Lisa McPherson



The St. Petersburg Times reported on August 20th and 21st that the trial

in the breach of contract case against the attorneys for the estate of

Lisa McPherson was held in Clearwater this week.



"Large and imposing, Church of Scientology attorney Samuel Rosen stood

before a Pinellas County jury Tuesday, arms waving, voice booming.

Pointing at Tampa lawyer Ken Dandar, he growled to jurors that Dandar had

taken a 'garden variety' wrongful death lawsuit and allowed a church

critic to turn it into 'a frontal attack on an entire religion.' Now,

Rosen said, Dandar must be punished. And real punishment, he told jurors,

doesn't even begin until they force Dandar to pay Scientology more than

$2-million.



"The battle stems from the wrongful death lawsuit Dandar filed on behalf

of the estate of Lisa McPherson, a Scientologist who died in 1995 after 17

days of care at the church's spiritual headquarters in downtown

Clearwater. Church officials cried foul when, more than two years into the

wrongful death case, Dandar sought to add as defendants several top church

officials, including the church's worldwide leader, David Miscavige. The

ensuing bad publicity was devastating to Scientology, church officials

said. It also violated a private agreement between the church and the

McPherson estate not to add additional defendants, church attorneys

contended. So the church sued.



"Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge W. Douglas Baird agreed that the private

agreement was breached. Now, the jury will decide how much Dandar and the

estate owe the church in damages.



"Dandar said his case has been handicapped because Judge Baird would not

allow the jury to hear, among other things, why he attempted to add

Miscavige. Dandar has said in the past that he based his attempt to add

Miscavige as a defendant on the testimony of a former, high-ranking church

official who said decisions about McPherson's care would have come from

top church officials. 'This jury does not have the full picture,' Dandar

said after jurors had left for the day."



"A tiny smile creased Ken Dandar's face as a clerk read the first count of

the jury verdict. Compensatory damages he owed the Church of Scientology:

$4,500. Dandar knew then he had won. The grin widened and Dandar began to

playfully pat his attorney, Luke Lirot, as the clerk read through the rest

of the counts. The amount he was obligated to pay the church in punitive

damages: zero. The legal team assembled by the Church of Scientology sat

silently, then quickly filed out of the courtroom.



"The church claimed Dandar was paid $2,050,000 from a wealthy church

critic to turn a 'garden variety' wrongful death case into a broad attack

on Scientology by naming the church's worldwide leader, David Miscavige,

as a defendant. The jury didn't buy it. After less than 21/2 hours of

deliberation, the jury concluded no punitive damages were warranted.



"Jury forewoman Kandice Brockmeyer, a Pinellas-Pasco assistant public

defender, said the church's legal team did not nail down its case. 'They

asked us to speculate on a lot,' Brockmeyer said. 'They didn't show us

enough proof. We spent a lot of time looking at the bills,' Brockmeyer

said of the jury's decision to award the church $4,500. 'This is what we

thought was reasonable and necessary.' The jury took issue with the

expenses incurred by out-of-town attorneys who appeared to duplicate

services of the church's local legal team, she said. Summing up the case,

Brockmeyer said, 'It came down to the big law firm versus the little law

firm.'



"Dandar considered the verdict personal vindication. 'They wanted to hold

me out as an example to people who file suit against them,' Dandar said.



"Several hours after the verdict, church spokesman Ben Shaw issued a brief

response: 'We're exploring our options, including the effect of 40

violations of court orders by Mr. Dandar and Mr. Lirot and their

cumulative effect on the jury.' Shaw would not elaborate."



Message-ID: 3e471c14.0308200025.2d023816@posting.google.com

Message-ID: 1061460979.132855@newshost01.voicenet.com





Belgium



Agence France Presse reported on August 18th that Scientology plans to

open a new headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.



"The Church of Scientology will open in mid-September a new office

'devoted to humans rights' in a building located near the European

institutions in Brussels. For Marc Bromberg, the goal of this new office

is 'to present, in the form of a permanent exposure, the activities of the

Church of Scientology as regards rehabilitation of the drug addicts and

the criminals, of fight against the illiteracy and the general decline of

morality.'



"'We want to also show our actions for the defense of humans rights and

the denunciation of the psychiatric abuses,' affirmed Martin Weightman.

The building, a beautiful building of two floors recently renovated which

will be officially inaugurated on September 17, was in particular selected

for its proximity with the European Parliament, according to Mr.

Weightman."



Message-ID: 3f430b06$0$26378$626a54ce@news.free.fr





Drug Free Marshals



La Prensa San Diego reported on August 22nd that the San Diego, California

Police Department participated in an anti-crime night with Scientology's

Drug Free Marshals program.



"On Tuesday, August 5th, the San Diego Police Department's Central

Division celebrated National Night Out with a Crime-Free Walk from police

headquarters in downtown to Central division's station in Logan Heights.

Public Officials, community leaders, local organizations and churches came

together to walk with the police to celebrate community spirit,

cooperation and commitment for safer neighborhoods.



"The Drug-Free Marshals, kids who have taken the pledge to be drug-free,

passed out badges and drug educational booklets on Cocaine, Ecstasy and

Marijuana. Community Relations Officer Gary Gonzalez for the Heights area

said, 'The event was a total success. It not only brought an opportunity

to address crime issues, but it also gave the youth the opportunity to

take the pledge to be drug-free. There's a nexus with drugs on almost

every crime we have. If we address the drug issue, crime will slowly

decrease. The pledge done by the Drug-Free Marshals program (sponsored by

the Church of Scientology) is a perfect example of how community and youth

can band together to fight drugs and crime. For next year's event, we want

more neighborhoods to participate in the National Night Out.'"



