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[Raven]

Article about leaving scientology

http://www.tampabay.com/news/scientology/article1012520.ece#comments


Leaving the Church of Scientology: a huge step                                                                   By Thomas C. Tobin and Joe Childs, Times Staff Writers
                   In Print: Tuesday, June 23, 2009                
                      

Those who join the Sea Org dedicate their lives to Scientology and sign a 1-billion-year contract, to symbolize their commitment to serve in this life and the next ones. Many of those who leave undergo a "security check'' to see if they have ill intentions for the church, and many are cut off from contact with family still in Scientology.    MIKE RINDER     In March 2007, David Miscavige assigned Rinder to get the BBC to spike a story it was preparing. A reporter and film crew had been to Los Angeles, asking pointed questions about Miscavige. Rinder followed them back to the UK.  Working out of church offices in North London, Rinder wrote network executives, asking to meet. He camped out at BBC offices.  On March 31, he intercepted the reporter at a church test center. A church videographer stood by. Blocking the doorway and face to face with the reporter, Rinder repeatedly denied allegations Miscavige abused his deputies. "It's rubbish,'' he said.    The story aired May 14, but it did not expose Miscavige. Rinder was relieved.     But Miscavige still was furious with him. The first week of June, Rinder says, the church leader wrote that he was to be sent to a remote part of Australia. And a manager in the London office told Rinder that Miscavige had phoned to say that first he was to report to the church's facility in Sussex, England, and dig ditches. He was not to return to the United States.    The church says Rinder was not told to dig ditches and was not told that he could never return to the United States.     Rinder picked up his briefcase and headed for the subway. He knew the route well. Go to Victoria Station, catch a train to East Grinstead, in Sussex. He had made the trip many times.  But not this day. He exited the subway before reaching Victoria, walked up to street level and toured one of his favorite cities.    A few days later he called Tom De Vocht, saying he was flying into Orlando. Could Tom pick him up?     De Vocht hadn't seen his old friend since he left the church two years earlier. On the way to De Vocht's apartment, they stopped at Kohl's to get Rinder something to wear.  Rinder stayed a few days, then went to Virginia. He wrote the church, saying he wanted to talk to his wife and also wanted his stuff, except his motorcycle and bicycle. Give them to his kids, he wrote.    He did not talk to his wife.     Soon a FedEx package arrived, including a check for $5,000, to cover the motorcycle "and everything else,'' Rinder said. The only items not sent were family photos.  Rinder and his wife, Cathy, divorced after 35 years. A Sea Org member for 35 years, Cathy Rinder called her ex-husband's allegation that Miscavige struck him on some 50 occasions "outrageous.''    "I slept with Mike,'' she said, "and I would have seen it.''     The Rinders have two adult children, both Sea Org members. Since he left the church in 2007, Rinder has had no contact with them and didn't know their 24-year-old son battled cancer the past 18 months.    A Sea Org member since he was 18, Rinder is 54 and lives in Denver. He sells cars.       MARTY RATHBUN     After riding away from the California base aboard his motorcycle in February 2004, Rathbun flew to Clearwater to "sort things out'' with his wife, Anne, a longtime Scientologist. Eventually, he hoped to sort things out with Miscavige, too.  Rathbun was a "potential trouble source" for any Scientologist he encountered. For 10 months, he ate alone, roomed alone in staff housing — his wife in a separate apartment — and pulled a daily shift in the church's furniture mill.  Through his wife, Rathbun conveyed that he wanted to confront Miscavige. He said he waited for 10 months but the leader never came to see him.  On Dec. 12, 2004, he walked away from 27 years in Scientology. He rented a car and drove around the South for 35 days, stopping at the southern tip of Texas, where he found it easy to blend in.  "It's not a big thing that a guy in middle age comes into town destitute or depressed. There's a lot of that along the border," he said. "So it wasn't like I stuck out like a sore thumb. It was nice."  In Clearwater, a church critic put up posters asking, Where's Marty Rathbun? On the Internet, there was speculation: "Is Marty Rathbun dead?''  Now divorced, Rathbun and his girlfriend of three years share a stilt house near Corpus Christi, Texas. They have a dog, Chiquita.  His former wife, now Anne Joasem, remains in the Sea Org. She said Rathbun was violent and saw his role as a warrior for the church.  She said he told her he was leaving because the church was entering an era of expansion and he didn't want to get in the way.    Rathbun scoffed at that. "This is all manufactured. This is Miscavige-scripted stuff."     