rom: Bob Minton Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology Subject: Lisa Foundation Rejected in Clearwater Date: Thu, 21 Oct 1999 11:07:09 -0400 Message-ID: -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 We were informed this morning that MKV Realty, which owns the Sun Trust Building at 601 Cleveland Street, has refused to rent the space we intended to occupy to either the Lisa Foundation or me. The buck has been passed up to a gentleman named "Rusty" who has yet to return my call. Rusty's phone number is 561 684-8811. Ken Dandar will also speak to Rusty when Rusty is available. More news as it develops. Bob Minton -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: PGP Personal Privacy 6.5.1 iQA/AwUBOA8riGgj/yM+AH/OEQLVbwCePm81C5M4OnPIVwyI/i4Qib4nh/MAoNLY 2obyrhhJlkZSRBoB4N0hhgkq =oDBU -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- From: Bob Minton Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology Subject: The Lisa Foundation: 2nd Office Bldg refuses lease Date: Mon, 25 Oct 1999 12:26:11 -0400 Message-ID: -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 This morning at 9:00am the lease contracts were ready to be signed when Stacy called before going over to the Nations Bank Building on Cleveland Street. However, by the time she arrived at 10:30, they said they got an email message from the owner who said to put this lease on hold. In fact, Stacy was told they have other plans for the space and it won't be available. This is in a building which has a lot of unrented space. Bob Minton -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: PGP Personal Privacy 6.5.1 iQA/AwUBOBSAq2gj/yM+AH/OEQKL4wCdHFXoL5yE+fsNxSAj6/6E6oYuZ6AAoLES nbRY3y0yTvA0S1k61uSpMJrX =MCCG -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- From: Bob Minton Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology Subject: Lisa Foundation travails: 3rd and 4th rental rejects Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1999 14:04:20 -0400 Message-ID: -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 This time at least we have found out that the Scienos have been sending large DA packs on all involved in the Lisa Foundation to at least office buildings number 2 and 4. The search continues and Scientology is more affraid than ever :-) Bob Minton -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: PGP Personal Privacy 6.5.1 iQA/AwUBOBXkX2gj/yM+AH/OEQJcXgCfW66NZaqaEaaehAAf6byxH/mxqyoAoKMJ 0WlcUnEg1mnTE6FUEbEVZSfU =koTR -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- From: Bob Minton Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology Subject: The Lisa McPherson Trust becomes reality--Welcome to Clearwater Date: Wed, 03 Nov 1999 21:43:42 -0500 Message-ID: -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 When Lisa McPherson joined scientology at the age of 18 in Dallas, Texas, I'm sure she believed that the next 18 years would be the best years of her life. Instead, 1977 to 1995 turned out to a living hell for Lisa that was full of lies, deceptions, disappointments and betrayal which is typical behavior for a destructive mind control group like scientology. This betrayal of Lisa's trust by scientology culminated on November 18, 1995 when she was incarcerated for 17 days of torture by scientology and her "friends" at the Fort Harrison Hotel. Lisa allegedly died on (but most likely before) December 5, 1995 like a caged animal and no one in scientology cared about Lisa as she lay dead with cockroaches feeding off what little fluids remained in her battered and bruised body. The Lisa McPherson Trust is a direct outgrowth of several very significant events relating to Lisa's death: A) the fateful call by Fanny McPherson to an attorney by the name of Ken Dandar who was and is both courageous enough and pure enough to withstand the assaults of scientology; B) the internet awareness campaign started by Jeff Jacobsen which helped bring the tragic death of Lisa McPherson to national attention; C) the death-bed request by Fanny McPherson to Ken Dandar that she wanted Ken to let the world know what scientology did to Lisa; and D) the continued courage of Lisa's remaining family led by Dell Liebreich to make scientology accountable for Lisa's tragic death. The Lisa McPherson Trust has been charged by the memory and suffering of Lisa McPherson and her family to be like the Surgeon General's report on cigarette packages and we will stick to the side of scientology as a WARNING to consumers that "scientology and all other destructive mind contol cults are dangerous to your health, your emotional well-being, your bank account and your very life." Lisa McPherson's memory will live on long past the minor footprint left by scientology on this planet. We at The Lisa McPherson Trust will see to that. I would like to add my enormous thanks to following people who have agreed to serve in various capacities for The Lisa McPherson Trust: Board Members: Peter Alexander Stacy Brooks Gabe Cazares Patricia Greenway Brian Haney Jeff Jacobsen Rod Keller Kim Krenek Dell Liebreich Ed Lottick Bob Minton Duncan Pierce Jesse Prince Several Board members will be active in staff positions but the real workhorses will be: David Cecere, Executive Director Kim Baker, Deputy Executive Director Mark Bunker, Multimedia Coordinator Grady Ward, Webmaster and Security Coordinator other positions are yet to be finalized. An Advisory Committee is being put together which so far consists of the following individuals: Gerry Armstrong Ida Camburn Ken Dandar Ray Emmons Steve Hassan Keith Henson Dan Leipold Arnie Lerma Margaret Singer Lawrence Wollersheim others TBA Again, many thanks to everyone who has agreed to be part of this exciting and dynamic effort to expose scientology and all destructive mind control cults. Sincerely, Bob Minton -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: PGP Personal Privacy 6.5.1 iQA/AwUBOCDcfmgj/yM+AH/OEQJaawCgk0Wmz574ITAFFllknl935r0gLSMAniyR msiKSI8RsXT8pMZsmr60UW6n =cnyR -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- From: Bob Minton Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology Subject: The Lisa McPherson Trust will be at the Scieno "Say No To Drugs" Race December 19, 1999 Date: Mon, 08 Nov 1999 17:10:03 -0500 Message-ID: -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 The Lisa McPherson Trust will be well represented AT and IN this race. The pre-registration for the race is at the Clearwater Bank Building on Saturday, December 18, 1999 between the hours of 10:00am and 3:00pm. There is a lot more info about this event at the official site, http://www.saynotodrugs.com Come on down and register and join me in the race. The awards breakfast after the race promises to have scrambled eggs as well as the official food of the sponsors all over the face of scientology. The day of the race promises to be historic in confronting the lies and hypocricy of scientology. Don't miss it. It's gonna be funny. Bob Minton -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: PGP Personal Privacy 6.5.1 iQA/AwUBOCdKIGgj/yM+AH/OEQL1MgCdFON+D5+CUpJsEaSHgQk5tEbX5JMAni62 pU99JGtxXKvj8k+3YGc3ciGx =3MJb -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- From: Stacy Brooks Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology Subject: Scientology in a frenzy as the Lisa Trust enters Clearwater Date: Mon, 08 Nov 1999 15:13:31 -0500 Message-ID: -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Scientology doesn't want The Lisa McPherson Trust in Clearwater. From the events of the past week, it is clear that they are desperate to keep us out of town. Some of the following information has already been reported, but I think it's important to provide a running record of what the Trust is going through in trying to get established in Clearwater. The week before last I was in Clearwater to secure office space for the Trust. I couldn't find an office building that would lease to us. The office manager of the SunTrust building informed me that the owner had declined to lease to us. He never returned phone calls from me, Bob, Patricia Greenway or Ken Dandar, so we were left to form our own conclusions as to why. Then the realtor for the NationsBank building told me that he got an email from the owner of that building - right before he was supposed to meet me to negotiate a lease - saying that the owner had "decided to rethink how he wants to utilize the building." What? Half the building is empty! I told the realtor it was obvious Scientology had contacted him. He hemmed and hawed and said he'd have a final answer for me the next day. Next I tried at the Clearwater Tower building. The way that realtor refused us was to tell me the owner had said they would have to get a release from all the other tenants in the building before they could