Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology
From: dennis.l.erlich@support.com
Subject: SCIENTOLOGISTS STEAL _EXO
Message-ID: <9509221614.0MTNL01@support.com>
References: <43uope$dae@theopolis.orl.mmc.com>
Organization: L.A. Valley College Public BBS (818)985-7150
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Distribution: world
Date: Fri, 22 Sep 95 16:14:48 -0700
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rnewman@cybercom.net (Ron Newman)

>Willamette Week (Portland, Oregon)
> Aug. 16, 1995
>
>"We've always had trouble with magazines being stolen and the box getting
>jammed up. We don't have any proof, but we know it's them."
>    -- Frank Flatch, publisher, Exotic magazine
>
>The X Files
>
>The publisher of a Portland sex-industry magazine says Scientologists are
>stealing copies to suppress an article critical of the cult
>
>By Matt Buckingham
>
>The August issue of Exotic magazine was disappearing fast--a little too fast,
>says publisher Frank Flatch. In fact, somebody was walking into nude-dancing
>clubs and adult bookstores that carry the magazine and walking out with stacks
>of 50 to 100 copies.
>
>The thieves apparently weren't interested in the magazine's lurid ads featuring
>nude models. They were trying to eradicate an article by contributor Doc
>Wainwright on the Church of Scientology, Flatch says.
>
>Journalistically speaking, the 800-word piece contains no new or particularly
>startling revelations about the cult. Wainwright merely pokes fun at
>Scientology's belief in a 75-million-year-old space-alien proto-god named Xemu
>and talks about secret passageways in the church's Portland headquarters at
>Southwest 4th Avenue and Washington Street.
>
>But clerks at a half-dozen stores say thieves posing as distributors told them
>they were "recalling" the magazine because an article in it was going to be the
>subject of a lawsuit. The men told the clerks they would replace the magazines
>with corrected copies, but they never returned.
>
>"They have so many different guys delivering magazines, I don't know who works
>for who," says Tim Daws, owner of Tim's Hideaway at 4299 SE 82nd Ave. "As far
>as
>I knew, the guy worked for Exotic magazine."
>
>In addition to the stores where clerks witnessed the thefts, Flatch says
>thieves
>probably struck at more than a half-dozen other outlets while no one was
>looking. In all, Flatch estimates about 1,000 issues were taken out of the
>magazine's 25,000-copy run.
>
>"Six to 10 stores have gone through a lot more copies than they should have for
>this time of month," he says.
>
>Two suspects are described by witnesses as white men, one in his 50s with short
>gray hair, slightly overweight but neatly dressed in a shirt and tie. The other
>man is in his mid- to late 30s. The men may have been driving a maroon Jaguar
>with an oxidized paint job. 
 
    Didn't someone spot this jag up in the bay area?  Someone 
    asked me about this car, for sure.

>Flatch is offering a $200 reward to anyone who
>catches them stealing magazines and can hold them until police arrive.
                                      
    Contact me, whoever saw the car.  It had a wierd license 
    plate.  CAT something.

>Flatch says his company has had a history of problems with the coin-operated
>box
>used to distribute Exotic magazine in front of the Church of Scientology at 4th
>and Washington. "We've always had trouble with magazines being stolen and the
>box getting jammed up," he says. "We don't have any proof, but we know it's
>them."
>
>When the August issue containing the Scientology story first appeared earlier
>this month, a distributor told Flatch he saw someone walk out of the church,
>deposit 50 cents in the box and then carry the box's entire stack of magazines
>back inside.
>
>Church representatives deny any knowledge of the thefts, but it wouldn't be the
>first time that Scientologists have taken drastic measures to suppress news
>coverage critical of their church's practices.
>
>In May 1985, Scientologists snapped up an estimated 3,500 copies of Willamette
>Week because it contained a cover story on a $39 million court judgment against
>the church ("Scientology on Trial," WW, May 30, 1985). Believers who identified
>themselves as Scientologists cleared 25 newspaper racks and boxes in the
>downtown area alone.
>
>A spokesman for the church later apologized for the thefts on a local
>television
>news program and promised the newspapers' return. Willamette Week printed an
>extra press run to make up for the missing copies but could find no evidence
>that Scientologists had returned any newspapers.
>
>
>Copyright 1995 City of Roses Newspaper Co.
>--
>Ron Newman             rnewman@cybercom.net
>Web: http://www.cybercom.net/~rnewman/home.html
 
    This is typical of the scieno's regard for a free press.
    
            +--------------------------------------+
           Rev. Dennis L Erlich  * * the inFormer * *
      dennis.l.erlich@support.com  +  inForm@primenet.com
                           "tar baby"