Rathbun writes for two small newspapers but considers himself more activist than journalist. Last year, he worked as an organizer for the Obama campaign. He also hawked beer at a local ballpark.    He said he gives advice and counsel — and listens a lot — to people in and out of Scientology.       He has an e-meter in his home office and says he still practices Scientology. He is 52.           AMY SCOBEE     When Scobee first saw Miscavige physically strike a church executive, back in 1995, she said she rationalized it this way: The guy must have done something really wrong to make the leader angry.    The next six years, she saw more abuse and other dehumanizing practices, she said, before she had an epiphany:       "What I am seeing is completely insane and I am nonstop trying to make it make sense, and it doesn't."     She started speaking up and constantly got in trouble. She was sent to Scientology's Rehabilitation Project Force, RPF for short, a work detail that is supposed to offer Sea Org members a chance to sort things out, recharge, reorder misaligned priorities. Scobee called it "slave labor.''    She had to scrape the inside of a septic tank with a wire brush. She dug drainage ditches.     Scobee was married 17 years to fellow Sea Org member Jim Mortland. But she said they rarely saw each other because they were often assigned to different locations, had different schedules and were kept apart a total of five years because of the RPF.  In 2003, a church "Fitness Board'' found her unfit to work at the California base and "off-loaded" her to the RPF in Clearwater.  At first, she thought, she would try to redeem herself. But then she started thinking she wanted to leave. She asked fellow Sea Org member and longtime friend Matt Pesch if he wanted to leave with her. He did.  They began the cumbersome process of "routing out.'' They knew they faced confessionals called security checks, but Scobee was shocked to learn she was being declared a "suppressive person,'' an enemy of Scientology. She would be allowed no contact with any church member.  "I blew up. Somebody's going to do a sec check on me and put me on the streets after 27 years of working my a-- off around the clock, not getting paid. I was really livid.''    During the routing out process, Scobee said she and Pesch were guarded 24 hours a day and fed only beans and rice.     Two months later, on March 1, 2005, Scobee and Pesch told their handlers the process had gone on too long. They left separately.  The church gave her $500, most of which paid for her flight back to her home near Seattle. On the way to Tampa International Airport, she had her driver stop at a salon so she could get a haircut.    Twenty-six years after coming to Clearwater as a 16-year-old Sea Org newbie, she said she boarded the plane with about $175.       "That's how much I started the world with,'' she said.     "I never had job. I had no prior job experience. No high school diploma. I had no bank account. No driver's license. … I knew nothing of the outside world.''    A few weeks later, Pesch traveled to Seattle and the two married. They buy and sell used furniture. Scobee is 45.           TOM DE VOCHT     De Vocht said Miscavige hit him twice, first in 2004 after musical chairs, and again in May 2005 in the film studio at the church base in California.    "He slapped me across the face, pushed my neck and head up against the wall, which hurt pretty good.''       De Vocht told his wife, Jennifer, a Miscavige aide, that if it happened again, he would fight back.     Days later, De Vocht said, he was summoned to a room, where about 15 people waited, including his wife. Miscavige telephoned from Clearwater and over a speaker phone read an order declaring De Vocht a "suppressive person," an enemy of the church.  Not allowed to talk to his wife again, he bunked in a small room. Rinder shadowed him for three days, pitching reasons to stay.  But De Vocht wouldn't budge. He agreed to a limited number of confessions called "security checks," but he told everyone he was leaving, that Sunday afternoon at 3:30. He also asked to talk a last time with his wife. Rinder told him no.  Sunday came. The guard at the base wouldn't open the front gate so De Vocht scaled it and walked to Hemet, a city 6 miles away. Rinder walked with him.  De Vocht, a 28-year Sea Org member, had his $300 severance pay. He checked into a hotel and called his brother in Florida to come pick him up. Days later, Rinder met De Vocht and turned over his belongings and his two dogs, Puggers and Guppers.  The church also called, saying he had left his wet suit. De Vocht gave a forwarding address. Two weeks later, the wet suit arrived, along with a "freeloader's bill'' for $98,000 to reimburse the church for courses he took for free as a Sea Org member. He hasn't paid a dime.    De Vocht and his wife, now Jennifer Linson, were divorced after 19 years. She told the Times her ex-husband successfully completed a number of construction projects in Clearwater, but badly overspent on a key project at the base, was demoted, became bitter and left. They haven't spoken since.    "I don't hold anything she had to say against her,'' De Vocht said, "because she was put up to saying it.''       He is 45 and runs a furniture business in Winter Haven.