lease to us. The owner of the AmSouth building at first told me there would be no problem leasing to us, but later changed his mind and refused. In conversation with the realtor for that building (the same person, by the way who represented the NationsBank building) I was able to discover that Scientology had sent him a large package of materials "documenting" the dangerous nature of each of the principals in the Lisa McPherson Trust. He refused to show me the package, but he did mention that the owner wouldn't want to lease to a "convicted felon." I told him he was being given false information by Scientology and told him the real story of the assault charge against Bob in Boston and how the charge had been thrown out by the judge. He was clearly surprised at this and asked for documentation, which Bob faxed to him that afternoon. But he still turned us down. I even tried a building a few blocks down Cleveland called the Clearwater Centre. The office manager was enthusiastic about leasing to us, but the owner said no way. It was becoming clear that if we wanted to be in downtown Clearwater we were going to have to buy our own building. So Bob and I flew to Tampa last Sunday to find a building for the Lisa McPherson Trust. Two Scientologists, both women, were there to greet Bob when he got off the shuttle in the Tampa airport. "Bob Minton!" one of the women shouted at him. "What are you doing in our town?" To which Bob replied, "Maybe this used to be your town, but we're taking it back." "Bigot!" the woman spat at him. "Scieno!" he replied. This little interchange definitely set the tone for the entire week. Scientology had been harassing Bob relentlessly during the preceding week. All 4,000 people in the town of Sandown, N.H., had received anonymous DA material on him in the mail "provided as a public service." Many of his friends in Boston had also received these materials, as had the principals of both of his daughters' schools. Just that morning, as he went out to his car to drive to the airport, Bob had found a Halloween flier which had been taped to his mailbox. It was a picture of Frankenstein with Bob's head superimposed over the body and a warning to the children of the neighborhood not to have anything to do with the person who lived at that house. As a note, Bob discovered that one of the people who had received a flier in the mail was a woman whose daughter is a good friend of one of Bob's daughters. The flier was addressed to the woman's maiden name and sent to the summer home on Long Island where Bob's daughter has visited this family. The only way Scientology could possibly have gotten this address would be by following Bob's daughter to this house. The deed is in the maiden name of this woman, which explains why it was sent to her under that name. Bob was infuriated when he realized they have been following his daughter. With all of the events of the past week, by the time Bob arrived in Tampa his adrenalin level was already high. We drove directly to the Fort Harrison, where I got out and picketed with a sign that said "Lisa McPherson's blood on Scientology's hands" on one side and "Scientology: Spiritual Death" with photos of skulls on the other side. The plan was for me to walk back and forth past the Ft. Harrison two or three times while Bob drove around the block. I was glad it wasn't going to be a long picket because I was having to hold the sign up above my head with my hands, since we didn't have picket sticks, and my arms were getting tired. But suddenly Bob showed up, having parked the car, and he and Richard Howd videotaped each other in front of the Ft. Harrison for a while, while five Scientologists who seemed to be public materialized spontaneously for a grass roots counter-picket, assisted conveniently by an OSA staff member who provided them with picket signs. "Religious Bigot Go Home," "Go Home Bigot," those kinds of generic things were on their signs. These people soon surrounded me and Bob as we walked back and forth in front of the Fort Harrison. "Go home! Go home!" a couple of the people chanted monotonously. But another woman, who told me her name was Cheryl, concentrated on trying to miss my withholds about what I had been doing that afternoon. "Come on, Stacy," she kept saying with a smirk, "what have you really been doing today?" I felt like telling her I'd been having a lot more fun than she had, but I didn't bother. Mainly I was watching to make sure Bob was OK, since he was the one they were obviously concentrating on. Richard Howd was totally in Bob's face the whole time, keeping his video camera an inch or two away from Bob constantly. Our Aussie friend Croc (for Crocodile Dundee) was there, but he was totally muzzled. He didn't say one word the entire time we were there. He has clearly gotten into ethics trouble for some of the things he's been caught saying to us on videotape. After about a half an hour we decided we'd had enough and went to our car. As we headed for the Belleview Biltmore we became aware that two cars were following us. Bob pulled over onto Alexander Road instead of turning into the hotel entrance. One of the cars parked in front of us, and the other one parked behind us. We got out and so did the people in the two cars. Richard Howd got out of the car in front of us, a Buick Century with Florida license DK612H, and immediately began videotaping Bob, again one to two inches from Bob's face. Cheryl got out of the car behind us, a dark gray Volvo 240GL, Florida license J48162. We asked them what they were doing following us but Richard just kept on videotaping, and Cheryl just repeated, "Why don't you just go home?" We got back in our car and drove to the hotel, stopping at the guard booth to give the guard the license numbers and telling him not to let those two cars into the hotel, which the guard assured us he would not. After a quiet dinner with Ken Dandar in the hotel dining room, Bob suggested we find Bennetta Slaughter's house on Kent Avenue in Largo in case she was having a Halloween party, similar to the party Lisa attended shortly before she was taken prisoner and allowed to die. We found the house - actually, it appeared to consist of several structures behind a concrete wall - but it was dark and there was a collection of Halloween party trash at the gate, so we assumed the party had been Saturday night. We did get out to picket briefly, but the only people who seemed to know we were there were the PI's following us. One white SUV drove through the gate and disappeared but otherwise it was quiet. Just a personal comment here: I have been aware that there are public Scientologists making enormous amounts of money with Scientology employees such as Lisa was at AMC, but when I was in the Sea Org and in OSA I never actually saw the wealth of these people. Somehow, standing outside Bennetta Slaughter's huge compound that night on Kent Avenue, it really struck me how much people like Lisa McPherson are used by these ruthless Scientologists like Bennetta Slaughter, whose purpose truly is to "make money, make more money, and get other people to make money." I find it utterly horrifying that Bennetta Slaughter is now calling herself Lisa's "friend" after she was one of the principal players in driving Lisa into the psychotic episode which led to her gruesome death. I have experienced the kind of "product officering" Lisa was subjected to by Bennetta. It is cold-hearted, vicious and utterly without any concern for the well-being of those being "product officered." All that matters is that the statistics go up, that the quotas are met. Nothing else exists but the stats. It was terribly chilling for me to stand outside the gates of a house owned by one of the people that I consider contributed to Lisa's death. Indeed, it affected both of us profoundly. By the time we walked back to our car we were shaken, and unprepared for the van that suddenly materialized out of the darkness at the end of the dead end street. The driver of the van raced toward us so recklessly that we thought he was going to slam into the front of our car. He came to a screaming stop just inches away from us. Bob jumped out of the car to confront him, but the driver quickly backed up and tore away before we could get a look at him. Clearly this was someone who had been waiting for us at Bennetta's. How did he know we were coming there? As we drove back toward Ft. Harrison Blvd., Bob spotted the same van following us. He quickly turned up a side street and made a U-turn, but the driver of the van turned with us and nearly slammed into the side of our car. This was twice we had come within a hair's breadth of being hit by this van. We had planned to go back to the hotel, but now Bob suggested that we go back to the Ft. Harrison for a fast picket just to let