Doug- a family member is moving to Los Angeles. Interested in So. Pasadena, Altadena, Glendale and Burbank. Maybe Eagle Rock. Anything near the Rose Bowl. Around that area.

Can you suggest a Realtor I can approach, who may serve those areas? I would like to arrange a 1 bedroom for my niece, if I can. Any help greatly appreciated.

email is Max. Spaceman @ yahoo .com

(Sorry for the delay in replying – connectivity problems)

It seems then, like much of Scientology, this ‘policy’ was not followed as stated, and actually functioned in a completely different way – that is, as an intelligence network.

Even when well meaning-people were doing their level best to resolve problems, they were inadvertently gathering a lot of information about how Scientology was operating on the ground.

It’s interesting that, in the early days of Scientology, Hubbard was always giving ‘lectures’ and ‘congresses’ . While these events made money, they also enabled him to keep his finger on Scientology’s pulse.

The way this policy seems to have worked is to give him the same kind of insight after the organisation had grown too large and geographically distributed for one man to oversee it directly.

Losing this oversight to his paranoia is one of the reasons Miscavige became the power behind the throne – which affected Scientology somewhat, but by this time it was self-sustaining and only needed him as a figurehead.

That last I can’t answer, but I’ll ask around.

Aha! Just before I sent this, Hana E. came through and gave me a full record of the time as she knew it. So here are her words:

“On the ships and as volume in increased, LRH established an SO I Unit in the Office of LRH, Div 7. At first it was staffed by one person, and then several – Sylvia Calhoun, Delwyne Saunderson, and Alysia Taylor worked there. Joyce Popham helped out from time to time. They answered the SO I’s, stamped them and mailed them to the OTL or FOLO or CLO of the continent they came from.
Occasionally, Hubbard would review them but usually only after a flap had occurred somewhere and he wanted to see any details in incoming SO I’s. Like an unjust Com Ev, etc.
As volume in continued to go up, Sylvia began sending each Aide their respective SO I’s to answer and send back to her. E.G. Those about ethics, justice, communications, personnel came to me as CS-1. Money SO 1’s went to Vicki Livingston and then Robin Roos. And so on. Sylvia sent us the LRH letterhead to type our relies. So much SO I mail was being sent to me that one time I ended up with three huge boxes filled to the brim in my teeny office on A Deck. Shows how well Scientology was doing on land, right??

I never had time to answer them all. In fact, I knew zilch about most of the situations being reported in those SO I letters; I had to take the time to investigate in CIC, try to find out what was going on in that organization or area, and even send out telexes to get more facts before I could answer the letter. It was an impossible situation. I did not always like to wrote a placating answer like, “I’m having your situation looked into, honey. In the meantime, continue on with your auditing and training!” because it wasn’t the truth.
Joyce Popham was in the Household Unit, also in the Office of LRH. She, though, was responsible for ordering everything Hubbard needed – books, foods, special items, etc., and maintaining LRH Household inventory. She often helped where needed.”

Thank you, dear Hana, for your time and marvelous memory!

I look forward to whatever you turn up.

Also, bearing Hubbard’s vanity in mind, I wonder if any (mechanically) signed photographs of ‘the great man’ made their way back to correspondents, or was he just just too miserly?

I suspect that with the internet, the problem has become much more solveable. 🙂 I’ve had good fortune with most authors to whom I’ve written. In a lot of those cases, I’m just writing to tell them how much I enjoyed the latest book. I usually get back a “thank you. I’m pleased you enjoyed it.” That, of course, can be a simple keystroke. For that matter, preset responses can work to cover most such emails.

In truth, I’d guess most of what was written, especially in the 60s and 70s, were more in line with “thanks for all you’ve done. You’ve changed my life” kind of responses, easily replied to by staff. In the earlier Dn years, there would probably have been more technical questions requiring longer responses. (All guesswork on my part.)

I haven’t had a response back from Hana and suspect she’s out of town. But she’ll eventually respond and I’ll pass along whatever info she can give me. Fwiw, my lady, who worked closely with Hana on the ship said she recalls something about the AVU being involved on that SO1 line.

Interestingly, authors use the same approach.

The people who write fan letters represent an author’s bread and butter. They have to respond somehow… on the other hand if they provide a well-considered reply to every one they would no longer have any time for writing.

Luckily, many fans ask similar questions and a surprisingly small number of prepared responses can cover most of them. Popular authors employ a staff to do this, others struggle with it all on their own.

Hubbard was a prolific pulp writer and, at his peak, writing for a mass audience (the pulps had a massive readership)he must have faced this problem &/or discussed it with colleagues who did.

And yes – I (and many other’s here) would be very interested in how aware Hubbard really was of the feedback he encouraged and what uses it was really put to.

There is no such thing as a stupid question – expressing the things that puzzle you is the first step towards solving that puzzle – especially in a forum like this where this such a wonderful diversity of attitudes, perspectives and experiences.

I learn a lot by trying to clearly state my response, so keep asking – everybody wins!

Thank you!