AUDITORS DAY PICKET

Picketing the Church of Scientology© since May 10, 1997, for Objectionable Management Practises.

THE PICKET (continued):

Once our 'Standard' friends were set, we paused and took a few photos. Then right at 6:30 Artemis began to patrol the front of the Hotel on Richmond while I did a piece of the front by the busy street corner and a bit down University. We made sure we stayed on public grounds while Demonstrating.

At about 7:00 we were joined by Slippery Jim, so we liberated one of the signs from our 'Standard' friends and Jim took over the patrol of University to Richmond side of the Hotel. And I was able to remain parked right at the corner of Richmond and University, both multi-laned roadways.
The number of cars going west on oneway Richmond was amazing and mostly upscale types too. A lot of theatre goers and patrons of the 'Artsy' type restaurants in the theatre district west of University and south of Queen.
These became my 'captive' audience for two minutes at a time as the lights at the corner cycled. The sign I carried had "Scientology: Secret UFO Cult" on one side and "Canada's only Criminally Convicted 'Church': Scientology!" on the other. As people drove by or more often were stopped by the lights, I kept rotating the sign, giving them about 30 seconds per side.
The number of smiles, thumbs up, hand claps, horn hits, waves and roll-down-the-window-to-make-a-postive-or-appreciative-comments were incredible. We quite easily got our message, between Artemis, Jim and myself, to at least several thousand people between 6:30 and 8:00 when we quit and went to a local Starbucks for coffee.

The street corner ( over Artemis' shoulder) where
the Streetlights gave me an audience of thousands!

There were a few interesting occurances during the Picket.

We had a fair share of razzing and baiting, some of it quite vicious, from Cosites entering the Hotel. I asked quite a few if they had heard of Xenu and those that did answer said the Xenu story was a lie made up on the Internet! My, my, what dishonest tales are being said within the Toronto Org.! One woman even told me that Lisa McPherson had been killed by psyches! I must say this was the most spontaneous verbal interaction I had ever had with Cosites and it was very encouraging. Big lies means big losses for the Co$ *eventually* and *inevitably*.

The Co$ did plant an operative at the corner to 'watch' over me. He had a cell phone, but never used it. I didn't use my MegaPhone either as this was very much a show and show information picket. We had very little foot traffic that was not Cosites going into the Hotel.

Artemis had a long talk with a newbie Scientologist who had IIRC just gone on lines and Artemis gave him an education. This fellow went into the Event in a strong condition of Doubt and with a battery of questions for which honest answers by Buttnor and crew would certainly cause this fellow to blow. This fellow had Internet access so he could easily verify our information given to him versus the pap the Co$ would feed him.
Jim and I were accosted by a Cosite just after I had finished giving Jim a walk thru' of the Hotel property lines down University. This guy looked and acted very stunned. He came up to Jim and me opposite the Hotels University St. entrance and asked why we were opposing such a wonderful thing as Scientology and why did we tell lies about Scientology?
I showed him my 'Criminal Church' sign and asked him if that was the truth and he said, yes it was, but it was done by renegades and psyche infiltrators. Then I showed him the 'UFO Cult' side and asked him if that was true and he said, no that was a lie. I asked him how did he know if he had not read all the scriptures, as I had, especially OT3 and the Xenu story and Hubbard's dismissal of God, Christ and all religions as evil thought implants by the Galactic Overlord Xenu? He said that was a lie from the Internet. He acted very, well, stoned. (If I had had him as an entrant at the border during my days as a Customs and Immigration Officer, I would have gone over him and any effects very carefully.) Jim and I didn't get a chance to further enturbulate this fellow, because one of the regular CosLadies came trotting down the sidewalk and tapped this guy's shoulder and said, "Dave, could I have a word with you?" And then she took his arm and steered him out of range of our evil suppressive grasp. He must be a good cash cow to get that kind of shepherding. Poor fellow. I am sure his mandatory KR would be interesting reading.

At 7:15 I saw two of my Deep Wogs emerge from the Hotel.
They came up to me and quickly said they had to back out because of all the info the CoS wanted inorder for anyone to get in. They went home, but offered to join the Picket lines soon. I thanked them for their efforts.
Then a young couple came out of the Hotel and approached me and asked some questions. Seems they had been quite put out that they had to fill those information forms out. Infact, they had, but then they changed their minds and had to be quite adamant about getting the forms back. I told them their BS Meters might be slow but had saved them a wasted evening and possibly a large bite of their retirement, or kids college funds or maybe even their Home and Marriage, in the end. I gave them flyers and the standard answers about course costs, Xenu, "No Christ", poor Lisa M, the Internet War, etc. All eye openers for them. They soon left to get out of the wind, but not without getting my email address and giving me theirs. Nice folks.

About 7:40 I took a call on the Cel Phone from my original Deep Wog. He was reporting he, too, had not wanted to fill out the forms and had been given the bums rush by no less than Buttnor himself! He said he'd join us in a few minutes so he could go with us for coffee.

Now what is it about Scientologists and tardiness? I had a significantly greater and more vocal number of Cosites entering the Hotel between 7:30 ( the advertised Event start time ) and 7:50 then before 7:30 at all.

The Unofficial Final Tally is just under 300 Scientologists, family members and Potential Marks Attending. This is a best guesstimate unless {Shadow} cares to supply a more accurate figure in the future. A dismal failure by any assessment given Mr. Buttnor's previous boastful claim on CFRA Radio of 100,000 Scientlogists in Canada. (He really doesn't do too well on the Radio does he?) Three Hundred attendees being scraped together for Auditors Day better reflects the Census Figure of 700 Scientologists in Canada.

Anyway, Deep Wog came by at about 7:50 and filled me in on his adventure. He promised to write it up and email it to me for posting to ARS and for my Website.

I called it a night at 8:00. Road traffic had died down to a trickle, ( curtain time I guess ) and foot traffic into or by the Hotel was now virtually nonexistent.

I made sure to thank our Police escort, now down to a single officer in a van, for protecting our right to Demonstrate. He said we were welcome and asked for a flyer or two for some friends. I ended up giving him a dozen RXs and Courts Opinions.

We relieved our 'Standard' friends of the other three signs and went back to my van to put everything away. We didn't get tailed beyond Queen and University. Then it was off to Starbucks for coffee and a little planning for the next Demo at the Org.

Halloween is coming. Tricks or BTs?
Do you know how *cheap* it is to rent a 40 foot Xenu Balloon?!!
And Parade Permits are now free too!

Heh, heh. {grin}

Best,

Gregg SP4