them know they hadn't frightened us away, as this was clearly what they were trying to do. We parked in the Presbyterian Church parking lot across the street and Bob took a picket sign and I took the video camera. It was my first time using the camera so he had to show me how to use it. Then we crossed the street and he began picketing while I kept the camera focused on him. Immediately Croc and several others surrounded Bob, including Richard Howd, the same man that had been videotaping Bob all day - the one at the first picket of the Ft. Harrison, who had also followed us to the gates of our hotel. As he had done earlier, he kept his video camera close to Bob's face the whole time, obviously trying to unnerve him. Two women also showed up. One kept repeating, like a litany, "Go home, Bob, go home, Bob," over and over and over in a monotone voice. The other woman was Jessica Piccone Parselle Byrne. A little history: She was married to Enzo back at GO WW, then to Charles Parselle and just getting divorced from him when I knew her as a GO WW missionaire at GO US in 1978. Later she married Larry Byrne, who had been Mary Sue's Controller Assistant for Social Coordination until DM busted the GO in 1982. For a while, Larry and Jessica were at RealWorld, a software company staffed by ex-GO executives including Mike and Marty Carlson and Steve and Joanie Segal, among others. Then they were recruited to come into the Sea Org on direct orders of DM, Larry to be head of Central Marketing Unit and Jessica to be the headmistress of the children's ranch out at Happy Valley in Gilman Hot Springs. I remember seeing them in their brand new Sea Org uniforms in 1989 and thinking, "They've been treated like royalty during the recruitment process, but now that they're aboard the honeymoon is over. They won't last long with DM's ruthlessness." I knew neither of them would survive it for long. Sure enough, next thing I knew they were public Scientologists again, now located in Clearwater and handling PR for the Purif. You may recall Jessica's and Larry's names being mentioned in an article by Tom Tobin in which he reported that a health food store in the Clearwater area was run by Scientologists who were prescribing the Purif for people who should have been seeing a medical doctor. It came out on the same day as Lucy Morgan's major piece on Scientology litigation. In any case, here was my old friend Jessica, now a member of the official Psychological Terrorism Unit assigned to turn our peaceful picket into an opportunity to subject us to Black Dianetics techniques. I was disappointed to see her playing this role, because I knew that back when we were friends, she truly wanted to help people with Scientology. Now here she was, callously and deliberately setting out to interfere with our legal right to protest. Jessica seemed to be assigned to me, while the other woman continued to intone, "Bob, go home, Bob, go home." Jessica's mantra was, "Stacy, is this your new boyfriend? Stacy, is this your new boyfriend? How can you associate yourself with someone like this? Stacy, is this your new boyfriend?" It was depressing to see a bright, idealistic person like Jessica reduced to this kind of behavior. Obviously she was under orders and felt she had no choice but to comply. I just responded to her by saying, "Jessica, you've been in the GO too long. Look at what you're doing." But of course she didn't stop. All this time I was continuing to videotape because Richard Howd, the man with the video camera, was obviously intent upon creating an incident with Bob. It seemed to me that I was observing people carrying out the same orders as in the Boston incident with Frank Offman, in which it was abundantly clear to me from the videotape that Frank Offman and Kevin Hall came out that day with orders to set Bob up on assault charges (a number of people who have seen that tape, including Bob's attorney, have agreed with me on this). I was being careful to videotape the entire thing, and Bob was remaining extremely calm considering the circumstances, so I just wanted to make sure I had it all on videotape. But as Bob turned the corner on Pierce, I was slowed down by the crowd of people surrounding him and wasn't able to video what happened for several seconds. This is the same thing that was done in Boston. In Boston, the point where Frank broke Bob's picket stick wasn't videotaped because his camera was knocked out of his hands. On this night in Clearwater, I missed the several seconds when Richard Howd struck Bob with his video camera and actually bent Bob's picket sign. (As I had done that afternoon, Bob was simply carrying a foam core board with no stick). By the time I caught up with them I saw the bent sign but there was no record of what had happened. It was at that point, right after Howd assaulted him around the corner, that Bob said, "I've had it, I'm calling the police." He stepped into the street, heading toward the Presbyterian Church where the car was parked, and pulled out his cell phone to make a call to the police, but as he put the phone to his ear, Richard Howd stuck his video camera right into Bob's ear making it impossible for Bob to make the call. Bob turned around, holding the phone in one hand and his foam core picket sign in the other, and shouted, "Get away from me!" pushing the sign out in front of him. I could literally see Richard Howd realizing his opportunity. He hesitated for a split second, then pushed his head into the edge of the picket sign moving at him so that it touched him. Then, screaming "I'm hurt! I'm hurt!" he dove onto the sidewalk, clutching his face and writhing on the ground. Within seconds he was surrounded by Scientologists. Almost instantly, it seemed to me, two ambulances and three police cars were there, and Bob and I were sitting on the steps of the Presbyterian Church watching this nightmare unfold. Bob looked at me in dismay and said, "Oh no, I can't believe this." We both knew what was going to happen. Two Clearwater policemen walked across the street to where we were sitting. One of them said to me, "How can he be smart enough to make so much money and then be dumb enough to let these people bait him like this?" I said, "Officer, he wasn't baited, he was set up. Look at the video." The officers did watch my video, but because the picket sign touched Richard Howd, they said they had to arrest him. It wasn't going to be a felony charge, though, because they didn't see that Howd was actually hurt. It would only be a misdemeanor battery charge. Bob was handcuffed as the Scientologists watched gleefully, and I followed the police car to the Pinellas County jail. By now it was about 1:00 in the morning. I wasn't allowed to go to the jail itself so I sat parked all alone in a deserted parking lot on the other side of the complex, waiting for the police officer to let me know it was OK for me to post bail. As I sat there I thought to myself that if Mark Bunker had been there to do the videotaping, I would have been free to run interference, and maybe if both of us had been there this wouldn't have happened. So I called Mark on the spot, told him what had happened, and asked him if he'd be willing to move to Clearwater. He said yes without skipping a beat, and that's how it came about that Xenu TV is relocating to Clearwater, Florida. After about forty-five minutes the police officer came and told me I could go post bail. I had to park in another deserted parking lot and leave my purse and camera in the car, because I was only allowed to have my driver's license and the cash with me, and I had to walk down a long sidewalk enclosed in heavy fencing. It was the route people take who are visiting prisoners, and I guess the security has to be pretty high. I could feel the cumulative desperation of all the prisoners in that jail, and I was glad Bob wasn't going to have to stay there for long. I gave the officer at the cashier's window the $250 cash for Bob's bail and then sat down with Ken Dandar, who had arrived a few minutes earlier, to wait for Bob to be released. He came out within twenty minutes. It was two a.m. by that time and we were exhausted. Ken drove us to the rental car and we drove back to the hotel. Bob felt terrible about getting arrested, he just kept saying over and over, "How could I be so stupid?" and I kept saying it was my fault for videotaping when I should have been running interference. We were both miserable about the whole thing. The next morning Bob showed me the apology he later posted to a.r.s. It was a heartfelt apology, because he really did feel he had let everyone down by getting arrested. We both felt that it was not a promising way to launch the arrival to Clearwater of the Lisa McPherson Trust. Little did we know that we would encounter nothing