[Lorelei]

More about this SP Times article series:
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/archives/2009/06/tom_cruise_lure.php

"Today, the St. Petersburg Times unveiled part two of its devastating series on David Miscavige, diminutive leader of Scientology.

An indication of how much this series is hitting Scientology to the bone: rare and vehement denunciations by Miscavige himself, and by his spokesman, the clearly in-over-his-head Tommy Davis, son of actress Anne Archer.

The St. Pete Times series packs a punch because it's based on interviews with two of the formerly most high-ranking figures in the church: Marty Rathbun, once considered the best "auditor" in the Hubbard technology game, and Mike Rinder, once the church's top spokesman (and Davis's predecessor).

Predictably, Scientology is hitting back by trying to smear the two of them. If they were once the most trusted, most powerful members of the church, now suddenly they are lunatic losers who can't be trusted.

Jason Beghe, the actor who we have written about since his stunning defection from Scientology a year ago, phoned us this morning to help put in context what the church is claiming about Rathbun in particular.

The Times reporters, for example, were told by church officials that Rathbun had been "demoted" in 2003 for "masquerading as an ethics officer," whatever that means. Davis, meanwhile, calls Rathbun a "lunatic."

Beghe asks: if Rathbun was "demoted" and a lunatic, why did Miscavige give Rathbun one of the most important tasks in Scientology's recent history - luring Tom Cruise back into the church?

"Tom had essentially disconnected from the church for the previous ten years. Most people don't know that," Beghe says. "So if Marty was a lunatic, why would Miscavige give him the job to bring Tom back in, the most important job in the church at that time?"

Beghe says this occurred about four years ago, which would be well after Rathbun's supposed "demotion."

Beghe says that he and Cruise were working with Rathbun at the same time at the Celebrity Centre in Los Angeles. "While I was in session with Marty, Tom was in the waiting room. And vice versa."

"While Marty was auditing Tom, I was the other pre-clear being audited by Marty, who was considered the best auditor on the planet. Do you think Miscavige would send a lunatic to get his top prospect back in the fold?"

"Tommy Davis at that point was an up-and-comer. He was also Tom Cruise's handler," Beghe says. "I spent hours and hours with Tommy Davis and Marty Rathbun together. And I can tell you something, I swear to God. That kid's voice went up an octave when he was around Marty. He fawned on him like Marty was a demigod. He idolized him. Marty was the epitome of what a Sea Org member was supposed to be. And now they're making out that he was demoted? It's bullsh!t."

Larry Bren, former Scientologist, also discusses Miscavige's habit of beating staffers:
http://tinyurl.com/4hf3v3

Miscavige was an abusive thug in late 1981 and 1982. Look up what happened to Bill Franks when Miscavige removed him from the ED Int post, how he was chained in a locked room etc. Look over Homer Shomer declarations from Author Services in 1982 when he spoke of being abused by Miscavige, spit on by him and gang banged sec checked then.

In 1982 I personally saw him physically attack three top executives, including the Watchdog Committee member for Scientology Missions International. I saw Miscavige punch one of the three hard on the mouth, strangle another and slap another hard on the face.

