When we went over to Gold on Saturday, I noticed that the Ashlee Shaner memorial had been reduced to a pile of rocks. This saddened me greatly, so I decided to do something about it.

On Sunday morning, Arel Lucas, Barb and myself went out to the Ashlee Shaner memorial, which is on the north side of the road to the west of Gold. I had purchased two plastic flower wreaths, one with the picture of a cross in the center, and the other with a picture of the Sallman portrait of Jesus. I bought those specifically because Ashlee was a Christian and had died on a church trip. The wreaths had prongs so that they could be stuck in the ground. Arel and Ida had donated pots with plastic flowers in them to go with the wreaths.

We got out to Gold and tried to stick the wires in the ground. No such luck. The ground was quite hard. We didn't bring a trenching tool, so we used the rocks on hand to scrape a trench into the ground, removing many small and medium-sized rocks in the process. We put the wires in, piled the dirt and rocks (LOTS OF ROCKS!) around the wires, and then piled up the larger rocks that had made up the previous, unmarked pile of rocks around the two wreaths. We then put the two pots next to the wreaths. It made a colorful display which could be seen from a distance. Arel took some pictures as a record of what we had done. Of course, the Scientologists knew we were doing this, since there is a camera trained on the memorial site at all times.

That was two days ago.

Today, Arel and another woman went out and picketed and noticed that our memorial was gone. All that was left was some of the rocks.

Now, I know that highway displays are not often stolen. In fact, there's a highway cross on the Ramona Expressway, just to the south of Gold, and it does not appear to have been molested.

Right now I'm checking into the prices of highway crosses. (If anyone has a lead, please let me know.) If I have to buy these things in bulk, I will, so they can be replaced whenever the cult takes one down. If I have to, I will make them myself. In the meantime, until I've tracked a supplier down, I will put up another memorial the next time I'm out at Gold, which may be QUITE SOON. You are on notice, David Miscavige: ASHLEE SHANER WILL BE REMEMBERED.

Deana M. Holmes
mirele@earthlink.net

>When we went over to Gold on Saturday, I noticed that the Ashlee Shaner
>memorial had been reduced to a pile of rocks. This saddened me greatly, so
>I decided to do something about it.
>
>On Sunday morning, Arel Lucas, Barb and myself went out to the Ashlee
>Shaner memorial, which is on the north side of the road to the west of
>Gold. I had purchased two plastic flower wreaths, one with the picture of a
>cross in the center, and the other with a picture of the Sallman portrait
>of Jesus. I bought those specifically because Ashlee was a Christian and
>had died on a church trip. The wreaths had prongs so that they could be
>stuck in the ground. Arel and Ida had donated pots with plastic flowers in
>them to go with the wreaths.
>
Ida contributed a vase filled with silk flowers, and I had a small pot with artificial flowers that I had bought for the small white rosebuds to use in court (Die Weisse Rose). These went next to Mirele's wreaths.

>We got out to Gold and tried to stick the wires in the ground. No such
>luck. The ground was quite hard. We didn't bring a trenching tool, so we
>used the rocks on hand to scrape a trench into the ground, removing many
>small and medium-sized rocks in the process. We put the wires in, piled
>the dirt and rocks (LOTS OF ROCKS!) around the wires, and then piled up the
>larger rocks that had made up the previous, unmarked pile of rocks around
>the two wreaths. We then put the two pots next to the wreaths. It made a
>colorful display which could be seen from a distance. Arel took some
>pictures as a record of what we had done. Of course, the Scientologists
>knew we were doing this, since there is a camera trained on the memorial
>site at all times.
>
>That was two days ago.
>
>Today, Arel and another woman went out and picketed and noticed that our
>memorial was gone. All that was left was some of the rocks.
>
>Now, I know that highway displays are not often stolen. In fact, there's a
>highway cross on the Ramona Expressway, just to the south of Gold, and it
>does not appear to have been molested.
I practically spat fire for the first half hour I was out there. I noticed the desecration from across the street and pulled off the highway. The other woman was videotaping, not picketing. When the coast was clear, I pulled a U-turn and drove up behind what had been the memorial. When I was almost ready to picket I stuck my face in their @*#^ camera and yelled at them that they should be ashamed of themselves. Then I told the videocamera what had happened to Shaner and why and my speculation about why people were working out there without equipment for darkness. And I told the camera what Deana and Barb and I had done to try to make up for the last vandalism, and what it had looked like and that I had photographs of us working on it.

And I took photographs of the few rocks left in the sand and dirt.

>Right now I'm checking into the prices of highway crosses. (If anyone has a
>lead, please let me know.) If I have to buy these things in bulk, I will,
>so they can be replaced whenever the cult takes one down. If I have to, I
>will make them myself. In the meantime, until I've tracked a supplier
>down, I will put up another memorial the next time I'm out at Gold, which
>may be QUITE SOON. You are on notice, David Miscavige: ASHLEE SHANER WILL
>BE REMEMBERED.
Thank you, Deana. If I can I will help. As you know, we are broke, and we have lost a week and a half of work--in Keith's case, job search. But I have vowed that if Keith is convicted I will picket somewhere every single day. Maybe I can do some of that at "Gold" and keep an eye on the Memorial!!!!!

>Deana M. Holmes
>mirele@earthlink.net

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