Security Checks in Scientology; Hubbard’s Paranoia.

L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, was among the most paranoid men in the world.  He looked under every bed and around every corner to look for hidden foes.  The Communists, the CIA, various governments, mental health organization, even SMERSH from James Bond books were out to get him.  Worse yet was the fact they were constantly trying to infiltrate his operations.  So he came up with Security or “sec” checks to help find moles or double agents.  Nobody was safe from these questions; not even his closest underlings in the Sea Org or the eager young staff of the various Scientology of Dianetics entities.

Public members were in no way exempt from these inquisitions.  Of course they had to pay for the privilege of being put on the meter and asked a long string of questions.  Some of which must have been shocking to hear for the first time.  Here are some of the more interesting questions followed by a link to read the whole thing.

The Whole Track Sec Check

June, 1961

245 questions

Have you ever enslaved a population?
Have you ever implanted anyone?
Have you ever sacked a city?
Have you ever sunk, or otherwise destroyed, a non-combatant vessel?
Have you ever abused hostages, or prisoners?
Have you ever ordered, or yourself committed, genocide?
Have you ever annihilated a population?
Have you ever poisoned food or drinking supplies?
Have you ever strangled anyone?
Have you ever deliberately spread disease?
Have you ever degraded a religion?
Have you ever raped a child of either sex?
Have you ever warped an educational system?
Have you ever deprived people of hope?
Have you ever committed murder?
Have you ever destroyed a culture?
Have you ever forced anyone into an undesired beingness?
Have you ever stolen a body from another being?
Have you ever destroyed an economy?
Is anybody seeking to discover your whereabouts?
Have you ever violated a nation’s neutrality?
Have you ever broken a treaty?
Have you ever blanketed bodies for the sensation kick?
Have you ever upset an ecology?
Have you persecuted others for their religious or political beliefs?
Have you ever interfered with the free flow of trade?
Have you ever been a crook?
Have you ever obliterated a language?
Have you ever stamped out a religion?
Have you ever deliberately trained people in untruths for power, or profit?
Have you ever defiled religious places, persons, or objects?
Have you ever practised terrorism?
Have you ever done anything you would not like to think of yourself as having
done? . . .

Have you given robots a bad name?
What should others be warned about concerning you?
What don’t you trust yourself with?
Is there anything you can’t forgive yourself for?
Is there anything others should not forgive you for?
Have you ever caused equipment entrusted to your care to vanish?
Have you ever acted as a double agent?
Have you ever misappropriated equipment entrusted to your care?
Have you ever interrogated another under torture?
Have you ever caused anyone to be burned alive?
Have you ever misappropriated funds entrusted to your care?
Have you ever violated the sanctity of a herald?
Have you ever violated a flag of truce, or a period of truce?
Have you ever caused someone to be flogged to death?
Have you ever been a religious fanatic?
Have you ever assassinated a prominent person?
Have you ever blown anything up?
Have you ever violated a sanctuary?
Have you ever poisoned an atmosphere?
Have you ever set a booby trap?
Have you ever violated the established rules of warfare?
Have you ever made yourself out to be weaker than you in fact were?
Have you ever made yourself out to be stronger than you in fact were?
Have you ever promised help without intending to give it?
Have you ever abandoned your sick, or dead, to the enemy?
Have you ever failed to rescue your leader?

http://www.forum.exscn.net/showthread.php?7868-Scientology-s-quot-Whole-Track-Security-Check-quot

Johannesburg Security Check

HCO Policy Letter of April 7, 1961

100 questions.

Do you know any Communists personally?
Have you ever committed any overts on a Scientology organization?
Do you have any overts on LRH?
Have you ever had unkind thoughts about LRH?
Do you have any overts on Mary Sue?
Have you ever had any unkind thoughts about Mary Sue?
Have you ever had any unkind thoughts about Scientologists?
Have you ever betrayed Scientology?
Have you ever betrayed anyone for money?
Have you ever threatened  anyone with a firearm?
Have you ever been paid for giving evidence?
Have you ever destroyed something belonging to someone else?
H ave you ever been a spy for an organisation?
Have you ever had anything to do with Communism or been a Communist?
Have you ever been a newspaper reporter?
Have you ever had intercourse while under the influence of drugs?
Are you afraid of the Police?
Have you ever done anything your Mother would be ashamed to find out?
How do you feel about sex?
What is Communism?
Do you feel Communism has some good points?
Have you ever been a member of the Party? Do you know any secret plans against Scientology?

http://www.solitarytrees.net/racism/joburg.htm

 

SECURITY CHECK CHILDREN

HCO WW Security Form 8

100 questions

What has somebody told you not to tell?
Have you ever decided you did not like some member of your family?
Have you ever taken something belonging to somebody else and never given it back?
Have you ever pretended to be sick (ill)?
Have you ever made yourself sick (ill), or hurt yourself to make somebody sorry?
Have you ever wanted something very much, but never told anybody about it?
Have you ever gotten yourself dirty on purpose?
Have you ever refused to eat just to worry someone?
Have you ever remembered something about yourself and not told anybody, because you thought they wouldn’t believe you, or be angry at you?
Have you ever refused to obey an order from someone you should obey?
Have you ever told another child something that wasn’t true, just to frighten or upset him?
Have you ever bullied a smaller child?
Have you ever deliberately got another child, or a grown-up, into trouble?
Have you ever pestered older children, or grown people, who were trying to work?
Have you ever been mean, or cruel, to an animal, bird or fish?
Have you ever forgotten to give food or water to a pet entrusted to your care?
Have you ever broken something belonging to someone else?
Have you ever deliberately spoiled clothing of yours because you didn’t like it?
Do you have a secret?
Have you ever noticed something wrong with your body that you were afraid to tell anybody about?
Have you ever done anything you were very much ashamed of?
Is there anything about you your parents could not understand, even if you told them?
Have you ever failed to finish your schoolwork on time?
Have you ever flunked an examination at school?
Have you ever deliberately given a teacher trouble?
Have you ever tried to make others dislike some teacher?
Have you ever tried to make another child unpopular?
Have you ever broken, damaged, or taken, any school property?
Have you ever lied to a teacher?
Have you ever been late to school, or late to a class?
Have you ever stayed away from school, when you could have gone?
Have you ever cheated by copying someone else’s work, taking notes into an examination, or looking up answers in a book when you weren’t supposed to?
Have you ever spoiled things for somebody?
Who have you made guilty?
Have you ever done something you shouldn’t when you were supposed to be in bed or asleep?
Have you ever told others bad stories about someone?
Have you ever tried to make others believe that your parents, or teachers, were cruel to you?
Have you ever offered as an excuse for something you have done wrong that you are only a child, or that you haven’t grown up yet?
Have you ever felt that your parents and home were too good for you?
Have you ever felt that your parents and home weren’t good enough for you?
Is there anything you should tell your parents, and never have?
Have you ever done something to your body that you shouldn’t have?
Have you ever done anything to someone else’s body that you shouldn’t have?
Have you ever told anyone that you did something, when you hadn’t really done it?
Have you ever told anyone that you hadn’t done something which you really had done?
Have you ever ganged up on another child and made fun of him because he was different from the rest of you?
Have you ever made fun of another because of the way he looked?
Have you ever decided never to talk to someone again?
Have you ever made your parents or teachers work harder than they should?
Have you ever decided that you were too bright, or too smart for the other kids?
Have you ever annoyed an adult by something you did or said?
Have you ever hurt a child?
Have you ever made a child cry?
Have you ever made a child sulk?

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2012/06/katie_holmes_scientology_sec_checking_suri_tom_cruise.php

CANCER AND SUICIDE ON SOLO NOTS !!

According to people who have taken the upper level Operating Thetan, or simply “OT” courses have told of repeated cancer scares among these exalted beings.  This is at odds with their super-human status as being “at cause” over mere matter, time and space.  Here is another unsettling issue, Scientologists are getting cancer when doing the Solo NOTS auditing.  This where they get rid of the “Body Thetans,” which are the spirits of dead aliens, to depart after being stuck on the hide of the person auditing.  We are all covered, head to toe, with these spiritual vermin according to Hubbard.

So, are they trading up or down?  Is cancer better, or worse, than being infested with spiritual parasites that rob you of your great powers?? Here follows an insider’s view of the situation.  Note; Tommy Davis was a spokesman, one of many who poked his head up from the foxhole before disappearing, he was a very smooth talker.

“Hello! This thread is to answer Tommy Davis’s  glibness.

I met Tommy during my second EPF in the Sea Org (actually a 2 months Boot Camp type of EPF), he was eating beans and rice every day, washing our clothes, doing the worst MEST work you can imagine, doing pumps up for hours…because he fucked up a “VIP” cycle.

At that time he wasn’t  so proud to be a Sea Org Member, I can tell you.

Now, let’s talk about cancer and suicide on Solo Nots.  Here are some data for you guys.

There is a tag status for each Solo Nots auditor:

Green tag: audit 4 to 6 sessions daily and comes on time for his 6 months check.

Grey tag: audit less than 4 sessions daily and doesn’t come on time for his 6 month check.

Orange tag: Not allowed to solo audit because of out ethics situation.

Purple tag: Not allowed to audit because of illness or sickness.

Black tag: Disaffected with the church.

See the way it works? One starts the level with a Green tag then, depending on his “ability to be Cause over Life” one keeps his  Green tag or, follow the dwindling spiral to Black tag.

There are about  5,300 Solo Nots Auditors worldwide and about(depending on their current status):

1,000 Green tags
1,100 Grey tags
900 Orange tags
800 Purple tags
1,500 Black tags

The 10,000 on Solo Nots is just a dream. There is only 1,000 of them auditing  regularly.

I was Solo Nots D of P Europe and i personally met the following Solo Nots Auditors. They were all with advanced cancer:

• Roberto B. – Italy
• Antonella B. – Italy
• Beppe G. – Italy
• Sonia B. – Italy
• Pierluigi G. – Italy
• Bernard C. – Switzerland
• Jo R. – Switzerland
• Tasa D. – France
• Helene M. – France

There is more, but I do not remember their names.

Before I blew the Sea Org  in November 2006,two of them died of committed suicide; Jo R. and Beppe G.

I don’t know if the other ones are still alive.

The majority of the 800 Purple tags and 1,500 Black tags  are with cancer, HIV, diabetes and non optimum physical conditions.

The majority of the 900 Orange tags committed financial irregularities to be able to “pay for services and/or donations” to the Cult.

Rex Fowler is a typical Orange tag product of the Cult.

You all know the PTS/SP tech “theory”, right?

How many of them had to disconnect from their family and friends because they where the ”SP”?

Why, after an entire bridge people are still sick, ill, criminal, commit suicide, etc..?

Maybe they didn’t find the real SP yet….. or, if they did, they invalidated the read.

At one point every body on Solo Nots had to do or re do the PTS/SP Course GAT.

And the SNR C/S FSO Richard Reiss (pushed by RTC, of course) was constantly harrassing the Solo Nots C/S “because they didn’t apply the PTS tech at 100%” during their C/Sing.

Well, a cancerous tumor is not detectable by a SN C/S as far as i know!

I can attest! Beppe G. had a cancerous tumor the size of an egg in his brain while at Flag to “Attest to OT7″! I went with him to the Clearwater Hospital. He was sent back to Italy right away by RTC….

Imagine the Flap if Beppe died in the middle of the Solo Nots HGC!

These data should be widely disseminated. It’ s not a joke. These guys are really in danger.

Michel.

PS: the medical associations should be aware of this data. Scientology technology doesn’t cure cancer….when a cancer isn’t detected on time, it’s too late. unfortunately, from a Scientologist view-point, a doctor is considered a charlatan.”

This post can be found here: http://www.forum.exscn.net/showthread.php?16796-MICHEL-CANCER-AND-SUICIDE-ON-SOLO-NOTS

Ex-Scientologist Story #411, Confessions of an IAS Fundraiser.

Confessions of an IAS Fundraiser

Kay Milasinovich Rowe has a story to tell; and what a story it is.  Let’s start with her time in the Sea Org.  The Sea Org was set up by L. Ron Hubbard to deliver his so-called “tech” to humanity.  This group contains many of his most fanatical adherents.  They take their mandate to deliver Scientology “ethics” in an uncompromising manner to an apathetic, and sometimes downright hostile, world, with a fanaticism that is all-consuming.  These “tigers of the tech” strut around in mock naval uniforms in the pretense of being a paramilitary force.  However, veteran Scientology watchers would term these gung-ho zealots to be part of a farce instead of a force.

Like many of the young, wild-eyed and wide-eyed enthusiasts of Hubbard Kay disregarded her own personal comfort when she joined the Sea Org.  This was in 1989-1991.  That was probably for the best as comfort, decent food, sufficient sleep and even days off are not a big part of the Sea Org agenda.

Her abilities and competency must have been apparent from the start.   She was sent on “garrison” missions where the Sea Org had to put together an org (a Scientology center in a city) that was on the verge of failing.  There orgs are a big part of Scientology and account for a significant amount of the revenue of the cult.  Kay was to find out, eventually, just how important money is in the grand scheme of Scientology.  The Sea Org could, with justification, be termed, the “Sales Org.”  All actions of the Sea Org exist or are undertaken in order to extract the maximum amount of money from the public members.  But no matter how much is raised very little is spent on Sea Org or other staff members.  Kay states that she was owed some three-thousand dollars that was never paid her.  For two years she worked like a slave under terrible conditions.

The Sea Org members often speak with pride about their accomplishments, often in the face of adversity, which, from their own vantage point is probably right.  But to outsiders looking in, the Sea Org looks like a bunch of disorganized rabble.  They constantly argue over arcane parts of Hubbard’s tech, they rule their subordinates by yelling, screaming, and other means of fear and invalidation.  They haven’t a clue of what real leadership means.  Hubbard’s tech is confusing and contradictory; so there is always something going wrong; there is always somebody subverting something and there is always somebody to be reported on.

Kay sums this period of time up: “In ending this portion of my story, I want to highlight a common thread throughout…money/MEST was “God” to the powers that be, but the individual Orgs, staff and Sea Org members, were “just another cog in the wheel” and milked for whatever could be drained out of them for the sake of filling the coffers, i.e. Sea Org reserves.   There were times when I was sick with bronchitis, pneumonia and laryngitis, all three at the same time, even contagious with fever and still going to post and even firing out on Missions to “make it go right”.    But,  I put up with all this because I believed in the tech and trusted that it was all “for the greater good”.  I saw many, many good people depart from the Church either by death, routing out or blowing.  And as far as I am concerned, whether they had “overts : or not, the obsession with money/MEST and the lack of sincere care for the pubic, Missions, Cl4/5 Org staff and Sea Org members was the root cause of it and nothing, no matter how valid it may sound, can serve as a justification.”

The foregoing statement must have been made in hindsight because Kay then went from being a fanatic in the Sea Org to being a more committed fanatic (if that is possible) by becoming an IAS (International Association of Scientologists) fundraiser.  These people are perhaps the most feared people in Scientology because of their savage fundraising techniques.

“From Feb 1992- Jan 2010, I was affiliated with the IAS Administrations and/or directly involved in IAS Activities, particularly as a Fundraiser, Advanceman (setting up Fundraising Events), Fundraiser Assistant and Membership Officer.     Note:  From April 2006- mid 2009- I was minimally involved as I was posted in the CLO WUS as the Planetary Dissemination Unit I/C from April 2006-Feb 2008 and then at ASHOF as the D/BSO for Special Properties from around April 2008- March 2009.  Nevertheless, I was still required to raise funds for the IAS as an “all-hands” action. . .

Next, I trained for my position on the Freewinds from around Nov 1991- Feb 1992.  This included doing the Officer Training Program.  After I completed my training I was posted in the West U.S. Membership Office on N. Berendo, long since changed to L Ron Hubbard Way, in Hollywood, CA.  I worked under Ken Pirak, who was reportedly with the IAS since its formation.   His wife, Mary Pirak, and daughter, Brea, also worked in the Office.  Mary was the Public Officer and Brea, the Admin.

My initiation included statements from Ken Pirak to the effect that all people lie about their money.   He even went to great lengths relaying stories of public who lied to him when he knew they had lots of money that they were withholding information about.  How he got the data about their finances without their knowledge, I do not know.  The stress was on “hard sell” and if I failed to get a substantial amount of money from any parishioner I was reprimanded for being “soft sell”.   There were not only reprimands but penalties/too gruesomes to be faced for me and others who failed to make their quotas and close the public for substantial donations.   These included:  not being able to go to bed- sometimes for days on end getting an average of a few hours of sleep at most, while in town- being kicked out of the office and not allowed to return to it until quota met,  married couples were threatened with losing their berthing and being separated, we were all threatened with being assigned to the Galley to wash pots and/or dishes, clean the walls, floor, etc., being assigned to clean “rats alley” and/or the grease pits, serving meals to the crew (to lower one’s stature), while on tour- not being able to return home until quota, being sent to a tour area that was known to be a set up for failure and have to make it go right regardless, being assigned to eat only rice and beans, etc. It also included being screamed at within an inch of one’s face.   I also experienced a Fundraiser who I worked directly with (Bridget Yavaraski), lashing out at me in the Office late one night for failing to make my quota, cutting into my wrist with her nails- I still have the scar.  It was encouraged for the staff of the office to use “group internal pressure” and this included being brutal.   Ken Pirak also went as far as purposely making statements to introvert me and tell me what was “wrong with me”,   something that was supposed to be forbidden according to LRH policies.  My back was very much up against the wall, “do it or else.”  This included going to their homes and even places of work, unannounced and with no appointment, under the guise of “have not been able to reach you and was concerned”, “have something absolutely urgent/vital that you need to know about, otherwise I would not have come here at this hour and/or unannounced” (which we were lead to believe was true), “was in the neighborhood and thought I’d stop by and or/can I use your bathroom”.    Additionally, quite often I would be teamed up with a high profile Scientologist celebrity and/or Freedom Medal Winner to get my foot in the door.

The attitude that was instilled in us regarding the public was that they were beneath us, that we were superior and they were of low moral character, otherwise they would be in the Sea Org or on staff too and that the least they could do to make up for their lack of participation was to donate large sums of money to the IAS. 

During my tenure as an IAS Fundraiser and other IAS positions, I was encouraged to lie to the public to get in the door and have interviews with them for the purpose of raising

            While in the interview, I would receive non-stop calls coaching me on how to “close” the prospect and threatening that I was not allowed to leave until I had the money in hand, no matter how late it was, or else I would be dealt with severely.  See #5 as for the penalties.

We had a network established with public and staff throughout the world who would be used as “birddogs” to give us leads on who came into money, or is “loaded”, “who is a “good guy” and also very qualified to pay as well as who has been “bad” and needs to make amends and is qualified to make a substantial donation, more often than not, one over the top that would use up just about every resource and credit line they had, plus some.  The leads included staff and Sea Org members, as if they weren’t contributing enough already! The interviews would be set-up and how to approach them would be thoroughly worked out and then orchestrated according to plan, including utilizing those with influence over the person to close them to pay.   We would usually know in advance what their buttons/ruins were and stomp on these hard to extract the funds.  This included carefully wording our communication so as not to out-right lie, but to give the impression that their funds would go to the thing the person wanted their funds addressed to.  Under no circumstances were we allowed to ever tell the public that their funds would for sure go to the thing they wanted, so we had to be very clever on what to say so as to effectively close the person and get the funds in hand.    The truth is, and I was told this on a number of occasions by seniors, only a very small portion of funds raised were ever used on campaigns we were promoting as the most important thing was to “build the War Chest”.

We used all manners of tools to lead the public to believe their funds were going to “save the day” and enable us to fund said project.   We had high profile celebrities/Freedom Medal winners team up on interviews and guest speak at Fundraising events, we had videos of the International Events with COB’s message to donate to the IAS, Freedom Medal Award Winner Videos- particularly the one featuring Tom Cruise, videos featuring “IAS Funded properties and campaigns”- but we were never told how much, if any of the IAS funds we raised were actually paid for these.  It should be noted, that in the process of my fundraising it was very common for me to come against objections from public, particularly those who worked as staff or volunteers for the so-called entities that IAS funded who blatantly claimed that they received very little, if any money.   This came up so often that all of the staff in the offices I worked in were told in no uncertain terms that they needed to submit full reports on any instances of this.  It was implied by this that their claims were false.  Yet, one person in particular, who worked for CCHR Int as a fundraiser for years- Kerrie, insisted otherwise and continued to raise funds for CCHR Int despite alleged IAS funds.   At one point it was explained to us that “legally” IAS can only fund certain things and can’t fund pay, airfares, etc.   Can’t recall the whole list, but when it came right down to it, there was very little we could fund “legally” so the statements from these public /volunteers was not false after all.  We were advised to steer away from it to get the funds and “do the no answer drill”. 

In retrospect, I now realize that I was used as a tool to lure public into donating.   My “skill” was that I had a very good reputation for truly caring about people, with genuine ARC. But since I was considered “soft sell”- as I could not bring myself to extract substantial donations from the public, one of my key functions was “birddog” for the Top Fundraisers and I would nurture the public, help them mend situations with the Church and in their lives and set it up for them to get into interviews with the lead, high dollar IAS Fundraisers who In turn would “Hard Sell” them for just about everything they had all “for the greater good” and they truly believed it and so did I!

Although, I was never part of the Financial Planning Committee for the IAS Administrations, nor for the Offices that I worked in (mainly West U.S, but also 2 years in East U.S.), I did witness what some of the funds were spent on.   Early on in my IAS Fundraising career, when we were referred to as the “West U.S. Membership Office” there was a short time when we were paid wages and from this we paid the Church for our own food and berthing.   During this same time, on a good week, there would sometimes be a surplus and we would get bonuses, however, instead of these being given to us as part of our pay and under our control to spend as we saw fit,  these would be donated on our behalf to the IAS to raise our own status in the IAS.    Around mid 90’s our title was changed to IAS WUS Membership Office or something to that effect and we got a very nice space renovated in the CLO WUS building, while still maintaining ourselves as a separate entity.   However, our pay changed to what most other Sea Org members would get- an allowance of $50 per week, provided there were funds available to cover this, and our meals and berthing on the Base covered as well as travel expenses should we go on tour.   Eventually, there were bonuses established, mainly for the Fundraisers making their quotas, provided the office made its quota.  For a long time my minimum was $20,000 in a week in order to be bonus eligible, this later increased to $30,000. The bonuses were pretty decent such that I felt rather secure in obtaining credit cards and ran them up to $10,000, most of which I donated to the IAS to increase my IAS status, later to not be able to pay off as I was transferred from the IAS West Office to CLO WUS and had a substantial cut in my allowance with very little, if any bonuses.   The other benefits of working with the IAS was that our supplements  were covered, we purchased our own food for the Galley to cook, so were not on rice and bean with the rest of the crew when other Orgs on the base had insufficient funds to feed the crew.   We also had very classy, expensive uniforms- all justified of course that we had to look very professional and have high havingness to raise the sums of money needed.   At one point our uniforms were being custom made by Mr. Lim of High Society in downtown Los Angeles, I have no idea what how much this cost, only that he had photos displayed in his facility of celebrities and VIPs who he designed and made clothing for. His clientele included David Miscavige.  At one point, with a bonus I received, I was encouraged by my senior of that time (Jane Mella), to have Mr. Lim make me a tailor-made 3-piece suit.   As I recall, this was about $600 and greatly discounted due to all the business that we supplied for him.  In my later years with the IAS, we were sent to Brooks Brothers to get fitted for full wardrobes, suits (blazers and pants) and long winter coats.  We had two full sets of uniforms, one for winter and the other, summer, each with 4 shirts, 4 pairs of pants and 2 blazers, if I recall correctly.  These also included Coach purses for these seasons.   Additionally, we received handsome gifts for Christmas including- Hermes scarves, Coach bags, Seiko pocket electronic dictionary/encyclopedia, luggage, etc.   Having the funds through bonuses and stable allowance, we also paid handsomely for Christmas and Birthday gifts for the Chairman of the Board RTC and a little less handsomely for the President IASA of that time (Janet Light McLaughlin, long since out of the IAS and the Sea Org).   No expenses were spared on Org Awards either.   It was common for us to go out to a very high end, 5 star restaurant then to a movie or a play, in fact after the IAS victory, our entire office of 10 or so staff flew out to Las Vegas for a show and dinner and were there for a couple days as I recall, staying in a very expensive hotel, all meals at 4 and 5 star restaurants, etc.   When I was posted in New York, instead of our office eating with the rest of the Sea Org crew, we were each given travel expense money to eat out daily.  I don’t recall how much, but it was at least $25 per day.  One other thing of note is that Janet Light and some other IASA execs were known to have a passion for shopping at high end stores.   In fact, they would commonly sell off their used designer wear and purchase anew.  I purchased a few of Janet’s used clothes and paid upwards of $100 a piece for some of these so you can imagine what she expended when she purchased brand new. 

