Deposition of Stacy Brooks, individually
September 7, 2001
Witness Exhibit 1, by Stacy Brooks
I decline to answer any questions concerning my personal finances or my relationship with Robert Minton and I invoke my privilege against self incrimination pursuant to the constitutions of the United States and of the State of Florida for the following reasons:

I believe that my testimony would be used to incriminate me. I have with me today a copy of a chart that Scientology has previously offered in Court. The chart shows Robert Minton in the center and many other names surrounding him, including my name and the name of the Lisa McPherson Trust, of which I am President. Scientology is trying to create a RICO scenario as evidenced by the fact that Scientology through its counsel attorney Sandy Rosen referred to this chart as an "enterprise chart." "Enterprise" is a word that is used to describe a racketeering entity under the RICO statute. There have been many instances in which Scientology has succeeded in inducing criminal prosecution of Mr. Minton, persons affiliated with the Lisa McPherson Trust, and others.

Paulette Cooper, a vocal critic of Scientology's abuses was indicted on criminal charges related to a bomb threat she allegedly made against Henry Kissinger. A subsequent raid on Scientology offices by the federal government revealed that she had been framed by Scientology in an elaborate operation that included having her impersonated by a Scientologist making reckless statements about harming public figures, and stealing stationery from her home so that a threatening letter could be typed on a sheet of her letterhead bearing her fingerprints.

Gabe Cazares, former mayor of Clearwater and a critic of Scientology was the victim of a Scientology operation in which a Scientologist acted as his driver, struck a Scientologist who was posing as an uninvolved pedestrian, and attempted to make Mr. Cazares complicit in a staged hit and run, with the intention that Mr. Cazares be criminally charged in the incident.

September 10, 1998: Mr. Minton drove Jesse Prince down to Boston from New Hampshire to take him to the airport. They stopped at the Boston Scientology center to picket, and two Boston Scientologists, Frank Ofman and Kevin Hall, began assaulting Mr. Minton both verbally and physically. Frank Ofman in particular was screaming at Mr. Minton and pushing him repeatedly.

Finally Ofman grabbed Mr. Minton's picket sign and broke the stick. Mr. Minton tossed the broken end of the stick at Ofman in disgust and then called the police. But when the police came the Scientologists showed them a video in which Ofman's assault of Mr. Minton was missing and the only thing on the tape was Mr. Minton tossing the broken piece at Ofman. Under pressure from the Scientologists, the police then handcuffed Mr. Minton and arrested him for battery. Scientology immediately posted the arrest photos on the Internet and announced that Mr. Minton was a criminal. However, on December 16, the judge dismissed the charges, directing Mr. Minton to fax a notice to the Boston Scientology center before he picketed for the next three months. Although the charges were dismissed, Scientology continued to portray Mr. Minton as a criminal who had been "arrested for assault."

October 31, 1999: Mr. Minton arrived at the Tampa International Airport and was met by two Scientologists, who shouted at him, "Bob, what are you doing in our town? Get out of our town!" He and I were then followed from the airport to Clearwater, and to their hotel. Richard Howd was one of the Scientologists who followed Mr. Minton and me from the airport to our hotel. Mr. Minton stopped the car near the entrance to the hotel and got out to confront the Scientologists. While Mr. Minton spoke to the woman who was driving the car, Mr. Howd held a video camera inches from Mr. Minton's face. He continued to do this throughout the conversation, until Mr. Minton got back into his car. That evening Mr. Minton picketed in front of the Fort Harrison Hotel, and again Richard Howd was there, keeping a video camera inches from his face as he walked back and forth picketing. I was also there, videotaping so that there would be a record of what happened, as the presence of Mr. Howd was a disturbing signal that the harassment against Mr. Minton was escalating.

Finally, as Mr. Minton rounded the corner of the building, two Scientologists blocked Ms. Brooks so that she could not follow with her camera. Richard Howd pushed Mr. Minton while he was sure he was not being videotaped. At this point Mr. Minton decided to call the police. He began to cross the street and pulled out his cell phone to call, but Richard Howd followed Mr. Minton across the street, holding the video camera close to Mr. Minton's ear. Mr. Minton turned around and told Howd to get away from him, thrusting his sign at him defensively. The sign grazed Howd's eyebrow. Immediately Howd fell to the ground, moaning as if he were in extreme pain. The police arrived and the Scientologists showed them the videotape of Mr. Minton thrusting his sign at Howd as he crossed the street. Because there was no videotape of Howd's earlier assault on Mr. Minton, the Scientologists were able to convince the police to arrest Mr. Minton. He was handcuffed and taken to the Pinellas County Jail, arrested for battery. Scientology immediately began to send Mr. Minton's mug shot to his friends and neighbors in an effort to identify him as a criminal.Mr. Minton was acquitted at trial in March 2000.

January 25, 2000: Mark Bunker, the LMT's multi-media coordinator, was arrested in Chicago for criminal trespassing as he stood on a public sidewalk to film two dentists who were requesting their money back from the Scientology organization in downtown Chicago. Mr. Bunker was filming the dentists outside the entrance when two off-duty Chicago police officers hired by Scientology burst out of the building, grabbed his camera from him and handcuffed him. Mr.

Bunker was taken to jail, booked, and charged with criminal trespassing despite two eyewitnesses who swore he was standing on the public sidewalk. Mr. Bunker was acquitted at trial.

February 2000: LMT staff member Jesse Prince met a man in a pool hall where Mr. Prince and his fiance had gone to play pool. He introduced himself as Rinsey Trinidad and invited Mr. Prince to go outside with him to smoke marijuana. The man, whose real name was Barry Gaston, was a private investigator hired by Scientology to befriend Jesse and set him up on drug-buying charges. Mr. Prince was eventually arrested and charged with possession of marijuana based on the recovery of a plant approximately 18" in height found on his back porch. Mr. Prince's trial resulted in a hung jury, 5 - 1 for acquittal. After the mistrial, the charge was dropped by the Office of the State Attorney.
In April 2000, John Fashanu, a retired soccer player from Nigeria, released a report that contained false allegations that Mr. Minton was involved in the theft of billions of dollars from the Nigerian government and that he was involved in a massive money-laundering scheme. Several articles appeared in England and Nigeria in which the media quoted this so-called Fashanu Report. Although Fashanu claimed it had taken him three years to compile the information, it was later established that Scientology private investigators had provided Fashanu with the completed report. Most of the documents appeared to have come from a burglary of the office of Mr. Minton's former partner, Jeff Schmidt.

Further investigation revealed that the Nigerian head of OPEC, Rilwanu Lukman, had been a Scientologist since at least 1984 and, together with top Scientology operatives, had handpicked Fashanu to present Scientology's trumped-up charges against Mr. Minton to the public and whatever prosecutors would listen. Later, the Nigerian High Commissioner in London, Prince Bola Ajibola, wrote to a prosecutor in Geneva, Switzerland, General Bernard Bertossa, accusing Mr. Minton of money-laundering and fraud against the Nigerian government and asking Bertossa to press criminal charges against Mr. Minton. Prince Ajibola's complaint was based entirely on the Scientology-written Fashanu Report.

An investigation by the Nigerian Senate cleared Mr. Minton of any wrongdoing, and the Swiss government has refused to take any action based on Scientology's allegations. However, this episode is illustrative of Scientology's unending quest to bring about criminal prosecution of those it perceives as enemies. Scientology has waged a relentless, five-year campaign to get Mr. Minton prosecuted on false criminal charges. They have sent teams of operatives to Nigeria, Turkey, England, Germany, Switzerland and other countries in a multi-million-dollar, global attempt to force Mr. Minton to stop his efforts to expose Scientology's fraud and abuse.
In June 2000, Ursula Caberta, head of a task force established by the Hamburg government to investigate Scientology, visited Clearwater on vacation.

Scientology operatives harassed her at her hotel throughout her stay. While Ms.

Caberta ate dinner with Mr. Minton and Ms. Brooks in a hotel dining room, two Scientologists interrupted them and began to harass Ms. Caberta, telling her that she should go back to Germany.

Scientologists stationed themselves outside her hotel room door so that she could not leave her room without running a gauntlet of harassive Scientologists. The next day, two people passed themselves off to the hotel desk clerks as off-duty plain-clothes police officers. In fact, these two men were Daniel Otero, a Scientology private investigator, and Robert Bossard, a process server working for Scientology. Believing them to be police officers, the hotel clerk directed them to Ms. Caberta's room. There, Otero, Bossard and several Scientologists began to harass Caberta, yelling and pounding on her hotel door and sliding subpoenas for deposition in the Lisa McPherson wrongful death case, in which Ms. Caberta had no involvement, under the door.

Ms. Caberta, an official of the Hamburg government, was forced to testify in deposition in the Lisa McPherson wrongful death case based on false allegations Scientology attorney Kendrick Moxon made to the court. She was asked if she had ever been given any money by Mr. Minton. She testified that she had asked Mr. Minton to loan her a sum of money to deal with a personal matter, and that he had generously done so. Immediately after her deposition, Scientology compiled a complaintand presented it to a German prosecutor, claiming that Ms. Caberta had taken a bribe from Mr. Minton. In fact, Mr.

Minton had providedthis money solely as a personal favor and had not asked for anythingin return. However, the prosecution initiated by Scientology against Mr. Minton and Ms. Caberta continues to this day.

In 1997, Scientology moved a team of operatives into my neighborhood in Seattle, Washington. These paid operatives launched a campaign of harassment and intimidation against my husband and me and our entire neighborhood in an effort to silence my outspoken criticism of Scientology's fraud and abuse, including abuse of the legal system. Throughout 1997 and 1998, these Scientology operatives repeatedly tried to initiate prosecution of me on criminal animal abuse charges so that they could, per their policies, label me a criminal. They were not successful. They attempted, through false allegations to the mental health authorities in Seattle, Washington, to have me committed to a mental institution. This was also unsuccessful.

I have no personal knowledge about the facts of the complaint or counterclaim in this case. For that reason, and because of Scientology's history and policy of inducing authorities to institute false criminal charges against its critics, I believe that any information gathered by Scientology concerning my personal finances or my relationship with Mr. Minton will be used to subject me to prosecution. I therefore refuse to answer any such questions.

Organization: The Lisa McPherson Trust, 33 North Fort Harrison Avenue,
Clearwater, Florida 33755 Telephone: (727) 467-9335 Fax: (727) 467-9345
On Mon, 17 Jan 2000 19:48:37 GMT, ThomLove <thomlovenetmail@netscape.net> wrote:
>Hello AnOn;
[snip] Dear AnOn, My apologies for the delay in responding to you. I've been off the newsgroup for several days because of all the things that have to be done to get the LMT up and running. I hope you don't mind if I answer you even though I'm late, and please, in the future if I don't respond right away please bear with me. Sometimes I'm not as fast as I should be on this newsgroup :-( I never did get your original post except as attached to ThomLove's, so I have to respond to you as part of Thom's post, if you don't mind.
First I want to comment on what ThomLove said:

>
>It is impossible to 'reform' the CofS from the inside. As you well know,
>you are forbidden to even question any CofS policy or activity. To
>actually go so far as to 'disagree' gets you sent to the word clearer at
>best. To actually state a disagreement, gets you sent to ethics at best.
>To take a stand that something is 'wrong' and needs to be fixed, gets
>you Declared SP, at the very best.
I totally agree with what Thom says here. I found it utterly impossible to get any of the execs to hear me. All they could hear was that I was "disaffected" or "PTS" or "First Dynamic Oriented" or "in Treason." Not even the possibility that perhaps I might have a valid point. Never once did ANYONE ever actually say to me, "Hey, Stacy, maybe we'd better look into these things. If you're right, we've got a problem here." This was the case in every Scientology organization I was a part of -- Peter Green's mission in Atlanta, AOLA, the US GO, ASI, ITS, and OSA.

