Keith had asked me to check on the Mt. View org so today I was going by--and since it was convenient I drove into the parking lot and looked.

I know it well enough: the last time I picketed there was the time they tried to have me arrested. It was on Old Middlefield Way in Mt. View, at a strip mall next to "Dos Hermanos," a Mexican-food restaurant. A "suite for rent" sign accompanied a completely blanked out sign that had once been lit with the familiar $-ology yellow and black sign. Next to the restaurant was a suite of empty rooms, the glass front giving a view of open interior doors and a whole lot of nothing.

This was the org from which an OSA droid emerged to try to shoo me away in gathering darkness by telling me the police would be there soon. I was watching the time because I was supposed to call Keith. The droid was right. The police would soon be there. I had assigned myself to picket only a half hour, but I stayed longer because he kept hassling me. Eventually it was late enough I had to call, and I kept walking down the street.

The OSA droid followed me. I called "911," but was put on hold. When I rounded the corner the OSA droid quit & stood there watching me as if I were an escapee. He was also watching down the street. I gave up on "911" since I was no longer being followed, only watched. As soon as I got to the car I put my sign in the back & phoned Keith. He recorded the rest as it happened. It seems somehow proper that this place is thoroughly dead, empty & for rent.

It's perhaps the most justice I've seen in years.

Arel Lucas

[Mt View org was the first place I picketed way back in early 1995. Keith Henson]