethe origin of the weapons and at-tempt to determine If any of theguns were intended for shipmentto Beirut.

Kattar has heen a real estatedeveloper and trucking company

; executive for the past 20 years.Brower, a lawyer for 17 years

with offices in Lawrence. was dis-barred in August 1979 for cheat-ing a client of $15,000.

Brower ha's represented thelate Raymond L.S. Patriarca andseveral other high-level figures inorganized crime. He served sixmonths in prison in 1979 for con-spiring to help a client jump bailin Louisiana and escape to Mexi-co. In 1982, Brower was fined$3,000 for conspiring to operate abookie syndicate.



The lioston Herald. Thursday, May 29. 1986

$1110G Scientology. 'scam'By JIM MacLAUGHLIN

A DISBARREDlawyer with Mobconnections and aMethuen man linkedto organized crimewere arrested yes-terday and chargedwith trying to bilkthe Church of Scien-tology out of $100.000,said officials.

The alleged scamnetted Harvey Brower.49. of Swampscott, andGeorge T. Kattar, 67, ofMethuen, $33,333 beforethey were arrested byFBI agents, said theU.S. Attorney's office.

The two were indict-ed by a federal grand

Feds charge 2 with Mob connectionsjury in Boston May 23and charged withfraud, extortion andothcr offenses, includ-ing threatening churchofficials with violence.

The men pleaded in-nocent at their arraign-ment in U.S. DistrictCourt in Boston yester-day, and trial wasscheduled for July 16.

Brower was releasedwithout having to postcash bail, but Kattarwas held for a detentionhearing tomorrow be-cause,"the governmentalleged that he is adanger to the commun-

I.

ity and potential wit-nesses," said AssistantU.S. Attorney BrackettB. Denniston III.

The arrests stemfrom a 1982 incident inwhich someone failedin an attempt to open anaccount in New Yorkwith a $2-million coun-terfeit check drawn onthe Boston-based Bankof New England fromthe account of Sciento-logy founder L. RonHubbard.

Following the at-tempt, a Los Angelesprivate eye, represent-ing a law firm tor the

church. took Out ads inseveral newspapersincluding The BostonHerald offering$100,000 for informa-tion leading to thecheck forger.

"It is alleged thatKattar and Brower pro-vided fictional infor-mation to representa-tives of the Church ofCcientology and stolethe initial $33,333 pay-ment." according to theU.S. Attorney's office.

The scheme alleged-ly took place 'betweenSeptember and De-cember of 1984.

Kattar was linked toNew England Mob fi-gures during a 1971 U.S.Senate subcommitteehearing on organizedcrime, and Is presentlythe subject of an FBIinvestigation of allegedarms smuggling toLebanon.

Brower, who had alaw practice in Law-rence, was disbarred in1979.

Before being dis-barred, Brower repre-sented Raymond L.S.Patriarca, once the re-puted head of New Eng-land organized crime.



local: La e news2A Clearwater Sun * Frida , Ma 30, 1986

Elsewhere

Two men chargedin Scientology scam

BOSTON FBI agents on Wednesday arrested a NewHampshire man and a disbarred lawyer on charges of extort-ing $33,000 from the Church of Scientology by offering falseinformation about a scheme to steal $2 million from thechurch.

George T. Kattar, 67, of Meredith, N.H. formerly of Me-thuen, Mass., was held without bail penCling a detentionhearing today. Harvey Brower, 49, of Swampscott, Mass., aformer lawyer turned writer, was released on $50,000 bail.

According to an indictment issued by a federal grand juryin Boston, Kattar and Brower obtained the money fromchurch officials by offering to provide them with informationabout a forged $2 million check drawn on an account of L.Ron Hubbard, the church founder.

Kattar and Brower allegedly offered the informationwhich proved to be false in return for a $100,000 fee, one-third of which was to be paid in advance.

The indictment does not specify what information wasallegedly supplied by the defendants in return for the $33,000.



LAWRENCE EAGLE-TRIBUNE, Lawrence, Mass. Saturday, May.31, 1986

Prosecutor cites Kattar crime ties;family, friends tell different storyBy Michael FoleyEagle-Tame Writer

BOSTON Assistant US. At-torney Brackett B. Denniston saidMethuen businessman George !Ut-tar is tied to an organized crimefamily in Providence, R.I., and wasgiven permission by "La Cosa Nos-tra" to murder a key governmentwitness against him.

His friends said, however, thatKattar is not a violent man.

