Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology Subject: Vegas Picket - A Cute Ending From: Ted Mayett Date: 7 Aug 1995 04:46:30 GMT Day five, Friday. By way of introduction. The number of cars were down Thur. which put me on warning for Friday. So Fri I call the man at 3:30p and say that I'm on the way. Is there a check? He said yes. Something was off on his voice so I grabbed that weapon they fear so much, my picket sign, and took off to the Celebrity Centre. The man was not there when I arrived. His car was gone. So I looked in the storefront and someone came out and said ____ was not here. I said I would just picket till he came back, no problem. The kid said wait a minute and very quickly an older man in the black and white sea org style came out. He had the check for $500.00 and receipt book. I know you, I said, with a big smile. You're OT, right! he said yes. I asked him and he said OT V. I grabbed his hand and shook it and told him that was fantastic. Asked him if he knew of the internet. He said he'd never seen it. I told him the OT materials were on it, that he could see the next levels if he wanted to. "I wouldn't want to do that" By now I'm finished signing the receipt and confirming the check amount. I cross the street smiling and waving goodbye. I'm smiling and he's not. All this preamble is for what happened the next day, Sat. So now I'm even more pissed. Had I not carried the sign with me I would be standing in the sun like some fool waiting for ___ to come back with the check. Sat. and Sun. they close early, 6pm. My plan was to make the obligatory afternoon call and not show up at all for the check. To keep them waiting till they got bored. But I get a call from them asking would I show up early for the check. When I got there at about 3:00 pm I was handed a check for $2,209.00. The total balance due. The secrecy is such that a I have a staff member who feeds me information, this staff member is not aware of what is happening. And so has no problem answering carefully worded questions. The Sea Org OT V i spoke with is named Val. I don't have a last name for him. My guess is that the remarks I made about the OT material so unnerved him that I was just paid off totaly. The complete lack of respect I displayed may have helped also. Val was called in to handle raising the money. This money was raised locally and I would imagine that the bulk of the local scieno's don't know what the "reg" cycle was for. Before this month ends they'll know. I'm not sure this is really a victory. On the one hand picketing would have hurt them. On the other hand this represents $5,200.00 that cannot be used to pay lawyers. Within the next few days I will be sending a check to both the DE fund and the FACTnet. They will be generous checks. This money I received... Well I would never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever had gotten it without stumbling across ARS. The home pages, the links, and the private e-mail. In particular the word-slapping. Kept me going, kept my voice strong, kept my body language aggressive. THANK YOU ALL. Each and everyone. This story, this Vegas Picket is not yet over. The final check has yet to be cashed, and other things have to be handled. I have to remember who I am posting this to. It is to you lurker. It's lonely, and it's frightening. And it's tough to break conditioning. But I did it. I did it. And so can you. IF YOU HAVE MONEY COMING GO AND GET IT!!! -- ============================================== Ted Mayett ==============================================