Also in 1982 Miscavige walked into the CMO and Special Unit office building in Los Angeles where a public person was being interviewed and spit right in the face of the public person as he said that that person was holding out on money that should go to Hubbard.

In 1982 and 1983 Miscavige threatened to strangle people who would not help him secretly funnel millions of dollars to Hubbard.

Much of this was 1982 NOT 2002.

Have a look at the Jessie Price affidavit for the period just after Hubbard died in the 80s and how he screamed in a sickly Mary Sue (Mrs. L. Ron) Hubbard's face that she was to sign over Hubbard's fortune to "the Church" (controlled by Miscavige). Note how he brought more than a dozen people to help intimate her and to "back him up".  See what a great and brave man Miscavige was with all his backup to handle this frail woman who by then could hardly stand.

The examples are many and they are sad.

No, Miscavige's physical abuses of others have been going on for decades, not just a few years.

In numerous filings with the IRS and in a number of court actions Miscavige has made statements that he did not control "the church", the very corporations and organizations in which those he has beaten reside. One HUGE reason for the "corporate sortout" starting in 1981 was to hide Miscavige's (and then Hubbard's) controls of organized scientology behind countless corporate veils.

However, Miscavige's uncontrolled barbarity in beating all these top executives from various scientology corporations and then running them helps prove that he has IMHO committed legal perjury in courts and with the IRS. He has proven himself to be a liar here and with people speaking out with the truth like Jeff has here, more and more evidence is being made available.

No matter how small or big the example, it is good for people to step up to the plate and list what they know and what they can testify about. For I do believe that time is coming.

More (Larry Bren's FACTnet questionnaires): http://tinyurl.com/28axzc and http://tinyurl.com/ysf3kh

[Raven]

Follow up
http://www.tampabay.com/news/scientology/article1016927.ece

[Lorelei]

Some critics and curious parties read the SP Times articles, were disturbed by the "overboarding" of disgraced Scientologists, and were not wholly reassured by Tommy Davis' attempt to explain "overboarding" as a sort of playful, safe, benign procedure.

Scientologists are keen to deny overboarding ever existed, or, if it did, it was a harmless thing that Scientology "doesn't do anymore." Pretending it didn't happen no longer works, because there is proof that it did.

This pdf file is a copy of a page from the Scn Mag "The Auditor" Issue 41 from 1968.

It clearly shows, and clearly states that students are thrown overboard for gross out tech.

Thanks very much to the person that made these early mags available. More to come.

the-auditor-41-1968-overboard-and-more.pdf @ http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?zy5hmkk4nmy

"Gross out tech" is the Scientologese equivalent of "being disobedient" or "not following Hubbard's guidelines."

Out Tech - Diverging from what Scientologists believe is "standard" Hubbard doctrine.

Source: http://www.exscientologykids.com/glossary.html.

Claiming "overboarding" was a benign (and / or rare) practice doesn't fly, either, now that many former Scientologists have described (prior to the SP Times article mention of the practice), and are still describing what it was like...and it was horrific.

The Overboard Ceremony

I suppose there has already been some stuff written about this, but I thought I would fill in some of the early details.

We were in Corfu, autumn of 1968.

Sitting in Diana's office with Hana, Hubbard came by. He was quite chatty and looking forward to the forthcoming Class 8 course. During the conversation he said, "Well, whenever they flunk a session, we will throw them overboard". We all laughed, but Hubbard never laughed with his eyes. It left us with a question mark over the statement. Was he kidding? Or was he serious?

Funnily enough, in the same conversation, I remarked about some members of the public simply joining staff to get free processing and training, and then leaving. I caller them "Freeloaders". Hubbard said that was a good way of describing them and he would use it.

Sorry, folks!

Anyway, the Class 8 course had 3 MAA's, Craig DeFan, Ollie Budlong and Rod Taunton. They were photographed and features in an Auditor edition at that time.