but good wishes during the next few days, with many people welcoming us and telling us how happy they are that we are coming to Clearwater. In fact, except for the Scientologists, we didn't encounter even one person who wasn't extremely happy to learn that we were coming to town. But we didn't know that early Monday morning. You've never seen two people hanging their heads like we were that morning. But we had an appointment at eleven to look at a building at 33 N. Ft. Harrison, so we didn't have time to dwell on the events of the night before. We parked in the parking structure behind the building and saw Scientology bicycle guards at either end of the street, watching us and talking on their walkie-talkies, as we entered. It was a two-story building, very nice, owned by a CPA. We introduced ourselves and told him right away about what had happened the night before, so that there would be no surprises for him. We told him we were being followed and explained why. He shrugged and said it was none of his business and began giving us a tour of the building. Within five minutes seven Scientologists barged into the room he was showing us and began shouting at him, "This man is a criminal! He was arrested for assault and battery last night! He's violent! Don't do business with these people!" The CPA ordered them out of the building immediately, but they refused to go. "Don't do business with these people! Don't do business with these people!" they continued to shout, until finally the CPA managed to push them outside. We finished our tour and then sat down to talk to him in his conference room. Almost immediately his secretary called to say that his building was being picketed and that one of his clients had been photographed as they entered the offices. At this the CPA instructed his secretary to call the police. During our brief meeting, he got three urgent messages to call Mary Story, the DSA Flag. "I've asked Mary twice to get Scientology to buy my building," he told us. "They weren't interested. Now that I'm talking to you, suddenly she's frantic to talk to me." He just shook his head in amazement. He didn't return Mary's phone calls, and soon Pat Jones, who has apparently taken over from Brian Anderson as the DSA PR Flag, arrived with an entourage, demanding to see the owner of the building. He just closed the conference room door and tried to ignore all the frenzy, but soon his secretary announced that the police had arrived outside. Our meeting effectively disrupted, the CPA went out to see for himself what was happening, while Bob and I remained in the conference room. Soon three police officers came in and one of them said, "Mr. Minton, I just wanted to shake your hand and welcome you to Clearwater." The other police officers also shook our hands and expressed how glad they were to have us in Clearwater. They all said they knew what had happened the night before, and asked us to let them know if there was anything they could do for us. It was extremely heartening and lifted our spirits considerably. The police explained to the CPA that they could not forbid the Scientologists to picket as it was public property, and they couldn't keep them from taking photographs. But they said to call immediately if the Scientologists came into his building again because that was trespassing, and to keep them posted on any other incidents of harassment or intimidation. We concluded our meeting with the CPA and headed for our car. As soon as we left the building we were surrounded by seven Scientologists, apparently public, at least two of whom had been part of the spontaneous grassroots counter-picket in front of the Ft. Harrison the afternoon before. However, Richard Howd was not part of the entourage. There were two people videotaping us, and it was obvious that they now had orders always to keep at least one video camera in Bob's face, because this one guy kept his camera so close to Bob that we could hardly get up the stairs to our car. I remarked on this to Bob, that they clearly were trying to provoke him by keeping the camera in his face. But by now Bob was very aware of this and didn't react at all to the provocation. This gang of Scientologists surrounded us as we tried to get to our car and stood behind the car as we tried to back out. They followed us on foot as we drove to the ticket booth, and the woman in the ticket booth called the police to let them know that the Scientologists were harassing us in the parking structure. Finally we got out of the parking lot and immediately noticed that a beige van was following us. Bob pulled into a parking lot on Osceola and the van pulled in right behind us. So I got out and went around to the van to talk to the driver. He was a man in his early thirties, with very short dark hair, well dressed. I said to him, "Scientology must be paying you an awful lot of money for you to be willing to harass U.S. citizens the way you're harassing us." He replied, "10-4 on that! They're paying me big bucks to do this! But I'm not doing anything illegal." Then he gave me a big grin. So I said, "Well, if we paid you more than they're paying you, would you be willing to stop harassing us?" He looked thoughtful for a moment and then said, "That's an interesting thought. I'll have to check with my boss about that." I said, "Well, how can I get in touch with you later on today to see what your boss thinks of my proposal?" "Oh, don't worry," he said, "I'll be following you all day long. If I need to get in touch with you, I'll know where you are." And indeed, he followed us all the way to Tampa, where we had a meeting about another property that afternoon. We were also followed when we returned to Clearwater later in the afternoon to meet with someone else about buying another property. The same band of Scientologists picketed outside the storefront (where A Place in Time used to be, next door to the cigar store on N. Ft. Harrison) as we discussed the building with the realtor. When he saw the Scientologists picketing outside, the man said to us, "You know, I've been in Clearwater for thirty years, long before these people ever came. It was a nice town before they got here." "And it will be a nice town again," we said to him. We stopped in to see the CPA again on our way back to the hotel. We parked in the same parking structure we had used that morning. When we came out it was raining. The same set of Scientologists materialized out of the bushes as we crossed the street and surrounded us as we tried to walk up the stairs to our car. There were two men with video cameras, three women with picket signs and two other women whose job seemed to be to chant, "Religious bigots go home, religious bigots go home." It was close to dusk and with these people all following us to our car it looked like a scene out of "Night of the Living Dead." It was really creepy, being in that shadowy parking lot with these people blocking our way to our car, and I was frightened about what they might do to us there in the dark, with no witnesses. But as luck would have it, a policeman happened to be in the parking structure and witnessed all of this. He came running over to find out what was going on, and I told him that these were Scientologists who were blocking us from getting out of the parking lot and that I was frightened. He ordered them to let us get in our car and leave the parking lot and asked us to wait on the other side of the street because his sergeant was on his way. So we waited till the sergeant came. He took a report from us about what had happened and gave us an incident number. He suggested that every time we were harassed or followed we should call the police and get an incident number, and we agreed that we would. That night we had dinner with Patricia Greenway (TFCVP) and Peter Alexander at our hotel. Neither of us had slept more than a couple of hours the night before, and we hadn't eaten anything at all for the entire day. With all of the harassment that had happened all day long we were both pretty rattled. I don't do well with no sleep or food and I started crying at one point during dinner, from the stress of the harassment. A good dinner and a better night's sleep that night helped, however, and by Tuesday morning we were both feeling better. Bob had to get back to New Hampshire, so after lunch with Ken Dandar I took him to the airport mid-afternoon. I spent that afternoon at Ken's office speaking by phone to the owners of several other buildings in downtown Clearwater and getting some business done, as we had agreed that until the Lisa McPherson Trust secures our own office space we will set up temporary quarters in Ken's office. I slept for twelve hours Tuesday night but still felt extremely drained, both physically and emotionally, when I woke up on Wednesday. I