Read the descriptions of the techniques used to HANDLE the MEDIA and this case, these are the same techniques being used on the newsgroup and in FACTNET and OCMB chat boards Tory/Magoo was one of the organizers of the demonstrations during this case, for those attacking her on the various newsgroups and chatboards, *I* know you are only working for Scientology and just doing your jobs.... the following LONG read outlines your job descriptions, have a nice day uMike, Larry T, Windows Update, Newzforyou, barbara schwartz et al. There are Four articles from the Oregonian on this page covering May 26th through May 30th 1985 THE OREGONIAN, SUNDAY, MAY 26, 1985 Some scientology claims and some evidence Here is a list of the key representations Julie Christofferson Titchbourne said were made to her and on which she based her decision to join Scientology, followed by the evidence presented in court. * Representation: L. Ron Hubbard is a nuclear physicist, a civil engineer and holds a degree from George Washington University. * Evidence: Hubbard attended George Washington University during 1930-32 but did not graduate. His grades included an "F" in molecular anatomic phenomena, a "B" in civil engineering and a "D" in physics. * Representation: L. Ron Hubbard is a graduate of Princeton University. * Evidence: Hubbard while in the Navy attended a military government course given by the Navy on the Princeton campus during late 1944 and early 1945. * Representations: L. Ron Hubbard was severely wounded in World War II and cured himself of being crippled and blind with Scientology techniques. * Evidence: Hubbard never saw combat. He complained of a duodenal ulcer, arthritis, bursitis and conjunctivitis (an inflammation of the inner eyelids) and was granted a 40 percent Navy disability pension, which he still was receiving in 1973. He was granted 10 percent disability for conjunctivitis. * Representation: Hubbard personally makes no more income from Scientology than a lowly Scientology staff member. * Evidence: Plaintiff's witnesses said Hubbard collected millions of dollars from Scientology, including a six-month period of aggressive income collection in 1982 when his net worth rose from $10 million to $44 million. The defense did not offer detailed income evidence. * Representation: Scientology courses come with a money-back guarantee. * Evidence: The church discourages refunds and people insisting on them are subject to being declared "suppressive persons." Suppressives, according to a policy written by Hubbard, "may be deprived of property or injured by any means by any Scientologist without any discipline of the Scientologist. May be tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed." * Representation: Scientology auditing improves creativity and increases personal intelligence by one IQ point for each hour of auditing. * Evidence: Defense witnesses said auditing improved their creativity. No specific evidence was offered about IQ improvement per hour. * Representations: Scientology processing can cure what they say are psychosomatic illnesses such as nearsightedness, arthritis, bursitis, allergies, plus criminal behavior, insanity, homosexuality and drug dependence. * Evidence: Some defense witnesses said their eyesight had improved, some said theirs had not. Some defense witnesses also testified to improvement of allergies. The plaintiff did not offer expert testimony on these points. * Representations: Titchbourne said she was told in 1975 that she could take college courses in architecture or civil engineering at the Delphian Foundation in Sheridan, that the foundation received government grants, that the college would be accredited in 1976 and that credits she earned could be transferred to any university in the nation. * Evidence: No college courses were offered at the Delphian Foundation, and it did not become accredited as a college. The foundation received no government grants. THE OREGONIAN, SUNDAY, MAY 26, 1985 The Selling of Scientology Hubbard's motivations revealed in correspondence By FRED LEESON Three years alter publishing a bestselling book in 1950 about his theories for improving mental health, L. Ron Hubbard, 42, was living in Spain and worrying about money. An idea struck him. Why not present Scientology as a religion, he suggested In a letter written to Helen O'Brien, then the head of an organiza tion for marketing his mental health concepts known as the Hubbard Association of Scientologists. This was the formative stage of the Church of Scientology. Over the next 30 years It evolved into a complex welter of legal entities and, with the help of sophisticated sales techniques, attracted millions of buyers to its courses and services. As the church grew, Hubbard's. original interest in money never waned, according to documents admitted as exhibits in the Multnomah County Circuit Court fraud trial that award- ed former Scientologist Julie Christofferson Titchbourne $20 million in punitive damages against Hubbard, and another $19 million in damages against two church entitles. Church attorneys filed a motion for a mistrial on Friday. Circuit Judge Donald H. Londer scheduled a hearing for 9:34 a.m. Wednesday. Hubbard made his concerns about income clear to 0'Brien in the 1953 letter. "I didn't go to all the work I went to on the HAS and other things to forget that my own revenue has to be a lot better than it has been in the past," he wrote her. "As it is right now and as it cannot continue to be I am running an awful lot of the show