The students, having been summoned to the ship, were in a range of emotion from indifference to outright terror. They were made to wear bright green overalls, brown open-toed sandals and a running noose around their neck.

As an indication of how cowed down they were, an old friend from St. Hill, Fred Fairchild -- he had come from Detroit Org, had a beard -- I happened to remark that I thought he looked much better without the beard. The next morning he came down clean-shaven. I asked what had happened to the beard. He thought that my friendly and innocent inquiry was an instruction, so he had shaved it off.

The MAA's went right into the Nazi identity. The next morning all the students were mustered on the aft well deck. A name was called and the person stepped forward and told he/or she had flunked a session. They were bodily picked up and thrown over the side. It was about 30 ft. drop into the harbour.

A mantra was shouted: "We commit your errors to the deep and trust you will arise a better person."

Whilst the overboard ceremony was going on, Hubbard was two decks up, recording the incident on his cine camera.

The same ceremony was applied to the staff as well, usually for some (heinous) transgression such as ordering some equipment without FP approval.

Along the side of the ship was a rubbing strake. The person had to be thrown out sufficiently far as to avoid it, or it could easily result in death.

There was a rule, If the overboardee touched the side of the ship on the way down, the Officer in charge of the ceremony immediately got thrown overboard, too. Therefore you tried to hit out with your hand or foot so you could get that bastard thrown over as well.

There were degrees of overboard. Firstly there was simple overboard. Then we had overboard blindfolded, and there was overboard with either feet or hands tied. The most extreme was being tied and blindfolded going overboard.

It didn't matter if you could swim or not. You were screamed at to "make things go right". You made your way along the side of the ship and clambered in through the cattle door at the side.

I have seen people in absolute terror, panicking in the water. On a couple of occasions we defied the MAA's and dived in to rescue the person. The punishment was a double overboard, one after the other.

The most disorienting one I had was being thrown over blindfolded. You could not accurately anticipate the moment of impact.

And of course, Hubbard was up there, every morning, watching and, more often than not, cine recording it.

When the class 8 course finished, the students returned to their various Orgs. They adapted the overboard ceremony according to local conditions. This could be immersing them in a cold bath to putting their head down the toilet and flushing it. Students had to wear green vests and a rope noose.

Once the students had departed, Hubbard got really vicious with the overboards. John MacMaster, the first Clear and a real international celebrity, was on the ship. Hubbard clearly saw him as a threat to his own self-importance. John was a charismatic speaker. He could talk about Affinity to a whole theatre of people and there would not be a dry eye in the house. John was a superb auditor and was responsible for the development of Power Processing.

The problem was that John was gay. Hubbard had an absolute loathing for any homosexual man or woman (or coloured person, in fact) and set out to destroy John. He assigned John as a galley hand, clearing up the after-mess, etc. He had John thrown overboard, blindfolded and his feet tied together, on more than one occasion.

More than one of us heard Hubbard say, " I hope the damn faggot drowns" as John went over the side. I spoke with John years later, before he passed away. He bore Hubbard no grudge for the inhumane way he was treated.

I trust that this fills in some gaps for you on what you might have heard about these events.*

Source: http://www.forum.exscn.net/showthread.php?t=3858



* I fixed some typos; you can verify that I changed nothing that would alter the meaning of the account in any way by viewing the original at the link provided.

[ethercat]

This quote from the followup article:

While some in the community saw potential for a new chill to seep into civic and church relations, many officials said in interviews that they viewed the stories as focused on Scientology's California-based leadership, not the residents they deal with.

and this one:

Said John Doran: "Nobody likes to hear these things about any organization. But for all practical purposes ... it's an internal kind of deal. I've never really had any contact with the upper echelons of the church."

remind me of the scientologists that we see on comment sections of online articles who say "I don't care if the stories about the abuses are true; scientology helped me," a short-sighted view that reveals a selfish attitude held at the expense of others, all too common in today's world. 

This comment sums it up very well:

martha formerly from clearwater
Jul 9th, 2009 2:11 am

Oh please! You mean to say that it would be okay to deal with flunkies of the mafia because you're not doing business with the Don himself??? The non-scilons need to take a stand and vote OUT those who play in Co$'s sandbox. NOW.

[SocialTransparency]

 I find the Saint Pete times articles very enlightening. . I have family that reside in the greater Clearwater, Fla area. On many occasions, we all have taken a ride down to the so-called church of scientology,s downtown Fort Harrison/ Flag/ SuperPower facilities.

 One must go there to see what has happened to a once vibrant gulf coast community. Within the 2 or so city blocks scientology has these facilities, both the Clearwater Police departments main HQ and the Saint Petersburg Times are also located in close proximity to each other.

 It is as if time has stood still. Vacant businesses take up a major part of the immediate area. Public foot traffic ,with the exception of those in scientology is all but non existent. Back in March of this year, i took a bicycle ride from the always active and vibrant Clearwater beach area, then across the causeway to downtown Clearwater.

 It was like going across the DMZ zone from South Korea to North Korea. This particular trip was on a week day during spring break.

 The downtown Clearwater area was strangely vacant, with the exception of blue shirt adherents to scientology.I have been around the world many a time. Yet i have never felt this feeling i had in downtown Clearwater. It was like i was in a social vacuum, devoid of spirit and vitality. After riding around the so-called scientology,s downtown compound, i hastened my return back across the causeway to the energy and vibrance that is the Clearwater beach area. I enjoyed the vibe, spent some money on food and entertainment etc.

 I hope the city fathers of Sandy Springs Georgia see what can happen to a specific area, if zoning variances are granted to the C of S property @ the intersection of Roswell rd and Glenridge dr. Your property values WILL go down! Your BUSINESSES will be financially effected.

 The mayor and council members of Sandy Springs georgia need only look @ their neighbor to the south, to see the end result of their possible actions come August 2009.

[Raven]

The story was picked up here: http://www.connectsavannah.com/news/article/100900/

Is this the whole article or is their more too it?  If I remember correctly didn't hubbard almost pick Savannah instead of CW?   IF he did I can only imagine how indoctrinated the people would be of GA.  Him picking Clear Water made my protesting life easier

[Lorelei]

Savannah wouldn't put up with his shit. They like kooks, but they do not like "New Agey" / "new religious movement" stuff. They have SRS BZNZ temples, cathedrals, churches, but very few non-traditional outlets (though I do know of a voudoun lady with a supply shop). You'd be hard-pressed to find Unitarians down here, really. They have JWs, and a sad bunch of doorbell ringers they are, as no one cares or wants their Watchtower pamphlets.

No, really. I can't imagine where the typical ugly Sci bldg and unfriendliness / scrutiny of outsiders / humourlessness would GO, except out on a marsh or barrier island all by themselves or something...good luck to CoS, affording one of those. The families who live there have lived there for decades and aren't leaving or sharing. The corporations who own the barrier islands, ditto.  The Historic District was starting to be preserved, so unless they snuck in before the Hist. Pres. Society started up, there is NO WAY they'd pass muster (or be able to afford a homebase). A Mission, maybe, they could have. Turning Downtown Savannah into a ghost town like Clearwater? It is to laugh.

In the 70s, the kind of old cruise ships Hubbard liked to gussy up as blue asbestos-choked tubs would probably have been too large to fit under the then-bridge. (The new bridge and deepened river these days? No problem.) No dockee, no cultee.

Maybe I speak overconfidently, but I know the culture of that town and my family has been there for yonks. If you're not AMUSING weird, you are UNDESIRABLE weird, and too bad for you. Case in point: it has the least "arsty" art school town vibe I have ever known. The students are shaped by the city, the city is NOT particularly affected by the students. The school itself is scattered all over, and does not have a central campus.

BTW, News Of The Weird is a syndicated column; IIRC, the 'Loafer gets it, too.

[Lorelei]

What is "overboarding"?

Article in St. Petersburg Times: The Truth Rundown

This .pdf file is a copy of a page from the Scn Mag "The Auditor" Issue 41 from 1968.
It clearly shows, and clearly states that students are thrown overboard for gross out tech.
Thanks very much to the person that made these early mags available. More to come.

the-auditor-41-1968-overboard-and-more.pdf
Link: http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?zy5hmkk4nmy
Mirror: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=PCQ9AG9A

Jesse Prince writes: "Hubbard had three vessels, Apollo (formly known as the Scotsman), Athena and yacht Diana, and during the last months of 1968 all three joined up in Corfu, Greece. The ships were berthed in Corfu when people were first being tossed into the harbor. Hubbard was just really rabid and yelling and screaming a lot. For some time throwing violators of Hubbard's rules over the side of the ship ("overboarding" them) became a Sea Org tradition. Usually they were thrown off the tween (second) deck, but there were a couple of occasions when they went off the promenade deck (some 25 feet above the water). There were rules written by Hubbard in a "Flag Order" which listed orders of severity of overboarding, such as: from which deck, should the person be blindfolded, and should his hands or feet be tied."

Deputy Inspector General RTC Jesse Prince, Clearwater 1986


His affidavit: http://www.xenu.net/archive/so/1stprince.html

iStudent being thrown overboard for gross "out tech"


http://xenu.net/archive/so/

Commander Michael Rinder, in 1992

[SirBedevere]

I've heard these stories before, but never personally read the actual person's account, especially about overboarding.  Just sickening.  These people must be stopped!  Thanks for providing a central spot for this info.

[mefree]

http://www.tampabay.com/news/scientology/article1023717.ece

Strength in their numbers: More Church of Scientology defectors come forward with accounts of abuse

By Joe Childs and Thomas C. Tobin, Times Staff Writers
In Print: Sunday, August 2, 2009

They are stepping forward — from Dallas and Denver, Portland, Las Vegas, Montana — talking about what happened, to them and their friends, during their years in the Church of Scientology.

Jackie Wolff wept as she recalled the chaotic night she was ordered to stand at a microphone in the mess hall and confess her "crimes" in front of 300 fellow workers, many jeering and heckling her.

Gary Morehead dredged up his recollection of Scientology leader David Miscavige punishing venerable church leaders by forcing them to live out of tents for days, wash with a garden hose and use an open latrine.

Steve Hall replayed his memory of a meeting when Miscavige grabbed the heads of two church executives and knocked them together. One came away with a bloody ear.

Mark Fisher remembered precisely what he told Miscavige after the punches stopped and Fisher touched his head, looked at his palm and saw blood.

These and other former Scientology staffers are talking now, inspired and emboldened by the raw revelations of four defectors from the church's executive ranks who broke years of silence in stories published recently by the St. Petersburg Times.

Those behind-the-scenes accounts from Marty Rathbun and Mike Rinder, the highest officials ever to leave Scientology, were buttressed by detailed revelations of highly placed former managers Amy Scobee and Tom De Vocht.

Now their stories have prompted other former Scientology veterans to go public about physical and mental abuses they say they witnessed and endured.

[Raven]

The mroe I read the sadder I am at the abuses they have gotten away with:

                                       Miscavige told Fisher to come down.                                       
 "He put his hands around my throat," Fisher said, and shouted, " 'You want to sue Scientology?' "
 Fisher said he collapsed and curled up as Miscavige kicked and punched him and pulled the hair on the back of his head.
 Fisher stood, touched the back of his head, showed his bloody palm and told Miscavige: "You notice I did not lay one finger on you."
 That was the end for Fisher. "I didn't join Scientology to see people get beat up."

[mefree]

A Times Editorial
Scientology's ugly truths revealed

http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/editorials/article1024459.ece

Scientology calls itself a religion and claims to offer purpose and meaning to its members. Yet for some who worked in the church's militaristic Sea Organization, Scientology provided something different: physical punishment, humiliation, beatings, sleep deprivation, and long and ruinous separation from loved ones.

The stories of 11 former staffers, reported in a St. Petersburg Times special report Sunday, are told with such detail and emotional heft that the church's official denials of abuse ring hollow.