Lastly, I want to expand on the way some of the public were handled with a couple examples displaying the utter disregard for their welfare, let alone, state of mind, with fixation only on extracting their funds.  Several years ago, I believe in 2002, while on Tour in San Jose, I had to recover from a bomb-out event, by finding public to raise substantial funds from.   My senior at that time was Jane Mella.   She assigned Rob Bosan to tag with me as needed over the phone.   I met a fairly new public, who was working with other Scientologists in a Real Estate Company.  I got her so excited about donating that she was willing to borrow from anyone, pawn off her jewelry, etc.   I was instructed to just about live with her to accomplish this.  The only thing I didn’t do was sleep at her home as this was forbidden, but I stayed nearby for sure.  I was literally with her all day long for days on end, being constantly coached on how to continue to have her be a willing participant. Throughout this, I repeatedly expressed that I had a bad feeling about it and that I wanted to drop it as I didn’t think this was the best thing for her and that she truly was not a qualified prospect.    I was egged on and not allowed to return home and my pleas were refuted.    When the prospect was in the car with me late one night, having yet another failed attempt to get the money, my senior called me and literally screamed at me for minutes on end with the prospect in full ear shot of the entire communication. Needless to say, the prospect was very upset by this and I had my hands full to repair it, which I did.  However, in private, when I called my senior, she would still not let up!    Eventually, I bailed, and was willing to face the penalties for not having gotten the funds in hand.  However, the prospect was still going full steam ahead to get the funds, even though I had ended it.  Eventually, she said the wrong thing to the wrong people at the wrong time( CCHR INT Execs to be more exact), apparently displaying some psychotic behavior and I get accused of “not caring” about her and severely penalized, actually taken off post, temporarily assigned to menial labor, etc. while my senior and the assigned tag, walked Scott- free as if it had nothing to do with them!   This was just one example.  It was common-place for the Fundraiser to get all the wrath for an interview gone sour, with the senior who wouldn’t listen and let them bail out, assuming no responsibility.

Another example was in the mid 90’s when I was teamed up with Miriam Bright.  We had gotten a hot tip from an FSM named Leann claiming that her selectee, a very old man with dementia, was loaded with money.  His name was Ralph Grimes and he was in his late-7os and lived walking distance from the Base in squalid quarters.  We must have spent at least 2 full days talking to him and trying to find the money that he supposedly had, with him insisting all along that he did not have it.  Finally the FSM came over and found his Bank passbook which showed him having close to $40,000 in the Bank.   Of course we were in communication with our senior, Mr.  Ken Pirak all along and not allowed to bail at any point in the cycle.  That said, when we told him about the bank data, he was ruthless about us getting nearly the entire sum, with no regard for the person.   There was even a question as to whether or not this was legally ok, since he was not going to be around much longer, may have a relative in his will that was due to inherit it, may be a well-kept secret that he had the money if he had been receiving relief from the state, etc.   I well recall saying all these things to Ken and having it brushed aside with threats of “you better get it or else”.    Well, after all that we did get it, and to this day I do not know what became of Ralph.

            For nearly all the years of my involvement I was lead to believe that all the Church activities were in accord with the Founder’s wishes and were very noble, with parishioners’, let alone mankind’s best interests at heart.   I was kept under very firm control so as not to stray from believing anything to the contrary.  At the slightest hint of doubt, I was subject to investigation with extensive metered interviews and security checking procedures, and the attendant ridicule and punishment/amends projects for daring to have a viewpoint that did not coincide with what I was supposed to believe.  It was no accident that it was nearly impossible for me to have sufficient contact with the outside world to discover what was really going on.  I rarely had the opportunity to visit with or speak to my family during my 35 years on staff and/or the Sea Org.  There always seemed to be emergencies and lack of personnel resources to cover for me should I want to take my annual 3 week leaves that were part of my contractual agreement, but then, even if I could get myself covered, during a good part of my Staff/Sea Org  tenure I could rarely accumulate sufficient funds to do so.   I have since discovered that I was factually implanted with the idea that the very concept of family was “other fish to fry”, “off purpose”, “PTS to the Middle Class”.   Unfortunately, I bought into this and developed an attitude of not caring about my family and only maintaining contact at Christmas as it would be socially unacceptable to do otherwise.   In my later years, just before I resigned from the Sea Org in June 2010, the security measures were heightened considerably to the point that one could barely even walk around the block without being surrounded and questioned by at least 3 security staff!   In fact, posting security personnel was a priority.    There was a booklet created for the staff regarding the rules of conduct that we were all required to read.  It was made very clear that our contact with the outside world, including family and friends not in the Sea Org, was to be just about nil.   I am happy to say that since I have been out, I have re-established communication with my family and I love them very dearly.  They are not “beneath me”, “mere wogs” as I was implanted to believe.

 This is true, K. M. Rowe”

Narconon: The Fraud of Scientology. Stories of Abuse.

The cult of Scientology has undergone serious losses in membership over the years.  This has resulted in a big drop in revenue.  Although they have made every effort to squeeze more money out of the remaining membership they have had to rely more and more on their front groups to bring in the cash.  Making money has always been the main purpose of Scientology management. 

            While the main activity of Scientology has been to bilk credulous people out of their money the most visible product of Scientology over the years has been lawsuits and scandals.  Because of Scientology’s bad reputation these front groups have tried to distance themselves from their so-called “church.”  Their glossy brochures and web pages seldom mention either Scientology or even L. Ron Hubbard.  Instead the talk about how nice their facilities are, how caring and understanding they are and their extraordinary success rate.  However, there was never much truth in anything that Hubbard said or wrote.  These front groups, like Narconon, are just as economical with truth as the great sage that they follow.   

Some Simple Truths about Narconon. 

            First of all their success rate is listed as being seventy, eighty or more percent.  This is sheer nonsense.  The only studies done on this “non-medical” drug rehab center was done by ABLE, another Scientology front group staffed with world class liars.  The bogus “scientific evidence” that they list is garbage; most of the people they quote are Scientologists who are taught to lie from early on in Scientology.  After all, the truth does not count for much if it reflects badly on “the only hope for Mankind.”

            Much is made on their web sites about “counselors,” “trained staff members,” “medical personnel,” “nurses,” “doctors,” “specialists,” and the like.  The truth is that the staffs are former addicts that graduated from Narconon and were “trained” by a short Scientology orientated course.  They are woefully unskilled in addiction treatment, are virtually unsupervised and some of the last people on earth that should be responsible for the care of others.  Medical care in virtually non-existent; there is no on site doctor and seldom a licensed nurse.  The most that you can count on is a trip to the emergency room and pray they get you there in time.  You will pay the bill though.  All of the talk about your loved on being in the care of others is sheer hog-wash.  The use of drugs by staff members and their charges are nothing less than a continuing scandal as are the resulting deaths.

            The web sites of Narconon always show wonderful premises full of smiling “students.”  In real life they are often dirty, nasty and poorly maintained.  The beaches, the heated pools, comfortable verandas and the like are just part of this hoax.  Scientology likes to take the money of victims but has never been much for spending anything on their members or anyone else for that matter.  Any complaints against squalid conditions will get you a trip to the “ethics officer,” one of the hundreds of Scientology terms victims get to learn.  In this case this “ethics officer,” is there to stop any complaints, no matter how valid they are and to make the lives even more miserable than they are by issuing punishments to them.  Those who are in this program learn early on not to say anything negative about Hubbard.

            There are no refunds no matter what they say or promise.  If you get anywhere you must try governmental agencies that handle frauds like this.  There are no free services; if you return to drugs after taking the program you will NOT get readmitted free of charge. 

            Dangerous “non-medical” methods of treatment rely on long periods of time in a sauna to “sweat out” toxins.  From a scientific standpoint that is impossible.  It is also a very dangerous thing for addicts, with damaged livers, to try.  If you get sick from hour after hour sitting in stifling heat don’t look for the staff to do anything for you.  Almost as dangerous is the vitamin concoction that they give you.  Taking huge amounts of vitamins that can be toxic in excessive amounts is also bad for a stressed liver.  Sickness from these quack remedies are commonly reported; what is not reported is any real attempt to separate those people with compromised livers.  The physicals are perfunctory and next to useless as they don’t do the proper lab tests need for a diagnosis.

             The rest of the treatment consists of reading various books or listening to tapes by the great thinker l. Ron Hubbard.  Interestingly enough Hubbard himself did not start Narconon.  It was dreamed up by two Sea Org members working in the Guardians Office.  This was the part of Scientology who were responsible, at that time, for legal affairs and getting even with critics.  Not a place generally thought of as a hive of great thinkers.  Hubbard himself knew nothing about addiction.  He was not a medical doctor; he had no degree beyond the one given to him by a diploma mill run by an LA chiropractor.  Hubbard had no clinical experience with drug addicts and did no research on the subject.  Yet his followers considered him another Einstein. 

            It would be safe to say that Narconon, like its parent Scientology, is a scam that is based on lies.  Almost nothing they say is true; those who rely on them for positive results are often bitterly disappointed.

Here follows a few of the many Narconon horror stories that can be found on the Net.

Note: Some people still think that if they check things out with the Better Business Bureau that you can get an objective report on weather a business is a scam or not.  WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE BBB: NOT a government agency as listed in your local phone book. Instead the BBB is a private non-profit / franchise operation. 20/20 exposes the BBB, Hamas Terror Group Gets ‘A’ Rating – BBB is running a “pay for play” scheme.

The following complaints were listed on the “Ripoff Report.” 

http://www.ripoffreport.com/directory/Narconon.aspx

“. . . Complete and utter lies!!!   Narconon Southern California, Inc. located in Warner Springs.

