klidov
Silver Meritorious Patron
Active members of Scientology will be able to figure out who I am. I don't care. That is a risk that I am willing to take.
My Preface:
In the late 90's, I was diagnosed with Cancer. I was the first person in my family to have ever been diagnosed with the disease. The day I had my second surgery, my Mother, whom I adored was diagnosed with Cancer also.
My family was grief stricken. I was a divorced Mom with three children, I was working full time during the day, attending Collage classes at night, and I had just graduated Valedictorian from a Private School where I majored in Psychology & Nursing.
My World was shattered. I got involved with a different religion (cult), at a time when I was very vulnerable.
My Mother had been misdiagnosed for over a year, which allowed her cancer to aggressively spread, and she needed radical treatment as soon as it was discovered. Both my Parents were retired (and on pensions) not yet able to collect Social Security. My Mother's medical bills were insane. A background check showed that the Doctor who had misdiagnosed her, had been negligent with other patients too.
My parents started a medical malpractice lawsuit. Their Atty was Ken Dandar. He quickly became a family friend, as well as my Parent's Atty.
Meanwhile, my son, (who was very young) had a best friend where he & his sister were home schooled. The Mom was nice, but I bit "distant". She told me this was her second marriage, and she had two children from her first marriage. She did not speak to her daughter (who lives in another Country). I was a bit surprised at how "matter-of-fact" she was about the whole thing, like it was no big deal.
She also told me that her Husband had been married before, and had a son. Who they also did not see. Again, no big deal, to her.
They were extremely careful of people who came into contact with their children. But after a time, I was asked to babysit the kids. Mom had classes, and "work" to do outside the home.
This was great for me. My son, his friend, and the friends little sister played for hours, very well with each other. My son was a frequent overnight guess.
And pretty soon they were even giving my son "chores" and giving him an allowance. The household was VERY structured. And after a very short period of time, I discovered that they were Scientologists.
I live in Clearwater, we have Scientologists all over the place. (I say I live in "Mecca" for Scientology).
Anyway, back to the story, I started to socialize (lightly) with "A" and "S"'s Parents. They took my son to all kind of CoS events for children. They even started giving my son vitamins, and special food.
(I just figured the Mom was an old Hippy, into all this organic, no-dairy, diet).
They (the parents) were real big on "reward & punishment" programs. And even having the kids write out "contracts" promising not to do____again.
I thought it was odd, but my son seemed o.k. with it (at the time my son was 7 years old, and "A" was 6. His Sister was 4 yrs old.).
And they really did treat my son well, and like one of their own.
And both the Husband and Wife started telling me more, and more about Scientology. (How it could help me with my heath problems....help me with the death of my Mother....). Oh, and they mentioned frequently how Kristy Ally, and John Travolta were good friends.
The first sign of something bad:
Ken Dandar is the Atty that represented Lisa McPhersons parents in the civil lawsuit against the CoS. He was also (as I mentioned) my Mom's Atty & a family friend.
One day the Father sat me down at their dining room table, and interrogated (that is the only word for it) interrogated me about Ken Dandar. "Did he have a medical degree?"...."Was he a lawyer, or a doctor first?"...."what kind of doctor was he"?.....and I answered honestly, what little I knew, after all, the Man sitting across from me was my friend & neighbor. Our kids were almost like Brothers & Sister.:confused2:
The Father's eyes never left mine. That may intimidate some people, but since I was involved with people from Eastern Europe, I was used to the "Russian Stare", and answered calmly.
But the incident left me a bit disturbed.
Incident #2-Ken Dandar confided to my Father that he was being stalked & harassed by the CoS. My Dad told me, and said no to mention anything about Ken (or what he was going through) to "A" & "S" s family. I guess Atty Dandar's Law Offices were even broken into.
Meanwhile, I was having a problem with my own religion/cult. I had confided to the Parents that a former member of MY church/cult joined Scientology.
The Father sat me down, asked me what I believed, then said he knew how intelligent I am (blah.....blah....what did I believe?....blah, blah......). Again. I was talking with a friend.
Then mini-bribes: "Would I like to go to the Ft. Harrison Hotel for a dinner?" Would I like a copy of LRH's book_________to help? (They would have to charge me, of course, but give me a discounted rate). I did not feel after just having gotten out of a cult/ church, I had my head together enough to leap into something else right away. And I did not buy any of the offered books.
When Battleship Earth came out, they all went to the Premier, in Clearwater. My son went. I did not go. My girls were older (teenagers) and did not spend a lot of time with "A" & "S" 's family.
Jump Ahead.
Several years go by. Our kids are closer than ever. (Even though my girls were creeped out by "A"'s monotone manner of speaking).
I had gotten away from my cult/church, but I had another medical crises. A tumor was removed from the nerve endings in my spinal cord. I am fine, btw.
My son would spend many nights at his friend's house.
THE SHOWDOWN
I could not drive. My oldest daughter had moved out, and was going to collage. My second daughter had a big social life. I needed a ride to the Doctor's office. In addition to the physical doctors, I had started to see a Psych Doc. I was suffering from Depression & PTSD (brought on by my surviving cancer & my beloved Mom dying from it). In addition, I had had thyroid cancer, so my hormones were out-of-wack, causing clinical depression.
to be continued......