It takes courage to challenge the Church of Scientology, which has long pursued and attempted to destroy its critics. Yet now 15 former Sea Org members have gone on the record with their stories of abuse during years of working at or near the church's top management. Four of those, whose stories were related in the Times' first special report in June, are the highest ranking officials ever to defect from Scientology.

This is just a portion of the full editorial.

[Raven]

and....the really sad reply from scientology about this:http://www.freedommag.org/the_bigotry_behind_the_times_facade 

Beware it is a sci owned site

Nothing in this is even worth responding to.

[mefree]

New article in St. Pete Times:

http://www.tampabay.com/features/media/article1026817.ece

Scientology launches ads

By Eric Deggans, Times TV/Media Critic

Published Tuesday, August 11, 2009

The advertisement is sleek and subtle, surfacing on the upper right side of the St. Petersburg Times' Web site, tampabay.com.

The text floats onto the screen: "Love" then "Hate" then "What is the answer?"

The final display comes in a flash of light: "Scientology.org."

It's a small spot, rotating among a lineup of online ads that includes commercials for Radio Shack and BlackBerry. But it has drawn some attention, partly because the newspaper has published several stories recently featuring serious allegations involving the Church of Scientology and its top leaders.

Beginning June 21, the three-part series "The Truth Rundown" featured the stories of four people who once held top positions in the church. They alleged that leader David Miscavige physically attacked members of the church's top leadership and fostered an atmosphere of violence among Scientology's international management. Another story Aug. 2 revealed allegations from other former staffers at the church, which locates its spiritual headquarters in Clearwater.

Given the stories the St. Petersburg Times has written recently about the church, why is the organization selling advertising space to them?

Paul Tash, editor, chairman and chief executive of Times Publishing Co., said the company doesn't take Scientology recruitment advertising. But the current online ad, which speaks more to Scientology's overall image, doesn't meet that definition.

"We tried to construe our (advertising) policies as widely as possible to make sure they had every opportunity to respond (to the newspaper's reporting)," said Tash. "I articulated some principles for the decision, which was made by the appropriate people, and I support it."

Officials from the Church of Scientology in the Tampa Bay area and California did not return calls for comment. Spokesmen for the church have denied the allegations from the St. Petersburg Times stories in past statements and a 38-page presentation in its magazine, Freedom.

The online ads appear to be part of a local media campaign that includes airing commercials on almost every major area TV station starting that started Monday, possibly coordinated in a strategy some industry experts call "roadblocking."

The idea is to buy advertising space across a wide array of TV stations at close to the same time, so that if viewers change the channel during the commercial on one station, they will encounter it on the next channel.

"No matter where you turn, they're there," said Greg Blackburn, creative services director at WTOG-Ch. 44, which is airing the new ads from the church and estimated such a strategy locally could cost as much as $300,000.

"It is a strategy that's effective, especially right now, when stations need the money and rates are low," said Cherie Umbarger, vice president of marketing and advertising at the Tampa firm Marshall Advertising.

Officials at WTSP-Ch. 10, WTVT-Ch. 13, WFTS-Ch. 28, WTTA-Ch. 38 and WMOR-Ch. 32 also said the church has purchased commercial spots on their air, though many would not reveal the cost or duration of ads.

Most stations said they had no qualms about airing the ads, which have aired in other markets, because they were well produced and low key, with no controversial images or language. Church spokesman Pat Harney told a reporter for WTSP that the TV and online ads were not a response to the St. Petersburg Times series.

[Lorelei]

Gah. Even their lame ADVERTS stalk you now.

[mefree]

Exactly..

[mefree]

For any who have not seen the Pulitzer prize winning SP times series on Scn, voila!

http://sptimes.com/2006/webspecials06/scientology/Scientology_Special_Report.pdf

[Stutroup]

St. Petersberg Times has a page with the entire list of stories about Scientology, updated as more are added!  I thought this was perfectly relevant, and a GREAT place to send people unfamiliar who want a long read.

http://www.tampabay.com/specials/2009/reports/project/