Category Archives: l. ron hubbard

Wolfgang Keller – Class VIII

Hello Friends!

Here I am! I know and I apologize; I know I should have informed you much earlier about my whereabouts and future plans!

Eight months ago, I realized that I could no longer continue to support the out-tech and off-policy actions of the “Church of Scientology.” I have been working since to create an independent practice where I can deliver standard tech as LRH intended it to be delivered.

This has been an interesting, but likewise challenging time for me. It all started with my finally awakening and confronting of our situation with the Church of Scientology. And I am saying “our” on purpose because it is not, as I had been thinking for over five years, it is not only my own dilemma. My previous self-centeredness may serve as an excuse for not having stood up much earlier. Because of my realization, however, that I was misled in observing an appearance, rather than the reality, I now decided to act in a decisive manner.

My introduction to Scientology

It was Easter 1969 in New York City when I was introduced to Scientology; yes, John McMasters and Mario Feninger were present, and I immediately became an enthusiastic follower.

Since I couldn’t find any organization or mission in Pittsburgh, PA where I then lived, I changed my employer and moved to New York City – but that’s another story that I should write about on my own blog – and I moved up to the state of Clear and beyond to OT III.

When I look back, this era still represents one of my most exciting journeys with previously never experienced adventures and inroads into a terra incognita, the territories of my mind, or in a much broader aspect, the territories of the human mind.

One thing is true for sure: All of us share a common something that has, depending on one’s orientation, different names, such as the original sin, the monkey or, as Hubbard coined it, the reactive mind. It has actually nothing to do with you and me, however, it has become part and parcel of a package that all of us are carrying and that, to our detriment, unites all human beings on our planet in a very arbitrary and peculiar way.

Again, this is something completely outside the scope of my announcement.- Let me come back to what I wanted to talk about: The reason for this post!

Becoming an Auditor

I would like to give a very brief overview of the years following my exciting discoveries. After completing OT IIII, I envisioned a more important role for my life than to be working as an engineer, even though I loved my profession and had invested years of studying to acquire a masters and a doctors degree in engineering. Nevertheless, I was determined to become an auditor and help others to experience similar gains that I had received.

From 1974 to 1977, I went to Denmark where, at the Advanced Organization St. Hill, I completed my first auditor training and internships up to Class VIII. Later I redid my Class VI internship and the new NED course with internship at Flag and audited until 1980 at Flag’s Case Cracker Unit. With further tech developments I studied the Snr Sec Checker and FPRD courses with internships, did the GAT Pro TRs and Metering Courses at Flag and advanced up to OT VII.  In 2009, I enjoyed being a new GAT Class VI Internship graduate at ASHO of Los Angeles.

By now, for almost 25 years, my goals that I pursued with my field auditing group, the ARC Team, were:

• To provide a safe and undisturbed place where people find time for themselves,

• To guide those interested with the techniques developed by L. Ron Hubbard to achieve more spiritual awareness, more independence and more success in life,

• To deliver the lower Bridge from Life Repair up to Clear, and to have my pre-Clears well prepared for their further travel towards OT at an advanced Scientology organization,

• To provide a place where basic courses are available under standard course supervision,

• To be dedicated to deliver Hubbard’s technologies in the most standard way achievable. For this reason, all members of the ARC Team are not only highly trained interned auditors (from Class V graduate up to Class VIII), but also well advanced on the right side of the Bridge (OT III up to OT VIII).

None of this has changed!

What has changed

While our ARC Team has remained a safe place to spiritually advance and to enjoy the many wins possible, I had to confront the ugly truth that there no longer exists an organization within the “Church of Scientology” that I could trust to lead my pre-Clears further towards OT!

I had to confront the ugly truth that the organizations of the “Church of Scientology” had changed. These institutions had come to treat my Pre-Clears, not too different from the screening at the airports, with suspicion. They had to undergo strenuous and costly security checks and had to prove their good intentions by more and more generous donations, not just for their services. Those surprises that acted as major distractions from their envisioned goals, my pre-Clears had not been prepared for.

More and more they became inclined to believe that they had come to help the organizations rather than be serviced by them. When those observations already created great concern, much worse was my discovery of the ongoing alterations of LRH’s tech particularly in regards to auditing which made it harder and harder not only to become trained, but to advance towards OT. For specific details, please resort to my blog:

http://thedragonpapers.wordpress.com

The solution to the dilemma

For quite some time I was stuck with a great dilemma! I had been stuck and I was therefore willing to compromise in many respects, as long as I thought that our Bridge was solely available in the “Church of Scientology.”

