Last night, August 26th, I enjoyed a lovely dinner with Bob Minton, Stacy Brooks, Rod Keller, and Ken Dandar at the Palm, the restaurant at the Park Hyatt (nee Bellevue Stratford) Hotel in Philadelphia. We were done our food (which was quite delicious), and sitting around at our table, enjoying each others' company, when suddenly a woman came over to the table, put her hand on my shoulder, said "Charlotte Kates!", turned around to her male companion, and said, "Let's go." I pointed in their general direction as they left, explaining that that was Helene Furlong, the Field Control Secretary at Philly Org, got up and followed them out, calling "Helene!" Stacy followed me, and Bob followed her, as we met the two of them outside. Helene was accompanied by a public named Leo, who introduced himself to us as Helene explained that she'd heard "some pretty bad things" about me. I asked her what Tim and Bruce (Lomas and Thompson, DSA and DSA PRO, respectively) had saidabout me--she said "not Tim and Bruce," but then she couldn't name who *else* it had been....
She asked me what had happened, and why I'd left Scn. So I told her, I explained to her about what I'd learned on the Internet. She said I was stopping people from going free--and I told her that I have a webpage. It provides information. It doesn't *stop* anyone's free choice. She has the choice to be a Scn, and I have the choice to give information about that. I told her that I hadn't told any lies, that I didn't hate Scientologists--that what I, and other critics, were saying is the truth, and she could find out for herself if I was spreading hate by going to www.offlines.org and actually reading what I have to say rather than getting it filtered through OSA. We had an interesting chat, and then Stacy began to explain about her experiences at Int Mgmt, with David Miscavige. Helene took Leo's arm a few times, and told him "We have to leave," but Leo stayed to listen to our answers, and ask more questions. He asked Stacy and I if we missed the tech--to which Stacy replied that no tech is worth having to give up everything else. He told me he was sorry I wasn't on staff anymore, as Helene convinced him to go. Hands were shaken all around.
We went back inside the hotel, discussing whether or not this was an extremely bizarre coincidence, and headed up to Stacy's room, where after a bit of discussion about the Philly Org, we decided to place a call to Tim Lomas, our local DSA. Bob called the Org and asked for Tim, identifying himself as "Mike Rinder." When Tim got on the phone, Bob passed it to Stacy, who discussed with Tim our meeting with Helene and Leo, all in the interests of aiding Tim with area control for Philly. Stacy discussed working with David Miscavige, and advised Tim that she was calling him as she was sure a KR wouldn't get through to him. She asked if he would talk to me--and he wouldn't--but he'd talk to Bob, so Bob chatted with Tim for a bit, then handed the phone back to Stacy, who convinced Tim to talk with me. (I must say, I was somewhat insulted that my one-time friend would rather talk with the infamous Bob Minton than with me.) Tim asked me if we all were doing a 1.1 tone-scale drill with him, and then advised me that he'd "see me real soon." I asked him when and where this would be, to which he had no answer. Rod spoke with Tim next--and when he asked him how his father was doing, or if he'd spoken with him lately, Tim replied, "Get out of my life, you little fuck!" and told Rod that "you can all drop dead." Tim spoke to Stacy once again after that incident, then hung up on her.
I headed home for the night after that phone call--but Tim must have been quite mad, since 6 picketers showed up at the Park Hyatt this morning to picket Bob and Stacy with new orange-and-white signs. So far, no sightings at my house or Rod's...but maybe, at least, Helene and Leo might think a bit about what they've heard, read for *themselves* on the Internet, and check out a few of those URLs.
Charlotte
From: Charlotte L. Kates <clkates@aol.com>
Subject: In addition...
Date: 27 Aug 1999 09:56:45 -0700
Message-ID: <7q6g0d$189k@drn.newsguy.com>
In addition...
Last night, we invited Tim to meet with us at the hotel to have a dialogue about Scn numerous times--which he refused numerous times. He was willing, however, to show up and picket the hotel this morning--which shows how interested Scn is in *communication*.
Charlotte
Charlotte L. Kates CLKates@aol.com
http://www.offlines.org/
OFFLINESonline: Freedom from Scientology