I’m not going to repeat everyone’s stories I’ve read about Narconon. It’s horrible! I’m a very thorough person but when my son came to me and wanted help, I became emotional and against my better judgment let these people snow me. It started with a “referral” site was supposed to be independent of any rehab programs. Long story short as soon as my son got to the center after his non-medical detox he was sent to the center in warner springs California, called sunshine summit lodge, Narconon fresh start. Everything these people told me on the phone were complete and utter lies!!! The brochure made it look so nice. They said had the best medical staff at this site with the best doctors and nurses. They have NO medical staff there. So I had to lie about a death in the family to get my son out of there. So here I am out of $30,000, my life savings. I have written CA attorney general’s office which because the facility gets no government funding they cannot do anything.  I just wrote the FBI internet fraud site. Someone please help me figure out how to get my money back and shut this dam place down. Why don’t we all get together and get a class action lawsuit against these scientology, lying predators and put a stop to this!!

Ten Red Flags Ignored.  Narconon, Stone Hawk Recovery, Battle Creek, Michigan.  The name has since been changed to “Forever Recovery, Inc.”

Please pay attention, your money and your loved ones life is at risk.

I will assume if you are reading this, you like me are desperately seeking help for someone you love: About 3 months ago I began searching for a facility that could really help my 19 yr. old daughter, whom has a “pill” problem. Like most “seekers” I had to work in the perimeters of what I could afford and where my ins. co. would pay. After searching locally, I responded to an internet ad, and hence began the nightmare of “A Forever Recovery” I was sold 1st by a nice fellow by the name of David, I really believed and still do that he meant what he was saying. “Now follow me on this” I after 3 or 4 conversations with David, told him that I could not afford, at the time to admit my daughter, and I was not sure it was the right timing. We talked another time about a week later and David quieted all my concerns. Concerns being I am afraid to send my daughter out of state, I am afraid they would not keep her long enough, I am afraid because although we had good medical ins. the drug treatment part did not seem to satisfy, other treatment centers for just a 30 day stay, much less the 90, or up to 6 months they were talking about, because according to David, they did not really concern themselves with the amount of money they got, but there main concern was my daughters, recovery. Wow! I thought that’s nice! A place where they care! My wife having worked in the healthcare field, including treatment centers seen this as the 1st red flag……..Oh well read on….

I told David I would GET her in as soon as I could. About a month later I called David’s cell phone and got a voice/mail. The call was returned later by a fellow named “Murry” who informed me that “David” no longer worked there but that he would be happy to help me. Once again checking my ins. and telling me that for the low cost of a deductible of 5K, paid upon admit, my daughter would get all the attention she needed, and that if they had to keep her for up to 6 months it did not matter, that the well-seasoned staff, “in recovery” would determine when my daughter was ready to handle “staying sober”. He also reiterated that because of their unprecedented recovery rate they practically guaranteed it. In other words, if my daughter needed to come back it was FREE OF CHARGE!  WOW! 2nd red flag: “too good to be true?”

We were sold. My wife and I, teary eyed, with finally finding a place that seemed to care began booking flights from Austin TX to Detroit MI. My wife was going with my daughter to help her get in. Murry said that would be fine! I booked the flight, and called Murry and informed him that they would be arriving at about 7:45pm at DTW. Murry said that’s great! We will have someone at baggage with a sign with my daughter’s name on it, and they would drive them to the center and give my wife a tour.  They boarded the plane from Austin TX early morn.  Destined for    “A Forever Recover.”

Arriving in DTW, there was a man there with a sign saying “Welcome Debbie”, this is a fictitious name, for I don’t want to use my daughters. He was surprised to see my wife, he was nice enough, but unprofessional and hence came the 3rd red flag.

He said he thought Debbie was coming alone; my wife informed him that my husband certainly told “Murry” that she was coming. And “MURRY SAID GREAT!” They began making calls, and it became clear to my wife that Murry was upset, and said he did not know she was coming. The “happy tour” of the center would be shortened because of it being so late. Nevertheless, they took off in a co. van. The driver had no real credentials, and began to talk away, on the 1-1/2 hour commute. My wife inquired about “David” whom was our 1st contact with the center. Remember David? We’ll he blunted out oh David he Killed himself. Shot himself with a gun. Don’t know why. Just did. 4th red flag. I am not judging David, he was personable, young and I liked him, I do not know why he killed himself. I just know, with this lone guy picking up, what he thought to be my 19 year old daughter, alone at night, out of state, a kid with a drug problem, at an airport, was wrong, it was the main reason for this 3rd red flag. My wife and I thought it to be, to say the least odd, risky, and unprofessional, including his conversation. Furthermore he was not in recovery. My wife was just hoping my daughter did not hear the part about David. It upset her.

Upon arriving my wife and daughter were escorted inside and began the admit process, my wife had an urge to get up take our daughter our money and leave. She could feel the animosity from the staff at a late evening tour, she was concerned with the staff. 5th red flag. I will keep this short. Why did my wife leave our daughter? Her and I can only say this. Most with an addicted child mite understand. When you have watched your child die on an ER table, when you have spent countless nights crying and worrying, when you have searched for your child in area’s that you never would drive through at night, when you get up in the morning and they are not there, and your ritual has become calling the local hospitals and jails to find them, when you watch your daughter go from straight A’s to F’s when you see her dying before your very eyes, when you are  living this real, daily, an nightly nightmare, you simply “Want to Believe” so consequently you do.   And unfortunately this can become a marketing tool for the “Soul-Less.”

My daughter was in “detox” for 7 days,  she was never seen by a counselor. 6th red flag. When my wife began to call the center, no-one would return a call. Our daughter was already crying and wanting to come home. My wife called every available number we had, even oh MR>Great! Murry, and no-one would call her back. By the time the day was ending, with at least 4 calls in, she was shaking, with fear.    7th red flag

I arrived home and seen my wife and I called Murry. He picked up. I swear, it was like a different person. He basically told us to go to hell. My wife picked up the phone and tried to have an intelligent conversation, and he all but to demean her. Arrogance and defensiveness  was his manner.  We asked him to check on several things for us and he finally agreed too, including find out why our daughter hadn’t contacted us, and he said he would and hung up. We waited for 2 hours, it was almost 9pm by now and he did not. I called and got an operator, she said he went home…I began looking on the internet and found many complaints, from parents whom had a similar experiences, getting very concerned, I called back, pretending to be an attorney, and We finally got a call back from a Holly. 8th red flag. We began looking at booking a late flight to Mi. in the meantime..

“Holly” called me and began to try to explain thing away. We began insisting that we hear from our daughter. Holly explained that she was gone to a spiritual type retreat we later learned was in a man’s apartment. We voiced our concerns and Holly was as good as David and Mr. Great! Murry. She began to tell us what we wanted to hear. Although when Holly mentioned that she had only 1-1/2 years sober and was the employee with the most tenure, it was alarming.  9th red flag.   I must note here that although I believe Murry and others know exactly the game they are playing with addicts lives, Holly don’t, she is being manipulated, in her young, fragile sobriety.

Here again I believe Holly believed her banter, and as a result, we did to, we still stayed in our denial, in hopes of our daughter getting help.  After this conversation we asked that our daughter, call us once daily, to quell our fears. She did. I am going to shorten this. Daily my daughter cried to come home, saying it was like high school, boys sleeping with girls, competition, no real help from staff, we tried to hang in there, my wife and I both talking with her about working through things, and not letting her know, about our concerns about the center, and employees, afraid she would use it to sabotage her “recovery.” Nevertheless as time went on and we found out after almost 20 days , she only seen her “counselor” once, who was not in recovery, we began to break through our denial and discuss bringing our daughter home….yet there is more, much more.

About this time, I get a call from my daughter and she is crying and tells me of an incident that took place. She had allowed a fellow patient use her ph. calling card. The girl wrote down her calling card number and used all the minuets. My daughter went to confront her and a fight insured. Nevertheless “Holly” called me and informed me that my daughter was being “suspended” for 15 days. I said Holly It is late in the evening, we are in Texas, can it wait till tomorrow? She said no, she would be dropped off at a “safe mission” that night, in Kalamazoo. I said Holly as far as I am concerned you are writing her death warrant, she is only 19 and only 10 days out of detox, she is in another state, she will be in a less supervised area. Holly is good; she convinced me and my wife to hang in there, that the mission is safe, and she would get the 15 days reduced to 7, and our daughter could come back. Then she said, oh by the way, if your daughter uses, you will have to give us another 5K to detox her.     10th red flag

Again we tried to hang in there, being convinced by Holly this would work out and the mission was safe. We’ll let me keep this short, the 1st day our daughter begged to come, home, Holly begged us to leave her there. We tried, but after my daughter disappeared for 2 days, having a gun pulled on her, after her cloths being stole. I called the Kalamazoo police department, for help to find my daughter, and for advice. The Office I won’t say his name was very nice. He said come get your daughter, he has seen this from the center before and the mission is not safe. It is drug infested….Come find and get her.

WE BOUGHT A ONE WAY TICKET TO MI. TO GET OUR DAUGHTER, IF SHE MUST DIE, WE WILL LET HER DIE WITH US. NO WE ARE OBVIOUSLY NOT GOING TO ENABLE HER TO DIE. BUT NEITHER WILL WE LET SOME GREEDY ASS, TREATMENT CENTER KILL HER.

MY DAUGHTER FINNALLY CALLED FROM A HOTEL, MY WIFE AND I CRIED, AND SHE IS ON HER WAY TO GET HER. AT THIS POINT UNTILL SHE IS SAFE WITH HER MOM, I WILL BE APREHENSIVE. MY WIFES PLANE WILL LAND IN DETROIT AT 4:32PM 4/28/10    MY DAUGHTER IS TO CONTACT HER. I AM WAITING…..

MORAL OF THIS STORY “IF IT SOUNDS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, IT IS”

Police “Often Called,” by Family Members to Rescue Victims of Narconon Battle Creek.   Stone Hawk Recovery has changed their name to “Forever Recovery.”  The tactics and lies have stayed the same.  If you read enough of these stories you will understand why they had to change the name.

Sent my 21 year old son, a crack addict, from Texas to Michigan, in hopes of getting him professional help for his addiction.  Assured the “counselors” would stay in close contact with me as my son acclimated to the program. I never received a phone call, nor had a phone call returned after many attempts to contact, leaving messages to return my calls. My son phoned me, having to sneak the phone calls, informing me about the “program” tactics. He told me they were using brainwashing techniques, having the “students” sit for hours with “eyes closed”, then “eyes open”. If there was a break in the trans-like state. blinking, smile, cough, any movement, the process would start all over. Once this altered state was mastered, the “students” were asked a single question, like “do birds fly”, over and over again. and the “student” is to answer “yes”, for hours on end. These “counseling sessions” are referred to as “Training Routines”.

When I contacted Shaun Keilty, the intake “counselor”, a former drug addict who had graduated from the program, and questioned about the validity of the information and the connection to Scientology, he laughed and denied the connection. After much investigation to identify the validity of the reports my son was giving me, and speaking with Jeff VanVonderen from A&E TV’S “Intervention”, and Dave Touretsky, a Research Professor, who has researched the Church of Scientology and Narconon, I made the informed decision to immediately drive to Michigan and retrieve my son.

Once employees of Stone Hawk got wind I was on my way to get my son, I had a barrage of phone calls from the Ethics Officer “Andy”, the intake counselor, and I don’t know who else, I quite taking the calls. The phone calls were filled with insistent interrogating questions about why I was coming to get my son, where was I coming from (I thought they knew about their “students”), how I was getting there, how long it was going to take. I became very uncomfortable, and worried about the safety of my son and what I was going to run into when I did arrive at the facility.

The harassing phone calls were made to my mother as well. When arriving in Battle Creek, I contacted the police and had 2 police officers escort me into the facility. One police officer commented that they are called quite often to escort families to the Stone Hawk facility to pick up their family member. I was able to get my son without any incident.