My Preface:
In the late 90's, I was diagnosed with Cancer. I was the first person in my family to have ever been diagnosed with the disease. The day I had my second surgery, my Mother, whom I adored was diagnosed with Cancer also.
My family was grief stricken. I was a divorced Mom with three children, I was working full time during the day, attending Collage classes at night, and I had just graduated Valedictorian from a Private School where I majored in Psychology & Nursing.
My World was shattered. I got involved with a different religion (cult), at a time when I was very vulnerable.
My Mother had been misdiagnosed for over a year, which allowed her cancer to aggressively spread, and she needed radical treatment as soon as it was discovered. Both my Parents were retired (and on pensions) not yet able to collect Social Security. My Mother's medical bills were insane. A background check showed that the Doctor who had misdiagnosed her, had been negligent with other patients too.
My parents started a medical malpractice lawsuit. Their Atty was Ken Dandar. He quickly became a family friend, as well as my Parent's Atty.
Meanwhile, my son, (who was very young) had a best friend where he & his sister were home schooled. The Mom was nice, but I bit "distant". She told me this was her second marriage, and she had two children from her first marriage. She did not speak to her daughter (who lives in another Country). I was a bit surprised at how "matter-of-fact" she was about the whole thing, like it was no big deal.
She also told me that her Husband had been married before, and had a son. Who they also did not see. Again, no big deal, to her.
They were extremely careful of people who came into contact with their children. But after a time, I was asked to babysit the kids. Mom had classes, and "work" to do outside the home.
This was great for me. My son, his friend, and the friends little sister played for hours, very well with each other. My son was a frequent overnight guess.
And pretty soon they were even giving my son "chores" and giving him an allowance. The household was VERY structured. And after a very short period of time, I discovered that they were Scientologists.
I live in Clearwater, we have Scientologists all over the place. (I say I live in "Mecca" for Scientology).
Anyway, back to the story, I started to socialize (lightly) with "A" and "S"'s Parents. They took my son to all kind of CoS events for children. They even started giving my son vitamins, and special food.
(I just figured the Mom was an old Hippy, into all this organic, no-dairy, diet).
They (the parents) were real big on "reward & punishment" programs. And even having the kids write out "contracts" promising not to do____again.
I thought it was odd, but my son seemed o.k. with it (at the time my son was 7 years old, and "A" was 6. His Sister was 4 yrs old.).
And they really did treat my son well, and like one of their own.
And both the Husband and Wife started telling me more, and more about Scientology. (How it could help me with my heath problems....help me with the death of my Mother....). Oh, and they mentioned frequently how Kristy Ally, and John Travolta were good friends.
The first sign of something bad:
Ken Dandar is the Atty that represented Lisa McPhersons parents in the civil lawsuit against the CoS. He was also (as I mentioned) my Mom's Atty & a family friend.
One day the Father sat me down at their dining room table, and interrogated (that is the only word for it) interrogated me about Ken Dandar. "Did he have a medical degree?"...."Was he a lawyer, or a doctor first?"...."what kind of doctor was he"?.....and I answered honestly, what little I knew, after all, the Man sitting across from me was my friend & neighbor. Our kids were almost like Brothers & Sister.:confused2:
The Father's eyes never left mine. That may intimidate some people, but since I was involved with people from Eastern Europe, I was used to the "Russian Stare", and answered calmly.
But the incident left me a bit disturbed.
Incident #2-Ken Dandar confided to my Father that he was being stalked & harassed by the CoS. My Dad told me, and said no to mention anything about Ken (or what he was going through) to "A" & "S" s family. I guess Atty Dandar's Law Offices were even broken into.
Meanwhile, I was having a problem with my own religion/cult. I had confided to the Parents that a former member of MY church/cult joined Scientology.
The Father sat me down, asked me what I believed, then said he knew how intelligent I am (blah.....blah....what did I believe?....blah, blah......). Again. I was talking with a friend.
Then mini-bribes: "Would I like to go to the Ft. Harrison Hotel for a dinner?" Would I like a copy of LRH's book_________to help? (They would have to charge me, of course, but give me a discounted rate). I did not feel after just having gotten out of a cult/ church, I had my head together enough to leap into something else right away. And I did not buy any of the offered books.
When Battleship Earth came out, they all went to the Premier, in Clearwater. My son went. I did not go. My girls were older (teenagers) and did not spend a lot of time with "A" & "S" 's family.
Jump Ahead.
Several years go by. Our kids are closer than ever. (Even though my girls were creeped out by "A"'s monotone manner of speaking).
I had gotten away from my cult/church, but I had another medical crises. A tumor was removed from the nerve endings in my spinal cord. I am fine, btw.
My son would spend many nights at his friend's house.
THE SHOWDOWN
I could not drive. My oldest daughter had moved out, and was going to collage. My second daughter had a big social life. I needed a ride to the Doctor's office. In addition to the physical doctors, I had started to see a Psych Doc. I was suffering from Depression & PTSD (brought on by my surviving cancer & my beloved Mom dying from it). In addition, I had had thyroid cancer, so my hormones were out-of-wack, causing clinical depression.
to be continued......
Is this the response you've been waiting for Dull Old Fart? :confused2:
