Scientology’s drug rehab program, Narconon, is now being sued by a whole bunch of folks because, well, people keep dropping dead at its clinics.
We figure Narconon could use some help paying for all that legal cheddar they’re going to have to fork out. But then we found out that there’s a really fun way to raise money for its coffers, and it’s coming up in a couple of months.
Turns out there’s a very popular couple of races in December, and there’s plenty of time for you to register. On December 2 in the Los Angeles area there’s the Say No To Drugs Race Holiday Classic, and a couple of weeks later, on December 15, in Clearwater, Florida there’s the Say No To Drugs Holiday Classic.
Friday turned out to be an incredibly busy day for Scientology watchers. After putting up our morning post about the church’s troubles in Atlanta, where its drug rehab program, Narconon, is being investigated by the state of Georgia, we then had to scramble when we received an e-mail from a state agency in Oregon.
That e-mail contained the 69-page order that requires Bend dentist Andrew Engel to pay nearly $348,000 to his former dental hygienist, Susan Muhleman, for religious harassment because she felt forced to quit her job when he kept insisting that she attend a three-day Scientology symposium.
At the same time we were jamming to get that story up, however, we were aware that the Murphy family in Oklahoma was making public that it had filed a lawsuit against Narconon’s flagship operation in that state, where their daughter Stacy Murphy, 20, died in July. And much more was happening. So let’s catch up this morning with some links…
A Bend, Oregon dentist, Andrew Engel (pictured), has been ordered to pay a former employee $348,000 after he pressured her to attend a 3-day Scientology symposium, and she quit her job rather than comply.
We contacted Oregon’s Bureau of Labor and Industries, and they sent over the 69-page order in the case, which is chock-full of fascinating detail about what dental hygienist Susan Muhleman went through when she objected in 2009 to being pushed by Engel to attend a Silkin Management Group symposium that October which would have instructed attendees in Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard’s “Tone Scale” and other Scientology concepts.
As the documents below show, Muhleman had the presence of mind to do Internet research on Silkin, Hubbard’s tone scale, and Scientology’s incompatibility with her own faith, Christianity, before telling Engel that she refused to attend the symposium. The state agency agreed with her that she had every right to refuse, and its award is one of the highest it has ever ordered.
Here’s some classic 1992 Nightline footage of Scientology leader David Miscavige defending his drug rehab program, Narconon, to Ted Koppel in the last television interview he would give.
These days, Miscavige talks up Narconon at the large annual Scientology events he emcees, and there’s no question that the drug program is a big part of the church’s public relations efforts.
Meanwhile, plenty of official documents show how Narconon is controlled by executives in Scientology’s “Sea Org,” is licensed through Scientology’s “social betterment” arm, and consists of Scientology training rather than drug counseling.
Which leads us to ask: why do journalists still talk about Narconon “ties” to Scientology like the drug program isn’t a decades-old front group that wouldn’t exist without the church?
A FULL HOUR of Wise Beard Man? Grab some popcorn and find a comfy chair, because you’re going to want to hear Radio Paul interview Mark Bunker about his experiences as one of the most reliable and level-headed of Scientology Watchers.
Hearing this only makes us want to see his movie Knowledge Report more than ever. Get that thing done, Bunker!
So there was this Nebraska cornhusker, L. Ron Hubbard, who convinced some people that he had unlocked the mysteries of the universe as no one had ever done before or since…
For years, people like Mary McConnell and Carnegie Mellon University professor Dave Touretzky have worked tirelessly to get the word out about the deceptive practices and documented abuses at Scientology’s drug rehab program, Narconon.
Several recent deaths at Narconon’s flagship facility in Oklahoma have received a lot of attention lately, but Touretzky urged us to look into a 2008 death in the Atlanta area and an ensuing lawsuit.
We wrote several stories about the death of Patrick Desmond (pictured) and the stunning allegations of deception in the documents of that lawsuit. But now, McConnell and Touretzky’s perseverance is really paying off. Starting yesterday, a coordinated investigation by Atlanta radio and television stations kicked off a multi-part series, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution is also reportedly getting in on the act.
By now you’ve no doubt either seen Paul Thomas Anderson’s film The Master or you’ve read about it. You’ve probably heard from writers like yours truly who say that the film is filled with references to Scientology’s early history, while some reviewers, unfamiliar with that history, seem to think the Scientology in it is only a faint backdrop.
In each of our radio interviews, we’ve taken pains to point out that Anderson had written a script that was much more steeped in Scientology than what made it to the screen. That’s not surprising. Anderson researched and wrote his script years before it came time to actually lens the thing. It isn’t hard to imagine that the sheer fervor he obviously had for Scientology history had waned somewhat by the time he got actors in front of a camera. But one thing’s for sure — at one point, Anderson was planning more of a Scientology expose than what ultimately made it to the screen.
We thought we’d do an occasional series about some of the things in Anderson’s script that ended up on the cutting room floor (or perhaps, will be restored in the DVD extras). We’ll start today with the scenes of Freddie Quell’s first meeting with The Master.
Just about every day, we receive the latest wacky and tacky fundraising mailers put out by Scientology orgs around the world. Thank you, tipsters, for forwarding them to us! On Sundays, we love to reveal them to you.
Things here in the underground bunker have been a bit chaotic of late. Sirens keep going off, circuits are out of whack, the booze is barely holding out. The cats are a wreck. But we’ve rallied, and data is streaming in as we try to keep an eye on all things Scientology-related that are happening around this backwater planet. So let’s get to what the bunker’s pneumatic tubes brought us this week along with a much-needed delivery of Chinese takeout.
We can only hope that Michael Lewis — Operating Thetan Level Eight and Homo Novis Übermensch — will see fit to cancel his appearance at a scheduled “Admin Scale Workshop” that is scheduled for Scientologists at the Advanced Org Los Angeles tonight at 6 pm.
Lewis is a gung-ho Hubbard enthusiast, and helps run a Valley mission. But we’re feeling very sympathetic for what he’s gone through this week after his son, Sons of Anarchy actor Johnny Lewis, apparently ran amok, killed his landlady, and ripped apart her cat. The 28-year-old then leapt or fell off his landlady’s roof and the impact killed him.
Scientology’s drug rehab program, Narconon, is now being sued by a whole bunch of folks because, well, people keep dropping dead at its clinics.