Once home, in Texas, I wrote a demand letter for a refund, and sent to Narconon Stone Hawk via US Postal first class mail, certified mail, and faxed to the Stone Hawk facility as well as the business office. I have not received any response.

This drug rehab facility advertises itself as having a 75% success rate, having fully qualified and certified staff of drug rehab counselors, being scientifically sound. No counseling takes place, and the “students” are not even allowed to speak of/mention drugs let alone their addictions at any time during their stay. Money is paid up front. $27,900 plus $200 medical acct and $200 student acct, for a 4-6 month program.

Supposedly a 50% refund is given if the “student” does not complete more than 15 days. My son was at Narconon for 11 days, no contract was signed, and no contact has been made by Narconon Stone Hawk to me, before or since my contact attempt for refunds.

For more on the Narconon fraud in Battle Creek go here:  http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Stop-Narconon/StoneHawk/

Narconon Freedom Center, Albion, Michigan.

Okay, so first off this is the second worst experience of my life because of the first worse experience of my life was myself throwing away 10 years of my life to drugs and alcohol. I shall continue now with the details of why this experience was so awful. Note, I would like to say that I am more than likely going to forget some detail; I may or may not come back later and add them in depending on how important I feel they are…

So I was in need of a drug rehab. I arrive in Albion, Michigan at this huge facility. It was late at night and I was really high when I arrived. From the outside it looks pretty good, really good. I go in and I pass out until about noon the next morning. At first because of how high I am the detox (withdraw) facility looks and seems pretty nice. Three meals a day, about eight other drug addicts to talk with and pretty decent staff members, I have my own room with my own sink. Anyway let’s get to the good parts…

I complete the detox/withdraw part of the program. I start what is known as book one. Book one consists of TR’s (training routines). Pretty much what this translates to is torture. You find yourself staring at another person who is known as your twin for hours and hours each day. Only allowed to blink and breathe. if you move they make you start over, no coughing, sneezing, NOTHING (not a joke). You also talk to ashtrays as loud as you can and command another person to walk to and from a wall over and over.  Each of these for hours upon hours.

after I completed book one which took me about two weeks (on average it will take somebody a week, but I did not give into the torture so easily and had constant questions), I started sauna, which is where you sit inside of a sauna room for about five hours a day with only a break in the middle for thirty minutes to eat. You do get regular breaks whenever you want but it’s all bull crap. in sauna they feed you extremely unsafe amounts of niacin which makes you break out in an extreme rash and often hives for sometimes upwards of an hour. They also feed you extreme amounts of nasty tasting vitamins which cause diarrhea.

I almost forgot to mention, all throughout the whole time I did the program there, other students were constantly getting high and buying booze from the local liquor store right down the street, which does not card because I had actually done it once or twice. These students usually get little more than a slap on the wrist and allowed to stay and get more students high yet again with little or no punishment.

Besides that little tidbit the amount of staff members that get high and drunk is an extreme amount. Every staff member there with the exception of a couple kitchen workers and two or three security guards went through the program there. There are no doctors on site; the doctor makes an appearance once or twice a week or maybe an hour or two. The nurse is a fat piece of crap who doesn’t do anything and has no knowledge of anything medical whatsoever. Her name is Melissa but she goes by mo. her intelligence is that of a ten year old.

All throughout sauna I was getting extreme migraines and was given nothing for them and yelled at saying I was faking it. You are not allowed to have any Tylenol or anything like that, no Advil nothing. It’s all bull crap, they don’t believe in that stuff because they are directly related to and ran by the church of scientology which they will never ever mention. They will die over it first. several of the staff members attend the church of scientology regularly, such as Travis A.

Let me tell you about Travis. He was working there and he got a restraining order put on him by a female student, so he had to leave and wait until she graduated to come back and work. This guy is the ultimate creep. He is a child molester on steroids. And if you ever meet the guy you would never know because of his sharp appearance and he is well dressed. He talks to all the girls around there like a piece of meat as well.

Anyway after sauna aka book two; you do book three which is bull crap, nothing good in it. Book 4a which is TRs again on steroids this time though (took me a month to finish, absolute torture). let me tell you about book 4b, oh god, this book is the worst out of them all, you would find your loved ones walking around touching walls and tables all day long and this is supposed to help them realize why they started using drugs or alcohol in the first place. This book took me three months to complete when others can complete it in a month on average. I just question and say how things were bull crap too much. The people teaching these books have no degrees whatsoever in anything except for scientology. and in case you didn’t know l. Ron Hubbard (founder of scientology) was a science fiction writer, a felon, and a woman abuser. By the way if you ever go tour the facility they will never ever let you go into any of the classrooms while they are in session with students. They may let you see the sauna, but all you do in there is sitting in a box.

The rest of the program on is mostly bull crap, nothing interested, nothing really works. It’s pretty much a torture/scientology based program to convince you to never use drugs again. They advertise a 70 percent success rate which is bull crap. Throughout the time I was there I’d often hear about and even witness people who completed it to constantly come back to it and do the whole program over with no results still. there is no real substance to the program besides the torture aspect and maybe the first two weeks of sauna which they keep people in sauna for twice that long or longer on average (very dangerous).

Some of the people to look out for if you do send your loved one there are Keith Ritchie who has had to do the program three times because of his habitual crack and alcohol use, he works there now, believe it or not ha-ha. Chris wattles who is a two timer of the program as well who crashed and flipped his car while drinking. These two are roommates and I know for a fact that they both still drink, they have a fridge stocked with beer (I know because of a recent phone call). JJ, Kyle, and Whitney, all hypocrites and tell you how not to drink and do drugs when they drink on a regular basis at their home (more than three nights a week). These people are all bad for the everyday person. I would stay away at all costs. Avoid Travis big time, he’s good with words and manipulation.

I know of two different people who Narconon freedom center was supposed to refund their money and never did, both lost 14 thousand dollars. A lot huh?

There are some decent people there but there is at least one bad person for every good one working there. The decent ones are just blind and not very intelligent and also very gullible to the fact that it’s a scientology organization.

I know all of this because of my six months spent in the program and my over a solid year of working there. I had to quit and leave because of all the nonsense I read online about scientology. I one day just looked it up online and was amazed at the amount of stuff I read. For every pro scientology website there are at least ten negative ones exposing the truth behind scientology.

Oh I forgot to mention, I’ve heard on more than one occasion of staff members sleeping with students. Such as Chris wattles girlfriend (I can’t remember her name right now, not important though) sleeping with a guy named Yada working in withdraw. Also an old security guard sleeping with a female student in the women’s wing late at night. All one hundred percent true.  Be warned, this is just the tip of the iceberg.

the facility is also full of trash, holes in the walls, over packed rooms (four students per a room, and the room is smaller than the one I have to myself back home as I write this), foul talking staff members (they all cuss and make sexually forward comments, especially to the girls, watch out for Travis), broken windows. They hide all of this stuff really well, but if you get a tour and look very closely, you will see it all, just keep your eyes peeled.

They brainwash you into using all scientology lingo/terms such as data, technology, TRs, KR report, CSW, the list goes on and on.

If you believe we were banished here by an evil alien named XENU (yes look it up on Google) then this place is for you. I’ve seen allies with better people and that were cleaner.

Yours truly, EX NARCONON STUDENT AND STAFF MEMBER FOR A TOTAL OF EIGHTEEN MONTHS

The Hidden Hubbard at Narconon Vista Bay, Watsonville, CA. 

When looking for a residential treatment facility thru a referral line I was told that I would receive a call from a counselor at a facility chosen from hundreds that would best fit the needs of my daughter.  A very nice man called to explain the program. He was very kind and took all the time in the world to discuss my situation and assure me that their trained staff and facility would be great. He then mentioned that they we should schedule an intervention with interventionists they could refer. When ask if there was a “name ” for the facility or website he directed me to ” Treatment for Success”…. Here it does describe a non-traditional approach to treatment, but aside from a few things sounding a bit strange it never set off any “red flags”.  I scheduled the intervention for $4k and it was not until my daughter was on her way to the airport that the Interventionist brought up the name VISTA BAY.  I asked what that was? And he said it is the name of the facility…My daughter arrived safely and they contacted me with updates.  By this time I was reading these reports on the internet and when the staff member said that my daughter “was doing well detoxing, that she was smiling, laughing and making friends.”  This was my first huge red flag, this is exactly what another parent had written in another report, his exact words verbatim.   Then he told me that my daughter wanted him to tell me she was sorry for giving me a hard time and to thank me for sending her there, because she was so happy to be there. The phrase ” hard time” is not a phrase I had ever heard her use and later, (after talking with my daughter) she had not said that.

Due to an a long weekend and Holiday I had not paid the facility yet, the $34k, non- refundable up front charge for treatment.  With all the information I was reading and due to the fact that they had misled me regarding the actual name of the facility I decided to pick my daughter up.  I now know that most facilities refund a pro-rated portion of their fees if your child leaves. Vista Bay will not refund a penny.  I did find out that claims there are no licensed counselors, doctors, etc. is true.  The program is run entirely by the graduated, which may have been ok, if they had been honest about that.   The material used is all that of LR Hubbard, which again may have been ok, but the fact that it was all completely omitted is my biggest problem…..   The staff was extremely friendly, and yes they did have all the time in the world to talk about your situation and make you feel they are there to help, which may also be true, but I personally was not willing to risk paying for something that was so controversial. There was no way that I could speak with my daughter to discuss the program prior to paying the 34K… …. When I picked up my daughter the staff was very friendly, we were able to get all her belongings, including her ID.  I have taken her to a different facility. And actually I don’t doubt that Vista Bay has success getting people off drugs, but I feel they need to be forthcoming regarding the fact that this is run entirely by members of the church of scientology and all material used was written by the founder.

 

Narconon – Vista Bay Vista Bay Deceptive and False Advertising, Con Artists Watsonville, California

It is hard to explain the depth of this scheme without having lived it yourself; however I sincerely hope this account prevents at least one desperate individual/family from investing a significant amount of money into a disgusting scam.

Firstly, Narconon Vista Bay is a drug rehab facility that runs $29,000. Given the nature of drug rehabs and the financial commitment in particular of this one, the incredible majority of interested parties are in a state of absolute desperation. The Narconon sales team, Mike Dipalma in particular are aware of this and do everything possible (such as calling constantly for status updates when a family is trying to make the decision, lying – I will get to the use of this word in this context later – and declaring that unless patient X leaves TODAY there will not be any beds left, and pushing cheap plane tickets if you purchase them NOW among many other tactics).

Pushing “time sensitivity” alone is despicable; however the sales team also lies, glosses over, and intentionally omits an unbelievable amount of information. For instance patient Y was told she had to reserve a bed and be on a plane the same day as the phone call or there would not be a bed available. Upon arrival and for the subsequent 2 months at no point were all (or even close to all) of the beds at the Vista Bay location alone (there are two other locations: Placerville and Tahoe, which have availability always and take ‘overflow’ from Vista Bay) taken.

The “heated pool” is very, very, small, outdoors, and NEVER heated (to save money)

The “beaches” they like to advertise will only be seen after students complete book 4 (approx. 2-3months into the program conservatively), and then only on Sundays, and then only if the majority of students going out on Sunday vote for the beach (doesn’t happen), and then only if an individual student has 0 “chits” for the entire week. One receives a “chit” for being 1+ second late to roll call (called ~6x/day), doesn’t clean his room to the supervisors standards, his roommates (plural) don’t clean their stuff to a supervisors standard daily, if the student does anything any “faculty” (i.e. ex-addicts a number of whom will plainly admit that although they graduated the program they would be incapable of remaining clean if they did not work/live/eat with and at Narconon Vista Bay – In my opinion becoming a prisoner for life at Narconon is not a success story), etc. etc.