>
>It is a CofS ser fac.
Yes, it is.

>
>I can't speak for Stacy, but I saw many, many things while in the CofS
>that I found uncomfortable. I was unaware of any actual crimes or any of
>the criticisms of the CofS since in the CofS environment, such things
>don't exist. They sure were never discussed if anyone knew of them. It
>is not until coming here, and reading the links available, not the posts
>themselves, that was quite the eye-opener. I'm a much 'better'
>Scientologist as a result of being here.
>
Thom, I think that's so great that you're actually here and looking at both sides of the coin. You are courageous to do so. I am curious to know if you are currently on lines? Are you telling the org that you are on a.r.s.? If so, what has the org's response been? I will be so glad to hear it if you tell me that you are openly on a.r.s. and continuing your auditing without being sent to ethics for subjecting yourself to the critics on a.r.s.

Now I'll respond to AnOn's post (and again, AnOn, forgive me for my delay):

>
>An0n wrote:
>>
>> Hi Stacy Brooks,
Hi AnOn, >>
>> I have some real problems believing some of what you say in your post. The
>> biggest out point is that you claim to be an "ethical scietologist" in PT.
>>
>> You wrote:
>> "When I left the C of S and the Sea Org I did so because I felt it was
>> the only way to continue to be an ethical Scientologist."
I'm not a Scientologist in PT, AnOn. I have said at various times that I felt I couldn't continue to work for Miscavige as an ethical Scientologist, and that I finally felt I had to leave the Sea Org and, therefore, the Church of Scientology, because I felt I would have to do things that I considered to be unethical if I stayed. When I left the Church in 1989 I was still a Scientologist. But I haven't been a Scientologist for several years now. Let me tell you the rest of the story.

When Vaughn and I left the Sea Org we were both dedicated Scientologists. But the heavy-handed thug tactics of Miscavige and his people shattered our commitment and made it utterly impossible for us to continue to aid and abet them. In January or February of 1989 Vaughn was physically beaten by Norman Starkey, then Executive Director of ASI, for asking for an order in writing so that he could query it. As you know, to ask for an order in writing so that it can be queried is straight out of the policy letter Orders, Query of. But the response Vaughn got to this on-policy request was to be physically beaten for being "insubordinate."

Marion Dendiu was the Org Officer at ASI at the time and she witnessed the beating. After it was over and Norman had stalked out of the room, Marion took Vaughn to her office and told him he was in a lower condition for having upset Norman so badly. This is typical of the attitude of these people who are now running the Church of Scientology.

The next day Vaughn went to the Scientology clinic, Shaw Health Center, and was examined by Dr. Gene Denk. Vaughn didn't tell Denk what had happened, of course. One never reveals that such things are going on in the inner circle of Scientology management. Vaughn told Denk that he had fallen, to explain the bruises on his chest. Denk said he had heart damage from the trauma and that he needed to be very careful, to keep his level of stress very low, to allow it to heal or he would risk a heart attack.

Vaughn didn't tell me what had happened at first, because Norman and Marion both ordered him not to. So all I knew was that one night Vaughn came home totally broken, sobbing, in pain, asking me to listen to his heart to see if it sounded OK. In fact it sounded very erratic and it frightened me so much that I wanted him to call 911 immediately. But he refused, and acted terrified at the idea of telling anyone what was wrong with him.

Even though he didn't tell me what had happened, I could tell that he had been terrorized in some way. I recognized the symptoms from my own experience at ASI earlier.

Vaughn was put on MEST work at ASI, cleaning the kitchen, washing the walls, you know. The usual stuff. He wasn't allowed to drive. Someone drove him to and from the office every day. We had a guard posted outside our door every night. Vaughn acted like a totally broken man.

He wouldn't speak to me about anything that was going on, and I didn't ask, because I knew he would tell me when he felt he could.

Finally about three weeks later he came home one night and told me. He whispered, because he was afraid our room was bugged. In fact, after we had been out for several years we learned from someone who had been there that Miscavige had indeed bugged our room in those final months, so Vaughn was right to be concerned about it. Vaughn told me about the beating, and then he told me he had told Marion that he wanted to route off staff. Then I understood why he was under guard 24 hours a day. With the information Vaughn had, he was considered a high security risk.

I was glad he wanted to route off staff because I wanted to as well. I had wanted to since I was sent to the RPF in 1982, but I wasn't willing to leave without Vaughn because I was afraid Miscavige would force Vaughn to divorce me. Vaughn wouldn't be able to be in the Sea Org if I routed out, and it is common practice for people to be ordered to divorce a spouse who either leaves the Sea Org or refuses to join. (This is how Linda and Neal Hamel ended up divorced, for example.)

But Vaughn said he wasn't making any progress on the routing out routing form, and when he said that I knew that something was up. He continued to do MEST work every day at ASI and I was basically put under house arrest at OSA Int. No one ever said so but at the same time Vaughn had originated wanting to route off staff I had suddenly been called by my senior at OSA Int, Debbie Rossouw, and told that I needed to work over at her office for a while. She said it was because of some writing projects that needed to be done, but there was no reason why I needed to be at OSA Int for that so I knew something was wrong. When Vaughn told me he had originated wanting to route out I understood why I was being kept at OSA Int every day.

I stayed on my best behavior, because I knew that if I let on in any way that I was in agreement with Vaughn's desire to leave staff, they would separate us and we wouldn't be able to talk to each other at all. An eval had just been done and one of the steps of the handling was to move the Freedom office to OSA Int. In order to do that, all the Freedom staff, including Tom Whittle, Richard Wieland and me, would have to get Int qualified. For me to be Int qualled I would have to divorce Vaughn if he left the Sea Org, since you can't be married to a non-SO member if you are at the Int level.

So every day Carol Martiniano would check with me about how Vaughn and I were doing. I kept saying everything was fine and acting like I didn't know anything. Then finally one night I was at OSA Int and Carol came running into the office and said that the IG was on the phone for me. The IG was the Inspector General, Greg Wilhere. It was highly unusual for the IG to skip channels down to OSA Int at all, much less to call for a lowly person like me. So all the OSA Int execs were bug-eyed and everybody wanted to know what was up. I had a good idea what was up, but I didn't say anything.

Greg told me to meet him and Vaughn at Gorky's, a restaurant a few blocks away. OSA Int was in the management building on Hollywood Blvd, so this meant I was going to be walking in downtown Hollywood alone at 10:00 at night, not a safe thing to do at all. But I had no choice. I took off my little black tie and my SO jacket and rolled up my sleeves to try to look as much like a normal person as possible, and walked to Gorky's.

There were Greg and Vaughn at a booth. Right away I knew something was wrong. I sat down next to Vaughn and Greg gave me a look that said, "You better cooperate." Vaughn had obviously been crying but was now acting manic -- very excited and happy. "Stacy," he said, "Greg and I have been talking all afternoon. He came down from Int just to talk to me and help me. Isn't that great?"

I knew damn well it wasn't great, that Greg was down there on Miscavige's orders to get Vaughn straightened out. But I glanced at Greg and he had his TRs totally on me, and I knew I was being tested.

Vaughn said, "Stacy, Greg wants me to go to Int with him tonight to get on a handling program, so I can get some auditing to handle all the charge about what happened with Norman."

Ah, I thought. That's what's happening. They want Vaughn where they can keep him under total control, and they want him away from me.

"But Stacy," Vaughn continued, "I told Greg I won't go with him unless you say it's OK. What do you think?"

Vaughn didn't realize it but he was putting me in a totally untenable position. If I said no, I didn't think he should go, I'd be in terrible trouble. Greg was still watching me, aware of the position Vaughn was putting me in. I thought it was a terrible idea for Vaughn to go with Greg, but I also could tell that Vaughn was still under Greg's control and not ready to say, "No, I want to leave and I want Stacy to come with me." He was still under their control. My job was to wait till he was totally ready to leave, without any possibility of being talked back in as Greg had just done to him.

So I said, without skipping a beat, "Well I think that's great, Vaughn, for you to go to Int with him."

Silently I wished we could run out of the restaurant and never look back, but I knew Vaughn wasn't ready to do that yet, and I knew we'd be separated if I said anything but what I had said.

Greg is a very smooth-talking guy. He had Vaughn totally back under his control and he had done it really skillfully. Now he casually suggested that Vaughn should ride with him rather than me to go to the Complex to get his things. So there was not a moment when Vaughn and I were allowed to be alone from the time I saw him in the restaurant until he and Greg drove away from the horseshoe entrance of the Main Bldg at the Complex.

After Vaughn was taken away I was watched even more closely, and the closer they watched me the more I acted like I was a happy, dedicated staff member. I knew if I made any indication at all that I was also disaffected, they would cut the line between Vaughn and me. Part of my program to get Int qualled was to get through OT5, so I was getting NOTs auditing every day and every day Carol Martiniano, the DCO Internal OSA Int, was trying to persuade me to divorce Vaughn. "He's going to hold you back, Stacy, if he routes off staff. You have so much potential as an exec, but you know you won't be able to go any further as long as you're married to him," she would say to me.

I just kept saying, "I'm sure he's going to come through this and stay on staff. There's no need for us to discuss whether or not I'm going to divorce him." And meanwhile, I was just waiting for Vaughn to get out from under the control of Greg, DM and the others. But it wasn't something I could do anything about; it was going to have to be something Vaughn would come to on his own. All I could do was wait for him.

I didn't want my auditor to get in trouble though. There is a policy that if an auditor misses a withhold on a pc they are immediately sent to the RPF. My auditor was really nice and I didn't want her to be sent to the RPF because of me. So I pretended to have a big win in session one day and made my TA float so she would C/S me to take time off for my win.

Then I settled down to wait for Vaughn to let me know he was ready to go. Every night between midnight and three in the morning someone would come and knock on my door and I would have to get out of bed and go up to the in-house attorney unit on the fourth floor of the ASHO building to take a phone call from Mike Sutter. And every night it was the same routine. He wanted to check on me to make sure I was continuing to stay in line, and he wanted me to tell him what Vaughn was saying to me on the phone. Basically I was supposed to be spying on Vaughn for him, but I didn't do it. Vaughn was confiding in me and it was none of Mike Sutter's business what he was saying to me. But I didn't tell Mike that. I told Mike exactly what he wanted to hear, which was that Vaughn was doing great on his program and I was sure he would be back on post and producing in no time.

