Originally printed in "The Southern California Psychiatrist," May 1991, pp. 6-13. Dr. West has granted permission to upload this article to computer networks and bulletin boards In a previous article (SCPS Newsletter, July, 1990) I provided an historical account of the Church of Scientology. It is a pseudo-scientific healing cult that was formed in the 1950s, and has grown, with the help of extravagant lies and deliberate deception, into a multimillion dollar, international enterprise. Through its many publications, but especially through ...

Efforts to license a Kay County substance abuse center operating without state approval were brought to a halt Thursday. The State Mental Health Board, scheduled to act Thursday on certifying the Narconon Chilocco New Life Center, found itself crippled by a court ruling. The ruling blocked the board from using material prepared by Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services staff on the 75-bed facility. Mental health department officials said it was the first time a court tossed out a ...

OKLA. CITY — The National Chilocco Alumni Association unanimously approved a resolution on Saturday, June 9, strongly opposing the establishment of Scientology's front organization Narconon on the old Chilocco Indian Agricultural School just north of Newkirk. The resolution, presented to the membership during the business meeting at the annual Chilocco Reunion in Oklahoma City, was overwhelmingly approved following about 30 minutes of discussion. Copies of the resolution were to be forwarded to all of the members of the Chilocco Development Authority, ...

Testimonials of the famous are prominent in the church's push for acceptability. John Travolta and Kirstie Alley are the current headliners. The Church of Scientology uses celebrity spokesmen to endorse L. Ron Hubbard's teachings and give Scientology greater acceptability in mainstream America. As far back as 1955, Hubbard recognized the value of famous people to his fledgling, off-beat church when he inaugurated "Project Celebrity." According to Hubbard, Scientologists should target prominent individuals as their "quarry" and bring them back like trophies ...

Aides indulged his eccentricities and egotism. L. Ron Hubbard enjoyed being pampered. He surrounded himself with teen-age followers, whom he indoctrinated, treated like servants and cherished as though they were his own children. He called them the "Commodore's messengers." " 'Messenger!' " he would boom in the morning. "And we'd pull him out of bed," one recalled. The youngsters, whose parents belonged to Hubbard's Church of Scientology, would lay out his clothes, run his shower and help him dress. He taught ...

Thanks to your enduring help, the Oklahoma State Legislature has passed (91 to 0 in the House and similar in the Senate), and Governor Henry Bellmon has signed a law which should insure that Oklahoma will certify only legitimate, medically safe drug and alcohol treatment facilities for operation in our state. Practitioners of Body Thetan exorcism and other hocus pocus won't cut it. The law requires that drug abuse treatment providers be accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare ...

We must: A) stop the killing in El Salvador, B) stop censorship of the arts, C) reform the Internal Revenue Service, and D) provide housing for AIDS victims. It was all of the above yesterday at the Federal Office Building, where the first day of spring was greeted by more than 100 people rallying for various causes. It made for a curious melange of symbolism and rhetoric. There were the crude wooden crosses to symbolize the victims of Salvadoran death squads, ...

As an employee of the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health, Leroy Bridges "actively lobbied" his colleagues in support of Narconon International's proposed drug treatment center near Newkirk, a memo states. Meanwhile, Bridges had ties to a consulting firm hired by Narconon International to help that controversial drug treatment organization in its application for a certificate of need from the Oklahoma Health Planning Commission. Bridges denies any wrongdoing, but his activities are being probed by federal investigators. Records on file in the ...

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP): Gov. Henry Bellmon is being advised not to get involved in a dispute over a proposed drug treatment center in Newkirk, an aide says. "It would be inappropriate for the governor to sign any document endorsing a drag treatment center prior to completion of the Department of Mental Health's review of the facility for certification," Andrew Tevington, Bellmon's aide, said Wednesday. A group of Native Americans asked Bellmon to sign a proclamation about drug abuse that mentions the ...

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES STATE OF OKLAHOMA August 25, 1989 OPEN LETTER TO CITIZENS OF NEWKIRK AND KAY COUNTY: In response to your packet and the numerous letters of protest concerning the Narconon Drug treatment facility to be located at the Chilocco Indian School complex, I want you to know that I, too, am extremely concerned and am doing everything I know to stop this development. I have contacted and expressed my concerns to every individual and entity in state government that ...

