Scientology in a frenzy as the Lisa Trust enters Clearwater
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. v
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
The Lisa McPherson Trust opens in Clearwater
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.