To my greatest relief, however, I found out that LRH’s precious legacy had been preserved outside the parameters of the official organizations. It had not only survived, but it is in full blossom!

My last hesitations were blown away! There is a Bridge! And it is accessible! And it can be traveled because it is on source! Additionally, it offers a safer passage than the one under the control of those who pride themselves as being the guardians of Keeping Scientology Working!

Without further uncertainty, I have decided to part with the Church of Scientology!

The future

As a member of the independent Scientology community I am offering now my services as an experienced Class VIII auditor!

With great ARC,

Wolfgang Keller, Class VIII auditor

cognizantdragon@gmail.com

Wolfgang’s Questions to RTC

The New Israeli Advanced Organization

Claudio and Renata Lugli just arrived home to Italy from a Power mission to Israel.  Their purpose was to assist in the set up of the first Independent Advanced Scientology Organization in the Middle East.

As a result, Dani and Tami Lemberger’s Dror (Freedom) center is now delivering OT Levels auditing and training through OT VII.

The Dror Center delivers most of the Bridge in Hebrew, Arabic, Russian, and English.   It is an international marvel.

Dror has established the Israeli Independents blog, see it here in Hebrew.

UPDATE from Dani:

Hello Marty and Friends, this is Dani. thank you for posting the news and your responses. Just a few comments:
1. We are getting ready to deliver Solo NOTs, 6 guys will soon start on it.
2. We are not “the first Independent AO in the Middle East”. We are, “the first AO in the Middle East.”
3. This achievement was made possible thanks to the dedication and determination of those preserving the tech and making the tech available to all – Marty, Claudio, Jim Logan and many more. Our gratitude to you.
4. We wouldn’t make it without our staff, dedicated to Ron and courageous to do the right thing in the face of vicious attacks by those with vested interests whose monopoly we are bringing down.
5. Tami and I got on the Bridge at COSMOD San Francisco in 1980. In 1982 Martin Samuels, the founder of COSMOD, whom I never met, was declared SP and the huge COSMOD network disbanded. We vowed in 1980 to dedicate our lives to the Clearing of the Planet. We have always maintained our total loyalty to Ron. Ron has placed spiritual freedom and immortality within the grasp of all Men. Having realized that, shortly after starting in 1980, we decided to dedicate ourselves to his vision.
6. Over the past few years, it became starkly clear these goals cannot be achieved within the Cof S. This organization has been hijacked to promote other ends. We had to leave, are happy to be out and are doing great.
Thank you for your support. Love, Dani

While in Haifa Claudio did a video taped briefing to the staff and public of Dror on the history of the hijacking of Scientology, and the way to take it back.  I think it is well worth watching as you manage time to (98 minutes total).  It is in three You Tube segments.  You can link to the second two segments at You Tube once you watch the first one here:

How Miscavige Plans to “Clear the Planet”

by Mike Rinder

Here is the latest poster put out by the RCS (copyrighted to CSI who are apparently now the main fundraisers for the IAS).

It consists entirely of a quote from Chairman Mao that perhaps is more candid than he intended.  He clearly delineates HIS strategy for planetary clearing. It doesn’t involve training or auditing or Grade Charts or anything so messy and difficult that would require actual DELIVERY.

The “IAS” is going to “Clear The Planet” — hip hip hooray for the IAS. Hip hip hooray for “Chairman of the Bored” of Scientology Inc. (inclusive of the IAS and  every other entity that is part of the big ball of wax that rolls around under his thumb like an oversized booger).

Remember the days when Scientology was about what L. Ron Hubbard said? And even later when Miscavige at least pretended that was the case?

Well, here it is in big, bold, colorful letters: the pretense has dropped and the thin veneer of the facade has come down (to paraphrase Dan Sherman).

“Who Cares Bullshit” – Tom Cruise Rep

“Who cares bullshit” is what Tom Cruise’s press rep says to Sinar Parman’s noting that the multi-millionaire utterly stiffed him.  That was  after Tom’s bff David Miscavige promised his bff would pay Sinar for this five star week-long service.  Sinar catered not only Tom’s wedding but the entire several day wingding surrounding it at Telluride.   “Who cares bullshit” for the Scientology monk having to incur debt himself to service Cruise.