On a Wednesday afternoon Vaughn called to say he'd see me soon. He didn't say anything else, but I knew what was going to happen.

The next few days were surreal for me. We had a Freedom submission due, and I got the whole thing done ahead of schedule practically single-handedly. I got it into the mail pack Saturday afternoon.

Vaughn called that evening to say he had gotten an approval to come down the next day, Sunday, to see me. He didn't say anything else, and I didn't ask any questions. I knew he'd explain everything when I saw him.

The next morning he arrived and we took a drive down to Hermosa Beach.

On the way down there Vaughn told me what had happened up at Int.

He had been put on a repair program and Gelda Mithoff had been assigned to audit him. Ray Mithoff was his C/S, and Greg Wilhere was coming to see him every day to find out how he was doing. Everyone left him alone. He was allowed to do whatever he wanted, and no one ever told him to do any work or anything. Clearly they were worried about what had happened and were trying their best to get Vaughn happy again and back in the fold. But Vaughn wasn't changing his mind this time about wanting to leave. Their pampering and cajoling weren't working this time.

Finally one day when Greg Wilhere came to see him, Vaughn said his auditing was fine, but when was he going to get started on his routing out routing form? He had been at Int for two months and no one had even mentioned his routing out.

He said Greg looked at him and said, "But Vaughn, you know we're not going to let you leave."

Vaughn told me that when Greg said that he finally realized that he was never going to be able to follow the standard policies for a leaving staff member. They just weren't going to allow it. He said Greg went on to talk about how valuable he was as a staff member, and to say how much he had contributed, etc., etc. But Vaughn said that for him, when Greg told him they weren't going to let him leave, all Vaughn could think was, "Oh, really? You're not going to let me go?

Watch me."

After that, Vaughn became a model pc. He sailed through the rest of his Int handling. He told his auditor he had cognited on what had been wrong and now he was totally ready to get back to post and begin producing again. Everything was fine. He convinced everyone that he was totally handled. He attested to his Int Repair on Saturday afternoon. On Sunday morning he got a CSW approved to come see me. Now we were driving toward Hermosa Beach. Vaughn turned to me and said, "Listen, I have to get out of here. Will you come with me?"

It was the first time he had ever talked to me about leaving. He was obviously scared to death about what I was going to do. I was totally surprised that he didn't already know how I felt, but then I realized that we had never been able to talk openly to each other about how we felt.

"Vaughn," I said, "of course I'll come with you."

He was so relieved he had to pull over to the side of the road. We hugged each other and cried. Then we looked at each other and realized the enormity of what we were contemplating. To blow was tantamount to committing suicide, really. We would be declared SPs. We would be banned from the tech. We would be out in the no-man's-land of the wog world with no friends, no support, no way to get any auditing.

It was a horrifying future to contemplate, but it was better than staying in the Sea Org and being subjected to any more lies, deception, hypocrisy and abuse. Even being condemned to live in the wog world was better than being under the control of David Miscavige and his people.

AnOn, I'm telling you this story to try to give you a reality about what I experienced that led me to leave the Church of Scientology. I found myself in the untenable position of having to choose between violating my own Code of Honor or violating the morality of David Miscavige's Sea Org. I found myself having to choose between my own second and third dynamics. I felt that I was being forced to make choices that no one should be asked to make. Finally I chose to keep my own counsel, as the Code of Honor says.

And so I left. I can't tell you exactly when it happened that I realized I wasn't a Scientologist any more. Vaughn and I didn't talk to each other about Scientology for nearly two years after we left. We didn't want to natter, and we didn't want to do anything that would come up on our sec checks when we got back on lines, some time in the future when Miscavige was no longer in charge. So we didn't say a word to each other for a long time.

Then finally one day we realized that there was no reason why we couldn't talk to each other about anything we wanted, and it began to occur to us that there was something terribly wrong with an organization that could curtail our freedom of speech to such an outrageous degree. We began to talk about our experiences, and we began to enjoy exercising our basic rights, rights that we hadn't had when we were in the Sea Org.

When we got out we didn't know anyone or any organization that could help us. Maybe if we had known about other Scientologists who had also left, and if we had hooked up with them, things would be different now. Maybe I would still be a Scientologist. I guess I'll never know.

All I can tell you is that the level of abuse and deception I was subjected to in the Sea Org was so horrific for me that it has made it very difficult for me to be able to separate out my feelings about the Sea Org from my feelings about Scientology in general. So I have distanced myself from it altogether as an alternative for me.

For a while I was very bitter about Scientology and very much against it generally. But in the past year I have been contacted by a number of people who are current Scientologists and who are really good and ethical people, and who feel the same way I do about the abuses that need to be reformed.

So I find that I am continuing to rethink and re-evaluate my views of Scientology. I respect people like Safe and others who are genuinely willing to respect other people's points of view, something I never was allowed to do when I was a Scientologist.

I do strive to be an ethical and humane person, to help people as much as I can, and to be compassionate as much as I can be. I was never urged to be compassionate when I was a Scientologist. I was only urged to be productive and not to do anything that would harm Scientology.

But I was never urged to be compassionate or to help others for no other reason than than they needed help, even if it wouldn't help my stats. I don't think I am perfect, and I know I have made mistakes.

But I try to learn from my mistakes and gain humility to try to be a better person.

And one thing I am sure of is this: to get Miscavige's Church of Scientology to reform their abusive and deceptive practices would be a positive contribution toward making this world a more humane place to live. That's why I'm doing what I'm doing.

>>
>> This is what I believe:
>>
>> If you at one time were an ethical scientologist, then you no doubt
>> recognized when that stopped being true. At that time, if you tried
>> putting ethics in on yourself, without using actual tech of ethics, your
>> "handling" of your out ethics situation would put you exactly where you
>> are. . .charging that something was done to you which justifed your
>> out-ethics action.
I understand that this is the view of Miscavige's Church of Scientology toward anyone who does anything that is not in keeping with the rules and regulations of Miscavige's Church of Scientology.

May I suggest that there are real abuses being perpetrated by these people and that you as a Scientologist in good standing need to take responsibility for getting ethics in on your leadership. You need to confront the fact that these people are abusing their power and hurting people. I am just asking you to consider this.

>>
>> I apologize to any scientologist reading this who will have to read all
>> the attacks and Pretty Rotten Tnings which will no doubt be levied here
>> agianst me and my beliefs. I'm sure both will be quickly ridiculed,
>> complete with "clam" comments, scoffing, and as much entheta as can be
>> packed in a punch.
>>
AnOn, I will never attack your beliefs. You are free to believe whatever you choose and I have no right to question your belief system. But I do have the right to challenge anyone who violates or threatens my rights or the rights of others. That is all I am saying, and I think when it really comes down to it, that is all anyone else is saying either.

>> Stacy Brooks, I do not mean to attack you, but in the reading I have done
>> here, you have never before made such a claim. (the ethical Scientologist
>> in PT claim) I would be interested to hear what people like Safe think on
>> the topic. I also wonder what the Critics--the people who continually
>> mock scientology and scientologists-- think of you being an ethical
>> scientologist in PT.
I hope I have clarified this for you now. I am not a Scientologist in PT and have never claimed that I was.

>>
>> It raises some questions. Do you believe then, in the OT levels? What
>> does Arnie Lerma think of that if you do?
No, AnOn, I don't believe in the OT levels.

>>
>> You also say:
>> "I realize this sounds impossible to many good and ethical
>> Scientologists, especially after what Miscavige and his people have
>> told you about me. (...)I found myself in ethics trouble repeatedly for
>> protecting
>> standard tech against Miscavige's direct orders to me to use the tech
>> to hurt people."
>>
>> Can you give any examples please? I am most interested in any examples of
>> standard tech which were potentially used to hurt people. And yes, I have
>> not heard many positive things said about you. Ditto for this newsgroup.
>> Regarding the newsgroup, most all of what I've been told is true.
I just reposted a message a few days ago which detailed a number of specific instances when I was ordered to use the tech to hurt people.

If you missed that post let me know and I will repost it again for you.

>>
>> I actually logged on here because someone (not a scientologist) who knew I
>> was a scientologist, read ars and saw the Dorian posts. He asked me about
>> them, and for a long time I did nothing. Then I started reading them, and
>> the newsgroup itself. Pretty bad, and actually even worse than I had been
>> led to believe! How does this Dorian fit into your beliefs? I read it,
>> and frankly, I think you and Bob Minton are completely lying about this
>> person existing, and the walled room, and all that rot. How does such a
>> lie, such a series of lies and misrepresentations, fit into your PT
>> ethical scientologist beliefs? Do the people here have such short
>> memories? Do they just take at face value what money can buy?
AnOn, I have posted my views earlier about the Dorian material. Some of what I read gave me some insights about my experience in Scientology, that's all. I don't really want to make it a big issue with you. It's not a big issue for me.

>>
>> I did not mean to take such a tone, but yes, this is very offensive to me.
>> And, contrary to what most people on ars seem to beleive, I have very
>> strong critical thinking skills and hold high standards for my beliefs.
>> (Come on critics, let me have it for this one! Dis my religion, call me a
>> moron, a clam, a bivalve, a cult member, a deluded adherent, stupid,
>> naive. . .I'm sure you'll think of more ;o} ...that's me trying to be
>> jovial Safe. It's hard to not be serious though, about something very
>> impt to my life.)
I don't mind your tone, AnOn, and I'm glad you have strong critical thinking skills and hold high standards for your beliefs. I'm not going to let you have it for saying that, and I'm not going to dis your religion. I would like to have an open forum for discussion of these topics with you and other Scientologists.

>>
>> I can believe that you became a scientologist for good reasons. Ihave no
>> reason not to believe you about that. Scientology draws people who want
>> to make the world a better place. (OK critics, hit me some more for that
>> one!...I"m trying to create affinity here Safe, as you suggested, with a
>> little smile and a good attitude ;o} )
I probably became a Scientologist for the same reasons you did, AnOn.

I did want to make the world a better place. I still do.

>>
>> Stacy Brooks, you say you tried to change things from the inside...how did
>> you try to do that? Did you use standard ethics/conditions tech to do so?
>> If indeed you applied them correctly, that should have worked, right? As
>> an ethical scientologist, you believe that, correct?
I tried Knowledge Reports, standard ethics, standard tech, everything I knew of to bring about change. And yes, if I applied them correctly they should have worked, but they didn't. That was the problem.

>>
>> Safe doesn't believe that you are trying to Reform Scientology, but
>> there's a whole string of posts with that heading, and many by you. Are
>> you trying to Reform Scientology?
I am trying to get the Church of Scientology to reform its abusive and deceptive practices, AnOn. That is what I am trying to do.

>>
>> Has Bob Minton read anything by LRH? Safe didn't know.
Yes, Bob has read a lot of LRH material, actually.

>>
>> It seemed very benevolent of you to supply your phone numbers and offer to
>> talk to me, but I think you did so knowing that there is no way in the
>> world that I can do so. Maybe someone else who reads all this will, so it
>> was a positive gesture anyway.
But why is there no way in the world that you can do so, AnOn? Please do call me. Call me collect if you need to. You have every right to call me if you want to.

>>
>> Thank you for taking the time to respond to my questions for Safe. It
>> seems a win that you invited him to be on the advisory board of the LMT.
>> I hope the other board members can be respectful of his beliefs. From my
>> vantage point tho, that seems very unlikely.
No, on the contrary, I think it's important for everyone on the board to respect the beliefs of Scientologists. No one has the right to dictate anyone else's beliefs. The only aspects of the Church of Scientology that the LMT is concerned with are the abusive and deceptive aspects. I hope Safe will work with us, as I hope you will.

>>
>> The critics here, or most of them anyway, claim to be for religios freedom
>> and say that it is not the belief system they are chastizing and
>> ridiculing. I'd like to ask you if you think that is true. Before you do
>> though, re-read some recent posts by Arnie Lerma, Captain Nerd, dave bird,
>> and roger gonnert, among others.
I think most of the critics feel they are chastising the practices they feel are abusive. Perhaps there are some gray areas where one person might consider something a belief and another person considers it a practice. It would be good to have an open forum on that subject, I think.

>>
>> So again, thank you. As I said, I read this newsgroup not too frequently,
>> but will look for any responses you might provide.
I hope you will find some of what I have said here interesting. And again, I'm sorry it took me so long to respond but I hope I will hear back from you!

Stacy




From: Stacy Brooks <stacybrooks@lisatrust.net>
Subject: Deposition of Stacy Brooks -- Exhibit 6
Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2001 16:12:27 -0400
Organization: The Lisa McPherson Trust, 33 North Fort Harrison Avenue, Clearwater, Florida 33755 Telephone: (727) 467-9335 Fax: (727) 467-9345
Message-ID: <85p4qt46s1ks856pm2qdtu3c3lfq46c39q@4ax.com>
Deposition of Stacy Brooks, individually September 7, 2001 Exhibit 6, by Kendrick Moxon
From: Stacy Brooks <stacybrooks@mciworld.com>
Subject: The Lisa McPherson Trust opens in Clearwater
Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2000 00:00:00 GMT
Message -ID: s07k7sgduhrno3e7vpi59i29c11d9qsupc@4ax.com Organization: The Lisa McPherson Trust, Inc.,
33 North Fort Harrison Avenue, Clear As of January 6, 2000, the Lisa McPherson Trust is open for business at 33 N. Ft. Harrison in downtown Clearwater.

It's been an interesting few days, to say the least. On Tuesday, January 4, Mark Bunker, David Cecere, Patricia Greenway, Peter Alexander and I welcomed Bob Minton, Jesse Prince, Grady Ward and Duncan Pierce, who all flew into town for the closing of the new building.

Scott Brauer, the CPA who sold Bob the building, met us on Wednesday, January 5, at 3:00 for the closing. Scott told us that over the weekend he had had repeated phone calls from Ben Shaw, and that the calls had continued up until 1:00 that afternoon. Ben was trying to get Scott to agree to pull out of the deal with Bob by offering him nearly double the amount and promising to indemnify him against any litigation that might result, but Scott refused, much to Ben's dismay. We told Scott for the hundredth time how much we appreciated his integrity and courage. Scott's attitude all along has been clear and straightforward. "I have to be able to look at myself in the mirror every morning," he said with a shrug.

Bob's attorney for the transaction also came to the closing, as well as the agent for the title company, and Ken Dandar and his consultant, Dr. Michael Garko. By 3:45 all the papers had been signed, the money had been transferred, and the Lisa McPherson Trust had a home.

Tom Tobin of the St. Petersburg Times came to the building and interviewed Scott Brauer and Bob for a story that ran the next day. Marty Rathbun seems to have replaced Mike Rinder as the Scientologist in charge of dealing with the media on Lisa McPherson Trust matters. We aren't sure but are assuming Mike Rinder was busted because he didn't prevent us from getting our building. The article is at www.sptimes.com/News/0... North Pinellas/Scientology_foe_sets_.shtml for anyone who is interested.

Peter Alexander and Patricia Greenway, both Lisa McPherson Trust board members, were also on hand for the closing. We had a great time inspecting all the new offices and deciding where everyone should sit. At one point we all stepped out the back door on Watterson Street to marvel at the OSA security personnel, who kept ducking inside the Clearwater Bank Building two doors away every time one of us took a step in their direction.

Ottavio's, an excellent Italian restaurant three doors down from us on N. Ft. Harrison, sent over a bottle of Merlot and a plate of bruschetta as a welcoming present for their new neighbors.

Some of you may remember the column by Rick Barry that ran in the Tampa Tribune on Dec. 11 titled "Bob Minton: Will he rouse the gorilla?" in which he referred to Bob and the others involved in the Lisa McPherson Trust as "parrots." Bob gathered Jesse, Mark, David, me, Patricia, Peter, Duncan and Grady in our new conference room for a special surprise. First we opened the wine and a bottle of champagne and toasted our beautiful new building. Then Bob presented each of us with a Beanie Baby parrot, much to everyone's delight. Fortunately Mark videoed the entire presentation so everyone will have a chance to see this historic event. Then we all gathered for dinner at the Clearwater Beach Hotel and it turned out to be a grand celebration.

The next day Bob, David, Jesse, Grady, Duncan and I were all at the office by 8:00 for a full day of hard work to get the offices up and running. Grady took charge of the new locks and alarm system, getting a DSL line in the office, and ordering new doors for the building. I found a window washer, Jesse fixed the battery on my laptop, Duncan drafted an administrative checklist for the office, David got the photocopy machine running, and Bob disappeared for a few hours only to return with two new computers and a printer, as well as a big bag of office supplies. By the end of the day the two computers were set up, the carpets were vacuumed, the coffee makers were working, and phones were operational. Probably the best image of the day was Bob Minton sweeping the entrance to the Lisa McPherson Trust out on North Fort Harrison.

In the afternoon I took my dog Maggie (she's the unofficial mascot for the Trust - our official mascot is a Parrot, of course) for a walk down Watterson and as I passed the kitchen door of Ottavio's, one of the staff, Robert, came out and told me that he had had a visit from Josh, who is in charge of all the buses that pick up and drop off the Scientologists in back of the Clearwater Bank building on Watterson.

He said Josh came into the restaurant after the St. Pete Times article ran about the closing. The article had mentioned that a local restaurant sent over wine and bruschetta, and Josh came in to say, "Was that Ottavio's that sent over wine and bruschetta?"

Robert said he told him yes, it sure was, and he was really glad to have us in the neighborhood because we're good customers at the restaurant. Apparently at that point Josh began reciting the usual dead agenting material about us - he said Robert didn't realize how violent we are and how dangerous it is that we are moving in. Robert replied that he felt like he was on the playground in kindergarten. He told Josh that he is a businessman and that we are good customers, and that's the end of the conversation.

I also spoke to Scott Brauer that afternoon. He said he had a phone call from Mike Roberto, Clearwater City Manager, at about 6:00 Wednesday evening. Roberto told him he was calling because he had heard about the deal with Bob Minton and wondered if Scott realized how much trouble it would bring to downtown Clearwater if the deal with Minton went through. Scott said he felt that Roberto was trying to strong-arm him, and he said it seemed to him that Roberto was calling to put pressure on him to back out of the sale. Scott just told him they didn't need to have the conversation because Bob Minton already owned the building, as of 3:45 that afternoon.

Another unnerving moment occurred when the phone man discovered a wire on our main phone line that wasn't supposed to be there. Was it a bug? We'll never know for sure. The phone man said it could be an old arrangement between two offices to share a line, or it could be something more sinister, but there was really no way to tell for sure. Grady has now arranged for a security measure on the phone lines that will allow us to determine if anyone has tampered with them.

That night Bob, Grady, Jesse, Mark, Duncan, David and I went to Ottavio's for a great dinner. Robert greeted us with yet another story. Mike Roberto's aide had come into the restaurant earlier and immediately brought up the Lisa McPherson Trust. He told Robert it was World War 3 between the Trust and Scientology and that he had better stay out of it. Robert just shook his head in amazement as he told me the story. I told him it's not true that it's World War 3, that we aren't here to wage a war;

we're here to educate people and help Scientologists.

Friday we finalized all of our insurance, got our alarm system ordered, worked out where Mark's editing studio will be, and got more computers up and running. We also got our first scanner set up.

A man stopped by who said he lives in Clearwater and has had lots of questions about Scientology but never knew where he could go for answers. Bob spent quite a bit of time talking to him and later I sat in the conference room with him for half an hour telling him how I got into Scientology, what it was like, what auditing is, and many other things he wanted to know. He said he wants to come find out more once we're set up, and I told him he'd be welcome any time.

Another man stopped by to find out about us and David and Duncan spent time telling him about the Trust, and Lisa, and Scientology.

A local businessman dropped by to give us his card. He said he was glad to see us coming to town because it's been really rough on the local business people in Clearwater, that the Scientologists have boycotted his business because he had the 1991 Time magazine article in his reception area one day and some Scientologists saw it. I promised him we'd give him as much business as we can.

Friday night we all went home and got to bed early. It had been an exhausting few days and everyone needed a good night's sleep.

Saturday morning we all met at the office and spent just about the entire day in a meeting. It was Bob, Jesse, David, Grady, Patricia, Peter, Mark and I, and we hammered out the broad strokes of a list of specific abuses that the Trust will ask Scientology to do away with. Once it's finalized I will post it. It was an excellent meeting and helped all of us focus on what our work will be all about at the Trust.

We ordered pizza for lunch, and the guy who delivered them said right away when he came into reception, "I'm not a Scientologist, I just want you to know." I thanked him for telling me, and he said he was really glad to see us coming to Clearwater because maybe people will stop being so afraid of the Scientologists now. I told him we'll sure do everything we can to help the local businesses.

On Sunday we were all back at the office working. I spent most of the day on this report, Bob made calls to the board members and a few other people to bring them up to date, and the others worked on getting their respective offices organized.

At about 6:00 Bob announced that he was going to do the first official picket of the Lisa McPherson Trust. He went out the Watterson Street door with a picket sign that said "It's safe to look" on one side and "It's safe to talk" on the other and began picketing on the sidewalk across the street from the main cafeteria entrance of the Clearwater Bank Building. Grady went out with a sign that said "The Lisa McPherson Trust" on one side and our phone number, "467-9335" on the other and picketed on the sidewalk right in front of the Clearwater Bank Building on Cleveland and then in front of the cafeteria door. Jesse went to take a look at his old stomping grounds, because he spent a lot of time in the Clearwater Bank Building when he was in the Sea Org at Flag.

Mark Bunker went along to video the event.

It was in the middle of the dinner hour, so as Bob and Grady picketed, the Flag buses were arriving to deliver the outer org students for dinner and pick up other students to take them back to course. Close to three hundred students were there, walking right past Grady on the west side of Watterson and Bob on the east side as they went into the dining room or left to get back on the buses.

As the students piled out of the buses, Bob called out to them, "It's safe to look! It's safe to talk!" Then he said to them, "Make Scientology an organization you can be proud of! L. Ron Hubbard would never have approved of the way David Miscavige is trying to destroy Scientology."

He also said, "Reform Scientology now! Dump David Miscavige!" and "Reform Scientology now! Make it an organization you can be proud of!" Because they were on their way to have dinner, Bob told them, "Take your knives and forks and bang them on the table and demand reforms now!" Then he called out, "We're from the Lisa McPherson Trust. We're here in Clearwater at 33 North Fort Harrison Avenue. We're here to help you. If you have trouble with Scientology you can call us at 467-9335."

Grady said the most poignant moment for him was when a young boy, probably ten, walked out of the building to get on a bus. He stopped about two feet away from Grady and looked at his sign. His gaze lingered for a few seconds too long, so a security guard got between Grady and the boy and pushed him toward the bus. As the boy was herded away, Grady said to him, "If you're free, why is that man telling you what to do?"

The picket lasted for about a half an hour. Bob, Grady, Jesse and Mark all returned to the office very enthusiastic about how powerful the picket had been, because they had been able to reach so many Scientologists with the right message. It was impossible for the OSA people to control it, so the reach of the message was far more powerful than any picket they had ever done before. There was no way to hide all the Scientologists and many of them appeared to be very interested in what the people from the Lisa McPherson Trust had to say.

As they told me about what had happened they were so excited and happy about having reached so many Scientologists that they decided to go out again for another short picket to catch the last batch of students as they left after dinner.

But when they went out the door they saw Mike Rinder, Ben Shaw and several other OSA staff members gathered around a police car. Rinder was waving a sheaf of papers, which, as they got closer, they realized was a copy of the injunction. Bob went to the other side of the street and continued to hold his sign up as the students poured out of the building. Grady, Jesse and Mark approached the police car to see what was happening, and they could hear Rinder saying repeatedly, "He's an employee. Look on page four."

It turned out that OSA had had the bright idea to call the police and tell them Grady should be arrested for violating the injunction because he was an employee of Bob's and therefore couldn't come within ten feet of the building.

I had been handling my email while all of this was going on. When I finished I strolled outside with Maggie to see how the picket was going and discovered several squad cars and a crowd of OSA people and LMT people all gathered around the police officer, who was interviewing Grady. When Maggie and I walked up Grady was saying, "I'm not Bob Minton's employee. Stacy Brooks is my boss." When he saw me he said, "And as a matter of fact, here she is."

The police officer looked at me and said, "Oh! Are you Stacy?" I introduced myself and Maggie, and then the police officer started interviewing me. I explained that Bob is the Chairman of the Board of the Lisa McPherson Trust but that neither I nor any of the others are his employees. The police officer thought we might be his agents since we're employees of the Trust, although she wasn't sure.

Once the police officer had finished talking with the Scientologists and the LMT staff, they went across the street to speak with Bob. Bob explained to the police officers that he had met Police Chief Klein as well as one of the police captains responsible for this area of town at the offices of Denis deVlaming just before the December picket. The purpose of this meeting was for the police to clarify their interpretation of the mutual restraining orders issued against Richard Howd and Bob Minton. Chief Klein was very clear in his statements as to how the police would interpret this complicated injunction, namely, that the injunction would apply only to Richard Howd and Bob Minton. However, in the event that Bob Minton entered into a zone within ten feet of the Scientology properties listed in the restraining order, then everyone in that zone would be considered an agent of Bob Minton and would be arrested if Bob refused to leave after being given one warning. Bob was at all times well outside the ten-foot zone last night, and therefore it appeared that Mike Rinder was trying to pull the wool over the police officers' eyes.

In fact, we learned this morning that Police Chief Klein if out of town, and so is the captain who controls this area and his subordinate. Therefore, last night and today, someone who was not privy to the instructions given by Police Chief Klein in December is controlling this area of town. Bob's attorneys are trying to sort the matter out with the police today so that there will be no misunderstanding in the future. We expect the clarification to happen before dinner tonight. Until then, we're all staying at least ten feet away from the Scientology buildings, even Maggie.

When Bob spoke to Denis deVlaming about this incident, by the way, he told Bob that Scientology approached at least one Clearwater property owner at the end of last week and offered to purchase an option for a right of first refusal to purchase their one block of property, located right behind the Lisa McPherson Trust, if Bob Minton makes an offer to purchase their property.

Mark's video report of the picket and the encounter with the police afterward will be up shortly. As you can see, it's not going to be boring to be part of the Lisa McPherson Trust. We haven't even been here a week and already we seem to have made quite an impression.

Everywhere I go in Clearwater -- whether it's to get my hair cut, or to buy a new blouse, or to get a key made, or to buy groceries - as soon as I tell people what my job is they tell me how glad they are that the Lisa McPherson Trust has come to town. They glance behind them to make sure no one is listening, and then they lean toward me and lower their voices. Can you tell me what Scientology really is? They ask me. What are they really doing here? Why do they always turn their heads when I walk by?

Why won't they say hello? Why are they so secretive? Why are people so afraid of them?

People have so many questions about Scientology, and finally an organization exists to tell people about the true nature of the current Scientology management and its abusive and harassive practices.

We have great plans for the office and for the projects we'll launch in Clearwater. The community is excited about our arrival, and filled with hope that we'll change things in this city. I think we will.

Our phone number is 727-467-9335. We'd love to hear from you. Our web site will be up soon at www.lisamcphersontrust.net. Watch for the grand opening of LMT Media, and in the meantime visit www.xenutv.com for an excellent video about the closing.

We'll keep you posted.

Stacy Brooks, President

Back in 1981, you took over the Guardian's Office and pronounced all of the Guardian's Office staff members "GO criminals." You personally removed Mary Sue Hubbard from her position in Scientology, and you and your CMO missionaires -- Vicki Aznaran, Marion Dendiu, Janadair Swanson, et al -- kicked all the other people off staff who were related in any way whatsoever to the Snow White actions that caused the 1977 raids.

At that time you made it clear publicly that you considered Mary Sue Hubbard and her Guardian's Office executives and operatives to be rogues and renegades, totally unqualified to be staff members of any Scientology organization. Privately you said many times that the people who were responsible should have resigned immediately from all of their staff positions in Scientology when those raids occurred. You said that if they had done so it would have saved Scientology many hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees and would have shown the world that the leadership of Scientology was willing to take responsibility for its actions.

My point is this, David:

Since you have assumeed the resposibilities that Mary Sue used to have and more, it is clearly you who are responsible for these raids in Belgium -- raids that are even more far-reaching than the 1977 raids in the U.S. Now it is you and your key RTC and OSA executives who are the "rogues and renegades" that have caused this raid -- an even worse threat to Scientology than the Guardian's Office ever caused.

Do you see what I am getting at here, David? Has any ethics officer had the courage to say to you what is surely on the minds of every Sea Org member in RTC, CMO Int, Gold, OSA Int, Flag and the CMO? Do you realize that Scientologists all over the world are having the same thought today, David?

You and your responsible executives should resign from your positions in all Scientology organizations. You should do so immediately and make a public announcement that you are resigning to be able to handle your personal out-ethics that led to this catastophe for Scientology.

You and all of the people who have carried out orders for you that have led to this threat to Scientology's very existence should resign.

If you truly have Scientology's best interests at heart, David, this is what you will do.

The whole world is watching you, David.

Stacy Brooks

nntp.earthlink.net!newsfeed1.earthlink.net!newsfeed.berkeley.edu!newsfeed.cwix.com!4.1.16.34!c From: stacy8@gte.net (Stacy Brooks Young)
Subject: Take your best shot, DM
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1998 01:21:46 GMT
Organization: gte.net
Message-ID: <72nvek$rv0$1@news-1.news.gte.net>
X-Auth: C4468F151CD384D256908491 Gerard Renna was waiting for Bob and Jesse at the Boston airport when they arrived tonight at 6:30 for their flight to England.

How did he know when Bob and Jesse were leaving?

The last time Jesse and I were at the Boston airport (on October 12), Gerard Renna and Maureen O'Keefe appeared miraculously at our gate to engage us in some "real communication" about how we could maybe resolve our "differences." Maureen wanted to do lunch -- funny, we said we'd be delighted but we've never heard from her again.....

Anyway, during our "real communication" Gerard told us he is the new DSA Boston, since Maureen refuses to be on staff any more (can't blame her, can you?) So here's Gerard, on a Sunday night, dutifully waiting at Bob and Jesse's gate so they will be sure to know that he knows (and that means DM knows) what flight they are on to England. No doubt they will be greeted when they arrive in London as well.

But here's a message for you, DM:

What a mature, rational, Maintsteam position you are taking publicly to the indictments in Lisa McPherson's death. How responsible, how proper, how... predictable you are. You are doing the same thing in this indictment as you did in 1978 when the indictments came down on Mary Sue, Jane Kember, and all the rest.

"Oh dear," you said then (throwing up your hands in theatrical dismay), "what a terrible thing has happened! A small, renegade, criminal band of rogue scientologists has broken the law, totally unbeknownst to us, and we are mortified, I tell you, mortified, that this has happened! I'm personally kicking all of them off staff and I assure you, nothing like this will ever happen again!"

It worked then, DM, and you're planning the same thing for the Lisa McPherson indictments. It's obvious from Rinder's statements about how "this should never have happened at the Fort Harrison..." I had to laugh at that statement. He sure is right about that! It should have happened at Marshall Goldblatt's house in Topanga Canyon, where all the other really hot Type 3 isolation watches happen, like Cat Morrow's, because`there they can scream as loud as they want to and no one can hear them, and no matter how much they harm themselves -- even if they die -- no one outside of scientology ever finds out about it.

But somebody really screwed up on this one, didn't they, DM? And now you're going to stage another purge, just like you did in 1981, as if LRH didn't direct all the criminal actions that Mary Sue and the other "GO crims" went to jail for. As if you and Ray Mithoff don't direct all the Type 3 isolation watches to make sure they don't blow up the way Lisa's did.

You and Ray were in on the Lisa McPherson "handling," weren't you, DM? You're the ones who screwed up, aren't you, DM? But you're not planning on anyone ever finding out about that, are you? You're planning on putting a few heads on pikes just to show how noble and concerned you really are that "nothing like what happened to Lisa will ever happen again." And it's true -- you intend to make sure that no one else who dies during an isolation watch will ever be known about by the outside world.

But here is what I have to say to you, DM. Jesse and I are both going to testify in the McPherson trial. We did isolation watches together out at Int, remember? Remember Theresa, DM? Remember how you were overseeing her handling on a daily basis, you and Ray, to make sure she didn't become a PR flap?

So listen, you go ahead and send your goons to England to intimidate and harass Jesse and Bob. You get Peter Franks and David Lee and all your other PIs to go after Bob's friends and do everything they can to frighten them. You use your connections to get the Inland Revenue Service to go after Bob's friends until they agree to cooperate with you. Get Jesse arrested. Post your goons outside his house 24 hours a day if you think it will unnerve him. Send your pickets out to Vashon every day to pass out fliers if you think it will frighten me.

But the fact remains that you are the managing agent for the Church of Scientology Flag Service Organization, and you are the one responsible for Lisa's death, DM. You. I'll be testifying about you, DM, and so will Jesse.

Oh, and by the way, we will have people documenting every instance of harassment and intimidation your goons perpetrate on Jesse and Bob while they are in England and Europe, and every instance of intimidation you perpetrate on me while they are gone.

I suggest you check the people closest to you, DM. You've got a couple of really shaky lieutenants. Turning state's evidence is beginning to look like the only way they'll ever get a full night's sleep again.

Stacy Brooks Young

From: Stacy Brooks <stacybrooks@lisatrust.net> Subject: Deposition of Stacy Brooks as rep of LMT -- Exhibit 6 Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2001 16:12:43 -0400 Organization: The Lisa McPherson Trust, 33 North Fort Harrison Avenue, Clearwater, Florida 33755 Telephone: (727) 467-9335 Fax: (727) 467-9345 Message-ID: <n5p4qtok1ef38uspufa6vpsn0qop259bba@4ax.com>
Deposition of Stacy Brooks as the representative of the Lisa McPherson Trust, Inc. September 7, 2001 Exhibit 6, by Kendrick Moxon

Scientology in a frenzy as the Lisa Trust enters Clearwater
========= Subject: Scientology in a frenzy as the Lisa Trust enters Clearwater
From: Stacy Brooks <stacybrooks@mciworld.com>
Date: Mon, 08 Nov 1999 15:13:31 -0500
Message-ID: <RScnOD14cANTQqm91LTbxS23FBvK@4ax.com>
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Hash: SHA1 Scientology doesn't want The Lisa McPherson Trust in Clearwater. From the events of the past week, it is clear that they are desperate to keep us out of town. Some of the following information has already been reported, but I think it's important to provide a running record of what the Trust is going through in trying to get established in Clearwater.

The week before last I was in Clearwater to secure office space for the Trust.

I couldn't find an office building that would lease to us. The office manager of the SunTrust building informed me that the owner had declined to lease to us. He never returned phone calls from me, Bob, Patricia Greenway or Ken Dandar, so we were left to form our own conclusions as to why. Then the realtor for the NationsBank building told me that he got an email from the owner of that building - right before he was supposed to meet me to negotiate a lease - saying that the owner had "decided to rethink how he wants to utilize the building." What? Half the building is empty! I told the realtor it was obvious Scientology had contacted him. He hemmed and hawed and said he'd have a final answer for me the next day.

Next I tried at the Clearwater Tower building. The way that realtor refused us was to tell me the owner had said they would have to get a release from all the other tenants in the building before they could lease to us. The owner of the AmSouth building at first told me there would be no problem leasing to us, but later changed his mind and refused. In conversation with the realtor for that building (the same person, by the way who represented the NationsBank building) I was able to discover that Scientology had sent him a large package of materials "documenting" the dangerous nature of each of the principals in the Lisa McPherson Trust. He refused to show me the package, but he did mention that the owner wouldn't want to lease to a "convicted felon." I told him he was being given false information by Scientology and told him the real story of the assault charge against Bob in Boston and how the charge had been thrown out by the judge. He was clearly surprised at this and asked for documentation, which Bob faxed to him that afternoon. But he still turned us down. I even tried a building a few blocks down Cleveland called the Clearwater Centre. The office manager was enthusiastic about leasing to us, but the owner said no way.

It was becoming clear that if we wanted to be in downtown Clearwater we were going to have to buy our own building. So Bob and I flew to Tampa last Sunday to find a building for the Lisa McPherson Trust.

Two Scientologists, both women, were there to greet Bob when he got off the shuttle in the Tampa airport. "Bob Minton!" one of the women shouted at him.

"What are you doing in our town?"

To which Bob replied, "Maybe this used to be your town, but we're taking it back."

"Bigot!" the woman spat at him.

"Scieno!" he replied.

This little interchange definitely set the tone for the entire week.

Scientology had been harassing Bob relentlessly during the preceding week.

All 4,000 people in the town of Sandown, N.H., had received anonymous DA material on him in the mail "provided as a public service." Many of his friends in Boston had also received these materials, as had the principals of both of his daughters' schools. Just that morning, as he went out to his car to drive to the airport, Bob had found a Halloween flier which had been taped to his mailbox. It was a picture of Frankenstein with Bob's head superimposed over the body and a warning to the children of the neighborhood not to have anything to do with the person who lived at that house.

As a note, Bob discovered that one of the people who had received a flier in the mail was a woman whose daughter is a good friend of one of Bob's daughters. The flier was addressed to the woman's maiden name and sent to the summer home on Long Island where Bob's daughter has visited this family. The only way Scientology could possibly have gotten this address would be by following Bob's daughter to this house. The deed is in the maiden name of this woman, which explains why it was sent to her under that name. Bob was infuriated when he realized they have been following his daughter.

With all of the events of the past week, by the time Bob arrived in Tampa his adrenalin level was already high.

We drove directly to the Fort Harrison, where I got out and picketed with a sign that said "Lisa McPherson's blood on Scientology's hands" on one side and "Scientology: Spiritual Death" with photos of skulls on the other side. The plan was for me to walk back and forth past the Ft. Harrison two or three times while Bob drove around the block. I was glad it wasn't going to be a long picket because I was having to hold the sign up above my head with my hands, since we didn't have picket sticks, and my arms were getting tired. But suddenly Bob showed up, having parked the car, and he and Richard Howd videotaped each other in front of the Ft. Harrison for a while, while five Scientologists who seemed to be public materialized spontaneously for a grass roots counter-picket, assisted conveniently by an OSA staff member who provided them with picket signs. "Religious Bigot Go Home," "Go Home Bigot,"

those kinds of generic things were on their signs.

These people soon surrounded me and Bob as we walked back and forth in front of the Fort Harrison. "Go home! Go home!" a couple of the people chanted monotonously. But another woman, who told me her name was Cheryl, concentrated on trying to miss my withholds about what I had been doing that afternoon. "Come on, Stacy," she kept saying with a smirk, "what have you really been doing today?" I felt like telling her I'd been having a lot more fun than she had, but I didn't bother. Mainly I was watching to make sure Bob was OK, since he was the one they were obviously concentrating on.

Richard Howd was totally in Bob's face the whole time, keeping his video camera an inch or two away from Bob constantly. Our Aussie friend Croc (for Crocodile Dundee) was there, but he was totally muzzled. He didn't say one word the entire time we were there. He has clearly gotten into ethics trouble for some of the things he's been caught saying to us on videotape.

After about a half an hour we decided we'd had enough and went to our car. As we headed for the Belleview Biltmore we became aware that two cars were following us. Bob pulled over onto Alexander Road instead of turning into the hotel entrance. One of the cars parked in front of us, and the other one parked behind us. We got out and so did the people in the two cars. Richard Howd got out of the car in front of us, a Buick Century with Florida license DK612H, and immediately began videotaping Bob, again one to two inches from Bob's face. Cheryl got out of the car behind us, a dark gray Volvo 240GL, Florida license J48162. We asked them what they were doing following us but Richard just kept on videotaping, and Cheryl just repeated, "Why don't you just go home?"

We got back in our car and drove to the hotel, stopping at the guard booth to give the guard the license numbers and telling him not to let those two cars into the hotel, which the guard assured us he would not.

After a quiet dinner with Ken Dandar in the hotel dining room, Bob suggested we find Bennetta Slaughter's house on Kent Avenue in Largo in case she was having a Halloween party, similar to the party Lisa attended shortly before she was taken prisoner and allowed to die. We found the house - actually, it appeared to consist of several structures behind a concrete wall - but it was dark and there was a collection of Halloween party trash at the gate, so we assumed the party had been Saturday night. We did get out to picket briefly, but the only people who seemed to know we were there were the PI's following us. One white SUV drove through the gate and disappeared but otherwise it was quiet.

Just a personal comment here: I have been aware that there are public Scientologists making enormous amounts of money with Scientology employees such as Lisa was at AMC, but when I was in the Sea Org and in OSA I never actually saw the wealth of these people. Somehow, standing outside Bennetta Slaughter's huge compound that night on Kent Avenue, it really struck me how much people like Lisa McPherson are used by these ruthless Scientologists like Bennetta Slaughter, whose purpose truly is to "make money, make more money, and get other people to make money." I find it utterly horrifying that Bennetta Slaughter is now calling herself Lisa's "friend" after she was one of the principal players in driving Lisa into the psychotic episode which led to her gruesome death. I have experienced the kind of "product officering" Lisa was subjected to by Bennetta. It is cold-hearted, vicious and utterly without any concern for the well-being of those being "product officered." All that matters is that the statistics go up, that the quotas are met. Nothing else exists but the stats.

It was terribly chilling for me to stand outside the gates of a house owned by one of the people that I consider contributed to Lisa's death. Indeed, it affected both of us profoundly. By the time we walked back to our car we were shaken, and unprepared for the van that suddenly materialized out of the darkness at the end of the dead end street. The driver of the van raced toward us so recklessly that we thought he was going to slam into the front of our car. He came to a screaming stop just inches away from us. Bob jumped out of the car to confront him, but the driver quickly backed up and tore away before we could get a look at him. Clearly this was someone who had been waiting for us at Bennetta's. How did he know we were coming there?

As we drove back toward Ft. Harrison Blvd., Bob spotted the same van following us. He quickly turned up a side street and made a U-turn, but the driver of the van turned with us and nearly slammed into the side of our car. This was twice we had come within a hair's breadth of being hit by this van.

We had planned to go back to the hotel, but now Bob suggested that we go back to the Ft. Harrison for a fast picket just to let them know they hadn't frightened us away, as this was clearly what they were trying to do. We parked in the Presbyterian Church parking lot across the street and Bob took a picket sign and I took the video camera. It was my first time using the camera so he had to show me how to use it. Then we crossed the street and he began picketing while I kept the camera focused on him. Immediately Croc and several others surrounded Bob, including Richard Howd, the same man that had been videotaping Bob all day - the one at the first picket of the Ft. Harrison, who had also followed us to the gates of our hotel. As he had done earlier, he kept his video camera close to Bob's face the whole time, obviously trying to unnerve him.

Two women also showed up. One kept repeating, like a litany, "Go home, Bob, go home, Bob," over and over and over in a monotone voice. The other woman was Jessica Piccone Parselle Byrne. A little history: She was married to Enzo back at GO WW, then to Charles Parselle and just getting divorced from him when I knew her as a GO WW missionaire at GO US in 1978. Later she married Larry Byrne, who had been Mary Sue's Controller Assistant for Social Coordination until DM busted the GO in 1982. For a while, Larry and Jessica were at RealWorld, a software company staffed by ex-GO executives including Mike and Marty Carlson and Steve and Joanie Segal, among others. Then they were recruited to come into the Sea Org on direct orders of DM, Larry to be head of Central Marketing Unit and Jessica to be the headmistress of the children's ranch out at Happy Valley in Gilman Hot Springs. I remember seeing them in their brand new Sea Org uniforms in 1989 and thinking, "They've been treated like royalty during the recruitment process, but now that they're aboard the honeymoon is over. They won't last long with DM's ruthlessness." I knew neither of them would survive it for long.