personally on no money," he continued. Hubbard's claims for improving mental health and curing psychosomatic ills already had drawn criticism from portions of the medical and business world. But Hubbard outlined to 0'Brien a new angle: "We don't want a clinic," he wrote. "We want one in operation but not in name. Perhaps we could call it a Spiritual Guidance Center. Think up its name, will you. Practical business problem "And we could put in nice desks and our boys in neat blue with diplomas on the walls and l. knock psychotherapy into history and 2. make enough money to shine up my operating scope and 3. keep the HAS solvent. It is a problem in practical business. "I await your reaction on the religion angle," Hubbard continued. "In my opinion we couldn't get worse public opinion than we have had or less customers with what we've got to sell. A religious charter would be necessary in Pennsylvania or NJ to make it stick. But I sure could make it stick." Armed with religious charters and aggressive sales techniques, the Church of Scientology proved to be a rapid financial success. Hubbard him. self collected an unspecified total believed to range in the tens of millions of dollars from Scientology over the years, according to the testimony of former Scientologists who said they were familiar with the financial books of the church and Hubbard's personal accounts. "None of these documents says Scientology is not a religion," said the Rev. John Carmichael of the Portland Scientology mission, referring to the 0'Brien letter and the church sales policies. "Appeals courts and theologians have said Scientology is a religion." Carmichael said the documents were offered at the trial "in an attempt to distract jurors from the issue of freedom of religion and the fact that Scientology is a religion." At the trial, the church did not call any high-rank- ing members to discuss the origins of the church or its sales Policies. By 1968, Hubbard, who also was a successful science fiction writer, had accumulated enough money to buy a 360-toot yacht. He spent the next seven years sailing to warm-water ports with a corps of 200 to 400 Scientologists known as the Sea Organization who were dedicated to expanding Scientology throughout the world. Hubbard gave himself the title of commodore, a title he still holds in the paramilitary structure of the Sea Org. Follow statistics Hubbard's emphasis on productivity was reflected in an Internal policy letter he wrote (n 1965. "We operate on statistics," he said. "These show whether or not a staff member or group is working or not working as the work produces the statistic. If he doesn't work effectively the statistic inevitably goes down. If he works effectively, the statistic goes up" He wrote la 1967, "To me a staff member whose stats are up can do no wrong. I am not interested in wog (non-Scientology) morality. I am only Interested in getting the show on the road and keeping it there" Each Scientology organization prepares weekly stat sheets showing In- come and the number of people involved in courses, according to trial testimony. Hubbard also receives a weekly stat sheet showing his personal income and net worth, a former scientologist who prepared the reports in 1982 testified. Selling of Scientology Sales techniques used by the church have varied over the years but a common thread has been to keep any newcomer from leaving without buying books, courses or auditing. Auditing is the question-and-answer processing that occurs between an auditor and asubject while the subject is linked to an E-meter, a device described in court as a primitive lie detector. It measures electrical currents flowing through a person's hands. In a bulletin issued in 1959, Hubbard, outlined a Personal Efficiency Foudation to be used by Scientology organizations for recruiting newcomers. "The whole dream of a PE Foundation is to get the people in fast, get them invoiced in a congress type assembly line, no waiting, give them hot, excited, positive service and boot them through to higher Scientology courses" he wrote. Too tough "And never let a student leave or quit -- introvert him like a bullet and get him to get audited. If he gets no reality don't let him wander out. If he walks in that door for a free PE, that's it. He doesn't get out except into an individual auditor's hands in the real tough cases, until he's an HAS (Hubbard Apprentice Scientologist)." But Hubbard warned in the same bulletin that advanced instructors should not teach the introductory communications course included in the PE., "The Academy man will be too tough and heartless for the public stomachs at this stage" he said. The same year, Hubbard issued a bulletin on "dissemination tips" for Scientology recruitment. In descending order of importance, he listed personal contact, books, "casualty contact," newspaper ads and talking to groups. Hubbard said casualty contact is very old, is almost never tried and is always roaringly successful, providing the auditor goes about it in roughly the right way. "Using his minister's card, an auditor need only barge into any non-sectarian hospital, get permission to visit the wards from the superintendent, mentioning nothing about processing but only about taking care of people's souls, to find himself wonderfully welcome." As a practical tip, Hubbard advised, "Don't pick on the very bad oft unconscious cases. Hit the fracture ward and the maternity ward." He advised the auditors to make sure they leave a phone number behind and to make