The story was recently carried in Business Insider, Business Insider on Sinar Parman.

When the Huffington Post picked up on it and asked Tom Cruise for a response, his rep (who obviously hasn’t been stiffed yet herself) responded, “You are asking about something that happened 20 years ago — I don’t know anything about this and need more time to find out. Any reason you need to post this who cares bullshit now?”

Not just David Miscavige, not just his bff Tom Cruise, but not even Tom’s lowly press rep can be bothered by such riff raff raising such “who cares bullshit.”

Huffington Post

It is not as if Sinar just came out of the clear blue.  Much of this story was published previously in the second most avidly read news source of David Miscavige, second behind Moving On Up A Little Higher, of course.   The Tampa Bay Times let the world know how Mr. Parman was treated nearly three years ago  – see, Chased by their Church.

Maybe a significant percentage of the readers of Huff Post might have considered it ‘who cares bullshit’ until Tom’s reps had to give yet another public display of the arrogance and disdain that is the world of his bff David Miscavige.

What a commentary on the lives of the rich and famous and the arrogant and infamous.

Do you think L. Ron Hubbard ever treated Sinar Parman with such disdain?  Do you think Ron ever forgot about Sinar Parman and his service?

I doubt it.

 

 

Update From David Miscavige’s Bunker

Now that we’ve had a look at the outside with The Tipping Point and the Indie 500, would you like to take a look at the inside to see how Scientology Inc. is faring at the top?   Let’s go straight to inside of David Miscavige’s bunker to see what the world looks like to him.  Things have taken a definite turn for the worse since we last updated on his inner circle, October 2011 Miscavige Bunker Report.

For those who have not followed this blog for long, a little history is in order.   In June 2009, the then-St Petersburg Times (now the Tampa Bay Times) published the first installment  (number of subsequent ones followed) of a series appropriately titled The Truth Rundown.

In those articles Amy Scobee, Tom Devocht, Mike Rinder and I spoke out about the sorry, straight facts demonstrating that David Miscavige had gone stark-staring mad to the degree that the very future of Scientology itself was seriously threatened.

When Miscavige directed Scientology Inc. to counter the truth with wheelbarrows full of ad hominen attacks directed at the four of us who spoke out, the Times followed up on several former Int base staff who had informed them that every word Amy, Tom, Mike and I spoke was true.   The Times issued the second installment of The Truth Rundown which documented fifteen (15) more brave souls, all former Scientology International Headquarters staff, corroborating and expanding upon the original story, Part II of the Truth Rundown.

Though I publicly warned Miscavige that if he continued to lie, that which he lied about would become his future, Miscavige continued to take not one ounce of responsibility and had then spokesperson Tommy Davis appear on several national television broadcasts denying what by then the world could see was patent truth.   Miscavige had Tommy imprisoned and punished for so loyally following his own directions.

My prediction about Miscavige’s future came to be.  We continue to see the fall out every week in the national and international media and on this blog.

In order to continue to protect his lies, Miscavige instituted a policy of paying large sums of money to staff who could further corroborate his crimes and having them sign extremely restrictive non-disclosure agreements.

And while by criminal cover-up design we don’t hear much from them, Miscavige’s inner circle has been steadily departing him.  They are leaving him more individuated and alone clinging to his bff Tom Cruise in his $75,000,000 virtual bunker.

In the past year alone, seven significant insiders have left the couple behind.

First, Tommy Davis himself blew with his wife Jessica.   He, being a weaker one, however, returned to ‘route out’.  He took the blood money and signed away his rights to communicate the extraordinary measures Miscavige has taken to cover up his crimes against humanity.  Tommy knew me personally and that is one reason why he came across so unbelievable in the eyes of the general public when he attacked me.  He knew damn well he was lying through his teeth on Miscavige’s behalf.   Knowing Tommy, and what motivates him, it may be a while before we hear from him.  He strenuously asserts complete loyalty to Miscavige; but we know from his equally strenuous public assertions over the past couple years on behalf of Miscavige, he doesn’t always mean what he says.  This we do know, Miscavige has lost a once competent and sometimes effective lieutenant.

