March 13, 1999 - Gregg Hagglund

First Picket of the Season - Co$ Restrained by Bad PR .

Highlights:

Todays Picket Captain was Wulfen, outed by the Co$, as Chris Wood.

Finally we get a community liason Police Officer assigned to our events.

After stiff incamera warnings from various levels and agencies of gov't TO Org Staff drop bull baiting.
(At least for the day.)

Co$ tactic of the day was "calm conversation tech".

Poorly dressed Co$ staff turns blue with cold.

Picketers:

AM: Wulfen (PC), Artemis, GypsyBlue, Android Cat, David Palter, Gregg Hagglund

P.M Wulfen (PC), Artemis, GypsyBlue, MysteryChik, David Palter, Gregg Hagglund and DeepWog.

Flyer Count: RXSpecials, Mirele/LISAs and other sundry entheta, including copies of the Globe and Mail piece on the Fair Gaming and Harassment of my family and Parents exceeded 1000 (minimum)

Picket Report:

YHN was laid up for the month of January so the local ARSCC (wdne) ILK stepped in and organised the March Picket(s)

Chris Wood, recently outed by the Co$, did his initial stint as Picket Captain and on site Official SP spokes person with the local Constabulary. Chris did a terrific job as Chief ILK and we all apreciated his 'virgin' efforts.

Others have posted different details but I wish to add my personal observations:

After repeated enquiries and communications with the Metro police: a community Officer, Peter Thompson Badge #1846, has been assigned to be a more or less regular "sherriff" for the Pickets. He promised a consistent set of acceptable limits and immediate consequences should anyone breach the peace or act incitefully. Since we have never acted out of line in the two years we have been actively Demonstrating, we can only hope the Co$ staff will learn to adhere to wog law.

Officer Thompson will be recommending to the Co$ they should be hiring Off Duty Police Officer(s) for our Pickets as he will not be posted on site but will pay regular visits as well as define the 'rules' for the Off Duty Officer(s) to enforce.

NOTE:

We will not be asked to provide any funding for OffDuty Officer(s) for our regular activities, as our history is unblemished while the Co$, a Criminally Convicted Corporation in Canada, has a litany of major and minor offenses to their discredit, and therefore: 'dirty hands'.

I was happy to play 'second fiddle' to Chris, as it let me concentrate solely on my communications with the public.

I was also happy to sponsor Mr. David Palter, ex Toronto Staffer to our Picket. His presence made Andy Hill ( and others) visibly upset. Too bad Andy.

We got to hear some interesting stories, which will bear repeating later.<grin>

Local GypsyBlue did her first stint on a picket and had a great time. I am glad recent events and the pressures of various levels of Gov't and legal advisors apparently kept the Co$ staff constrained to "make nice" talk and no camera aggression to speak of, thus Gypsyblues first outing was a pleasant one.

Veteran critic and Picketer Mysterychik also joined us and after speaking with Officer Thompson, happily spread flyer entheta well beyond the boundaries of our Picket Site Permit. This annoyed the heck out of the Org staff too. Nicely done MysteryChik!

The weather was sunny but brisk to freezing at times and the Toronto Org Staff visibly suffered for it. Andy Hill, blue in the ears and wearing summer pants, was verbally envious of my SnowMobile suit which kept me comfortable and toasty all day.

The Org Staff were very civil and tried to handle us with calm conversation, mostly to appear as rational to the new Police Oficiers on site and to the public. They appeared chastened by the extreme negative public reaction to the nefarious act of Al Buttnor's harrassment of my parents as recently nationaly publicised. I allowed one staffer to engage me for the full max of the twenty minutes I will grant for reasonable debate. He apologised for any upset he may have caused my wife, my children and my neighborhood by the 'revenge' pickets, which he was apparently part of organising.

However, civil or not, nothing has changed amongst the remaining dwindling experienced staff of the Org. They still defend Fair Game, ignore the tragedy of Lisa MacPherson, defend the policy of deceiving the general public about the Xenu Story etc. and still adhere to and are mindlessly obedient to, the anti-social and anti-democratic, religiously intolerant Policies dictated by Hubbard which are still enforced/practiced by the Co$ today.

Officer Thompson and I had several interesting conversations, some of them actually about the Co$. He liked our picketers advisory and remarked our record indicated we adhered to our stated peaceful criticism purposes.

Officer Thompson agreed with me that use of the megaphone to offset the Orgs playing of raucous sound bites last year was justified and that it was good for control and organisation of our picketers when our numbers exceed 10 on site. We did discuss the use of the megaphone in the vicinity of a 'house of worship' and the interruption of religious services by noise, which can be a violation of the criminal code. I offered I would like the opportunity in court to prove the Co$ is nothing more than a business enterprise, as is the majority view of the Industrialised nations and of the Co$ itself in places like Mexico and Greece.(The latter only until recently.<grin>.) Officer Thompson noted he did not want to be involved in precedent setting court cases because it would tie him up off the street for protracted periods of time.

Andy Hill would desperately try to eavesdrop on these tete a tetes. Doubtless Andy is envious of my ease and instant rapport with peace officers. (It *is* tough being on staff in an internationally infamous criminally convicted 'cult'/business I suppose.)

Hate Crimes Unit Detective Kijewsky dropped by, off duty, to offer his commiserations on the harassment I and other critics have endured. Another off duty Officer, who has actually done Co$ paid on site service last year, also came by and expressed his confidence we would continue to be the non aggressors at these Demonstartions.

It was a pleasant 'at cause' day. Why even my little lady obnoxious offered to fetch me a coffee. !

Last Notes:

Honest factual criticism, delivered dispassionately, does not incite hatred, except in the hearts of those who find themselves defending the indefensible.

It is, I feel, a truthful observation the critics do not hate, but are hated. The picketers in particular are hated by Org Staff for the staff must endure the near universal scorn heaped by the general populace upon them and witness the near universal praise appreciation and encouragement offered to the Picketers. This staff hatred, reenforced by Hubbardian anti-social policies, puts the desperate Org Staff at a disadvantage morally and will, I fear, bring upon them legal consequences to some overt act against critics and Picketers in the future.

And for Andy Hill: You have shown you are a poor source of factual information on the Net. I for one do not believe you have an University Professor, Air Canada Pilot or Professional plumber on lines at the Toronto Org. simply base on your claim. Unless and until they care to name themselves, their professions and openly declare their affiliation with the Co$, then I may fairly conclude either they are ashamed of being linked to Scientology or you are lieing once again.

And Andy, until the Co$ stops persecuting the Freezoners, your Religious Intolerance will continue to make your claims of being a 'victim' not only hollow ones, but ludicrous ones as well. Just how long will you tolerate being a highly visible tool and fool for the Huborg?