U.S. District Court Judge Law-rence Cohen listened to both sidesyesterday at a hearing to decidewhether Kattar could be releasedon bail or held to protect thecommunity. Judge Cohen took thecase under advisement, leavingKattar behind bars at least overthe weekend. He did not say whenhe would issue a decision.

Kattar, 67, 131 Jackson St., anddisbarred lawyer Harvey Brower,of Swampscott, were arrested

Please see KATTARPage 2

Excerpts from tapesThe following ire FBI excerpts of the affidavit submitted by

the U.S District Attorner"Kattar described in the meeting how easy

It Is to murder someone. He referred to awoman wholle husband had been beating her.He then stated that he had a guy 'whack him':'You know they make a big deal out of a whack,but its the easiest thing in the world, especiallyIf you don't know the guy'." Kattar is quoted."He then stated 'I take care of a hit for you,'(speaking of no particular person) and 'you take

. care of a guy for me.' He added that then, 'IGeorge Kenai' have no problem with alibis.' "

"Kattar talked about the new stucture of t e La Cosa NostraIn New England in the wake the Angullo indictments. He refers toRaymond Partriarca Jr. of Providence, R.I.

Reservitz: Who's running things now?Kaftan ...The boy Is boss.Roservitz: Junior is?Kaftan Oh Year... Guarantee all the way... New York. all the

way down ..."



LAWRENCE EAGLE-TRIBUNE, Lawrence, Moss. Thursday, May31, 1986

Kattar: potential killeror peaceful, honest man?Kattar From page 1

Wednesday on charges they triedto defraud the Church of Scientolo-gy of $100,000. Brower was re-leased on 850,000 bail. -

An affidavit based almost en-tirely on tape-recorded conversa-tions asserted that Kattar:

0 TALKED EASILY OFMURDER. "You know they makea big deal out of a whack, but it'sthe easiest thing in the world,especially if you don't know theguy " he is quoted as saying.

b CLAIMED UNCHALLANG-EABLE POWER in the MeirimackVall "rackets."

COI THEATENED a representa-tive of the Church of Scientology.He told a representative of thechurch if he challanged Kattar inthe future "his name would be putin a hat."

0 USED BODyGUARDS tointimidate a representative of theChurch of Scientology. Kattar isquoted a saying: "You're lucky I'mgoing tct let you walk out of here,my friend."

0 PLANNED TO KILL a mannamed Irwin Swartz, who testifiedagainst an associate. No attemptwas made on Swartz's life.

0 KEPT BOMBS, two machineguns, a sawed-off shot gun, andthree silencers at his Meredith,N.H., summer home.

Two character witnesses forKattar painted a different pictureof the man.

Phillip De Fusco, 66, 112 FoxHill Road, said Kattar is a peacefulman with colorful way of talking.

"He would say that 'if you don'tcome to see me I'll kill you," DeFusco testified. "That was his ex-pression."

George S Naddif, 2 LandauLane, Andover, said "He's one ofthe most honest guys on two feet."

Judge Cohen asked if De Fus-

co's opinion of Kattar changedafter weapons were siezed in a raidat his summer home April 29.

"Those aren't the sort of thingsthat one goes bird hunting with,"said Judge Cohen. De Fusco saidhis opinion remained unchanged.

Defense attorney MichaelAvery also gave the court about100 letters in support of Kattarfrom friends of the family andprominent citizens throughout theMerrimack Valley. An inventory ofthe letters was not available yes-terday.

Denniston said 10 conversationswere recorded by FBI informantLarry Reservitz in the fall andwinter of 1984. Two of t4e conver-sations referred to in the affidavittook place at the Indian RidgeCountry Club in Andover.

Reservitz agreed to wear "awire" in return for a lighter sen-tence on convictions hi two fraudschemes and a marijuana deal.

According to the affidavit, Kat-tar talks of his relationship toProvidence, R.I., crime boss Ray-mond Patriarca Jr. The affidavitstates Kattar indicated he heardfrom Patriarca every day and theRhode Island family was the"sponsor of my outfit."

The affidavit also states "areliable confidential informant"told the FBI that the New EnglandCosa Nostra "had given approval

' to Kattar to kill Larry Reservitz."Avery argued that if Kattar

wanted to kill Reservitz he couldhave done It before his arrest.

About 25 Kattar family mem-bers filled the small hearing roomto show support for him. His threesons, three daughters and his wifePhyllis sat together. The womencried and comforted each other.The men sat quietly.

As Kattar Sr. was removedfrom the courtroom his duaghterKimberly gave him a farewell kiss.

"Don't try, I said," said Kattarraising a finger in a mock threat.Then he winked and said "See ya."

