The Old Days - Aboard the Apollo 1973-Prequel Part 4
After joining the Sea Org, I continued on my Dianetic Interneship with my supervisor Julie Goetz. I was CCLA's first interne and was the only guy on course. The CS for the interneship was a guy name Don Keeler who was a Class VIII but was not a Sea Org member, actually one of the handful of CCLA staff who were not S.O. members. There was another Class VIII, Robert Maxwell who CSed for the public while Don Keeler CSed for the staff. Note: I erroneously put Tim Yates as the other Class VIII but I corrected it to Robert Maxwell.
I was doing great on my interneship and remember fondly some of the people whom I auditied, almost all of whom were CCLA staff. I remember auditing Ron Flate, an attorney who was public and not staff. Staff members I audited were Bruce Rigney, Pam Lancaster, who is still CCLA staff after all these decades and has one of the best singing voices you will ever hear, Carole Blum, another singer, Chris Many and several others.
In order to graduate, I had to audit 25 well done hours in one week and have at least 8 well done hours in the chair in one day. I believe those figures are correct. I had to be a flubless Dianetic auditor and then I was supposed to graduate. Near the end of my course, a guy named Ira Hirsch came on course as the second Dianetic Interne. I liked Ira, he was a nice guy but he had a reputation as a bit of a goof off.
My first encounter with a real SP. I complete my requirements but C/S Don Keeler Will Not Allow me to Graduate Note: This is being edited May 18, 2011. I have met Don Keeler and his wife several times in 2011 and he is not at all an SP. He is a very cordial and social person, as is his wife. I don't like the way he handled me back in late 1971 but he apparently truly believed that I did not have what it took to be an auditor in the S.O.. He made an honest call as he saw it! I think he was wrong and made a terrible error but neverthelss he did what he thought was right. He is a very fine man and I respect him and my earlier assertions that he was an SP are completely and fully retracted!
I had logged over 100 well done and very well done auditing hours and the Senior Execs and my Supervisor targeted me for completion. I busted my ass and made the 25 weekly hours and 8 hours in a single day requirements with room to spare. Julie signed off my check sheet and put me on a routing form to attest to Course Completion. To all our astonishment, Don Keeler would not sign me off as a completion. Julie queried him and then Yvonne and some of the top execs queried him and they were all told that I just did not show "a certain level of certainty which he was looking for" to be a Sea Org auditor. He said something to the effect that my technique was okay but I lacked the requisite certainty required to graduate. I was pretty shook up over not being allowed to graduate.
One reason I was shook up was that Ira Hirsch and I had agreed that we wanted to co-audit each other through Dianetic Auditing. Remember my battle with L.A. Org where they would not alllow me to receive co auditing on Dianetics as they had promised and how that caused me to leave L.A. Org; well I had still never had any Dianetic auditing and Ira and I had agreed to co audit each other and Julie had agreed and then Don Keeler stopped it from occuring. I was heartbroken. It seemed as if I could not get my Dianetic auditing and discover my past lives no matter how hard I worked for it.
I was required by Keeler to continue auditing on the interneship and my next PC was Pam Lancaster. When I checked her for being well rested, she reported only 6 hours sleep. I asked her what her normal amount was and she said 8 hours, I asked her if she was tired and she said no, she was sesssionable. I started the session and her tone arm went up high and froze there and her needle was tight and her indicators were bad. As a Dianetic Auditor, I was very limited as to what I could do because all I knew was R3R so I told her I was going to end off and bring in a higher classed auditor to complete her session. I got Julie Goetz in who flew her ruds or did a list or something and Pam admitted that she was really was too tired to be audited and misled me by saying she was sessionable. I really had just barely started the session when the needle rose and stuck so no processes were run incorrectly.
What did Don Keeler do? This was my first bad session in hundreds of sessions. He wrote a huge cramming order and then ordered me to do all 26 auditors' code steps in clay! I felt his actions were insane but he was a Class VIII, the top tech terminal in the Org, along with Maxwell so there was nothing anyone could do. It took me two weeks on course to complete my demos. I did so and was ready to take another PC into session.
I ended up with the other singer, Carole Blum. As luck would have it, she looked tired and I knew she sang at an event the previous night. She claimed she had a full 8 hours sleep and insisted several times that she was sessionable. I had marked on her worksheet that she looked tired. I started the session and much to my horror, her T.A. was high and her needle tight. I decided to tell her that we would not be starting session because the meter showed that she was not sessionable. She objected strongly and had very bad indicators and at the examiner's she did not F/N and was red tagged but I had never started session.
