L. A. Activist Reporting On The Abuses Of Scientology!

[Roan]

I met this reporter/activist at some of the first big pickets early last year.
He's a stand-up guy and a true documentarian, activist and reporter.

http://www.examiner.com/x-4624-Burbank- ... f-betrayal

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[Roan]

Trish and Her Church: One Scientologist's Account of Betrayal

February 25, 2:44 PM
by Dustin Slaughter, Burbank City Buzz Examiner

She’s a saleswoman now, but just a few years ago, she was in a much different occupation.

Trish House used to renovate the Church of Scientology’s Celebrity Center in Hollywood, CA.

Once a self-described loyal and dedicated ‘soldier’ with an optimism and idealistic passion that would make the most fervent activist blush, Trish supported and loved what she thought the church stood for—bringing about a reduction in crime in society and at the time, ending the Cold War and bringing about a mutual understanding between the United States and the Soviet Union. She believed in these objectives so much, in fact, that for over a year she crawled into the Celebrity Center’s ventilation system and tore out fiberglass insulation with no prior training and with only the flimsiest of protective gear. The protection included being wrapped in plastic sheeting and wearing a cloth mask normally used for sanding wood. She and others also used hydrochloric acid to scrub tiles, and they also tore and out replaced walls in the building. But how did her loyalty and idealism bring her to this point?

She began her membership with the Church of Scientology in 1982. She was drawn to the possibilities of using Scientology to not only improve her life, but the lives of people the world over. On weekends, while many of her colleagues worked 11-hour days fulfilling various church duties, she supervised their children—sometimes watching over 135 children at once for over 70 hours a week for a period of six months. She had one 15 year-old boy as her assistant.

That was when the trouble began, she says.

One day two of the children snuck away from Scientology classes at the L.A. Org, or ‘Big Blue’ as it is also known, to buy Halloween costumes. They were mugged at knifepoint. A security guard who worked on the property notified Trish. She was horrified, and knew that she was in over her head. She requested more help to ensure that the children were safe, but senior Scientology executives insisted there was no one else available.

A half hour later, one of the assaulted children’s mothers, an administrator herself, decided to get Trish out of this untenable situation. Trish’s new position, however, wasn’t quite what she was expecting.

She insists to this day that she was sent to the RPF, or Rehabilitation Project Force, because she criticized how Scientology’s upper management was handling childcare, as well as to assuage the mother’s embarrassment at letting the situation get out of hand.

Trish, like numerous other Scientologists who criticized what they saw as violations of founder L. Ron Hubbard’s teachings (one tenet, they claim, is that Hubbard valued family time highly and stressed its importance in the organization’s day-to-day affairs) was sent to the RPF, which is little more than a labor camp. Duties consisted of hard physical labor, including renovating properties the organization purchases on a frequent basis with the revenue it takes in from charging its members for courses. The dedicated and loyal staff received one dollar a day for their work.

Trish came to the realization that her notion of what Scientology was, based on the written policies and doctrines of Scientology, and what her superiors saw it as were two vastly different things. She feels quite strongly that to upper management and the executives inside the corporate division of the church, it is first and foremost a moneymaking operation for their personal benefit.

She says she could not reconcile with this view and decided to stop working for the church as staff while communicating with management to try to get them to align their actions with the tenets of Scientology. Despite countless communications, her attempts were ignored, and so she decided to give up her status as a member, leaving behind friends that would no longer be allowed to communicate with her. After leaving in 1995, she has been rebuilding her life with the help of a group of church 'expatriots' called the Freezone.

This is the first in a series of articles highlighting the often-unpublicized abuses of the Scientology organization. If you are an ex-member or feel you’ve been victimized by this organization, please contact me at dmslaughter29@gmail.com.


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[Judith Anderson]

CoS knows nothing about management. Look at all the talented, dedicated people they've lost because of the inhumane punishments they have imposed on them. No wonder they are going down.

[Quietheart]

Here's a digg link http://digg.com/world_news/Trish_and_he ... f_betrayal

[Benny's Friend]

This is the first in a series of articles highlighting the often-unpublicized abuses of the Scientology organization. If you are an ex-member or feel you’ve been victimized by this organization, please contact me at dmslaughter29@gmail.com.

Glad to see media attention on this critical issue. Kudos to Trish House for stepping up and telling her story. Thank you, Trish.

[brownjedi]

More, we need more brave people to stand up and say the cult abused them.