sure an answering service will take the calls. He said some auditors "fail to tell the people they snap away from death's yawning door that they can have more of this stuff simply by call- ing in." Scientology witnesses in the case said the casualty contact method has not been used In Portland. New techniques Starting in 1972, Hubbard approved new sales policies based on a book called "Big League Sales" written by an automobile salesman. "A situation exists In some orgs (Scientology organizations) where sales are very low," Hubbard wrote in 1974. "A second situation exists In several orgs where only very tiny payments are made by the public on the 'sales' that are made. "Further data is that Big League Sales has not been pushed for a year," he continued. "Selling, closing deals, getting the money is a highly specialized tech. I have seen a Reg (registrar) actually offer credit or suggest a tiny payment when the prospect was sitting there with the full price in his pocket, ready to hand it over," Hubbard wrote. "On the other side of the scene, there are Reges who seem utterly magical. People walk in and buy in droves, the money mounts up to great heights. "One could say these magical people may have a 'knack' for selling, a talent. And leave it to mystery. It is no mystery. They use the tech of selling and use it straight. They are not in doubt about what they are doing. They do -it ... They just plow right ahead and SELL and CLOSE and take the money in full." The sales policy outlined by Hubbard called for the placing of electronic listening devices in sales rooms so the executive director could overhear "at any time any interview in progress." Hubbard also urged that listening devices be placed on telephones "so that at any time a phone interview can be monitored but not interrupted." Martin L. Samuels, former bead of the Portland mission, testified that he thought the sales rooms were bugged in Portland during his tenure in accordance with the policy. Laird A. Caruthers, a former registrar who sold courses to Titchbourne, said he was not aware of any bugging in the Portland office. Other components of the sales program written by Hubbard called for the registrars to be indoctrinated that, "one customer walking out without buying something is a goofed registration." "Indoctrinate reges into thinking big in terms of sales. But not to go after only some rumored big package and lose the rest," Hubbard wrote. "Good luck and prosperity," Hub- bard wrote at the end of the sales directive. "The planet is ours. Grow up big enough to handle it." WILLAMETTE WEEK
SCIENTOLOGY ON TRIAL ONE SUNNY AFTERNOON last week,
an elderly man, who looked as though
he had probably spent the past few
nights sleeping under the stars, stood in the
southeast corner of Lownsdale Square in downtown Portland gazing in bewilderment at
the
scene before him. Several hundred people, many
wearing T-shirts proclaiming something about a
crusade for r
eligious freedom, gathered around a
large stage in the park, listening, as an assortment
of speakers lambasted Oregon justice and
vowed to save all men's religious liberty.
Between speeches, everyone joined in a chorus
of "We Shall Overcome."
The old man turned to a passerby and asked,
"Who are these people, and what in the hell is
this all about?"
Those people, as anyone who has been downtown or watched television in the last 10
days
knows, were Scientologists who have come to
Portland by the hundreds to protest a May 17
verdict by a Multnomah County Circuit Court
jury. The jury found L Ron Hubbard (Scientology's
founder), the Church of Scientology of
California (CSC, Scientology's corporate headquarters)
and the Church of Scientology Mission
of Davis (COSMOD) guilty of fraud in their
dealings with Julie Christofferson Titchbourne, a
27-year-old Portland woman who was involved
with COSMOD for a nine-month period in 1975
and 1976.
This case was actually a retrial. In 1979
Titchbourne won a $2.1 million verdict against
local Scientology organizations. But that decision
was overturned by the Oregon Court of
Appeals primarily on account of faulty jury
instructions.
Legal problems are not new for Scientology.
The self-styled religion --- deemed a dangerous
cult by its critics --- has had more than its share
of run-ins with the Inte
rnal Revenue Service and
other public agencies both in this country
and abroad. The most publicized case
involved the conviction of a number of top
Scientology executives for breaking into
federal offices in Washington, DC during
the late '70s for the purpose of stealing official documents.
But the decision in this case has Scientologists
particularly concerned, and followers
have been flying here from all over the
world to protest. Why is the outcome of the
Portland case so important to them?
One reason is that the Portland chapter is,
as the trial made clear, one of the most
lucrative in Scientology's complex 600-church,
30-nation organization. Another is
the astronomical punitive damages award
assessed against Hubbard ($20 million), the
CSC ($17.5 million) and COSMOD ($1.5
million).
Perhaps most important is the fact
that the lawyers for Julie Titchbourne were
able to accomplish something others who
have sued Scientology have been unable to
do: Attorneys Garry P. McMurry and Ronald
L. Wade succeeded in getting Hubbard himself,
as well as the national Scientology organization,
brought in as defendants. As a
result, they were able to obtain documents
never before available to litigants opposing
the organization.
In addition, former Scientologists who had
once been close to Hubbard or had held
prominent positions within the organization
came forward to testify. Most striking was the
testimony of Martin
Samuels, who was a
defendant in the 1979 trial, but dropped out
of the organization in 1982 and appeared this
time as a witness for Titchbourne. (Hubbard
has not been seen in public for many years
and did not testify.)
As a result of these legal coups, lawyers for
Titchbourne were able to provide a window
through which no jury had ever before viewed
this extraordinary and controversial worldwide
organization, which evolved out of Hubbard's bestselling book called Dianetics:
The
Modern Science of Mental Health. (Dianetics was published in 1950; Hubbard
founded Scientology in 1954.) What the jurors were presented
with in this case is obvious from their
verdict. They saw a group characterized by:
. Deceit so rampant that it
permeates the
organization;
. Shocking and effective methods of controlling its members,
especially full time staff members;
. A much-used and almost limitless policy
of attacking anyone who
dares to criticize or
attempts to expose aspects of the group (this
policy is used not only against people who
actually commit some action against Scientology, but also against many, both in and
out of the group, who might do so);
. A lust for money
that has resulted in staggering volumes of income for the
group;
. An organizational structure designed to
maximize the power and income of L. Ron
Hubbard, while concealing both.
DECEIT
The fraud case involved a long list of misrepresentations
that were made to
Titchbourne by COSMOD registrars (salespeople) who were attempting to sign her up
for training sessions at the Portland mission,
(then operated by COSMOD) and later at the
COSMOD-owned Delphian School in Sheridan, Ore., in July and August of 1975.
Testimony, particularly that of Scientology archivist Gerald Armstrong,
revealed that many of
the same representations appeared in various
Scientology publications and were made to
thousands of other prospective and practicing
Scientologists.
Some of the false representations,
followed by the actual facts, are noted
below:
. Titchbourne, who had a scholarship to
study engineering at Montana State University
starting in the fall of 1975, was told that
L. Ron Hubbard had graduated from George
Washington University in Washington, D.C.,
with a degree in civil engineering; was a
nuclear physicist: had attended Princeton
University; and held a PhD. According to the
testimony and exhibits presented at the trial,
including Hubbard's transcript from George
Washington University, the facts were somewhat different. Hubbard's transcript
revealed
that he had failed to complete two years at
GWU, and had received numerous Ds and
Fs, including a failing grade in his only
nuclear physics class. He never attended
Princeton, and the doctorate degree he holds
was awarded by Sequoia University,
described by witnesses as a "mail-ord
er
diploma mill."
. Titchbourne was also told that the Scientologists'
introductory Communications
Course had been taken and endorsed by
Father Pat Flanagan of Boy's Town; this
turned out to be untrue.
. Regarding Hubbard's military career,
Exhibit 239: "When under attack . . . attack."
Titchbourne was told that he had been crippled
and blinded in the war and had, in fact,
been twice declared dead. Furthermore, she,
like thousands of other Scientologists, was
told that Hubbard used the techniques
that
serve as the basis for Dianetics and Scientology
to cure himself. As it turned out, Hubbard's
only "war wounds" stemmed from two
ulcers and a minor fall from a ladder in 1942.
No evidence was presented showing that
Hubbard was ever blind or crippled, much
less declared dead.
. Titchbourne was also given another
standard pitch by the Scientologist that Hubbard had developed his programs for
the benefit of mankind and was paid less than
the average Scientology staff member's wage
of about $15 per week. Much of the evidence
at the trial dealt with Hubbard's income, with
one former Hubbard financial aide testifying
that, during a six-month period in 1982, some
$34 million was transferred from church
accounts to Hubbard.
. When Titchbourne requested a partial
refund so she could return to Montana State
and study engineering, a COSMUD salesman
talked her into going to the Delphian School
in Sheridan. He told her that it was funded in
part by the federal government and would be
a fully accredited university by the following
spring. She would be able to work in the
offices of engineers and architects who were
then building the Delphian facility and could
transfer all credits to the university of her
choice if she chose to leave. Titchbourne
ended up working as a field laborer and nanny
at Delphian, which never became an
accredited university and never received any
federal funding.
Perhaps the misrepresentation that most
bothered witnesses, jurors and spectators
alike was the false assurance that was given to
Titchbourne and all Scientologists that their
counseling files were confidential.
Testimony
revealed that the intimate disclosures made to
Scientology counselors in training and in sessions
(often referred to as "pastoral counseling")
were, in fact, maintained in special files
and used to control the Scientologists as long
as they remained in the organization and - if
they decided to leave - even afterward.