Newkirk's School Board, City Commission, and Chamber of Commerce have jointly sent a 67 page document to 16 State and National leaders asking them to support a special review of the Narconon-Chilocco drug rehabilitation program and it's connection with Scientology. The cover letter of the package of exhibits says in part, "Based on this information, it appears that Narconon's primary objective is Scientology recruitment and not drug abuse treatment. Our community is very concerned and we are requesting your help in ...

NEWKIRK, Okla. — The people of this farming hamlet near the Oklahoma-Kansas border thought the idea was the perfect tonic for their rural economic ills. Out-of-state investors offered to take over the abandoned Chilocco Indian School and transform it into a major drug and alcohol treatment center. They signed a 25-year lease — worth an estimated $16 million — with the five tribes that control the campus. They brought expectations of new jobs and increased business for the area. Now, only ...

Newkirk Mayor Garry Bilger says in the past two weeks he has been receiving mail from all over the country since an Associated Press article concerning Narconon Chilocco was released. The article, which appeared in newspapers from Corpus Christi, Tx. to the New York Times, seems to have prompted the letters to Bilger. "I haven't received a letter favorable to the Narconon program yet... they are all negative." For example, a writer from Illinois says, "I can empathize with your town' ...

NEWKIRK, Okla., July 16—When a California group received Oklahoma's permission to open a 75-bed drug and alcohol treatment center on an Indian reservation, people in nearby Newkirk thought the project would ease local economic troubles brought on by slumps in the oil and farming businesses. The initial euphoria has been replaced by distrust, frustration and fear. Townspeople say the California group, Narconon International, has not been honest about its affiliation with the Church of Scientology, its financing, its medical credentials and ...

NEWKIRK, OK., (AP) Crews chip away old paint and hack at knee-high weeds at the abandoned Chilocco Indian School, seemingly unaffected by the tempest brewing in this remote comer of Oklahoma. When a California group received state permission for a 75-bed drug and alcohol treatment center, Newkirk thought the project on the reservation six miles away would solve local economic troubles brought on by oil and fanning slumps. But the initial euphoria, like the old paint, has chipped away, replaced by ...

Gary Smith, public relations representative for Narconon New Life Center at Chilocco said Tuesday that about 30 people attended an event in celebration of the next phase of the Narconon renovation project last Sunday afternoon. Highlights of the event, according to a press release issued by Smith, included a local band, STOC, from Redrock, rides for the children on the Chilocco red fire engine and a cooling run through the spray from the engine's hoses. The get-together concluded with a traditional ...

NEWKIRK — Crews chip away old paint and hack at knee-high weeds at the abandoned Chilocco Indian School, seemingly unaffected by the tempest brewing in this remote comer of Oklahoma. When a California group received state permission for a 75-bed drug and alcohol treatment center, Newkirk thought the project on the reservation six miles away would solve local economic troubles brought on by oil and fanning slumps. But the initial euphoria, like the old paint, has chipped away, replaced by distrust, ...

NEWKIRK - Renovations have begun on buildings at nearby Chilocco Indian School, according to Simon Hogarth, a representative of the Association for Better Living and Education (ABLE) which owns Narconon, the proposed drug rehabilitation center to be located on the grounds. The press release issued Monday by Hogarth said that Narconon has obtained a Certificate of Need from the Oklahoma State Planning Commission to establish a 75-bed facility at Chilocco for drug and alcohol abusers. The center is currently employing 25 ...

A group that follows some of the teachings of Church of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard is setting up a national drug and alcohol rehabilitation program at the former Chilocco Indian School in northern Oklahoma, and that has some area residents worried. The Newkirk City Commission has scheduled a Monday night informational meeting about the Narconon International project, which over 25 years could bring as much as $16 million in lease payments to five Indian tribes in the Chilocco Development Authority. ...

Whoa, now! Maybe it's time for us backwater Cowboys and Indians to slow down our wagons and ponies a bit, before we git stampeded into thunderation by a bunch of slick talkin' riverboat shysters toutin' some new fangled snake oil cure for the fire-water frazzles. Like olden days when Dr. Malingerer visited the town with his wagon of "tonic" guaranteed to cure everything from gout to the vapors in man or beast, we're about to be hoodwinked by another bunch of ...

NEWKIRK, OK – A proposed drug treatment and rehabilitation center which could be in operation on Indian land at the former Chilocco Indian School north of Newkirk by June 15th may be part of a notorious religious cult. Narconon was approved for a 75-bed facility by the State Health Planning Commission in January of this year as part of The Chilocco Development Authority. The projected cost is $400,000 for renovation and the five Indian tribes involved are projected to receive $16,000,000 ...