The “basketball court” is one broken hoop on a slippery gravel court not large enough to play 1/2 court on (during a 2 week period I saw 1 person break their ankle and numerous others receive bad cuts and scrapes from falling).

Everything in the program is attributed to L. Ron Hubbard (founder of scientology). His picture is hung up on numerous walls. Any talk of scientology, or negative comment concerning L. Ron Hubbard garners an “ethics cycle” (will get to later on). Additionally they present you with a paper saying you will refrain from vocalizing any and all comments/concerns about the program or L. Ron Hubbard that are not completely positive. If you refuse to sign the paper they tell you it’s irrelevant and goes into effect regardless. The punishment for another comment is continued ethics cycles or suspension.

Allow me to diverge quickly into “ethics cycles” and how one gets them. An ethics cycle where if they feel you have gone out of line (anything from a negative L. Ron comment, a negative comment about the effectiveness of the program or the faculty, or 3 chits) you are forced to stop your program, confess to whatever they accuse you of (this is done by signing a paper to that effect), and performing manual labor (such as raking leaves, digging holes – not even kidding – etc.) for approximately a week; although the exact time is determined by the ethics officers. On one occasion a bad storm hit and a number of branches fell down. In the subsequent day a number of students received ethics duty for minor-imaginary infractions. Needless to say they saved Narconon money cleaning up the branches. After the fallout of the storm was cleared the students were all taken off ethics…

Words such as brainwash, cult, indoctrination, zombies, rituals, etc. overheard at any point by faculty (or students who are encouraged to write up other students) are punished immediately with an ethics cycle (they deny it’s punishment and insist it’s “part of certain individuals’ programs). If a student speaks with these words in reference to the program multiple times they are suspended.

Massages are in no way shape or form massages. “Assists” as they call them come in two varieties. 1. the “nerve assist” – here they rub down your spine twice and then proceed to lightly draw their fingers from you spine out to your ribs, flip you over and repeat for 30 minutes at a time. They claim it releases “bottled up nerve impulses” and allows for damaged nerve endings to repair themselves – As a biochemistry major I can assure you no one with the slightest knowledge of physiology will tell you this “explanation” has any merit whatsoever. 2. “body communication” – here they take their hands and put slight pressure on your body from shoulders to feet each time repeating the mantra “feel my hands” approximately every 2-4seconds also for 30 minutes at a time. The explanation here is they are putting your body in better communication – need I say anything to that? If for some reason one desired these “massages” after the withdrawal portion of the program they would have to get them from same sex students trained in the techniques.

The training for the assists/withdrawal cabin “specialist” (I swear on my life I am not making this up, and I saw it with my own eyes) involves, in part, walking a stuffed teddy bear with a “teacher” watching and coaching (i.e. “make the bear look up into that tree” student then must physically turn the bears head to point towards the tree), and to top it off the trainee must perform both assists on the teddy bear.

I could continue for ages on the horrors of this program, but I will instead just touch on 2-3 more crucial points.

1. When you arrive there is a blackout period of 10 days. During this 10 days students are allowed no access to a phone, internet, etc. (internet is always prohibited barring a 1/100 reason, and the phones are always pay phones – incredibly expensive even with a calling card). The staff at no point during these 10 days mentions that any student leaving during that period is entitled a full refund. Everyone is very nice until you sign this packet of 100 or so pages agreeing not to sue and to their entire arbitrary borderline fascist (seriously) rules. At which point all staff gives you attitude and basically treats you like a prisoner.

2. There is not one licensed counselor, much less physiatrist on the staff. All medicines (including Tylenol for headaches, any cold medicine – i.e. Dimetapp, etc. are not allowed). Any dental/other surgeries will be done with local anesthetic alone and only if absolutely necessary. Withdrawal cabin, where everyone is abruptly taken off of all medicines (including anti-depressants). Saint John’s Wort and Willow Bark are given in lue of SSRI’s and Tylenol.

3. Any individual who chooses to leave (self-paying, self-admitted adults included) will not be given their stuff back. In my time one individual (self-paying/admitted) was told by the doctor he was not medically fit for the sauna program (due to a heart condition). After this news he waited 4 days of constantly talking to the staff, who had him talk to his father and friends (all of whom agreed he should leave) and as of my departure they still refused to give him his wallet, ID, etc.

4. The first 1-2 weeks (after withdrawal) are spent doing “TRs” (training routines). These entail sitting 3 feet from another individual in a chair with both of your eyes closed for 40-80 minutes at a time. Neither of you can itch, straighten up in your seat, or move in any way whatsoever or you start again. Even if you go 80 minutes your first attempt you are told to do it again to “practice”. This is then done with eyes open where one must stare at the person across from you and never look away. The purpose of eyes closed is to “be comfortable in a space”. Eyes open to “be comfortable confronting someone else”. Other of the first week drills (these are then revisited later after the sauna for longer durations) include asking over and over for 2 hr. class periods “do birds fly” if your partner (called “twins” at Narconon) answers the question (i.e. “yes”) student replies “thank you, do birds fly?” if partner answers with something about himself (i.e. “my leg hurts”) student acknowledges like so “I understand, I’ll repeat the question, do birds fly?” if partner answers with a comment (i.e. “I hate you”) student ignores it an says “I’ll repeat the question, do birds fly?”

I honestly am not making up one bit of this. The other exercises are even more ridiculous including holding an ash tray out in front of you and screaming at the top of your lungs “stand up!” (student then lifts the ash tray and holds it in the air) still screaming “thank you! Sit down!” (student lowers ash tray to the seat) still screaming “thank you! stand up!” (and repeat). Like I said this can go on forever and I was only there a short period of time.

One final story; at night they have one ex-addict, ex-graduate watch over the 50-60 “students” sleeping at Vista Bay (by the way the staff-to-student ratio is nowhere near 1:1. From my count ~15 staff dealt with students on a daily basis and at least 8 of those were in secretarial/paper pushing roles. The only individualized attention given to a student is when he/she speaks negatively of the program). One night the night duty man Craig showed up so high on heroin he could not walk. Students saw him visibly fall a number of times, slur his words, have eyes that were “pinned” (extreme opposite of dilated and a distinct sign of an opiate high). Students were then forced to deal with this situation and call in other faculty from off site. The next day when students pressed the faculty they said it was said and to leave it. I told them they should make an announcement, which the ultimately, and reluctantly did. During which they explained the night man was no longer working for them etc.

At this point I asked for the faculty to be UAd (Urinary Analysis) by the students (the faculty had UAd the students 2 days prior because drugs had been discovered in the facility). I said that for the students to take seriously the word of the faculty they should prove they aren’t using and if they aren’t they have nothing to fear. Approximately an hour later I was told I was being suspended for “telling another student he should sue Narconon for taking him off anti-depressants cold turkey”.

1. I never said anything of the sort

2. The student in question to my knowledge had never taken anti-depressants in his life

3. The student himself says I never said that

4. When asked to speak with the staff member who filed the report I was denied

5. When asked to see the report I was denied and told flat out “one probably wasn’t even written up”

6. My family and I were told we would receive a refund before I left.

7. They dropped me at the airport fully aware that I had no credit, debit, or ATM cards. No cell phone, no phone cards. In other words I was on the West Coast with nothing in the middle of a tiny airport and they drove away.

8. We have since sent them registered letters concerning their promise of a refund and now they avoid our phone calls or say “hold on, I can give you his/her voicemail” – needless to say the calls are not returned.

Narconon Vista Bay A Front For Scientology.

Narconon Vista Bay is a SCIENTOLOGY based program. Their employees that “help” you with your loved one will try to lie about this. Their entire program is based on the teachings of L. Ron Hubbard. In addition to that, the exercises they use are nothing short of brainwashing. We were led to this program by Greg Potts with Carpe Diem Interventions out of Long Beach. He will deny being aware of the Scientology aspect. BEWARE THIS IS A LIE!!!! He is actually on the videos at the Watsonville facility. Once your loved one checks in you will be assigned a “liaison” that will check in regularly with a glowing update on them. These are not true! My family member was horribly ill with a migraine. They refused to provide medication and my loved one suffered. During this time our liaison reported that our family member was “great, always smiling, making friends and happy to be there”. In reality our loved one was suffering and not allowed even aspirin or to contact us, due to scientology’s opposing medicine. This facility will ask you for at least $30k up front and tell you that insurance will reimburse 40-80% of that. THIS IS A LIE!! Insurance companies will not reimburse the Narconon program because they are run by the CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY!! When you find out what is happening and want to remove your family member, things get ugly. They will immediately quarantine them and remove all of their study materials. (these are not allowed out of the facility) Then they will take your family member and drop them off, regardless of how long until they can be picked up. There is no one-on-one counseling that they promise you. There are no actual counselors at this facility. They begin the L Ron Hubbard teachings, and then begin to try to pursue your family member to stay after their treatment is over. They will offer to get them a house and a job at the facility. Again, THIS IS A RECRUITMENT CENTER FOR SCIENTOLOGY NOT A LEGITIMATE REHAB FACILITY! I hope this will help even one person not have to go through this. We will live with this guilt and betrayal forever.

Narconon of Watsonville, CA. Narconon Is a Complete Joke

Save your money. If you have the least bit of intelligence this program will make you go insane. I have since attended a program in Michigan for significantly less money and have been clean ever since.

First of All I was also enrolled at the Watsonville, CA facility. We constantly ran out of well water, and I personally had to hike up a mountain 1-2 Miles to unclog the “water box” or whatever it was called to get water to run to the well. I did this while on a Ethics Cycle with Dustin and Hung who were both “maintenance guys”. I also had problems with the staff who were 2 punks named Chris and Brian who were in charge of all the “problems” and “ethics” cases. They were basically 2 guys who tried to intimidate you with looks and bad ass talks. After being there for about 2-3 months and was almost done with book 3 I ended up having feelings for a girl and we ended up messing around. Nothing too serious. I got suspended for this. THEY DROPPED ME OFF AT THE “GREYHOUND” STATION IN WATSONVILLE, CA THAT WAS CLOSED! I had no way out. My cell phone was dead on their behalf, and they did not care.

After being out of the program suffering from mental abuse from the program I decided to try to take my life. Luckily my mother found me half way dead in the kitchen and called the cops. After months of talking and working the situation out there is no doubt in my mind it was contributed by Narconon of Watsonville, CA carelessness about anyone’s life, and just getting money into their program.

Narconon Albion, MI, More lies and Empty Promises.

My son was going down the wrong road by abusing drugs and alcohol…he came to us for help which at that time my parents, his grandparents, decided to pay $25,000 to send him to Narconon Freedom Center in Albion, Michigan.

He went there in Dec of 2011

On the morning of the sixth day that he was there, our son called and informed us that he felt that there was something wrong there. So we spent a few hours looking up any information on them and found out that they were a front base facility for scientology, which was not in any of their information on their web sites. So a few hours later my son called us and to our surprise he had  already found out that it was scientology. He informed them on the 6th day that he no longer wanted to remain there. And we agreed.

On the 7th day his grandparents notified them that they would be expecting a refund according to the contract which states a refund would be given if my sons stay was 7 days or less. They agreed that the contract would be met.

That has been 7 months ago…all of their requirements have be met and all that my parents have received are lies after lies. After several months I contacted my sons counselor Tim who stated that this was ridiculous and didn’t know why the money had not been sent back yet. He said he would look into it for us. He contacted Valerie in accounting.

Valerie had contacted my father in the past promising that the “check was in the mail” time after time after time…then my wife contacted Valerie and was convinced by her that the “check would be in the mail, which never came. Then I contacted Valerie, she said the funds would be released the following week and of Couse no money.

We’ve tried to contact the “big boss” Brian, he’s unavailable. Sorry for no last names, that seems to be unavailable too.