In his testimony and in a subsequent interview,
Eddie Walters, a former member who
had served as a special operative for Scientology's
security and intelligence unit, known
then as the Guardian's Office, and had also
been a top-level auditor (counselor), discussed
the process known as "culling"
files."
"We [auditors] were instructed to tell them
they could tell us anything," Walters said in
the interview. "They were encouraged to be
very open and honest . . . . No one would
see his folders. Everything he says is between
him and I, "However, Walters added, the
Guardian's Office people violated that trust as
a matter of policy: "They look for specific
things. Things to use for blackmail such
as
sexual promiscuity, sexual problems, problems within the family, troubles with
parents, any alcoholic problems . . . anything a person
would not want others to know about."
Another important revelation regarding the
use of deceit within Scientology came when
Martin Samuels took the stand. Samuels had
been the executive director of COSMOD until
1982 and had been a defendant in
Titchbourne's original suit in 1979. Samuels
testified how he, along with a 40-person unit
from the Guardian's Office and Portland lawyers
Mark Segal and Timothy Bowles,
had
organized and conducted a "witness college"
at the Heathman Hotel during the 1979 trial.
Samuels described in detail the special areas
in which Scientology witnesses were coached
to lie.
He admitted to having committed perjury
himself at that trial, and described numerous
instances of perjured testimony by others.
Asked to explain the widespread use of
deceit within the organization, other former
Scientologists who testified in the more recent
trial gave similar responses. Former Executive
Director International Bill Franks put it this
way: "I was giving acceptable truth. In Scientology
that is how we are trained to talk."
METHODS OF CONTROL.
Testimony at the trial revealed that Scientology,
at the level of the local missions and
throughout the organization's hierarchy, is
administered through the use of thousands of
pages of policy letters and directives, most of
which Hubbard wrote and to which he holds
the copyright. Many of those documents were
entered into evidence and one, written by
Hubbard in 1961, gives an impression of how
he felt about controlling people:
"Any control we exert upon the public brings about a better
society. We are entirely justified in using control . . . .
Dominance of others is a control
symptom. We are not looking for PLEASANT
[his emphasis] control --- we are looking for
effective control."
Margaret Singer, a clinical psychologist
from the University of California at Berkeley
and one of the world's leading experts in the
field of thought control, testified for the plaintiff
and described what she referred to as the
"5 Ds" used by groups that practice "the systematic
manipulation of social and psychological influence."
According to Singer, deceit is
first practiced on individuals coming into
such a group and later by such individuals.
Dependency on the group, she said, is the second
characteristic fostered by such groups,
and it is accomplished in a variety of ways,
including forced isolation from outside contacts
and later, financial need. Singer
described dehabilitation of members, both
physical and mental, as another common
group feature, often accomplished and maintained
by long hours of work, lack of sleep,
and extremely harsh mental therapies or
counseling.
Dread was the fourth of Singer's
common denominators, and she said it is typified
by the fostering of an "us versus them"
attitude that permeates the group. The dread,
added Singer, is two-fold in that the members
also learn to fear and mistrust people in the
group's hierarchy, and are kept -- through an
ever-changing system of rewards and punishments --
in a position of not knowing what is
expected of them.
Finally, Singer discussed
the desensitization so common in thought
control groups, noting how members lose the
ability to think critically or to react to negative
things they might see in the group, such as
widespread deceit and callous treatment of
other members and outsiders.
Singer said that Scientology displayed all
the characteristics she described and should
be considered a thought-control group. Much
of the evidence that followed seemed to confirm
her theory.
Beginning Scientologists, according to
extensive testimony, usually go through what
are referred to as "Hard TRs" (training
routines).
The routines were mandated by Hubbard himself in a
policy letter dated May 21, 1971.
Walters testified that in the first level of
TRs, individuals are required to sit totally
still, with absolutely no body movements,
including blinking. The drill, Walters added,
is "almost physically impossible" and "some
people did it for weeks."
The description by Bill Franks was similar.
lasted "15 hours per day, seven days a week." When interviewed by Williamette
Week,
Walters described the strange combination of
working conditions and rewards that characterized Scientology projects:
The kids [many are in their 20s] are
made to work 14 - 18 hours a day. They
are brought very high with clapping and
yelling about how great a job they are
doing and hit really hard at other times.
It's a tremendous handling of rewards
and punishment . . . . The kids can
never live up to L. Ron Hubbard. That's
how he is made to feel. But at the same
time, Ron writes beautiful, flowery prose
at times, just praising them, you know.
