09 Sep 2000

cultxpt@primenet.com (Jeff Jacobsen)

I heard there was going to be a big Scientology meeting last night at Ruth Eckerd Hall here in Clearwater. So I drove over there about 7pm. Having never been to the Hall before, I turned off and down this road where I was directed by a guy on the street into a parking lot. Well, I didn't really want to stay nor even really be in the parking lot (Scientology, after all, was renting the place), so I turned around, stopped, and asked the parking lot guy how I could get out. He said just wait until the traffic slows for a minute, then I could go out the way I came in.

As I was waiting a guy I somewhat recognized came up to me and said "you're leaving, right?" I said yes. Then I said "how are you?" He stared at me for a second then said "could you please take off your sunglasses?" I did and he said "you're an asshole!" and left. I said "I don't think you're an asshole." Then I drove away.

There was a pretty good crowd forming there, and everybody was really dressed up. Both staff and public were going. I heard later it was an annual CCHR gathering.

When a Scientology staffer used a syringe to force a mixture of aspirin, Benadryl and orange juice into McPherson's throat while others held her down, it was "spiritual sustenance," the church argues.