So what we have here is a rip-off and breach of contract. We feel this is theft and possibly border line criminal, inflicted on  82 yr. old grandparents for $25,000. Is this how scientology funds their organizations? Looking for help in any way I can.

P.S. Is it true that Tom Cruz and Will Smith r part of this? Maybe we should contact them for the return of the 82 yr. old grandparents money.

Actor Johnny Lewis; Murder, Death and Scientology.

The main product of Scientology over the years has been lawsuits and scandals.  Well, here is another scandal to lead to their long list of shame.  His parents work for a Scientology front group called, “Valley Life Improvement Center,” located in Granada Hills, CA.

Police think 28-year-old Johnny Lewis, who starred in Sons of Anarchy, killed his landlord who was in her 80s and her cat,beat up a painter and gave a 75-year-0ld man a black eye, then he may have taken his own life.

Here’s what we’ve been able to piece together:

• Johnny dated Katy Perry in 2005 for a year. According to Us, Katy is “devastated” about his death.

• The actor belonged to the Church of Scientology — the same church Tom Cruise and John Travolta attend.

• An unconfirmed TMZ report says Johnny may have been on crystal meth or PCP

• Other reports say Johnny may have been under the influence of the designer drug, Smiles, a hallucinogen

• The troubled man has an arrest record — he was arrested three times this past year.

• He was released from jail just five days before the rampage.

• Kurt Sutter, the creator of Sons of Anarchy, released this statement: “not sure if folks know this yet, but johnny  lewis (halfsack) died last night. the sad irony of it happening two days  after opie’s death is not lost on me. it was a tragic end for an  extremely talented guy, who unfortunately had lost his way. i wish i  could say that i was shocked by the events last night, but i was not. i  am deeply sorry that an innocent life had to be thrown into his  destructive path. yes, it’s day or mourning, but it’s also a day of  awareness and gratitude. sadly, some of us carry the message by dying.”

• Actress Shannon Woodward  tweeted Johnny was “very, very ill” and “his actions were a despicable result of that. It was not who he was.”

• Police don’t have motive for murder.

  The above is from the web site RumorFix, http://rumorfix.com/2012/09/johnny-lewis-the-rumors-the-truth/

  If he sought help for his drug addiction in Scientology he was looking in the wrong place.  Scientology methods for treating drug addiction are based on the teachings of L. Ron Hubbard; in other words he was looking for help in a bucket of mud.

  At the main Scientology detox center in Oklahoma there have been THREE deaths in the space of a year.  For more on this go here:  http://articles.nydailynews.com/2012-08-15/news/33220631_1_sea-org-narconon-centers-scientology

  Just how crazy is Scientology’s drug rehab program?  It is every bit as nuts as any other part of Scientology.  For a look at this dangerous insanity take a gander at this from the Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narconon

Scientology Fundraising; A Bonanza in New Orgs Pt. 2

If there is one thing that the shrinking cult of Scientology does not need it is more buildings.  Since membership has been in decline for many years now the existing premises are more than sufficient to hold whatever amount of publics that can be dragged to events.

But the myth that the Scientology is growing and gaining in its influence is too important to neglect.  So opening new “Idea Orgs has an important morale meaning to their membership.  Also, it would reflect poorly on the leadership abilities of David Miscavige to admit that they are indeed, shrinking in numbers.

But there is another item that seems to fly under the radar of the unsuspecting gullible members and that is that Scientology management always gets a slice of the action.  This happens everywhere but the most notable example is the “Super Power” building in Clearwater where they collected tens of millions of dollars beyond construction costs that went right into the coffers of Scientology.

Today’s “Ideal Org,” is to be found in the California city of Stephens Creek.  Once again the Scientology PR department paints a nice picture of the building that the public will rush to in order to get at L. Ron Hubbard’s “tech.” Below, the Stephens Creek org as shown by Scientology.

 

As it appears in Scientology publications.

What it really looks like.

This insignificant building is more than big enough to handle any influx of new members. Actually a WWII army surplus pup tent would be big enough to hold their new members.  More than likely this building will languish on for a time until at last it runs out of money to pay the taxes or the utilities.  We have seen this happen too many times in the past to think that this case will be any different.

  Regardless of the eventual fate of this new empty building it did serve a purpose in allowing cult members to use their wonderful tech of subterfuge.   Scientologists can’t seem to help themselves when it comes to lies and misrepresentation.  Not since the day of the old USSR were photographs ever manipulated as often and as shamelessly as this.

Do we have more examples of Scientology picture “tech?”  Yes we do, behold:

The Incredible Shrinking Board!!

Narconon is a Scientology front group (hidden behind yet another front group) that delivers a fake drug rehabilitation program based on the teachings of the famous lunatic L. Ron Hubbard.  They claim to be separate from Scientology but they get their marching orders from David Miscavige just as all Scientologists do.  Just like the lying thieves of the parent group Scientology; they are not about photoshopping pictures.l

Below is a picture of the Narconon Advisory Board from December of 1995.

12/95

 Back row: Ray Stowers, W. Kent McGregor, Vladimir Ivanov, David Root, Paolo Bruschelli.
Front row: William Marcus, Shelley Beckmann, Forest Tennant, Alfonso Paredes, Megan Shields, John Duff.

The above picture was used for years but in December of 2000 changes were made.  By December of 2000, John Duff was cropped from the right side of the picture, and Forest Tennant was Photoshopped right out of the middle!

Now two are gone!!

The above two members are joined by Vladimir Ivanov who quit.  So he is also made an un-person.

200

With three people now gone one would think that they would stop using that picture.  But you don’t know Scientology. Here they are again minus W. Kent McGregor.

2007

Not only is Scientology shrinking in numbers they are apparently disappearing from history as well.  For more on this interesting subject go here: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Stop-Narconon/AdvisoryBoard/

Scientology Fundraising; A Bonanza in New Orgs.

True Scientologists don’t doubt for an instant that they are expanding.  After all, they see the proof of it in the Scientology magazines and promotional literature.  These new “Ideal Orgs,” are touted on the Scientology web sites.  And as we all know pictures don’t lie.  Here is a picture of the Mountainview, CA, org. in all of its glory:

Below are some recently taken pictures.

And a final view of this insignificant building.

THIS is the same building as in the promo piece?  Yep, it is.  Although is was a swindle on a local level it served a higher purpose.  Scientology made money on their slice of the local fundraising and people not from the area looking at the PR would be impressed as all hell!

The money made by Scientology from fleecing the local sheep must be significant since they are engaged in so many of these efforts.  The cult of Scientology would not scratch their collective butts unless they made money; they seldom feed oats to dead horses.

However wags are quick to call “Ideal Orgs” as “Idle Morgues.”  For more information on the cult of empty buildings and their “photo tech,” go here: http://idleorgs.com/

Photographic chicanery has been used by Scientology many times in the past; it is not a new practice by any means.  Here is a picture of L. Ron Hubbard speaking to an adoring crowd in front of St. Hill sometime during the early 1960’s.

Below, the same picture as it was printed in Scientology literature in 1985.  The people removed are thought to have quit Scientology which would make the “Supressive Persons,” or just “SPs.”

For more on the creative use of photographs in Scientology go here: http://www.xenu.net/archive/image_edit/

Gary Smith, Head of Narconon Oklahoma, Tells Whopping big lie.

A story by Tony Ortega in the Village Voice Blog tells of the deceit and lies perpetrated by Narconon officials and supporters.  In the article, dated today 8/29/12 it also contains a statement by Gary Smith, the head of Narconon Arrowhead in the state of Oklahoma, saying words to the effect that Narconon is not Scientology!!!  For those of us who watch the Scientology creature Narconon this makes juicy reading.

Court Testimony: Narconon Intentionally Deceived a Florida Drug Court About Its Licensing.

There’s been a lot of attention focused on Scientology’s flagship drug rehab in Oklahoma — called Narconon Arrowhead — because of recent deaths there and investigations by multiple local and state agencies.

But as we indicated previously, there are also serious questions being asked about Narconon’s facility in the Atlanta area. The 2008 death of Narconon patient and employee Patrick Desmond produced a lawsuit by his family, and documents in that case provide a startling look at the deceptions that appear to be a part of the Narconon business model.

We now have court testimony from the lawsuit which shows that Narconon deceived a Florida drug court in order to keep quiet that it didn’t have licensing to house patients.

The Florida drug court, meanwhile, tells the Voice that it now knows it was lied to. And it isn’t happy about it.

Patrick Desmond was sent by his family to the Atlanta drug rehab center after being sentenced for six months by the Brevard County, Florida drug court. Desmond’s sentence required that he be sent to an in-patient facility, somewhere he would be housed and closely monitored as he fought his addictions.

What the Desmonds and the Brevard County court didn’t know was that Narconon in Georgia has never been licensed to run that kind of facility. By state law, it can’t house anyone, or provide around-the-clock monitoring. Its licensing is strictly for an out-patient facility.

It’s in-patient rehab centers, however, that really bring in the big money. Narconon centers that house clients typically charge about $30,000 for a three-month program.

In Atlanta, however, Narconon’s executive director Mary Rieser had tried and failed to get the kind of licensing that would allow her to house patients at the rehab facility.

So instead, court records show, she asked a Scientologist couple to lease a set of apartments at a nearby complex called One Sovereign Place, and then began placing four Narconon patients in each apartment there. Prospective clients, like the Desmonds, were not told that Rieser had no license to be running an in-patient facility — but they were charged like they were sending their loved ones to a legitimate in-patient rehab.

What’s worse, investigations by Narconon Georgia’s parent company, Narconon International, found that drug use was rampant at One Sovereign Place, with employees (who tended to be former patients) joining in. Desmond, court records suggest, was using Oxycontin at the apartment complex, and one night went out with a friend, tried heroin, overdosed, and died. The Desmond family, in their lawsuit, wants to tell a jury that Narconon was negligent by allowing their son to be so unsupervised at the unlicensed housing complex.

We wondered, however: how has Narconon Georgia convinced drug courts to send patients to a supposedly in-patient facility, while not arousing the interest of Georgia state officials, who consider it an out-patient rehab?

We got an answer to that question in the deposition of a former Narconon Georgia employee, Allison Riepe, which was made public this week.

Like other Narconon employees, Riepe was a former patient and a recovering addict herself. She had numerous jobs at the center, but at the time Desmond was there in 2007 and 2008, she was a legal liaison who handled all the communication with drug courts.

During her deposition, which was taken January 26, she was shown letterhead that was used for official Narconon Georgia correspondence. On it, the facility was described as an “Out-Patient Drug Treatment Program and Education.”

But then she was shown another letter, this one sent to Desmond’s probation officer at the Brevard County, Florida drug court, which had something different on its letterhead. The word “out-patient” had been removed, and Narconon was now described as “Drug Education and Rehabilitation.”

Riepe was asked about the change.

“I took it to Mary and I said, obviously I can’t send this, it says ‘out-patient drug rehab’ and that’s not going to work because this person is court ordered to be in an in-patient facility, so what am I suppose to do with it? And she said take the ‘out-patient’ out.”

“OK, So you knew that Patrick was sentenced to an in-patient facility?” asked attorney Rebecca Franklin.

“Yes,” Riepe answered.

“Did Mary Rieser know that?”

“Yes.”

To read the rest of the story and to view the buffoonery by Gary Smith go here: http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2012/08/scientology_narconon_mary_rieser.php

But lies, scandal and lawsuits are to be found wherever Scientology rears its ugly head.  From the start the Narconon program attracted some publicity they would rather have done without.  Here, the our vault of former Scientology members we have the story of Mark Jones was the former head of Narconon for the USA until he quit Scientology.  He is interviewed in a three-part series in Turlsa done in 1989 that exposes Narconon as a front group for the cult.  Too bad these warnings were not heeded until four people had died at the hands of Scientology quacks and crooks.

