F.A.C.T.Net Daily Newswire archives
for the week of May 24, 1999

May 27, 1999

Militia leader in Michigan sentenced to 40 years

Bradford Metcalf, 48, was sentenced Tuesday to 40 years in prison without possibility of parole. Metcalf was convicted in November of conspiring to blow up government buildings, of threatening to kill federal officers, and on weapons charges. He is one of three members of the North American Militia who have been charged in the plot to blow up government offices. Kenneth Carter, 48, was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy last week. Randy Graham, 42, was found guilty of conspiracy and drug charges earlier this year and will be sentenced in June. Metcalf, who represented himself at his trial, claims that the semi-automatic weapons, machine guns, grenades, and thousands of rounds of ammunition found at his home are legal, and that the judge and jury conspired against him. [Source: Associated Press, May 26, 1999]

Police in China arrest cult members, avert assassination plot

Police in southwest China reported this week that they had arrested 71 members of the Mentu Hui (Gate Disciples) cult last month. No reason was given for the delay in reporting the arrests, but police say the cult was plotting to assassinate an unidentified local government official in Heyu village. Members are also being accused of fraud, rape, and manslaughter. It seems that the manslaughter charges stem from allegations that cult members were made to rely on prayer for healing of disease, rather than medical treatment, and some consequently died. Mentu Hui is an illegal organization in China. Membership in cults in China is believed to be increasing due to worsening poverty, rising medical costs, and lack of condoned spirituality in the Communist state. Chinese President Jiang Zemin declared a war on cults in January. [Source: Reuters, May 24, 1999]

Aum Shin Rikyo-affiliated firm ousted from town

As the Aum Shin Rikyo cult continues its acquisitions of land and buildings in Japan, residents of towns continue to oppose the cult's presence in their midst. The town of Shirakawa in Gifu Prefecture has just ousted a company affiliated with the cult. The company was leasing a plot of land for storage of food for cult members. When Shirakawa residents discovered the cult connection, they protested. The owner of the land subsequently canceled the lease Monday to the Aum company, and reimbursed the company for rent already paid. [Source: Japan Economic Newswire, May 26, 1999]

May 26, 1999

Anti-Scientology book sales boom at Amazon.com

A Piece of Blue Sky, by Jon Atack, is now in the top 150 books sold by Amazon.com following Amazon's decision last week to reinstate sales of the book. The book was removed from Amazon.com in February because of legal concerns relating to the fact that sales of the book are banned in England and Wales due to what a court ruled was defamatory language in one paragraph. Last week after Wired News published a story on Amazon's removal of the book from its virtual shelves, web users protested vigorously to Amazon. The company reviewed and reversed its February decision and made the book available again for purchase last week, although it has blocked sales of the book to the United Kingdom. Of 4.5 million titles offered by Amazon.com, A Piece of Blue Sky is now selling in the top 150. The book is an expose of Scientology. Margaret Ishobel Hodkins, the headmistress of the Scientology-based Greenfields School in East Grinstead, sued Jon Atack in 1995 regarding a paragraph in the book that refers to her. It was representatives of Hodkins who contacted Amazon in February regarding sales of the book. An Amazon.com representative said Hodkins' attorneys are still trying to have the book removed from Amazon's web site. According to Jon Atack, the 1995 legal ruling forbids only him from publishing or distributing the book; it does not forbid others from doing so. In addition, the ruling only pertains to sales in England and Wales, not in the entire United Kingdom, to which Amazon has blocked sales. Atack also says that the injunction applies only the single paragraph regarding Hodkins; copies of the book without that paragraph are not banned even in England or Wales. Atack also told Wired News that Hodkins' attorney is her son, a Scientologist from birth, whose entire legal practice is comprised of litigation for Scientology. Other on-line book sources such as Books.com and Barnesandnoble.com have carried the book without interruption. [Source: Wired News, May 25, 1999]

New Zealand police investigate rumors of millennium cult suicides

Due to its proximity to the International Date Line, Gisborne, New Zealand will be one of the first cities on which the light of the first dawn of the new millennium will be cast. Just as the light of dawn is cast there before most of the rest of the world every day. Due to the city's location near the arbitrarily designated date line, Gisborne will be a center for millennium celebrations. Rumors have surfaced recently - police won't say from where - that foreign cults may travel to Gisborne to commit suicide at the first dawn of 2000. (Actually, 2000 is the last year of this millennium; 2001 is the first year of the new millennium). In any case, New Zealand police are concerned about the rumors, and are taking steps to avert such a tragedy with the help of Interpol. [Source: Associated Press, May 25, 1999]

