| 16 witnesses unlock sect's
closed society by Bill Prescott
Clearwater Sun,
May 11, 1982
The 16 witnesses
who testified in Clearwater's public hearings on
Church of Scientology activities provided the
first-hand information city officials will use if
they decide to design ordinances to regulate the
sect.
Boston attorney
Michael Flynn, who gathered the witnesses, said
he questioned them extensively about their
Scientology experiences and people they knew in
the sect. He confirmed that information through
other witnesses and contacts inside the church,
he said.
If they had not
been in the sect, Flynn said, "I'd have to
be pretty much of a dunce to allow my witnesses
to get up there and say the things they
did."
He said church
contracts and waivers signed by several witnesses
were put into evidence. He can obtain other
documents, he said, if necessary.
Witnesses who
testified of personal involvement in crimes were
granted immunity by prosecutors, or were out of
jurisdictional boundaries, Flynn said.
Of the 16 who
testified, Flynn said he represents Lavenda Van
Schaick and Paulette Cooper directly in separate
lawsuits against the Church of Scientology. He
said he is involved also indirectly in lawsuits
filed by Ernest and Adelle Hartwell and Janie
Peterson.
The witnesses came
from throughout the country and represented
involvement in all levels of the Scientology
organization. In the order they testified, they
were:
- Edward
Walters, 44, said he is a gambling casino
executive living in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Walters said he had been a high-level
auditor with the church's organization in
Las Vegas. He summarized church policies
and organization.
- Ronald Edward
DeWolf, 48, said he is the eldest son of
Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.
DeWolf said he lives in Carson City,
Nevada, where he is a security officer in
a hotel casino. He alleged his father
fabricated most of the biographies
circulated by the church. He also told of
the sect's formation and early years
until he quit in 1959.
- Lori Taverna,
39, said she lives in New York City,
where she operates a souvenir stand in
Times Square. She said she was a 17-year
veteran of the sect and alleged a wide
range of abuses - including medical
neglect - of church staff members and
their children. Altogether, she said she
spent 11 months in Clearwater during two
stays.
- Casey Kelly,
23, said he is stationed at a U.S. Navy
radar school in Virginia. He said he
spent three years in the Clearwater Flag
Land Base handling church finances and
recruitment.
- David Ray,
18, said he lives in San Diego, Calif.
and works at his grandparents' motel. He
said he was in the church six months,
most of that time in Clearwater doing
menial labor. He testified about poor
living and health conditions.
- Rosie Pace,
30, lives in hiding in the western United
States, Flynn said. She said church
indoctrination made it difficult for her
to leave and that she spent eight months
at the Clearwater base.
- Ernest and
Adelle Hartwell, 62 and 58, respectively,
said they were taken to Hubbard's desert
hideout after being promised a trip to
the Clearwater Flag. Mrs. Hartwell said
she was promised a cure for an intestinal
condition, later diagnosed as colitis by
a medical doctor.
- George
Meister said he is a businessman living
in Greeley, Colo., and that his
22-year-old daughter Susan died while on
Hubbard's ship Apollo in Morocco. He said
Moroccan and church officials said the
single gunshot wound to her forehead was
self-inflicted.
- Lavenda Van
Schaick, 32, said she is in hiding from
church harassment. She said she spent
nine years in Scientology and that she
received no schooling during her teens.
She testified about living conditions of
children and contended hepatitis swept
through the Clearwater base in 1977 but
was not reported to health officials.
- Janie
Peterson, 34, said she lives in Las
Vegas, Nev., and was a member of the
sect's enforcement arm, the Guardian
Office. She said sect community programs such as the Gerus
Society, Apple Schools and Narconon are
"basically public relations."
As part of her job, she used information
in confidential confessional files to
fuel smear campaigns, she said.
- Scott Mayer,
38, said he lives in California and is a
legal administrative assistant to the
city of Santa Monica. Mayer, who said he
was a former sect senior executive, told
of a worldwide network of infiltration, conspiracy and
smuggling.
- Paulette
Cooper, 39, said she is a free-lance
write in New York City. She testified she
was a target of intensive church
harassment after publishing a 1971 book,
"The Scandal of Scientology."
- Dr. John
Clark said he is a physician at
Massachusetts General Hospital. He said
he was harassed after giving lectures
about the dangers of Scientology and
other cults.
- Brown McKee
said he lives in New London, Conn., and
was a sect minister for 24 years. He said
he and his two Scientology missions broke
away from the main church in December
1981 after attempting a reform movement.
|
OCCUPIED CLEARWATER