‘

Family Sues Narconon Oklahoma Over Wrongful Death.

Three of the four dead.

Stacy Murphy, the most recent victim.

 

 Narconon, the “non-medical” addiction cure center located in the thinly populated Pittsburg County, Oklahoma is once again the center of attention in the most recent case of an unexplained death.  This is the third such death in seven months, the fourth in the last three years.  This article of 8-23-2012, by Dana Hertneky, can be found; with links and video,  on the News 9 site: http://www.newson6.com/story/19356312/family-of-deceased-patient-file-lawsuit-against-narconon

OKLAHOMA CITY –

Family members of a woman who recently died at a Scientology drug rehab center file a lawsuit against Narconon Arrowhead, this as a former employee comes to Oklahoma, to protest the facility.

Hllary Holton entered in Narconon’s Arrowhead facility for help with her prescription drug addiction in April.  Less than 48 hours later she was dead. In a lawsuit filed Thursday, attorneys say Holton had a medical condition, but employees at Narconon didn’t provide her with the care, or medication she needed.

“I would have died in there, just like they did,” said Colin Henderson.

Henderson was a patient at Narconon Arrowhead back in 2007. He says he had the same problem with his heart medicine.

He left after just weeks, but has been working to shut down the facility ever since 2009. That was about the same time that David Love Edgar left Narconon’s Quebec facility.  He was not only a patient but employee.

“It was hell, it really was.  I saw people taken away in ambulances,” said Edgar.

The two men met for the first time Thursday. They are in Oklahoma for this weekend’s protest to bring awareness to their cause.

“If they don’t shut it down, in my opinion, I think they’re putting their political careers on the line, because if another person dies, you’re not just going to have 100 people come from other countries, but from around the world,” said Edgar.

Love also brought with him piles of documents he will share with Oklahoma Sen. Tom Ivester, Investor has said he wants stricter regulations of Narconon Arrowhead. The documents detail how officials in Quebec were able to force the facility there to close.

“If our state doesn’t move quick enough, somebody else is going to die,” said Henderson.

Love and Henderson believe if Narconon here in Oklahoma is shut down, facilities across the United States will follow. The protest is Saturday at 1 p.m. in McAlester.

Here is a related story dated August, 26, 2012 by Sara Goldenberg appeared on the “2Works for You” website at http://www.kjrh.com/dpp/news/state/pittsburgh-county-drug-rehab-facility-narconon-arrowhead-under-microscope-with-3rd-death-in-7-months

Pittsburg County drug rehab facility Narconon Arrowhead under microscope with  3rd death in 7 months

CANADIAN, Okla. – A drug rehab facility in Pittsburg County is coming under  scrutiny after authorities say three of its patients died there in the past  seven months.

On Thursday, 20-year-old Stacy Murphy, of Owasso, died after just six weeks  at  Narconon Arrowhead .

Murphy’s father, Robert Murphy, says his daughter got hooked on painkillers  and sought help at the drug and rehab facility.

“There’s no way Stacy should have died,” said Murphy. “This should not have  happened.”

The cold-turkey program touts a more than 70-percent success rate and has  been linked to Scientology.

Murphy says he found out Stacy overdosed and died on Friday morning. He says  he was told by workers Stacy left the facility for a little while and returned.  When she got back, she tested positive for opiates. Murphy says officials left  Stacy in a room where she later died. “She did not have 24-hour staff,  she did not have a physician, she did not have a Narconon shot. Her parents were  not called. Nothing was done to save my daughter’s life,” said Murphy.

Murphy says he didn’t know about the other deaths until weeks after his  daughter’s enrollment.

Murphy hopes Narconon Arrowhead is held accountable.

“There needs to be something done about this place,” he said. “It’s not safe.  Too many people have died there.”

This story has been a hot item on the Internet, here is a sample of what’s out the.  This is from “After Net,” by Maia Szalaviz, dated July, 31, 2012.

Is Scientology’s Narconon Killing Patients?

With seven deaths since 2005, Scientology’s Narconon flagship may finally face criminal charges. The bigger scandal is that faith-based addiction programs are embraced as primary treatment. Where does that leave AA?

Narconon, the Scientology-affiliated rehab is under investigation by the state of Oklahoma, following three patient deaths within the last nine months. Last Wednesday, the inquiry into the July 19 death of 20-year-old Stacy Murphy was expanded to include the April death of 21-year-old Hillary Holten and the October death of 32-year-old Gabriel Graves. The state district attorney has asked the sheriff’s department to deepen its investigation.

The involvement of law-enforcement agencies—not simply regulatory authorities—suggests the possibility of criminal charges against those involved with the deaths. The facility, Narconon Arrowhead, is located near Canadian, Oklahoma. It is not only licensed by the state and listed on the federal addiction program locator, but also accredited by CARF, an organization that claims on its website to “focus on quality, results” in certifying treatment programs.

The 2009 death of 28-year-old Kaysie Dianne Wernick, who was transferred from Narconon Arrowhead to a nearby hospital while suffering a respiratory infection, resulted in an out-of-court settlement of a civil negligence lawsuit, the terms of which have not been disclosed. There have been  Three other death  at that Narconon facility alone since 2005. Over the years, as “The Fix,”  has reported, numerous deaths and many lawsuits have been linked to the international Narconon program.

Oklahoma assistant district attorney Richard Hull told the  “Tulsa World,” that, “After looking at the [earlier] report and additional witness statements, the District Attorney’s Office has requested the Sheriff’s Office to further investigate,” and that full autopsy and toxicology reports have not yet been received. A spokesperson for Narconon Arrowhead told “Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Weekly,”
that program staff found the deaths “deeply saddening” and their loss “has taken an extreme emotional toll on us as well.” Narconon representatives have also told the media that they are cooperating fully with the investigation.

As The Fix reported earlier, the Narconon program is based on Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard’s “Purification Rundown,” which was originally devised as part of the process required for conversion into Scientology. It involves taking high doses of vitamins and spending four to five hours a day in 150-degree saunas. This is believed to “detoxify” the body and remove drug “residue” that Hubbard claimed was responsible for craving.

There is no scientific evidence, however, that drug “residue” causes craving or that mega-doses of vitamins and marathon super-hot saunas are effective elements in addiction treatment. Indeed, for people who are medically fragile or who have recently taken certain classes of drugs including alcohol, amphetamines and cocaine, intense heat without breaks for relief could potentially lead to hyperthermia, which can be deadly. One study found that 25% of deaths in saunas were associated with alcohol or stimulant use.

Narconon also shares Scientology’s fierce opposition to psychiatry and the use of psychiatric medications, meaning that even if the rest of its methods were evidence-based, it would not be able to effectively treat half of all people with addictions who suffer from co-existing conditions like depression, nor would it utilize the state-of-the-art treatments that include medication. The belief that all psychiatric conditions can be treated via Hubbard’s techniques would not seem to support effective screening and referral for care for these disorders.

In fact, when Narconon was originally fishing for official and popular support to build Narconon Arrowhead rehab in the late 1980s, the  Oklahoma State Board of Mental Health flatly denied approval, pointing out that there was no credible evidence that the program (which also included indoctrination in the teachings of Hubbard) was effective for chemical dependency.

Here is a link to that story: http://www.alternet.org/drugs/scientologys-narconon-killing-patients

 

Narconon: The Cash Cow of Scientology & the Shame of Oklahoma.

In a society where addiction cures are big business Scientology, the greediest of all money-hungry cults, has stuck it’s long snout into the money dish.  Since the reputation of Scientology is so very bad they have to do it by a front-group or proxy.  In this case it is the phoney drug rehab known as Narconon.  It is pure Scientology from top to bottom.  This article from the Village Voice Blogby Tony Ortega, August 18, 2012, lays the whole lie bare.

Lucas Catton

“A week ago, we reported that a former “employee” at Scientology’s flagship drug treatment center in Oklahoma — Narconon Arrowhead — told us that the controversial center was delivering Scientology training rather than drug education, and that its officials have been concerned for years that its state certification was “extremely vulnerable.” (The center is currently under investigation by local and state agencies for four deaths that have occurred there, three since last October.)

We didn’t name that source, but now, he’s come forward on his own.

We can now say that it is a former president of Narconon Arrowhead, Lucas Catton, who spoke to us about the troubled facility’s past, and about his involvement not only in promoting the place, but also helping to operate its deceptive Internet referral network. . .

As for the program itself, it was Catton who confirmed to me that its “students” learn almost nothing about drug addiction or drug education. Instead, they are trained almost exactly the same way beginning Scientologists are.

“It is true that there’s very little drug information. You do the training routines, the sauna program, learning improvement, the objectives. You learn about Scientology’s ethics. About overts and withholds. You do ‘conditions,’ and then The Way to Happiness, and then you’re done. You feel bright and polished, but there’s no real addressing of what the real problem is for each person,” he said, naming the various steps of early Scientology training, such as hour-long staring exercises and talking to inanimate objects such as ashtrays. . .

Catton then spent the next five years operating dozens of highly profitable websites that refer people to Narconon centers.

The websites are designed to be as generic as possible, saying nothing about Scientology, and they are created to capture people searching online for information about rehab centers. Convincing people who call in for more information to send someone to a Narconon center then earns that referer a commission, typically ten percent of the $30,000 Narconon centers charge.”

For the rest of this very informative story go here: http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2012/08/scientology_lucas_catton_narconon.php

Canadian activist David Love, a former addict and Narconon counselor has some scathing words about their so-called treatment program.  This is from his blog:

Narconon Aftercare Relapses

“The fact that a patient is likely to relapse soon after completing the Scientology rehab program called Narconon can perhaps best be described as a “predetermined failure”. Contrary to what Narconon claims, Narconon’s actual success rate is not 70%, an imaginary number that is closer to the relapse rate. Narconon executives and other Scientology staff members know well that most patients will relapse, with many returning several times for a so-called repair and forking out thousands of dollars each time.

Narconon websites and brochures profess that Narconon has qualified professional counselors who tend to the individual needs of each patient, when, in fact, many of these Narconon “counselors” have no training whatsoever, except for the Scientology courses taken at each Narconon and a certificate printed in fancy colors. This alone is what Narconon means by “certified counselor”. . .

When patients complete the Narconon program, which consists of studying eight Scientology books with Narconon stamped on them and completing the toxic sauna Purification Rundown, many are more confused and unable to cope than when they first arrived. In this vulnerable state, being recruited onto staff by a keen Scientology staff member is no big chore. “Saving lives” is the motto each morning at the military-style roll-call. Playing God in a science-fiction adventure of deception and abuse may be a fitting way to describe the plot of the Narconon story.

Patients are paired as “twins” to perform all the Scientology training routines and auditing sessions. Patients are yelling at ashtrays: “Ashtray, stand up!” “Sit back down on that chair!” Other patients are commanded: “You, look at that wall.”  “You, touch that wall.”

Some patients can be seen walking back and forth between a table on which lies a book and a windowsill on which stands a green wine bottle. One of the patients commands the other: “You, look at that bottle.”  “You, walk over to that bottle.” “What color is the bottle?”  “What is the temperature?” “What does it weigh?” The patient who receives the commands then turns around, obeying the same commands for the book on the table. This routine can go on for days at a time.

Some patients go into hypnotic-type trances while others have near-psychotic breaks and end up in the Ethics Office for misbehaving. Here they are interrogated and screened for possible connections to a “Suppressive Person” outside Narconon. If the Ethics Officer decides you are connected to a Suppressive Person, you may be advised to disconnect from family and loved ones.”

To read David’s blog go here: http://narcononcanada.com/2012/02/01/narconon-aftercare-relapses/