HARASSMENT DIARY, by Paulette Cooper (1982)
Part 14: The Greenes; L. Ron Hubbard Jr.

My 1997 editorial comments are enclosed in [[double square brackets]]. Also, I have added some paragraph breaks.

***

To defend myself, I spent most of my time ruminating about the case, wondering how my fingerprint could have gotten on letters I never saw or touched, (1) analyzing the letters, and comparing type faces with letters from all the suspects (Meisler [[the Scientology PR man who filed the complaint]], Nibs [[L. Ron Hubbard Jr.]], R. Kaufman [[Bob Kaufman, author of "Inside Scientology" and one of my very closest friends for many years]], and the Greenes, who I'll discuss in a minute.)

But first I have to backtrack and explain that around March of that year (although I didn't find out about it until May), my parents had received an anonymous letter saying that I couldn't write, that I had practiced sexual perversions with their rabbi, and that it was a couple named the Greenes who were in back of my harassment, not Scientology.[[*]]

At that time, Bernard and Barbara Greene[[**]] were in court against Scientology and were represented by someone who became a good friend of mine, John Seffern. So I initially gave no credence to the accusations against them, for that letter was consistent with a Scientology smear.[[Third partying]] But the document analyst we hired [[to examine the bomb threats]] found that the typing on the letter to my parents appeared to match a letter I had obtained from the Greenes -- and more important, that it was all probably on the same typewriter as the bomb threats!

It was then that I began to wonder whether the Greenes had sent the bomb threats, especially when they refused to allow us to test their typewriter and began to move it to different places. They also had a motive, since they hated Scientology, and also had no great love for me, since I debunked Scientology theory, which they very much believed in, although they hated the organization.

Had I touched a piece of stationery that evening at their house? Or had they gotten me to touch some paper then, or later through an intermediary such as their friend and my friend, Bob Kaufman? Were they trying to get Scientology without implicating themselves by implicating me? [[I was wrong, but the next theory in the following paragraph was probably right.]]

The situation was further complicated by the fact that they were good friends with L. Ron Hubbard Jr., whom they said visited their home during the time the letters were typed. (This also added to my suspicion about Nibs, because what was this Californian doing secretly in New York in December?)[[***]]

Had L. Ron Hubbard Jr. tried to frame all of us so he could become the chief anti-Scientologist, which is what he wanted? Or was he working for them all along? [[As you will see in the next entry, he appears to have been turned by Scientology around then for the first time, and then again years later.]]

Did he visit with Meisler, whom he knew, when he was in New York? Or had the Greenes and Nibs decided to play a little joke on Scientology one night, and Nibs took my stationery or got me to touch a piece of paper (through Kaufman) and the Greenes typed up the bomb threats. And when the joke later turned out to be a federal crime, had they all started covering up? [[forget it]]

[[Footnotes:]]

(1) I even considered the possibility that I had done it, [[...]] But I knew I could never be so drunk as to type up two letters, look up a zip code I didn't know, mail two letters on 2 separate occasions, and then not remember a single thing about it afterwards.

[[1997 Footnotes:]]

[[*]] This anonymous smear letter -- one of 5 Scientology sent about me over the years -- was particularly painful to me because it was so hurtful to my parents. This was one of several things the Scientologists did to harass them -- Scientology realized they were my buttons -- and since they were religious people, sending them an anonymous letter saying I was practicing perversions with their rabbi hurt them and therefore me.

[[**]] Bernie & Barbara were former Scientologists who owned a major New York franchise which the Scientologists took away from them -- as Scientology had a habit of doing whenever a franchise became successful. The Greenes then sued Scientology.

[[***]] Nibs's being in New York (he lived in Whittier California) at that time without calling me was very suspicious because we were good friends so why didn't he tell me he was in town? We knew each other well because I had spent a month with him the previous summer ghostwriting the Scientology article.