didn't see anyone following me as I drove into Tampa for a meeting about another building early Wednesday morning. "Good," I thought, "maybe with Bob gone they'll leave me alone." It's difficult to describe what it's like to be followed everywhere I go. They had literally been stalking me for four days. It gave me a great feeling of relief when I thought they were leaving me alone. Unfortunately, I was wrong. After my meeting in Tampa I had to go into Clearwater to set up a Post Office box for the Lisa McPherson Trust. I was in the Post Office for about forty-five minutes. When I came out I was surrounded on the steps of the Post Office by nine Scientologists - the ones that had stalked us all day the day before and two more - and this time they were actually threatening me. While two of them videotaped me, several others held up picket signs that said "Religious Bigot go home," and several of them shouted at me. One of them in particular shouted, "Go home or else, religious bigot!" Especially in the context of being surrounded and blocked from getting to my car, I felt very threatened by what was being shouted at me and by the intensity with which I was being stalked. They followed me to my car and surrounded my car, making it difficult for me to get to it. Finally I managed to get into my car and lock it. As I drove away I could hear them shouting after me. I decided to go into Tampa and find Patricia and Peter at the Totally Fun Company. As I drove toward the Courtney Campbell Causeway I noticed the beige car that had been following Bob and me for the past several days. To make sure he was really following me I veered across three lanes of traffic and pulled into the Pier One Imports parking lot, then waited for several minutes and pulled back out into the traffic. Sure enough, there was the beige car waiting for me several driveways down on the other side of the street. As soon as I passed, he pulled out right behind me. The beige car followed me all the way across the causeway to the Hyatt West Shore Hotel entrance. Then he turned into the hotel driveway and the beige van pulled out. The van followed me all the way to the parking lot of the Totally Fun Company but didn't follow me into the parking lot. I went in and Patricia's secretary told me they were at a restaurant across the parking lot called Hattrick's. I walked across the parking lot and walked into Hattrick's, and as I walked in Patricia and Peter were both standing up. Patricia was pointing at a man who was ducking into the men's bathroom toward the back of the restaurant. Patricia called out to me, "He was watching for you! He was pacing back and forth looking out the window and talking on his walkie-talkie, and then I heard him say, 'Here she comes,' and I looked and saw you coming. Then I realized he's stalking you!" With that Patricia ran to the bar and began explaining to the manager what was going on, saying she needed someone to go into the men's bathroom and get this guy to come out so she could take his photograph. Meanwhile Peter called the Tampa police and, once he had an officer on the line, he handed the phone to me. Then he ran back to the men's bathroom, where by now a crowd had gathered with Patricia urging everyone to go in and "flush this guy out!" After a few minutes the man came out of the bathroom and headed for the door. I recognized him instantly as the same man I had spoken to on Monday, the one who had cheerfully told me "10-4" when I asked him if Scientology was paying him "big bucks to harass us." As he passed by I asked him, "Hey, what did your boss say about coming to work for us?" but he didn't answer. He was too intent upon getting out of there. Patricia, Peter and several others from the restaurant followed him out, and then I returned to the phone and began to talk to the Tampa police officer. I told him my name and asked him if he had ever heard of Lisa McPherson, and he said yes, he knew who she was. I told him I was in Tampa to set up the Lisa McPherson Trust. I asked him if he had seen the article in the Tampa Tribune about Bob being arrested, and he said yes, he had seen it and he had seen my name in the article. Then he said, "I can't tell you what I really think of you because this is a recorded line. But I will tell you this: I fully support everything you and Bob Minton are doing. I am behind you a hundred percent." I was taken aback by this and very happy to hear a Tampa police officer tell me so clearly that he was supportive of our efforts. I told him how much I appreciated his saying that and he said, "We'll do anything we can to help you. Anything." Then he asked me to tell him what had happened. I told him the whole story from the beginning to the end, not just the incident in the restaurant but everything that had been happening, that we were being stalked, that the Scientologists are always careful to walk a fine line of legality, so that the police could never protect us. I said that even though each individual incident might not be illegal, it seemed to me that if all the incidents were taken together it formed a pattern of illegal harassment and stalking that perhaps the police could do something about. He said he was sending several officers to talk to me and to wait there. Then we hung up. Soon Patricia and Peter came staggering back into the restaurant, obviously out of breath. Patricia said she got several photographs of the man but that he had been holding his hands over his face so she couldn't get a clear shot. Peter said that they had been walking down the street after him, but the man began to run after Peter warned him that he had better have a private investigator's license because the Tampa police were on their way. Peter said that at that point, the man had taken off running down the street. Patricia was furious that the man had gotten away, but she said she got too short of breath and couldn't keep running after him, so she wasn't able to get his license plate. She actually was able to get at least one good partial shot of his face, as it turned out. The photos Patricia was able to get are posted on Xenu TV if anyone hasn't already seen them. Soon the Tampa police arrived and Patricia, Peter and I spent the rest of the afternoon with them. They were very concerned about my safety and extremely helpful in their instructions about what I could do to protect myself. They gave us copies of the relevant laws and suggested that we report every single incident of harassment. They spent over an hour with us. That night Patricia, Peter and I met some people for dinner at the Key West Grill in Clearwater. As we pulled into the parking lot, Patricia spotted the beige car and a black car with it. I went into the restaurant to say hello to our friends, while Patricia and Peter followed the two cars that had followed us. Later Patricia told me that she managed to write down the license plate of the beige car, but when she held up her camera to get a photo, suddenly the black car fishtailed around so that his rear end was facing the rear end of the beige car, blocking the beige car's license plate. Then the beige car pulled out of the parking lot, with the black car backing up to keep the beige car's license plate covered up. It really sounded like something out of Keystone Cops. "But I had already gotten the license plate number!" Patricia said triumphantly. All of this information has been reported to the police and there are incident numbers for each and every incident. There are a few other things that happened during this trip to Clearwater, and some extremely interesting information that was discovered, but it's best that some things be kept confidential for the moment. I was scheduled to leave early Thursday evening. I had a meeting Thursday Morning regarding a building, and I spent quite a bit of time on the phone with the police. Then I had lunch with Patricia and Peter at a nice restaurant in Tampa and was planning to spend the afternoon working on the report you are now reading. But when we got back to the Totally Fun Company, I got a call from Bob. He had just had a call from Keith Henson. Keith said he had gotten a call from Jesse, and Jesse had said he was in Sacramento with no wallet and no identification, and his car had broken down, and could Keith please wire him $95 via Western Union? Keith had called Bob immediately when he got this call and told Bob what had happened. Then when Jesse called back to Keith, Keith had told him he had called Bob. Keith said that Jesse had said to him, "Oh God, Keith, why did you have to tell Bob about this? I didn't want him to know." Now Bob was calling me, terribly worried about what had happened to Jesse. We had both thought he was at home in Chicago. What in the world was he doing in Sacramento??? After I hung up