For two years a four-person RTC (Religious Technology Center) mission was operated directly by Miscavige attempting to keep public from reading the truth about Miscavige on this blog.   It consisted of Mike Sutter, Marion Pouw, Hansuili Stahli and, perhaps the most competent and valuable of the group  – though little known – fourth member Lara Dolan.   Lara was the mind of the operation, responsible for correlating all of the information collected by the other three and by OSA to evaluate and pinpoint how to cause diminishment of my influence.

There was a little problem with Lara.  I had trained her in counter-espionage in the nineties when she was a sixteen year old,  class VI auditor brand new to the Sea Org and RTC.   While I most certainly ingrained a toughness that caused some abuses over the years, she knew by observation that I was always most fundamentally interested in and dedicated to the truth.  She also knew that everything that I have uttered publicly in the past three years is the unadulterated truth.   At a certain point in the past year her conscience got to her, and Lara blew.   Miscavige reacted by disbanding the mission and resorting to other even more ineffective – though one could hardly imagine anything more ineffective than that mission – means of dealing with what he considers his most dangerous enemy.  While Lara has remained quiet to date, she is intelligent enough to figure out that her non-disclosure agreement is handleable (just as we handled it with Debbie Cook Baumgarten).   And she is brave and conscientious enough to ultimately do the right thing – just as she did when she walked from Miscavige’s terror network.

Serena McElveen was a teenager too when she came into RTC.  Unfortunately for her, she rapidly moved straight into the office of David Miscavige in the nineties.  She worked in his secretarial and compliance office for a decade.   She saw first hand what a psychotic and ruthless mess Miscavige was.   It was sad to watch her struggle to mock up a cruel demeanor – it just wasn’t in her nature. Finally, she could stomach no more and departed.  She too has remained silent but is making wonderful progress on her decompression from the Nazi-like atmosphere she grew up in.

Earlier this year, the grandaughter of L. Ron Hubbard, Roanne, blew from the Int base.  She is the second to last of the Hubbards to leave (only Diana remains).  Roanne is as smart as they come.  She is also as resiliant as they come.  A real Hubbard.  She is not bound by non-disclosure agreements.  In spite of unlawful and unconscionable means Miscavige has employed to put her neck back in the yoke, she has thus far successfully resisted.   I believe her motivation is to remain free, strengthen herself, and use her multiple talents to one day do what she can to restore the legacy of her grandfather.    I will back her up 100% of the way.

Finally, Miscavige’s father, Ron Sr., and his wife Becky, escaped from the Int base earlier this year.  While David Miscavige habitually abused Ron physically and mentally to keep him in line, he also occasionally confided in him.  Ron has a wealth of knowledge about the inner workings of the base and the inner workings of David’s mind.   Ron and Becky too resisted months of pressure and bizarre attempts to break and control them.   At bottom, Ron is an old-school, L. Ron Hubbard kind of a Scientologist.   He – like Steve Hall – would always find time (quite miraculously given the Int base culture and schedule) to listen to LRH’s OT lectures and he could hardly be restrained from talking about them and sharing their wisdom with fellow staff.  In fact, that drove David Miscavige nuts – he often referred to Ron as a “theetie-wheetie PDC guy” (PDC= Philadelphia Doctorate Lectures – which LRH said till the day he died was the most accurate and complete exposition on what constitutes OT).    Ron is a free being.  I look forward to the day when he and Becky visit Casablanca and we can sit by the bay discussing the PDC.

Now, given these developments, imagine being in the skull of David Miscavige.   Not only does he have to compute 24/7/365 his own lies – trying to keep his every lying utterance consistent with every past lying one (and they are legion); he has got to also keep attention units spread across the world attempting to continually dam the truth from emitting from so many others.

At the end of the day,  whatever happens to Tommy, Jessica, Lara, Serena, Roanne,  Ron Sr. and Becky – I am just happy for each of them that they have escaped the living hell that is the synthetic, enforced loyalty to a died-in-the-wool 2 1/2 percenter (suppressive person, anti-social personality, sociopath, psychopath).

The Indie 500 and the Tipping Point

Somehow Steve Hall came up with the idea, or knowingness, that when 500 people stood up, told the sociopath David Miscavige ‘no’ to his campaign to wipe Scientology from the face of earth, and vowed to take action to salvage Scientology a tipping point would be achieved.   A tipping point is a term of art defined as follows in Malcolm Gladwell’s book The Tipping Point:

…the moment of critical mass, the threshhold, the boiling point.