It's very clever.
image - caption: "Just be NOISY ---
it's very odd at first,
'but makes fantastic
sense and WORKS."
All of the former high-level Scientologists
who testified indicated that the system of
rewards and intense punishment applied
equally, if not to an even greater degree, to
people at their level. They described a special
punishment detail to which they had been
sent at various times.
The detail, known as the Rehabilitation
Project Force (RPF), was started in the early
'70s when Hubbard and the international
headquarters of Scientology were based on a
ship called the Apollo, which sailed primarily
off the coast of Europe and Northern Africa.
Homer Schomer, a former financial aide to
Hubbard who left Scientology in 1982, said
people, sometimes as few as 20 or 30 and
sometimes as many as 150, were assigned to a
lower hold in the ship which was "cockroach
and rat-infested." He said they slept in the
hold and also did TRs and Security Checking
drills there during the day. They wore black
coveralls and were not allowed to talk to anyone outside the RPF.
Another former Scientologist, Laurel Sullivan, who served for
years as one of Hubbard's top personal public-relations aides,
said she was sickened by the fact that RPF
people "had to eat out of buckets."
Bill Franks, who was RPF'd several times
before being named executive director international, said the "idea is to be
reprogrammed." All the former members who discussed
the RPFs said the sessions lasted anywhere
from two to 18 months.
The Security Checks described throughout
the trial involve questioning of an individual
who is attached to a crude lie-detection
device known as an E-Meter. Questions on
one Sec-Check form included in part:
Have you ever had any unkind
thoughts about LRH?
Have you ever had
am thing to do with Pornography?
Have you assisted in an abortion?
Have You ever practiced Sodomy?
Have you ever been a newspaper reporter?
Do you know of any plans, to injure a Scientology
Organization?
How do you feel about
being controlled?
Another controlling factor that Singer
would have had no trouble placing in her
"dread" category was the potential for Scientology
to intimidate or manipulate members
by using intimate material contained in their
supposedly confidential counseling files.
Walters told Willamette Week that members were
often confronted with such material and that
"the response was usually devastating." He
described an example of how the tactic was
used:
I saw a staff member who had a problem
with masturbation, and they kept her
up day and night washing floors, and she
did that for two days. They brought her
in and confronted her with her stuff in
her files.
It just totally caved her in . . . .
This person, believe it or not, had just
not produced as much as they wanted.
They felt she didn't work hard enough.
Walters added that the fact that Scientology
possesses records of its members' most intimate
secrets is a powerful tool to keep them
from leaving, or at least to keep them from
criticizing the group if they do leave.
The threat of "disconnect
ion" from loved
ones and friends in the group also makes leaving
difficult, said former members who testified
at the trial. All had found it necessary to
completely sever their ties to active Scientologists,
who were forbidden to communicate with the defectors
by organization policy.
Exhibit 239 at the Titchbourne trial highlighted
an aspect of Scientology that received
considerable attention throughout the proceeding.
A Hubbard Policy Letter, it reads in
part, "PROSECUTE [his emphasis). This is
standard, l, 2, 3 action and should not be
deviated from . . . . When under attack . . .
attack. The point is . . . even if you don't
have enough data to win the case still attack
LOUDLY."
Most of the people mentioned at the trial
who had become victims of Scientology's
"attack loudly" policy had previously been
declared "suppressive people," usually in a
written order that outlined their alleged
crimes. SPs are considered "enemies" or "fair
game," and, according to a Hubbard policy
Letter, "may be deprived of property or
injured by any means by any Scientologist
without any discipline of the Scientologist[s].
May be tricked, sued, lied to or destroyed."
Although Scientology attorneys claimed
that the so-called fair game policy had been
rescinded in the late '60s, and that the
security and intelligence unit known as the
Guardian's Office had been disbanded in
1981, testimony of the former members, as
well as other Scientology documents, raised
questions about those claims.
Extensive operations directed at
Titchbourne by Scientology illustrated that
policies and/or organizational names might
have changed but that actions had not. Since
filing her original suit, Titchbourne has been
sued two times by Scientology or its agents.
The first suit, according to Samuels' testimony,
came after he received orders from the
Guardian's Office to file a suit against her
within 24 hours. That suit, like the other, was
eventually dismissed.
According to Samuels, after Titchbourne's
victory in the original trial in 1979, the general
feeling among Scientology leaders was
that "we were defending and not attacking."
A Guardian's Office Programme Order that
was admitted as evidence in the retrial shows
that the strategy soon changed to one of
attack. Entitled "CHRISTO
[Titchbourne's maiden name was Christofferson] FINAL
HANDLING EVAL," the document reads in
part, "Bulletin must be reviewed by the
Founder personally. But the advices are to get
JAIL sentences before the appeal."