the phone I started thinking, "Wait a minute. If Jesse was having trouble he'd call me or Bob. He wouldn't call Keith. He doesn't even know Keith's phone number." So I called Dan Leipold and asked him when was the last time he had heard from Jesse, and Dan said he had just spoken to him a couple of hours before. Where was Jesse? I asked. Dan told me Jesse was in Chicago. What was going on, Dan asked me. So I told him what Keith had said, and Dan immediately said, "This is a scam. Somebody is pretending to be Jesse. It isn't Jesse, I assure you." As soon as I hung up the phone with Dan, my phone rang again and it was Jesse, sounding just fine. "Jesse!" I practically shouted at him, "Where are you?!" He said, "Huh? What do you mean, where am I? I'm at home doing my laundry. Why are you asking?" So I told him what had happened, and Jesse couldn't believe it. "I swear I'm in Chicago, Stacy! I'm not in Sacramento, I swear!" I called Bob, and Bob called Keith, and Keith was going to try to get Western Union to catch the person who came to pick up the $95 in Jesse's name. Bob and Jesse and I had a conference call and by the time that was over it was time for me to get to the airport to catch my plane home to Atlanta. I got home safely, and that is the end of this particular chapter of my story. Now this is what I have to say about the events of this past week: Clearly, Scientology is going to do everything they can to keep the Lisa McPherson Trust out of Clearwater. But we're moving to Clearwater, and we are going to shine the light of truth on Scientology. There are a lot of people who are very happy that we are coming to town. In Lisa's honor, we can't let the Scientologists frighten us away, and we won't. No matter how much harassment and intimidation they throw at us, we're moving into Clearwater. What is probably happening is that DM has told Marty Rathbun and Mike Rinder that if they allow Bob Minton and the Lisa McPherson Trust to get an office in downtown Clearwater, they will both be sent to the RPF. This was Bob's theory, and I think he's right considering the level of frantic, absolutely frenzied activity that was happening all week last week. Here is a message for Marty and Mike: You will be welcome at the Lisa McPherson Trust if you want to leave Scientology but don't know where to go. We will help you. You don't have to go to the RPF. You don't have to submit to DM's abuse any longer. We will help you. And to DM, this is what I have to say to you: The Scientologist who met Bob at the airport said to him, "What are you doing in our town?" Bob replied to the Scientologist, "Maybe this used to be your town, but we're taking it back." DM, your reign of terror is over. But even after all you have done, you will also be welcome at the Lisa McPherson Trust if you decide you want to leave Scientology. We will help even you, DM. Stacy Brooks -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: PGP Personal Privacy 6.5.1 iQA/AwUBOCctnvSvXZ8LqzRSEQK/UgCfT4mQLjdw0xD9/ksw+cNXTivWc9MAn1Xy QuAvvEeknD7T2EH01gMXs980 =P8A9 -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- From: Bob Minton Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology Subject: The Lisa McPherson Trust email addresses Date: Tue, 09 Nov 1999 21:29:51 -0500 Message-ID: -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 You can currently contact The Lisa McPherson Trust by email at the following addresses: davidcecere@lisamcphersontrust.net ed@lisamcphersontrust.net <---- This will go to David Cecere too. stacybrooks@lisamcphersontrust.net bobminton@lisamcphersontrust.net Once we are operational in Clearwater and have our own server up and running, we will advise ARS of all email addresses. Mail for The Lisa McPherson Trust should be sent to P.O. Box 1049, Clearwater, Florida 33757. A phone number should be set soon and we will advise all interested parties. Please keep the ideas flowing to us. We need all the help we can get in the re-occupation of Clearwater. Bob Minton -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: PGP Personal Privacy 6.5.1 iQA/AwUBOCjXUmgj/yM+AH/OEQIxqwCfRq8ujS01H+wDNhl0seGKJqxtDQQAoNYY EHgpprPM88uNRvraijFLu5wD =HMw2 -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- From: Stacy Brooks Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology Subject: The Lisa McPherson Trust opens in Clearwater Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2000 12:52:29 -0500 Organization: The Lisa McPherson Trust, Inc., 33 North Fort Harrison Avenue, Clearwater, Florida 33755 Telephone: (727) 467-9335 Message-ID: As of January 6, 2000, the Lisa McPherson Trust is open for business at 33 N. Ft. Harrison in downtown Clearwater. It's been an interesting few days, to say the least. On Tuesday, January 4, Mark Bunker, David Cecere, Patricia Greenway, Peter Alexander and I welcomed Bob Minton, Jesse Prince, Grady Ward and Duncan Pierce, who all flew into town for the closing of the new building. Scott Brauer, the CPA who sold Bob the building, met us on Wednesday, January 5, at 3:00 for the closing. Scott told us that over the weekend he had had repeated phone calls from Ben Shaw, and that the calls had continued up until 1:00 that afternoon. Ben was trying to get Scott to agree to pull out of the deal with Bob by offering him nearly double the amount and promising to indemnify him against any litigation that might result, but Scott refused, much to Ben's dismay. We told Scott for the hundredth time how much we appreciated his integrity and courage. Scott's attitude all along has been clear and straightforward. "I have to be able to look at myself in the mirror every morning," he said with a shrug. Bob's attorney for the transaction also came to the closing, as well as the agent for the title company, and Ken Dandar and his consultant, Dr. Michael Garko. By 3:45 all the papers had been signed, the money had been transferred, and the Lisa McPherson Trust had a home. Tom Tobin of the St. Petersburg Times came to the building and interviewed Scott Brauer and Bob for a story that ran the next day. Marty Rathbun seems to have replaced Mike Rinder as the Scientologist in charge of dealing with the media on Lisa McPherson Trust matters. We aren't sure but are assuming Mike Rinder was busted because he didn't prevent us from getting our building. The article is at www.sptimes.com/News/0_North Pinellas/Scientology_foe_sets_.shtml for anyone who is interested. Peter Alexander and Patricia Greenway, both Lisa McPherson Trust board members, were also on hand for the closing. We had a great time inspecting all the new offices and deciding where everyone should sit. At one point we all stepped out the back door on Watterson Street to marvel at the OSA security personnel, who kept ducking inside the Clearwater Bank Building two doors away every time one of us took a step in their direction. Ottavio's, an excellent Italian restaurant three doors down from us on N. Ft. Harrison, sent over a bottle of Merlot and a plate of bruschetta as a welcoming present for their new neighbors. Some of you may remember the column by Rick Barry that ran in the Tampa Tribune on Dec. 11 titled "Bob Minton: Will he rouse the gorilla?" in which he referred to Bob and the others involved in the Lisa McPherson Trust as "parrots." Bob gathered Jesse, Mark, David, me, Patricia, Peter, Duncan and Grady in our new conference room for a special surprise. First we opened the wine and a bottle of champagne and toasted our beautiful new building. Then Bob presented each of us with a Beanie Baby parrot, much to everyone's delight. Fortunately Mark videoed the entire presentation so everyone will have a chance to see this historic event. Then we all gathered for dinner at the Clearwater Beach Hotel and it turned out to be a grand celebration. The next day Bob, David, Jesse, Grady, Duncan and I were all at the office by 8:00 for a full day of hard work to get the offices up and running. Grady took charge of the new locks and alarm system, getting a DSL line in the office, and ordering new doors for the building. I found a window washer, Jesse fixed the battery on my laptop, Duncan drafted an administrative checklist for the office, David got the photocopy machine running, and Bob disappeared for a few hours only to return with two new computers and a printer, as well as a big bag of office supplies. By the end of the day the two computers were set up, the carpets were vacuumed, the coffee makers were working, and phones were operational. Probably the best image of the day was Bob Minton sweeping the entrance to the Lisa McPherson Trust out on North Fort Harrison. In the afternoon I took my dog Maggie (she's the unofficial mascot for the Trust - our official mascot is a Parrot, of course) for a walk down Watterson and as I passed the kitchen