(The Tipping Point – Little, Brown and Company)

In my view, the tipping point in the case of Independent Scientology is that point where the quantum of free theta (spirit, life force, elan vital) in the Scientology world outstrips the quantum of entheta (encysted and disturbed life force).  Of course, per Science of Survival by L. Ron Hubbard and his wonderful lectures on the book, free theta disenturbulates entheta and entheta enturbulates theta.   The goal and activity of the Scientologist becomes simplicity itself according to this theta/entheta balance construct.   That is, restore free theta to a being, a group, an environment, or an activity to the point where the quantum of theta is greater than the quantum of entheta.  If that can be accomplished the universe concerned by its own accord begins converting entheta to more free theta.

I don’t know why, but Steve’s estimation of effort along this line resonated as accurate to me.  That is, I have been in agreement with his 500 Independence announcements theory from the moment he uttered it.   So far the numbers have aligned with my own evaluation of the many other factors on so many fronts we have engaged in to save Scientology from Miscavige’s jaws of defeat.  That is, knowing a lot about various causes and effects over the past three years, knowing a lot about what is still in store, knowing about various overt and quiet underground railroad and delivery activities around the world, and having a perceptive and informative finger on the Scientology Inc. pulse, the Indie 500 list at Scientology-cult.com is almost like an odometer accurately measuring progress.

To put it in practical terms let’s examine the numbers.  As of this morning 366 veteran Scientologists have stood, identified themselves, and spoken out.  By all the multitude of indicators gleaned by the multiple viewpoint system of data collection and analysis available to me, I am of the view that we are about 73.2% of the way home (366 divided by 500 equals .732).

Steve has been promoting the Indie 500 list for a couple years now.  I am making a pitch here for people to encourage others to stand up and be recognized as free thinking, responsible Scientologists by signing on.   Others who stand up after the 500 target is achieved will be recognized and be appreciated.  Knowing Steve, in keeping with LRH’s injunction to keep Scientology as the game where everyone wins, he’ll quickly and quietly turn it into the Indie 1000 list.  But, to me the first five hundred will always constitute a special group of individuals.  Call them pioneers.  Call them trailblazers.  Call them heroes.  I will recognize them as those fellow courgeous souls who stood up when it wasn’t so safe to do so.  I think we’ll all recognize one another as those who made it safer for the rest to step out into the sunshine.   Sure, there are  vicissitudes to come for some time into the future.  But, I have a feeling by the time we reach 500 none of those future challenges will require as much personal strength, sacrifice and courage as the ones the first 500 will have faced and overcome.   The point is, get on board with the Indie 500.  It is a group well worth being part of.  The Indie 500 will be remembered as the ones who had the wisdom and courage to realize that the harder evil comes, the harder it falls.

Steve and Ariel Spargo Declare Independence

To:  All Scientologists

From: Steve and Ariel Spargo

Date:   10 Sept 2012

Subject:       Resignation From Church of Scientology

 

Earlier this year I woke up to the fact that our Church management has over time departed wildly from LRH policy and HCOB’s and that the entire spirit and survival of the movement is under threat

Ariel and I believe that the Church of Scientology has become a totalitarian activity dominated by RTC, where parishioners ignore policies like Safeguarding Technology and Keeping Scientology Working in the interest of avoiding trouble.  There is no freedom within the Church to discuss whether or not a particular program adheres to policy.  Current programs have serious flaws and will not take the Church where we want it to go.

Unquestioning acceptance and money are now the priorities in Scientology and we don’t like it.

It’s obvious that management feel free to alter successful LRH programs and come up with travesties  like GAT.  It feels like fingernails on a blackboard when my friends cheerfully say “Yes, but GAT 2 is going to fix that.”  They are right back where I was for most of the last 35 years.  I had an excuse for everything.

I have never thought it necessary to say this before. But I require my Church to be motivated by the Aims of Scientology and to adhere to LRH policy and tech.  That has always been the condition of my support.

In view of the major departures we are witnessing, and the antipathy towards doing anything about it, I and my wife Ariel have decided to withdraw our support and resign from the Church.

What Now?

Although we no longer support the Church of Scientology, my wife and I are Scientologists and wish to continue practising our religion.  However we know that the Church will now call us “squirrels” and say we are not allowed to practise Scientology without their permission.

