Hi Everyone,

OSA TRIED TO STOP ME!

Last Tuesday morning (Oct 29) I received this rather frantic phone call from my sister on my answering machine. (And I quote from my tape) "I just got a REALLY strange message from Sherry, my FSM, and I really NEED to talk to you about what's going on. She's...... indicated A LOT of stuff was going on. I got you into this mess, now I need to do ....whatever..... to get you out of it. (There was definitely a sense of urgency in her voice.)

It appears that once Scientology's Office of Special Affairs found out that I was going to be on a TV talk show they went into a panic. So far I've managed to keep my sister (who's still in the organization) out of all this for over five years now. Now OSA's panicked enough that they've finally decided to drag HER into it to try to convince me to stop everything that I'm doing.

Later that evening when I called her she PLEADED with me not to do the show . She told me, "Wayne, you HAVE to stop your picketing, you have to STOP your rebelling. You can't go on that show otherwise I'm afraid you're going to blow everything." Even Jeff Quiros called me up that night to try to convince me not to go on. Things got VERY heated in the Whitney household Tuesday evening. Quite an eventful evening it was. Now it looks like they're even willing to USE my own sister to get to me. Hubbard said to "use" people. It looks like that is EXACTLY what they are doing with my sister.

For those of you who have doubts about whether OSA really reads this news group (like I did) this is proof that -- THEY DO scan through it. I've known for quite some time now that OSA's been monitoring ALL my internet activity. I received actual 'proof' quite a while back. At the time I thought that maybe someone in OSA just did a DEJA News search to get a listing of everything I've posted. Now, with such an IMMEDIATE and passionate phone call from my sister (who lives a thousand miles away from me) I now KNOW that OSA really DOES constantly monitor this news group. How else would they find out that I was going to be on a TV talk show so fast? This is the ONLY place I've mentioned it. How else could Jeff Qurios have gotten my E-mail address? I've NEVER given it out to anyone except to participants of this news group. Jeff doesn't have America On-Line so he couldn't have done a "member search" on me. Someone HAD to have given him my address.

Because of these facts I believe that this news group REALLY IS making a difference around the planet otherwise OSA wouldn't be SO concerned about it.

THE SHOW MUST GO ON

Despite everything that happened Tuesday I arrived at the recording studio in San Francisco on Wednesday at 5:00 P.M. When I commit myself to something I stick to it. That's the way I am. I was determined to make this talk show happen despite hell or high water!

A few days earlier the producer of the show told me that she usually schedules most people for 5 - 15 minutes. However, after she read my story ( the first four chapters that I sent her) she said that she was so impressed that she just HAD to schedule me for a full 30 minutes to give me the chance to get my story out.

THE SHOW

When we first started getting ourselves positioned on the set the lights were VERY bright. Eventually the staff put these lighting gels (basically colored cellophane) over them so that toned it down quite a bit and gave us all a more natural color. Then as they were setting the microphone recording levels I got the opportunity to ramble on about whatever popped into my head. It was funny to see the technician in the control room waving her arms signaling me to keep talking so that I could keep babbling on until they had everything set just right. The things that pop out of my head when I'm just free wheeling like that can be quite funny. I had all the staff practically rolling on the floor laughing.

I had to deal with quite a few distractions out there. For one thing, the lights were still very bright and right in my face. For another thing, we were all positioned for the best camera angles instead of what felt the most natural for me. I had this constant urge to re-position myself but I couldn't. Perhaps the biggest distraction of all was the fact that I knew there would be no retakes. What happened live in front of the camera is EXACTLY what is going out to the whole San Francisco bay area next week. Because I was aware of that I was a little bit inhibited out there. I always feel this need to edit everything I say so that I feel it's exactly what I REALLY WANT to say. That's just the way I am. I'm never quite satisfied with how I express myself. I guess I'm just kind of weird in that way. I have, however, often surprised myself when I heard myself back on tape. I usually make more sense to me when I listen to myself on playback then I do when I'm actually talking. Go figure. Anyway, I guess I'll just have to see how this interview REALLY turned out. I haven't seen the tape yet so even *I'M* curious. I should receive a copy this week.

Despite ALL the distractions I still got this tremendous rush from being out in front of a "live" camera. Watching that red light on the camera turn on and seeing myself on the monitor and then watching them type in my name over my image was SO COOL. Who would have known that being in front of a camera would be such a big turn for me? Give me a taste of this kind of action and, quite frankly, I LIKE IT. I WANT MORE! I guess 7 months of picketing every weekend really does have an effect on a person.

Wayne Whitney ( one concerned citizen )