door of Ottavio's, one of the staff, Robert, came out and told me that he had had a visit from Josh, who is in charge of all the buses that pick up and drop off the Scientologists in back of the Clearwater Bank building on Watterson. He said Josh came into the restaurant after the St. Pete Times article ran about the closing. The article had mentioned that a local restaurant sent over wine and bruschetta, and Josh came in to say, "Was that Ottavio's that sent over wine and bruschetta?" Robert said he told him yes, it sure was, and he was really glad to have us in the neighborhood because we're good customers at the restaurant. Apparently at that point Josh began reciting the usual dead agenting material about us - he said Robert didn't realize how violent we are and how dangerous it is that we are moving in. Robert replied that he felt like he was on the playground in kindergarten. He told Josh that he is a businessman and that we are good customers, and that's the end of the conversation. I also spoke to Scott Brauer that afternoon. He said he had a phone call from Mike Roberto, Clearwater City Manager, at about 6:00 Wednesday evening. Roberto told him he was calling because he had heard about the deal with Bob Minton and wondered if Scott realized how much trouble it would bring to downtown Clearwater if the deal with Minton went through. Scott said he felt that Roberto was trying to strong-arm him, and he said it seemed to him that Roberto was calling to put pressure on him to back out of the sale. Scott just told him they didn't need to have the conversation because Bob Minton already owned the building, as of 3:45 that afternoon. Another unnerving moment occurred when the phone man discovered a wire on our main phone line that wasn't supposed to be there. Was it a bug? We'll never know for sure. The phone man said it could be an old arrangement between two offices to share a line, or it could be something more sinister, but there was really no way to tell for sure. Grady has now arranged for a security measure on the phone lines that will allow us to determine if anyone has tampered with them. That night Bob, Grady, Jesse, Mark, Duncan, David and I went to Ottavio's for a great dinner. Robert greeted us with yet another story. Mike Roberto's aide had come into the restaurant earlier and immediately brought up the Lisa McPherson Trust. He told Robert it was World War 3 between the Trust and Scientology and that he had better stay out of it. Robert just shook his head in amazement as he told me the story. I told him it's not true that it's World War 3, that we aren't here to wage a war; we're here to educate people and help Scientologists. Friday we finalized all of our insurance, got our alarm system ordered, worked out where Mark's editing studio will be, and got more computers up and running. We also got our first scanner set up. A man stopped by who said he lives in Clearwater and has had lots of questions about Scientology but never knew where he could go for answers. Bob spent quite a bit of time talking to him and later I sat in the conference room with him for half an hour telling him how I got into Scientology, what it was like, what auditing is, and many other things he wanted to know. He said he wants to come find out more once we're set up, and I told him he'd be welcome any time. Another man stopped by to find out about us and David and Duncan spent time telling him about the Trust, and Lisa, and Scientology. A local businessman dropped by to give us his card. He said he was glad to see us coming to town because it's been really rough on the local business people in Clearwater, that the Scientologists have boycotted his business because he had the 1991 Time magazine article in his reception area one day and some Scientologists saw it. I promised him we'd give him as much business as we can. Friday night we all went home and got to bed early. It had been an exhausting few days and everyone needed a good night's sleep. Saturday morning we all met at the office and spent just about the entire day in a meeting. It was Bob, Jesse, David, Grady, Patricia, Peter, Mark and I, and we hammered out the broad strokes of a list of specific abuses that the Trust will ask Scientology to do away with. Once it's finalized I will post it. It was an excellent meeting and helped all of us focus on what our work will be all about at the Trust. We ordered pizza for lunch, and the guy who delivered them said right away when he came into reception, "I'm not a Scientologist, I just want you to know." I thanked him for telling me, and he said he was really glad to see us coming to Clearwater because maybe people will stop being so afraid of the Scientologists now. I told him we'll sure do everything we can to help the local businesses. On Sunday we were all back at the office working. I spent most of the day on this report, Bob made calls to the board members and a few other people to bring them up to date, and the others worked on getting their respective offices organized. At about 6:00 Bob announced that he was going to do the first official picket of the Lisa McPherson Trust. He went out the Watterson Street door with a picket sign that said "It's safe to look" on one side and "It's safe to talk" on the other and began picketing on the sidewalk across the street from the main cafeteria entrance of the Clearwater Bank Building. Grady went out with a sign that said "The Lisa McPherson Trust" on one side and our phone number, "467-9335" on the other and picketed on the sidewalk right in front of the Clearwater Bank Building on Cleveland and then in front of the cafeteria door. Jesse went to take a look at his old stomping grounds, because he spent a lot of time in the Clearwater Bank Building when he was in the Sea Org at Flag. Mark Bunker went along to video the event. It was in the middle of the dinner hour, so as Bob and Grady picketed, the Flag buses were arriving to deliver the outer org students for dinner and pick up other students to take them back to course. Close to three hundred students were there, walking right past Grady on the west side of Watterson and Bob on the east side as they went into the dining room or left to get back on the buses. As the students piled out of the buses, Bob called out to them, "It's safe to look! It's safe to talk!" Then he said to them, "Make Scientology an organization you can be proud of! L. Ron Hubbard would never have approved of the way David Miscavige is trying to destroy Scientology." He also said, "Reform Scientology now! Dump David Miscavige!" and "Reform Scientology now! Make it an organization you can be proud of!" Because they were on their way to have dinner, Bob told them, "Take your knives and forks and bang them on the table and demand reforms now!" Then he called out, "We're from the Lisa McPherson Trust. We're here in Clearwater at 33 North Fort Harrison Avenue. We're here to help you. If you have trouble with Scientology you can call us at 467-9335." Grady said the most poignant moment for him was when a young boy, probably ten, walked out of the building to get on a bus. He stopped about two feet away from Grady and looked at his sign. His gaze lingered for a few seconds too long, so a security guard got between Grady and the boy and pushed him toward the bus. As the boy was herded away, Grady said to him, "If you're free, why is that man telling you what to do?" The picket lasted for about a half an hour. Bob, Grady, Jesse and Mark all returned to the office very enthusiastic about how powerful the picket had been, because they had been able to reach so many Scientologists with the right message. It was impossible for the OSA people to control it, so the reach of the message was far more powerful than any picket they had ever done before. There was no way to hide all the Scientologists and many of them appeared to be very interested in what the people from the Lisa McPherson Trust had to say. As they told me about what had happened they were so excited and happy about having reached so many Scientologists that they decided to go out again for another short picket to catch the last batch of students as they left after dinner. But when they went out the door they saw Mike Rinder, Ben Shaw and several other OSA staff members gathered around a police car. Rinder was waving a sheaf of papers, which, as they got closer, they realized was a copy of the injunction. Bob went to the other side of the street and continued to hold his sign up as the students poured out of the building. Grady, Jesse and Mark approached the police car to see what was happening, and they could hear Rinder saying repeatedly, "He's an employee. Look on page four." It turned out that OSA had had the bright idea to call the police and tell them Grady should be arrested