May 25, 1999

Scientology unwittingly part of art show in Japan

Four artists are currently exhibiting a show at Ben's Café in Takadanobaba, Japan. The show is a group project by the artists, based on "The 29 Stations of the Yamanote Line," a train line in Tokyo. The group visited a new station each week over a six-month period, looking for inspiration for their artistic works. Erik Sanner of Boston is a painter, Julia Barnes of New Zealand is a video artist, Brian Heagney of Ireland is a poet, and Michael Rhys of England is a sound artist. According to the Mainichi Daily News, at each station, "Heagney would take notes, Sanner would literally look for something to paint on, and Barnes would shoot." As it would happen, Scientology's Japanese headquarters is along the Yamanote Line, and thus became part of the exhibit. At the Otsuka station, the artists entered the Scientology headquarters, took a personality test, and observed a propaganda movie. Barnes used a clip from the movie in his video of the area, Sanner used a piece of wood found outside the office for a painting, and Heagney used Scientology as the subject of a poem entitled "Otsuka." The poem is printed in full in the Mainichi Daily News. Following is an excerpt of the poem's last lines: Irresponsibility stemming from mistrust and fear of being manipulated by authority manifesting itself in childish anti-social and self-destructive behavior? guess what, fruitcake? Scientology can help you with that too, says Bob, snappy, clean-limbed phantasm of achieved humanity lancing the encysted self and capturing the ooze beneath a slide Well, you know Bob, way I see it life's dynamic's dislocation by myth, not mandate is our death denied besides, for one who traffics in the zloty of hard fear your smile's too wide [Source: Mainichi Daily News, May 25, 1999]

Japan to tighten control on Aum Shin Rikyo

After announcing Friday that Japanese government officials would meet to discuss how to monitor the activities of the Aum Shin Rikyo cult, officials did meet yesterday. Representatives of the National Police Agency, Justice Ministry, Home Affairs Ministry, and other government offices met and vowed that they would not tolerate illegal activities of Aum. Officials decided to focus on using existing laws to uncover illegal business practices in which the cult is involved. This would include tax, labor, and other laws. Meanwhile, they would look into other options to limit Aum's dangerous activities, such as the creation of a new law or the modification of an existing law. According to the Kyodo News Service, "Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Teijiro Furukawa, head of the inter-agency group, said Aum maintains an antisocial dogma and has not offered any apologies nor shown any repentance for its organized crimes, such as 1995 sarin nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway system." Meanwhile, Aum's activities have been on the rise. [Source: Kyodo News Service, May 24, 1999]

New raids on Aum Shin Rikyo

Earlier today police conducted new raids in Osaka and Tokyo, Japan on computer shops, a cult office, and a home associated with Aum Shin Rikyo. Last week, police also conducted a series of raids in Nagano and Tokyo. No arrests have been made. Officials believe cult members fraudulently established corporations using false names. Despite the 1995 gas attack in the Tokyo subway that killed twelve people, Aum has not been banned in Japan. [Source: Agence France Presse, May 25, 1999]

May 24, 1999

Japan's government ponders how to monitor Aum Shin Rikyo

The Japanese government decided Friday to set up a meeting to discuss how to monitor and possibly limit the activities of Aum Shin Rikyo, the cult responsible for the 1995 sarin gas attack in the Tokyo subway that killed a dozen people and injured thousands. The group is also believed to have released sarin on a number of previous occasions, but without harming anyone. In addition, cult members allegedly have participated in other murders of people critical of the group. Japan has had difficulty limiting Aum, and the cult is now gaining more members and resources. The meeting of government officials to discuss how to handle the cult may be as early as today, and will be led by Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Teijiro Furukawa. The meeting will focus on using existing laws to curtail Aum's dangerous activities. [Source: The Daily Yomiuri (Tokyo), May 22, 1999, Saturday]

Scientologist arrested for murder

John W. Kramer Sr. was arrested after returning to the United States for medical treatment from Costa Rica, where he had fled after the death of David R. Artz. Artz was killed in February 1985 at his home. Kramer and a man named Samuel G. Lombardo are believed to be responsible for the murder. Lombardo died in 1994. Kramer is a Scientologist, who also "converted Artz to the religion and used its doctrines to influence his business decisions. Kramer and Lombardo had run similar insurance schemes, most unsuccessful, against other business owners during the previous two decades, Florida prosecutors charged in 1990" according to the Sunday News. [Source: The Sunday News (Lancaster, PA), May 11, 1999]

Sir John Latey dies at 85

An English judge who strongly denounced Scientology died last month at the age of 85. Sir John Latey was a Judge of the Family Division of the High Court for almost 25 years. In 1984, he presided in a custody case in which a mother was seeking custody of her children from her Scientologist husband. In Latey's ruling, he determined that Scientology was "corrupt, immoral, obnoxious, sinister, and dangerous" and "grimly reminiscent of the ranting and bullying of Hitler and his henchman." He also labeled L. Ron Hubbard "a charlatan," and stated that children in Scientology were undergoing "training for slavery." Latey married in 1938, had two children, and was knighted in 1965. [Source: Daily Telegraph London, April 28, 1999]

Austrian state backs off from attempts to ban Scientologists from civil service

Lower Austria was among several Austrian states seeking to ban members of Scientology from civil service earlier this month, but the state's commissioner on cults has decided against the ban. Commissioner Peter Pitzinger stated that such a ban would create martyrs for Scientology and that it would be more effective to keep the public informed regarding Scientology's activities. Scientology is not considered a religion in Austria. [Source: Die Presse, May 10th, 1999]