Several witnesses testified that "the
Founder" referred to Hubbard and "the
advices" were a coded reference to his direct
orders.
Another exhibit at the trial, entitled
"JULIE'S BACKGROUND," said, "MAJOR
TARGET: The criminal background, drug
history, record of arrests, former employment,
perversions of Julie, fully known and
documented, as needed."
Before the retrial, the Scientologists held
various media events to publicize their contention
that Titchbourne had been involved in
a criminal conspiracy, which allegedly
included allies as diverse as the foreman of the
first trial's jury: Judge Robert Jones, who presided over that trial; and
Titchbourne's
attorney Garry McMurry. Papers were even
filed with then-U.S. Attorney Sidney Lezak
seeking criminal prosecution.
Events surrounding the trial have offered a
very interesting view of Scientology's attitude
toward public relations and the news media.
Eddie Walters the former Guardian's Office
special operative, told Willamette Week that
"Hubbard believes that most media are either
criminals or very weak people and that any
attack will cave them in, they will back off."
Walters went on to describe how he
remembered the subject of possible lawsuits
being handled:
It's done in stages. First, it's implied,
then it is threatened. We usually went to
editors and mucky mucks, because when
you talked about lawsuits they got nervous
and were easy to manipulate. Very
easy . . He goes with a watered-down story and thinks he has won, but he
didn't know that's exactly what we
attempted to do anyway.
Since the verdict on May 17, the Portland
area has gotten a massive dose of another Scientology tactic for dealing with the
media -
the big diversion. That tactic is typified perfectly in the statement prepared prior
to the
verdict and issued by Church of Scientology
International President Heber C. Jentzsch:
A major blow was struck today against
government agency and psychiatric
attempts to destroy the first amendment
in this Portland case. Documentary evidence exposed government collusion
with private individuals in what church
attorney Earle
Cooley has called "the
broadest-based attack on religion in the -
history of man." . . . Evidence in this
suit shows plaintiff witnesses acted as
agents in a far-ranging conspiracy among
government and private vested interests
including the IRS and psychiatric front
groups . . .
.
Anyone who attended the trial and examined Exhibit 241, entitled "How to Do a
Noisy Investigation," could see that there is
some method to the seeming madness of
Jentzsch and his public-relations colleagues.
The document, which was written in 1966 by
Hubbard, shows that Jentzsch and Co. are
simply following policy:
As soon as one of these threats starts,
you get a Scientologist or Scientologists
to investigate noisily. You find out where
he or she works or worked, doctor, dentist, friends, neighbors, anyone, and
phone 'em up and say, "I am investigating Mr./Mrs. . . . for criminal activities
as he/she has been trying to prevent
Man's freedom and is restricting my
religious freedom." . . .Just be NOISY --- it's very odd at first, but makes
fantastic
sense and WORKS.
Perhaps Hubbard was right. Local television news virtually ignored the trial and
the revelations that came out of it, but made the
Scientology reaction, as strange as it was, a
lead story for days.
MONEY, MONEY, MONEY
In order to justify the $42 million in
punitive damages they sought for their client,
Titchbourne's attorneys presented a great
deal of evidence concerning the income of
COSMOD, the CSC, and Hubbard. While it
came as no surprise that Scientology generated large amounts of money, the magnitude
of those funds --- particularly of the portion
going to Hubbard --- was phenomenal.
According to Samuels, COSMOD (which
included his missions in Sacramento, Davis,
San Francisco, Sheridan and Portland) had
assets of some $9 million when he was thrown
out of Scientology in October 1982. He said
his missions made over $4 million in the first
10 months of that year, with 60 percent of
that coming from the Portland mission.
Samuels described how his staff continually
developed "games" designed to increase
income. "There always had to be a new
game," he said. "Always, always, always." He
described one strategy, called the September
Game, which involved an attempt to bring
500 new people and $500,000 into COSMOD during a single month. The game actually
brought in 506 people and over
$400,000, mostly in Portland.
The income figures were even more
impressive for the CSC. Bill
Franks, at one
point in his duties, monitored the International Weekly Statistics Sheets,
which outlined the financial status of all Scientology
missions and organizations on a worldwide
basis. He testified that they did between one
and two million dollars of business each
week. The local missions in the United States
sent 10 percent of their gross incomes as well
as vast sums for higher levels of training for
their staffs, to the CSC. The CSC, said Franks,
had a net worth of at least $340 million in
1981.