In the past, I have been completely taken in by the Church appearing to strongly support Human Rights.  Now I know it was just a public relations sham.  In fact, there is no freedom of religion in Scientology.   It’s completely authoritarian.

I would rather let bygones be bygones and leave the Church to its own devices.  Live and let live.

But we all know that the Church routinely uses legal action, infiltration and public attacks to insist dissenting Scientologists either give up practising their religion or forge an alliance with Scientology critics.  For Ariel and I, it’s a choice we should not be forced to make.

Ron always said that wisdom was for anyone who reached for it and that there should be no monopoly on the subject.  This is just one more point where the current Church management disagrees with Ron.

To Church management we have only one thing left to say.  Don’t call us, we’ll call you.

Steve and Ariel Spargo
Independent Scientologists

PS:  I have published my review of the Church at http://spargostory.wordpress.com

Book Review: Vietnam – The Teenage Wasteland by Tom Martiniano.

When someone recommended Tom Martiniano’s (#119 on the Indie 500 list) book Vietnam – The Teenage Wasteland: A Hippie In A War Zone, I wasn’t real anxious to read it.  I felt like I had had my share of woe-be-me remembrances of a pointless and desctructive conflict that I was fortunate enough by virtue of my age to have avoided.   But, once I started reading, it was difficult to put it down.

Tom writes the book in speaking English. It is familiar, it is real, and it puts you right into his head as he’s being showered by AK-47 bullets, shooting dozens of combatants who are attempting to kill him, doing involuntary backflips in reaction to bomb strikes, and starving for three days while helping to lead a small, battered platoon out of a valley encircled by thousands of North Vietnamese troops closing in from all sides.   Tom paints with his words a multi-dimensional moving picture of the action that in my view is far more authentic than any movie I have seen on Vietnam, drama or documentary.

This is anything but a pro-war memoir or patriotic plug.  Nor is it an apologia for having had to kill fellow human beings or an anti-war rant.  Tom was not in Vietnam by choice, he was drafted.  Tom has viewpoints – and they are fascinating and shared – but he does not let them get in the way of putting you through what he – and presumably thousands like him – experienced.  He took no satisifaction in killing others.  But he had enough sense and will to survive to become better at killing than those who were there to kill him. You cannot help but feel the compassion that drove him to defend himself and his fellows who were similarly thrown into the purposeless killing fields. In the end, Vietnam – The Teenage Wasteland is an incredible commentary on human nature and character.

Some of the more troubling passages recount Tom’s return to the States where he is met with ridicule, harassment, discrimination and hate.  Notwithstanding that treatment, Tom doesn’t turn the reader off  – like many before him have – with self-pride, self-loathing, demands for pity or acknowledgment.   Though he does not preach it, he does mention that Scientology might have had something to do with the balance and equillibrium he ultimately found.

But the book is not about Scientology.  It is about an extraordinary man giving a factual account of one of the sorriest chapters in United States history.  He doesn’t argue for that description, he demonstrates it for the reader.

By the end of the book I felt like smelting my own medal of valor and  personally pinning it to this man’s uniform.  In my book Tom Martiniano deserves a hundred hero’s welcomes.  This is mine to him.

Buy the book to find out what makes me feel this way at Vietnam – The Teenage Wasteland – A Hippie In A War Zone.

See Tom’s Declaration of Independence, here.

Tom Cruise – Hunkered in Miscavige’s Bunker

The Vanity Fair affair is not going to be pretty.   As folks are preparing for the Cat 4 or 5, I want the record to be crystal clear that I put Tom Cruise on notice more than three years ago that this was coming.

Tom Cruise Put on Notice in August 2009

You can check the history of this blog to see that I gave him every opportunity to consult his conscience and choose an ethical course.  Instead, he chose to hunker down in David Miscavige’s bunker.

A little word of advice to Tom from L. Ron Hubbard: paraphrased, it is never too late to trim your sheets.

Nazanin Boniadi represents the tip of an iceberg.