Sure enough, next thing I knew they were public Scientologists again, now located in Clearwater and handling PR for the Purif. You may recall Jessica's and Larry's names being mentioned in an article by Tom Tobin in which he reported that a health food store in the Clearwater area was run by Scientologists who were prescribing the Purif for people who should have been seeing a medical doctor. It came out on the same day as Lucy Morgan's major piece on Scientology litigation.

In any case, here was my old friend Jessica, now a member of the official Psychological Terrorism Unit assigned to turn our peaceful picket into an opportunity to subject us to Black Dianetics techniques. I was disappointed to see her playing this role, because I knew that back when we were friends, she truly wanted to help people with Scientology. Now here she was, callously and deliberately setting out to interfere with our legal right to protest.

Jessica seemed to be assigned to me, while the other woman continued to intone, "Bob, go home, Bob, go home." Jessica's mantra was, "Stacy, is this your new boyfriend? Stacy, is this your new boyfriend? How can you associate yourself with someone like this? Stacy, is this your new boyfriend?" It was depressing to see a bright, idealistic person like Jessica reduced to this kind of behavior. Obviously she was under orders and felt she had no choice but to comply. I just responded to her by saying, "Jessica, you've been in the GO too long. Look at what you're doing." But of course she didn't stop.

All this time I was continuing to videotape because Richard Howd, the man with the video camera, was obviously intent upon creating an incident with Bob. It seemed to me that I was observing people carrying out the same orders as in the Boston incident with Frank Offman, in which it was abundantly clear to me from the videotape that Frank Offman and Kevin Hall came out that day with orders to set Bob up on assault charges (a number of people who have seen that tape, including Bob's attorney, have agreed with me on this). I was being careful to videotape the entire thing, and Bob was remaining extremely calm considering the circumstances, so I just wanted to make sure I had it all on videotape.

But as Bob turned the corner on Pierce, I was slowed down by the crowd of people surrounding him and wasn't able to video what happened for several seconds. This is the same thing that was done in Boston. In Boston, the point where Frank broke Bob's picket stick wasn't videotaped because his camera was knocked out of his hands. On this night in Clearwater, I missed the several seconds when Richard Howd struck Bob with his video camera and actually bent Bob's picket sign. (As I had done that afternoon, Bob was simply carrying a foam core board with no stick). By the time I caught up with them I saw the bent sign but there was no record of what had happened.

It was at that point, right after Howd assaulted him around the corner, that Bob said, "I've had it, I'm calling the police." He stepped into the street, heading toward the Presbyterian Church where the car was parked, and pulled out his cell phone to make a call to the police, but as he put the phone to his ear, Richard Howd stuck his video camera right into Bob's ear making it impossible for Bob to make the call. Bob turned around, holding the phone in one hand and his foam core picket sign in the other, and shouted, "Get away from me!" pushing the sign out in front of him.

I could literally see Richard Howd realizing his opportunity. He hesitated for a split second, then pushed his head into the edge of the picket sign moving at him so that it touched him. Then, screaming "I'm hurt! I'm hurt!" he dove onto the sidewalk, clutching his face and writhing on the ground. Within seconds he was surrounded by Scientologists. Almost instantly, it seemed to me, two ambulances and three police cars were there, and Bob and I were sitting on the steps of the Presbyterian Church watching this nightmare unfold. Bob looked at me in dismay and said, "Oh no, I can't believe this." We both knew what was going to happen.

Two Clearwater policemen walked across the street to where we were sitting.

One of them said to me, "How can he be smart enough to make so much money and then be dumb enough to let these people bait him like this?" I said, "Officer, he wasn't baited, he was set up. Look at the video." The officers did watch my video, but because the picket sign touched Richard Howd, they said they had to arrest him. It wasn't going to be a felony charge, though, because they didn't see that Howd was actually hurt. It would only be a misdemeanor battery charge.

Bob was handcuffed as the Scientologists watched gleefully, and I followed the police car to the Pinellas County jail. By now it was about 1:00 in the morning. I wasn't allowed to go to the jail itself so I sat parked all alone in a deserted parking lot on the other side of the complex, waiting for the police officer to let me know it was OK for me to post bail. As I sat there I thought to myself that if Mark Bunker had been there to do the videotaping, I would have been free to run interference, and maybe if both of us had been there this wouldn't have happened. So I called Mark on the spot, told him what had happened, and asked him if he'd be willing to move to Clearwater. He said yes without skipping a beat, and that's how it came about that Xenu TV is relocating to Clearwater, Florida.

After about forty-five minutes the police officer came and told me I could go post bail. I had to park in another deserted parking lot and leave my purse and camera in the car, because I was only allowed to have my driver's license and the cash with me, and I had to walk down a long sidewalk enclosed in heavy fencing. It was the route people take who are visiting prisoners, and I guess the security has to be pretty high. I could feel the cumulative desperation of all the prisoners in that jail, and I was glad Bob wasn't going to have to stay there for long.

I gave the officer at the cashier's window the $250 cash for Bob's bail and then sat down with Ken Dandar, who had arrived a few minutes earlier, to wait for Bob to be released. He came out within twenty minutes. It was two a.m. by that time and we were exhausted. Ken drove us to the rental car and we drove back to the hotel. Bob felt terrible about getting arrested, he just kept saying over and over, "How could I be so stupid?" and I kept saying it was my fault for videotaping when I should have been running interference. We were both miserable about the whole thing.

The next morning Bob showed me the apology he later posted to a.r.s. It was a heartfelt apology, because he really did feel he had let everyone down by getting arrested. We both felt that it was not a promising way to launch the arrival to Clearwater of the Lisa McPherson Trust.

Little did we know that we would encounter nothing but good wishes during the next few days, with many people welcoming us and telling us how happy they are that we are coming to Clearwater. In fact, except for the Scientologists, we didn't encounter even one person who wasn't extremely happy to learn that we were coming to town. But we didn't know that early Monday morning. You've never seen two people hanging their heads like we were that morning.

But we had an appointment at eleven to look at a building at 33 N. Ft.

Harrison, so we didn't have time to dwell on the events of the night before.

We parked in the parking structure behind the building and saw Scientology bicycle guards at either end of the street, watching us and talking on their walkie-talkies, as we entered.

It was a two-story building, very nice, owned by a CPA. We introduced ourselves and told him right away about what had happened the night before, so that there would be no surprises for him. We told him we were being followed and explained why. He shrugged and said it was none of his business and began giving us a tour of the building.

Within five minutes seven Scientologists barged into the room he was showing us and began shouting at him, "This man is a criminal! He was arrested for assault and battery last night! He's violent! Don't do business with these people!" The CPA ordered them out of the building immediately, but they refused to go. "Don't do business with these people! Don't do business with these people!" they continued to shout, until finally the CPA managed to push them outside. We finished our tour and then sat down to talk to him in his conference room. Almost immediately his secretary called to say that his building was being picketed and that one of his clients had been photographed as they entered the offices. At this the CPA instructed his secretary to call the police.

During our brief meeting, he got three urgent messages to call Mary Story, the DSA Flag. "I've asked Mary twice to get Scientology to buy my building," he told us. "They weren't interested. Now that I'm talking to you, suddenly she's frantic to talk to me." He just shook his head in amazement.

He didn't return Mary's phone calls, and soon Pat Jones, who has apparently taken over from Brian Anderson as the DSA PR Flag, arrived with an entourage, demanding to see the owner of the building. He just closed the conference room door and tried to ignore all the frenzy, but soon his secretary announced that the police had arrived outside.

Our meeting effectively disrupted, the CPA went out to see for himself what was happening, while Bob and I remained in the conference room. Soon three police officers came in and one of them said, "Mr. Minton, I just wanted to shake your hand and welcome you to Clearwater." The other police officers also shook our hands and expressed how glad they were to have us in Clearwater.

They all said they knew what had happened the night before, and asked us to let them know if there was anything they could do for us. It was extremely heartening and lifted our spirits considerably.

The police explained to the CPA that they could not forbid the Scientologists to picket as it was public property, and they couldn't keep them from taking photographs. But they said to call immediately if the Scientologists came into his building again because that was trespassing, and to keep them posted on any other incidents of harassment or intimidation. We concluded our meeting with the CPA and headed for our car.

As soon as we left the building we were surrounded by seven Scientologists, apparently public, at least two of whom had been part of the spontaneous grassroots counter-picket in front of the Ft. Harrison the afternoon before.

However, Richard Howd was not part of the entourage. There were two people videotaping us, and it was obvious that they now had orders always to keep at least one video camera in Bob's face, because this one guy kept his camera so close to Bob that we could hardly get up the stairs to our car. I remarked on this to Bob, that they clearly were trying to provoke him by keeping the camera in his face. But by now Bob was very aware of this and didn't react at all to the provocation.

This gang of Scientologists surrounded us as we tried to get to our car and stood behind the car as we tried to back out. They followed us on foot as we drove to the ticket booth, and the woman in the ticket booth called the police to let them know that the Scientologists were harassing us in the parking structure. Finally we got out of the parking lot and immediately noticed that a beige van was following us. Bob pulled into a parking lot on Osceola and the van pulled in right behind us. So I got out and went around to the van to talk to the driver.

He was a man in his early thirties, with very short dark hair, well dressed. I said to him, "Scientology must be paying you an awful lot of money for you to be willing to harass U.S. citizens the way you're harassing us."

He replied, "10-4 on that! They're paying me big bucks to do this! But I'm not doing anything illegal." Then he gave me a big grin.

So I said, "Well, if we paid you more than they're paying you, would you be willing to stop harassing us?"

He looked thoughtful for a moment and then said, "That's an interesting thought. I'll have to check with my boss about that."

I said, "Well, how can I get in touch with you later on today to see what your boss thinks of my proposal?"

"Oh, don't worry," he said, "I'll be following you all day long. If I need to get in touch with you, I'll know where you are."

And indeed, he followed us all the way to Tampa, where we had a meeting about another property that afternoon. We were also followed when we returned to Clearwater later in the afternoon to meet with someone else about buying another property. The same band of Scientologists picketed outside the storefront (where A Place in Time used to be, next door to the cigar store on N. Ft. Harrison) as we discussed the building with the realtor. When he saw the Scientologists picketing outside, the man said to us, "You know, I've been in Clearwater for thirty years, long before these people ever came. It was a nice town before they got here."

"And it will be a nice town again," we said to him.

We stopped in to see the CPA again on our way back to the hotel. We parked in the same parking structure we had used that morning. When we came out it was raining. The same set of Scientologists materialized out of the bushes as we crossed the street and surrounded us as we tried to walk up the stairs to our car. There were two men with video cameras, three women with picket signs and two other women whose job seemed to be to chant, "Religious bigots go home, religious bigots go home." It was close to dusk and with these people all following us to our car it looked like a scene out of "Night of the Living Dead." It was really creepy, being in that shadowy parking lot with these people blocking our way to our car, and I was frightened about what they might do to us there in the dark, with no witnesses.