In addition, Franks said, at least another
$150 million was kept in a fund known as the
Sea Organization reserves.
It was, however, the testimony regarding
Hubbard's personal income that drew the
most attention at the trial, in part because he
had always denied making money from his
contributions to Scientology, but also because
of the magnitude of the funds he was said to
receive.
In 1976, he declared in a publication
entitled What Your Fees Buy: "Even today I
draw less than an org[anization] staff member, and they draw very little. So the fees
you pay for service do not go to me."
Testimony at the trial indicated that the
Hubbard claim was inaccurate in 1976, and
that he received, to put it mildly, a substantial
raise in the years that followed. Several witnesses,
who had been familiar with how the
finances were handled in regard to Hubbard,
testified, noting that a constant problem facing them was how to funnel money to
Hubbard.
An early method, according to testimony,
involved the Religious Research Foundation
based in Liberia with a bank account in Luxembourg and later, Liechtenstein. Through
the RRF alone, Hubbard received up to
$385,000 annually according to Laurel Sullivan, the personal public-relations side
who worked directly with Hubbard for several
years.
Sullivan also testified that Hubbard was to
get $10 million for his role in producing a
series of Scientology films in 1979. Making
the deal even more lucrative for Hubbard was
the fact that the CSC provided the $5 million
used to fund the project as well as some 185
people to work on it. Hubbard, by the way,
retained all rights to the films, which were to
be leased to various Scientology missions and
organizations.
Sullivan also discussed a special project
called the Mission Corporate Category Sort Out, which began in 1980 and was to be
designed, according to orders she received
from Hubbard's top aide, to hide Hubbard's
control of Scientology and his income while
maintaining both.
Franks testified that Hubbard received $85
million from the CSC for the rights to the E-Meter. Homer Schomer described how some
$34 million was funneled to Hubbard during
a six-month period during 1982. Schomer,
who held Hubbard's power of attorney on
many of his bank and brokerage accounts during that period, said the weekly transfers
started at $200,000 and had reached over $1
million by the time he left the organization.
WHAT NEXT?
While many Oregonians doubt that Julie
Titchbourne will ever see even part of her $39
million award, several factors exist that could
prevent another reversal by the various appellate courts.
First, one must consider the massive, devastating,
and virtually unrebutted evidence that
was presented at the trial regarding widespread
fraud and abuse on the part of Hubbard and select
groups of aides who serve him and Scientology.
Second, it is important to note that punitive
damages are not awarded to compensate the
victim, but to punish the guilty party.
Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Donald Londer, who presided over the trial, told
the jury that if they found "wanton misconduct" that required punitive damages, they
should consider the following in setting the
amounts of those damages:
a) what amount would be required to punish
defendants;
b) what amount would discourage the defendant,
and others, from engaging in such conduct in the future: and
c) what amount of resources the defendants had.
The testimony concerning the astronomical
income of Hubbard and the CSC --- which
was totally unrebutted by the defense ---
obviously had a tremendous impact on the
jury.
The third factor to note when considering
the possibility of an appeals-court reversal of
the Titchbourne verdict is that the instructions
given to the jury this time were actually
taken almost verbatim from the Court of
Appeals decision that reversed the original
trial.
Regardless of the final outcome of the
Titchbourne case, there is no guessing the
effect of the trial on Hubbard and the various
Scientology organizations that are facing
numerous other trials in the near future. The
Titchbourne case has special importance
because it is the first of such cases to go to
trial. Two others, one in Boston and one in
Los Angeles, are scheduled to begin on June
10.
Franks, Schomer, Sullivan, Walters,
Armstrong and Samuels will be testifying at
some, if not all, of the coming cases. If what
happened in Portland is an indication of how
juries around the country will respond to their
testimony and the documents now available,
the troubles for Hubbard and Scientology are
just beginning. Image scans of this article are available suitable for evidenciary use Page1 Page2 Page3 Page4 Page5 Page6 Page7 Image sizes are 1.1 to 1.9 Megabytes per file Related: Refernces By Gerry Armstrong: The term "senior advices" in the program refers to orders from L. Ron See also this affidavit filed in the Christofferson case: Tory Christman (Bezazian) was one of Scientology's organizers of the Protest demonstrations described above, she is now a vocal ex-member, doing all she can to expose Scientology's true nature, read her story HERE Conspiracy for Silence - Summary of some of the gagged litigation agreements that I've heard of The Psychiatric Times The Penthouse Interview with L Ron Hubbard's son The Legal Pages on lermanet2.com The Art of Deception #1 by Arnaldo Lerma The Art of Deception #2 by Arnaldo Lerma |
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