Message-ID: 1061643394.181229@newshost01.voicenet.com





Safe Harbor



Hamburger Morgenpost reported on August 2nd that a new Scientology group

aimed at alternatives to Psychiatric treatment has been established in

Hamburg, Germany.



"The Safe Harbor association was recently founded in Hamburg. It is a

cover organization for the sect that serves only one purpose: to

infiltrate new social groups and to spread to crazy ideas of Ron Hubbard,

the sect's founder. After drug addicts it is now the turn of the mentally

ill.



"'The case is exemplary,' said Rudiger Hintze from the Working Group

Scientology at the Department for Domestic Affairs. 'We can see here what

cunning methods Scientology uses to try to tie people to the organization

and to spread Hubbard's ideology.'



"Melanie Herff from Hamburg studied nutrition therapy in London - a

science that is based on the assumption that most psychiatric disorders

have physical causes. And that depression and schizophrenia need not

always be treated with psychopharmaceuticals - that instead it is often

only a matter of the right diet. Melanie Herff had only just returned to

Hamburg after finishing her studies when the Scientologists started to

take note of her. She received an invitation to attend the inaugural

meeting of an association called Safe Harbor in a hotel in Ochsenzoll.

So Melanie Herff went along, presented a paper - and before she knew it

she had been proposed as chairwoman. She felt honored - and agreed to

stand for election. Something she now very much regrets.



"Scientology's strategy has long been to set up organizations that at

first sight promote good causes. They try to get people on board who are

already working in that subject area. The sect for instance used the

Ritalin debate to recruit allies against hated psychiatry. The 'EIFFRIG'

association was set up to fight alleged human rights violations in

Germany. And 'Narkonon' carries the veneer of a well-meaning anti-drugs

program. All these organizations are designed to find new victims for

infiltration with Ron Hubbard's so-called 'technology.'



"Melanie Herff became suspicious shortly after she was elected. 'I soon

thought the people and what they were saying was pretty strange. And so I

did some research on the Internet.' The results were alarming. She

suddenly realized that she had unwittingly become a pawn of the

Scientologists. The Working Group Scientology at the Department for

Domestic Affairs had known for some weeks about the Scientologists’ plan

to set up Safe Harbor. Thanks to Melanie Herff the Working Group now has

information about the leaders.  'I don't want to be made to work for

Scientology,' said Melanie Herff to explain why she left. She asked the

association in writing to delete her name and her personal data and to

refrain from any future contact.



Message-ID: RJV6211A37850.3731944444@anonymous.poster





Protest Summary



The New York Post reported on August 20th that members of a laborer's

union protested outside a New York Scientology org building to protest

their selection of building contractors.



"Members of Laborers' Local 78 installed their familiar giant inflatable

rat in front of the Church of Scientology's headquarters at 2 W. 43rd St.

yesterday. 'We're exposing them for being frauds,' says the union local's

business manager, Sal Speziale. Frauds? Well, it's not what you think.

'They hired a non-union company - Asbestos and Lead Inc. - that exploits

immigrant workers,' he says."



Message-ID: 8es6kv0k47g3uitplgp6gpftuvprvc036n@4ax.com





Saint Hill



Web site Thisiskentandeastsussex.co.uk reported on August 15th that a

week-long music festival was held at the Saint Hill Manor Scientology

compound in East Grinstead, England.



"The week-long festival, now in its 12th year, began with the traditional

opening night classical concert, featuring artists from Budapest and

Vienna as well as London and East Grinstead.



"Following words of welcome from the executive director Robin Hogarth and

executive producer Sheila Gaiman, Liz Nyegaard, of the L. Ron Hubbard

Foundation, spoke of Mr. Hubbard's outstanding contribution to the arts

through his music, photography and writings. Messages of good wishes and

encouragement for the festival participants were received from celebrities

including soul legend Issac Hayes and star of the film Carmen, Julia

Migenes, and were read to guests by Krystyna Louw, vice-president of

Celebrity Centre in the United States.



"Participants and performers from over 10 different countries were

attending an extensive variety of workshops this week, on subjects ranging

from dance, acrobatics and drama, to painting screenwriting and singing."



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World Trade Centers



Vail Daily reported on August 16th that Scientology is raising funds in

Vail, Colorado to help fund a detoxification center established in New

York to treat workers at the World Trade Centers disaster site.



"New York firefighter Joe Higgins can no longer fight fires. He

involuntarily retired from the New York Fire Department shortly after

responding to the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center because of

health problems caused by a variety of toxins released when the

skyscrapers collapsed. Five New York firefighters and emergency medical

services personnel who suffered physically and mentally from the tragedy

of Sept. 11 visited the Vail Valley Tuesday. They attended a fund raiser

Tuesday night.



"The toxins released after the buildings came down caused many to suffer

asthma, heart conditions and trauma. 'These guys weren't sleeping, they

weren't eating and they couldn't exercise,' said Joanie Sigel, a

spokeswoman for the New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Fund. 'In

September 2002, we opened a detoxification clinic in downtown Manhattan

with more than 150 rescue workers who received the detox.'



"The detoxification clinic is part of a research project that was founded

more than 20 years ago to help remove drugs and residuals from the body,

said Jim Woodworth, director of operations for the New York Rescue Workers

Detoxificiation Project. Two clinics were set up in Los Angeles by medical

doctors who used L. Ron Hubbard's method of detoxification.



"The program involves a precise regimen of daily sauna bathing and

exercise along with vitamin-, mineral- and oil-supplements, he said.

Through sweat, excretion and glands, the toxins leave the body, Higgins

said. The detoxification program might be one of the leading, cutting edge

projects in the country, Gulick said."



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