But as luck would have it, a policeman happened to be in the parking structure and witnessed all of this. He came running over to find out what was going on, and I told him that these were Scientologists who were blocking us from getting out of the parking lot and that I was frightened. He ordered them to let us get in our car and leave the parking lot and asked us to wait on the other side of the street because his sergeant was on his way. So we waited till the sergeant came.

He took a report from us about what had happened and gave us an incident number. He suggested that every time we were harassed or followed we should call the police and get an incident number, and we agreed that we would.

That night we had dinner with Patricia Greenway (TFCVP) and Peter Alexander at our hotel. Neither of us had slept more than a couple of hours the night before, and we hadn't eaten anything at all for the entire day. With all of the harassment that had happened all day long we were both pretty rattled. I don't do well with no sleep or food and I started crying at one point during dinner, from the stress of the harassment. A good dinner and a better night's sleep that night helped, however, and by Tuesday morning we were both feeling better.

Bob had to get back to New Hampshire, so after lunch with Ken Dandar I took him to the airport mid-afternoon. I spent that afternoon at Ken's office speaking by phone to the owners of several other buildings in downtown Clearwater and getting some business done, as we had agreed that until the Lisa McPherson Trust secures our own office space we will set up temporary quarters in Ken's office. I slept for twelve hours Tuesday night but still felt extremely drained, both physically and emotionally, when I woke up on Wednesday.

I didn't see anyone following me as I drove into Tampa for a meeting about another building early Wednesday morning. "Good," I thought, "maybe with Bob gone they'll leave me alone." It's difficult to describe what it's like to be followed everywhere I go. They had literally been stalking me for four days.

It gave me a great feeling of relief when I thought they were leaving me alone. Unfortunately, I was wrong.

After my meeting in Tampa I had to go into Clearwater to set up a Post Office box for the Lisa McPherson Trust. I was in the Post Office for about forty-five minutes. When I came out I was surrounded on the steps of the Post Office by nine Scientologists - the ones that had stalked us all day the day before and two more - and this time they were actually threatening me. While two of them videotaped me, several others held up picket signs that said "Religious Bigot go home," and several of them shouted at me. One of them in particular shouted, "Go home or else, religious bigot!" Especially in the context of being surrounded and blocked from getting to my car, I felt very threatened by what was being shouted at me and by the intensity with which I was being stalked. They followed me to my car and surrounded my car, making it difficult for me to get to it. Finally I managed to get into my car and lock it. As I drove away I could hear them shouting after me.

I decided to go into Tampa and find Patricia and Peter at the Totally Fun Company. As I drove toward the Courtney Campbell Causeway I noticed the beige car that had been following Bob and me for the past several days. To make sure he was really following me I veered across three lanes of traffic and pulled into the Pier One Imports parking lot, then waited for several minutes and pulled back out into the traffic. Sure enough, there was the beige car waiting for me several driveways down on the other side of the street. As soon as I passed, he pulled out right behind me.

The beige car followed me all the way across the causeway to the Hyatt West Shore Hotel entrance. Then he turned into the hotel driveway and the beige van pulled out. The van followed me all the way to the parking lot of the Totally Fun Company but didn't follow me into the parking lot. I went in and Patricia's secretary told me they were at a restaurant across the parking lot called Hattrick's.

I walked across the parking lot and walked into Hattrick's, and as I walked in Patricia and Peter were both standing up. Patricia was pointing at a man who was ducking into the men's bathroom toward the back of the restaurant.

Patricia called out to me, "He was watching for you! He was pacing back and forth looking out the window and talking on his walkie-talkie, and then I heard him say, 'Here she comes,' and I looked and saw you coming. Then I realized he's stalking you!"

With that Patricia ran to the bar and began explaining to the manager what was going on, saying she needed someone to go into the men's bathroom and get this guy to come out so she could take his photograph. Meanwhile Peter called the Tampa police and, once he had an officer on the line, he handed the phone to me. Then he ran back to the men's bathroom, where by now a crowd had gathered with Patricia urging everyone to go in and "flush this guy out!"

After a few minutes the man came out of the bathroom and headed for the door.

I recognized him instantly as the same man I had spoken to on Monday, the one who had cheerfully told me "10-4" when I asked him if Scientology was paying him "big bucks to harass us." As he passed by I asked him, "Hey, what did your boss say about coming to work for us?" but he didn't answer. He was too intent upon getting out of there. Patricia, Peter and several others from the restaurant followed him out, and then I returned to the phone and began to talk to the Tampa police officer.

I told him my name and asked him if he had ever heard of Lisa McPherson, and he said yes, he knew who she was. I told him I was in Tampa to set up the Lisa McPherson Trust. I asked him if he had seen the article in the Tampa Tribune about Bob being arrested, and he said yes, he had seen it and he had seen my name in the article.

Then he said, "I can't tell you what I really think of you because this is a recorded line. But I will tell you this: I fully support everything you and Bob Minton are doing. I am behind you a hundred percent."

I was taken aback by this and very happy to hear a Tampa police officer tell me so clearly that he was supportive of our efforts. I told him how much I appreciated his saying that and he said, "We'll do anything we can to help you. Anything." Then he asked me to tell him what had happened. I told him the whole story from the beginning to the end, not just the incident in the restaurant but everything that had been happening, that we were being stalked, that the Scientologists are always careful to walk a fine line of legality, so that the police could never protect us. I said that even though each individual incident might not be illegal, it seemed to me that if all the incidents were taken together it formed a pattern of illegal harassment and stalking that perhaps the police could do something about. He said he was sending several officers to talk to me and to wait there. Then we hung up.

Soon Patricia and Peter came staggering back into the restaurant, obviously out of breath. Patricia said she got several photographs of the man but that he had been holding his hands over his face so she couldn't get a clear shot.

Peter said that they had been walking down the street after him, but the man began to run after Peter warned him that he had better have a private investigator's license because the Tampa police were on their way. Peter said that at that point, the man had taken off running down the street.

Patricia was furious that the man had gotten away, but she said she got too short of breath and couldn't keep running after him, so she wasn't able to get his license plate. v She actually was able to get at least one good partial shot of his face, as it turned out. The photos Patricia was able to get are posted on Xenu TV if anyone hasn't already seen them.

Soon the Tampa police arrived and Patricia, Peter and I spent the rest of the afternoon with them. They were very concerned about my safety and extremely helpful in their instructions about what I could do to protect myself. They gave us copies of the relevant laws and suggested that we report every single incident of harassment. They spent over an hour with us.

That night Patricia, Peter and I met some people for dinner at the Key West Grill in Clearwater. As we pulled into the parking lot, Patricia spotted the beige car and a black car with it. I went into the restaurant to say hello to our friends, while Patricia and Peter followed the two cars that had followed us. Later Patricia told me that she managed to write down the license plate of the beige car, but when she held up her camera to get a photo, suddenly the black car fishtailed around so that his rear end was facing the rear end of the beige car, blocking the beige car's license plate. Then the beige car pulled out of the parking lot, with the black car backing up to keep the beige car's license plate covered up. It really sounded like something out of Keystone Cops.

"But I had already gotten the license plate number!" Patricia said triumphantly.

All of this information has been reported to the police and there are incident numbers for each and every incident. There are a few other things that happened during this trip to Clearwater, and some extremely interesting information that was discovered, but it's best that some things be kept confidential for the moment.

I was scheduled to leave early Thursday evening. I had a meeting Thursday Morning regarding a building, and I spent quite a bit of time on the phone with the police. Then I had lunch with Patricia and Peter at a nice restaurant in Tampa and was planning to spend the afternoon working on the report you are now reading.

But when we got back to the Totally Fun Company, I got a call from Bob. He had just had a call from Keith Henson. Keith said he had gotten a call from Jesse, and Jesse had said he was in Sacramento with no wallet and no identification, and his car had broken down, and could Keith please wire him $95 via Western Union?

Keith had called Bob immediately when he got this call and told Bob what had happened. Then when Jesse called back to Keith, Keith had told him he had called Bob. Keith said that Jesse had said to him, "Oh God, Keith, why did you have to tell Bob about this? I didn't want him to know."

Now Bob was calling me, terribly worried about what had happened to Jesse. We had both thought he was at home in Chicago. What in the world was he doing in Sacramento???

After I hung up the phone I started thinking, "Wait a minute. If Jesse was having trouble he'd call me or Bob. He wouldn't call Keith. He doesn't even know Keith's phone number."

So I called Dan Leipold and asked him when was the last time he had heard from Jesse, and Dan said he had just spoken to him a couple of hours before. Where was Jesse? I asked. Dan told me Jesse was in Chicago. What was going on, Dan asked me. So I told him what Keith had said, and Dan immediately said, "This is a scam. Somebody is pretending to be Jesse. It isn't Jesse, I assure you."

As soon as I hung up the phone with Dan, my phone rang again and it was Jesse, sounding just fine.

"Jesse!" I practically shouted at him, "Where are you?!"

He said, "Huh? What do you mean, where am I? I'm at home doing my laundry. Why are you asking?"

So I told him what had happened, and Jesse couldn't believe it. "I swear I'm in Chicago, Stacy! I'm not in Sacramento, I swear!"

I called Bob, and Bob called Keith, and Keith was going to try to get Western Union to catch the person who came to pick up the $95 in Jesse's name.

Bob and Jesse and I had a conference call and by the time that was over it was time for me to get to the airport to catch my plane home to Atlanta. I got home safely, and that is the end of this particular chapter of my story.

Now this is what I have to say about the events of this past week:

Clearly, Scientology is going to do everything they can to keep the Lisa McPherson Trust out of Clearwater. But we're moving to Clearwater, and we are going to shine the light of truth on Scientology. There are a lot of people who are very happy that we are coming to town. In Lisa's honor, we can't let the Scientologists frighten us away, and we won't. No matter how much harassment and intimidation they throw at us, we're moving into Clearwater.

What is probably happening is that DM has told Marty Rathbun and Mike Rinder that if they allow Bob Minton and the Lisa McPherson Trust to get an office in downtown Clearwater, they will both be sent to the RPF. This was Bob's theory, and I think he's right considering the level of frantic, absolutely frenzied activity that was happening all week last week.

Here is a message for Marty and Mike: You will be welcome at the Lisa McPherson Trust if you want to leave Scientology but don't know where to go.

We will help you. You don't have to go to the RPF. You don't have to submit to DM's abuse any longer. We will help you.

And to DM, this is what I have to say to you: The Scientologist who met Bob at the airport said to him, "What are you doing in our town?" Bob replied to the Scientologist, "Maybe this used to be your town, but we're taking it back."

DM, your reign of terror is over. But even after all you have done, you will also be welcome at the Lisa McPherson Trust if you decide you want to leave Scientology. We will help even you, DM.

Stacy Brooks
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