Picket Report, San Diego, 23 November 2001 This was the largest picket ever for San Diego! We had the Torontulas, Kaeli and Zeratul, phr, Barb, Richard, and a guest from the LA area who drove down the night before. If Xenubat's email didn't bounce, we'da had her here too. We thought to try a stealth picket first, by staking out a sidewalk table across from Horton Plaza mall. This has had good results in the past, but this day, I guess people's minds were on getting bargains the day after Thanksgiving, as nobody noticed our signs. Usually a few folks will stop and talk. That didn't happen, so we proceeded up the street to the org. I was a bit curious about this picket. I always call the police just to let them know about our demos, and until now, the dispatcher always just said, "Well, it's your right to picket, don't break any laws, thank you." This time when I called, they wanted my name, phone number, and cell phone number. I was also asked, "Will this be a peaceful event?" Out of the ordinary gets my attention. I had assembled a large packet of information for police officers, just in case. It included: 1. CWPD Lt.Ray Emmons analysis of Scientology 2. Printouts of kaeli and my hate pages 3. Articles on Jesse Prince and Keith Henson 4. The timeline of Minton harassment 5. the Scientology World Indictment Tour list 6. the Criminals in Scientology resource list 7. choice quotes by judges 8. Tabayoyan affidavit excerpts regarding Gold Base 9. Ron the War Zero 10. Ida's letter to her disconnected son 11. misc fliers 12. Choice Hubbard quotes Every section was stapled together by topic, with a brief introduction to each section. It was pretty large, but even if they took the time to skim the material they would see that Scientology isn't the benevolent, peaceful religious group they pretend to be. I saw people milling about the front of the org when we were about 3 blocks down from it. They had all vanished by the time we arrived, save for a few hanging around outside the front door. They've redecorated their office again, and there's a big banner hanging outside offering services for those who are upset in these turbulent times. A big American flag hangs in their front window next to the Help Wanted sign. I've said before that there is very little foot traffic by the org, and this was no exception. We handed out a few fliers to passersby, including one Scieno who dragged them back to the nest. A scientologist took a picture of Zeratul photographing him by the front door, but no one came out to us. One guy who took a flier then tried to bring me to Jesus. I parroted back to him some of the stuff these prosyletizers are fond of saying, but we had to cross the street to get rid of him. Traffic into downtown was good, and many people were slowing down to read our "Scientology, Bait and Switch Fraud" signs. Just getting that message out there is a Good Thing, even if you don't hand out any fliers, it still puts the message in their minds. Considering the number of newspaper inserts lately advertising Dianetics and Dianetic workshops (ONE DAY ONLY!) it surely can't hurt! We knocked off after 30 minutes or so. We saw a few police cars, but they weren't interested in us. Kaeli and Zeratul left from there to proceed to their next suppressive destination. Richard and our guest from LA dispersed, leaving phr and I to fight over computer time. Had I won, you'd have read this yesterday! ;) This is true,
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Barb
Chaplain, ARSCC
http://members.home.net/bwarr1/index.htm
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"Every week, every month, every year, every decade and now every century, Scientology does weird and stupid things to damage its own reputation." -Steve Zadarnowski "Comparing Scientology to a motorcycle gang is a gross, unpardonable insult to bikers everywhere. Even at our worst, we are never as bad as Scientology." -ex-member, Thunderclouds motorcycle "club" "$cientology sees the world this way: One man with a picket sign: terrorism. Five thousand people dead in a deliberate inferno: business opportunity. $cientology oozes _under_ terrorists to hide." -Chris Leithiser

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