for violating the injunction because he was an employee of Bob's and therefore couldn't come within ten feet of the building. I had been handling my email while all of this was going on. When I finished I strolled outside with Maggie to see how the picket was going and discovered several squad cars and a crowd of OSA people and LMT people all gathered around the police officer, who was interviewing Grady. When Maggie and I walked up Grady was saying, "I'm not Bob Minton's employee. Stacy Brooks is my boss." When he saw me he said, "And as a matter of fact, here she is." The police officer looked at me and said, "Oh! Are you Stacy?" I introduced myself and Maggie, and then the police officer started interviewing me. I explained that Bob is the Chairman of the Board of the Lisa McPherson Trust but that neither I nor any of the others are his employees. The police officer thought we might be his agents since we're employees of the Trust, although she wasn't sure. Once the police officer had finished talking with the Scientologists and the LMT staff, they went across the street to speak with Bob. Bob explained to the police officers that he had met Police Chief Klein as well as one of the police captains responsible for this area of town at the offices of Denis deVlaming just before the December picket. The purpose of this meeting was for the police to clarify their interpretation of the mutual restraining orders issued against Richard Howd and Bob Minton. Chief Klein was very clear in his statements as to how the police would interpret this complicated injunction, namely, that the injunction would apply only to Richard Howd and Bob Minton. However, in the event that Bob Minton entered into a zone within ten feet of the Scientology properties listed in the restraining order, then everyone in that zone would be considered an agent of Bob Minton and would be arrested if Bob refused to leave after being given one warning. Bob was at all times well outside the ten-foot zone last night, and therefore it appeared that Mike Rinder was trying to pull the wool over the police officers' eyes. In fact, we learned this morning that Police Chief Klein if out of town, and so is the captain who controls this area and his subordinate. Therefore, last night and today, someone who was not privy to the instructions given by Police Chief Klein in December is controlling this area of town. Bob's attorneys are trying to sort the matter out with the police today so that there will be no misunderstanding in the future. We expect the clarification to happen before dinner tonight. Until then, we're all staying at least ten feet away from the Scientology buildings, even Maggie. When Bob spoke to Denis deVlaming about this incident, by the way, he told Bob that Scientology approached at least one Clearwater property owner at the end of last week and offered to purchase an option for a right of first refusal to purchase their one block of property, located right behind the Lisa McPherson Trust, if Bob Minton makes an offer to purchase their property. Mark's video report of the picket and the encounter with the police afterward will be up shortly. As you can see, it's not going to be boring to be part of the Lisa McPherson Trust. We haven't even been here a week and already we seem to have made quite an impression. Everywhere I go in Clearwater -- whether it's to get my hair cut, or to buy a new blouse, or to get a key made, or to buy groceries - as soon as I tell people what my job is they tell me how glad they are that the Lisa McPherson Trust has come to town. They glance behind them to make sure no one is listening, and then they lean toward me and lower their voices. Can you tell me what Scientology really is? They ask me. What are they really doing here? Why do they always turn their heads when I walk by? Why won't they say hello? Why are they so secretive? Why are people so afraid of them? People have so many questions about Scientology, and finally an organization exists to tell people about the true nature of the current Scientology management and its abusive and harassive practices. We have great plans for the office and for the projects we'll launch in Clearwater. The community is excited about our arrival, and filled with hope that we'll change things in this city. I think we will. Our phone number is 727-467-9335. We'd love to hear from you. Our web site will be up soon at www.lisamcphersontrust.net. Watch for the grand opening of LMT Media, and in the meantime visit www.xenutv.com for an excellent video about the closing. We'll keep you posted. Stacy Brooks, President From: Bob Minton Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology Subject: The Lisa McPherson Trust: Mission, Objectives and Philosophy Date: Fri, 10 Dec 1999 21:00:05 -0500 Message-ID: -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 The Lisa McPherson Trust, Inc. Mission Statement: To carry out the final wishes of Lisa McPherson's mother, Fannie, which were to expose the abusive and deceptive practices of Scientology and to help those who have been victimized by it. Statement of Objectives: To accomplish our mission, we will demystify and thereby make transparent the coercive processes and practices of Scientology. In this way, informed consumers can make an educated decision about whether Scientology can meet their psychological or spiritual needs. We will expose Scientology's abuses of the human, civil and privacy rights of its members and critics. We will reveal its deceptive advertising practices that border on consumer fraud. We will disclose its "religious practices" and conduct that violate civil and criminal law. However, we will of course respect the rights of all Scientologists to embrace any religious belief they may choose. We will assist former Scientologists to recover from their unique personal experience with the abusive and deceptive practices of Scientology. We will offer counsel to current Scientologists who choose to learn the truth about how Scientology uses deceptive mind control techniques to capture their hearts and minds. Our dedicated staff of counselors will provide the information, compassion and support to current Scientologists that will enable them to release the bonds of cult mind control. Finally, all of the people involved in the Lisa McPherson Trust will respect the dignity and innate human goodness of all current, former and recovering Scientologists. Our Philosophy: The Board of Directors, Advisory Committee and staff of the Lisa McPherson Trust includes a number of former Scientologists who have had first hand experience with Scientology's abuse, and they are all in some way still recovering from it. They are decent, caring and loving human beings who have freely chosen to help others who have made a similar uninformed decision about Scientology. Moreover, they are willing and able to share their innermost personal experiences in the Sea Organization or as Public Scientologists in order to counsel, educate and immunize others against the abuses and deceptions of Scientology. Scientology draws its members from a broad cross-section of society, and, like other destructive cults, uses a sophisticated combination of deceptive recruiting methods, false promises, hypnosis, behavior modification, sleep deprivation, dietary manipulation, information control, phobia indoctrination and other mind control techniques to entice and control its members. There is no shame in having been seduced into a group like Scientology. Likewise, there need not be any reluctance to leave after discovering that the organization is not capable of delivering on its promise of a road to total freedom. Real freedom begins and ends with the never-ending quest of the human spirit to be free. This perpetual quest is the single most important factor that keeps mind control from being irreversible. Organized Scientology claims eight million members, including anyone who has ever taken a course or bought a book. However, informed estimates indicate that there are at most no more than 200,000 active Scientologists in the world today. This apparent rejection of Scientology by 7.8 million people who have tried it is the single greatest testimonial to the fact that this organization does not deliver on its promises. The Board of Directors, Advisory Committee and staff of the Lisa McPherson Trust will do our part in Clearwater, Florida, to see that the human spirit of all Scientologists will always have a pathway to real freedom. Sincerely, Bob Minton, for and on behalf of The Lisa McPherson Trust -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: PGP Personal Privacy 6.5.1 iQA/AwUBOFGeh2gj/yM+AH/OEQLFJQCeILzCwt3cJ/B4RJWgC9w7ueTTNQsAnRKp nWY763uCrUOx7kvCZ7KnkNT3 =XxCK -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----