 

The Church of Scientology’s Control Over Narconon Arrowhead

Do you want to know how Narconon was really destroyed?    Here it is from somebody who witnessed it.
The Church of Scientology’s Control Over Narconon Arrowhead
by Luke Catton
Narconon in Oklahoma was the brainchild of the Church of Scientology from its inception in 1989 at the old Chilocco Indian School.  It was destined to be a PR nightmare from the start because it was a contrived centerpiece designed to showcase to the rest of the world how “superior” they were to “wog” and psych-based programs.
It was a make-wrong from the very beginning and they paid dearly with the legal battles with the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services.  The temporary cease-fire of the CARF accreditation (Commisson on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities) and the ingenuity of some staff members on the Internet helped Narconon Chilocco really start to grow from the mid 90’s all the way up to about 2005.
I was sent their for underage drinking and generaly adolescent irresponsibility in 1998 and then did a program review in 1999.  There were approximately 50 and 70 students there at those times, respectively.  After training with Bobby Wiggins to give drug prevention lecutres in Boston in the fall of 2000, I officially joined staff at Narconon in Oklahoma in December of 2000.
In late July of 2001 Chilocco transferred to the IAS-funded facility on Lake Eufaula, which is now known as Narconon Arrowhead.  When we moved there were 99 students on the program.  We did everything in our power to legitemize the program in the eyes of media and government officials.  We also tried integrating more with other rehabilitation philosophies to gain acceptance, including when I joined OSASA (the Oklahoma Substance Abuse Services Alliance), and was subsequently elected by them as an executive board member representing all of the members of the group.  I requested to step down from my role as president at Narconon Arrowhead in 2004 after a little over two years holding that post, primarily because there were constant cross orders and purposes of what Arrowhead was supposed to be and do.  There was what was needed and wanted locally, what Narconon International wanted, what ABLE International wanted, and what the Church of Scientology International and RTC wanted.
These cross orders created great confusion and disruption at times. Examples include when we were supposed to host dignitaries from other states and countries, whenever Gold wanted to come shoot new footage for event videos (Miscavige loved to use Arrowhead to get more money for the IAS) and whenever someone tied to a church celebrity came to tour or for services.  For the latter, we would be forced by Celebrity Centre to write daily progress reports to them on anyone connected to high-profile CC public.  This is actually against the confidentiality law that Arrowhead now uses to avoid speaking about the current tragedies there involving the deaths of recent students.  These friends and family members of celebrities were unaware that any information about them was being forwarded to the Church.
Speaking of the IAS events, there was one where a photo of me speaking at an event was doctored with a sign to make it look like I was somewhere else. That also appeared in an Impact magazine with a caption “Narconon Takes the Lead”, regarding our involvement in OSASA.  Whenever the event data requests came in, we always had to find something positive, because if the real stats were down then those wouldn’t be reported. I had even gotten so tired of the data requests that I tried reporting the actual stats, and it confused the lower-level people at Gold who were under the assumption all was wonderful! They of course came back and said we had to find something else to spin into a positive.  In its prime, Arrowhead peaked at 258 students, 220 staff members and nearly half a million in Gross Income one week.  It then plumetted to below 100 students at one point before slowly rising to the level it was at just before NBC’s Rock Center show aired, which was roughly 170 students in my estimation, or still only about 65% of the number it once was.  Now I’d guess it’s below 150.
Regarding the deaths, Gary Smith and the executive council at Arrowhead had plans to put a medical detox center on site to have more medical oversight, and the carrot was dangled that more IAS funding would be provided for that expansion as well as a training center and expanded withdrawal area back in 2003.  Marty recently indicated that it was approved up through him and then denied by Miscavige.  After the money was denied, Arrowhead had secured pre-qualification for a loan to build the new facilities itself, but this was forbidden since the property is actually owned by a separate holding company controlled by the church.  That led to the unusual solution of purchasing an old motel in McAlester around 2006 for a training facility that never really opened and a medical detox center that just gained temporary approval from the state this year and is yet to be determined if it will get a permanent license to operate.
My point is that there is no real separation from the Church and Narconon Arrowhead whenever David Miscavige or one of his cronies decides to bypass or override something on a whim.  I firmly believe that the families currently suing or about to file suit against Narconon Arrowhead should also look at getting money from the Church because of its control.  I guarantee that any public statement currently made by anyone at Arrowhead regarding the situation there, as well as the current emergency PR and legal programs running, must get OSA approval.  That alone shows there is no real separation other than on paper. In order for justice to actually be carried out, there must be accountability and transparency.  If Narconon is going to survive, it must get back to its roots and getting real products – people no longer addicted and doing well in life – rather than focusing on money and PR.  Word of mouth is much more valuable than a photo op with a Christian minister any day.
You can read more from Luke at his blog, The Truth (As I See It).