Keeler wrote another huge cramming order and oredered me once again to do all 26 auditors Codes in clay. While all this was going on, I attended Clear Night at AOLA and they had a Case Cracking Unit there who interviewed each person there and asked if anyone was bogged. I told them I desperately wanted to receive Dianetic auditing but I could not get it from L.A. Org and now CCLA could not deliver it to me. They regged me for $2000 and told me that their case cracking unit would deliver me Dianetics. Some CCLA people were at this Clear night and saw this happen so the Execs, Yvonne and Irene Howey called me in the next day and told me that as CCLA staff, they could not have me purchasing auditing from AOLA partly because of the bad PR. I told them that Keeler would not allow me to recieve Dianetics from my fellow interne Ira Hirsch and Yvonne promised me that she would talk to Don Keeler and get me in session on Dianetics immediately.
When I got back to the Interneship, I told Julie and she Scheduled Ira Hirsch to schedule me for a Dianetics session the next night and for me to be sure to be sessionable. I came in the next night sessionable and guess what, Keeler had stopped the session! He claimed I was not currently eligible to receive any auditing until I got my cramming cycle completed. I wrote Keeler a despatch which was very respectful of his Class VIII status telling him of my great desire to receive Dianetic auditing and that no matter how hard I tried to outflow to get it, I was always being blocked. I asked humbly if he could just allow Ira to audit me and told him that if my case was handled a liitle bit by Dianetic auditing, I would probably be more effective in completing the Dianetic Interneship.
Keeler sent back a return letter, "Dear (my name), With all due respect to your case, I have a job to do as the senior tech terminal at this Org which is extremely important, blah de blah etc..... When I read this, it felt like a bucket of nails had just been thrown into my head and face. I just caved in and my world started spinning. I KNEW IMMEDIATEDLY THAT DON KEELER WAS AN S.P., the first actual S.P. I had ever met. (To this day I still believe that to be true.) I looked at what actions I could take and I decided to write a report and go to the Ethics office. I saw the Master of Arms, Margaret George, an amazingly colorful figure in her own right who had built up a name for herself by being our Ethics Officer. I told her my story as I have just related it above. She really liked me and was supportive of me personally but the thought that Don Keeler was not a decent person was something she would not consider. She said that he really wanted to join the Sea Org but had a wife and kids to raise and that he was a top Class VIII, that he had been personally commended by LRH and on and on. She assured me he was very fair and that if I just kept plugging away, Keeler would graduate me with flying colors.
MY FITNESS BOARD
Maybe Keeler found out about my visit to Margaret George or maybe not, that is something I probably will never know, but I had been in the Sea Org several months now and suddenly I got word that I was to report that night to a Fitness Board. I did not know what it was but the top execs were all there - Yvonne, her deputy C/O Joyce Meyers, Joyce's sister friom HCO, Jan Stone, Qual Sec Sam Loria, Dale De Wolf (no relation to Nibs) and maybe one or two others. I was told that they had reports from Class VIII C/S Don Keeler that said in no uncertain terms that I was unfit for the Sea Org and had to be routed out immediately. They wanted to hear what I had to say. These were the same people who applauded me tumultously when I joined the Sea Org several months ago. They were embarassed a bit to tell me this because I had been such a great assett to have around ever since I arrived. I had paid thousands of dollars for services and had worked so hard for them, even quitting my job at IBM. Despite all this, Don Keeler was a Class VIII, and the senior technical person in the Org. They could not devalue his recommendation. They told me how much they liked me and they knew I tried very hard but that apparently, to their surprise, I had some charactier and personality defects that precluded me from being a Sea Org member. I believe Joyce Myers said that I would be given a program which if successfully completed would enable me to re apply for Sea Org status in one year. Sam Loria, who I really admire and think is a great guy, was firmer with me than anyone else and suggested I had with holds and things which I had been keeping from management. I finally got a chance to talk.
I am a survivor and do not fold up my tent easily as the L.A. Org had already experienced. When my survival is threatened, I instinctively think quickly on my feet. The first thing I brought up is that Don Keeler is not even a Sea Org member so where does he get off giving Sea Org Executives Orders to offload Sea Org members? There were nervous giggles and they were tongue tied amd squirmed; I knew I had scored points. Someone piped up that Keeler was in the process of trying to join the Sea Org and that his credentials were impeccable but their words had a hollow ring to them and they knew it. Next, I told them that I quit my high paying job at IBM to help them out and again they were nervous and all of them squirmed. Sam and Dale De Wolfe wailed into me a little countering that I must be hiding withholds because Keeler could not possibly be wrong about me. I swore that I had nothing I was withholding from the Org. Finally, Yvonne took the lead and did what had to be done, she told me that I was not eligible to be a tech terminal in this Org and that I should get to work immediately on my rehabilition program and that she would do everything within her power to see that I was reinstated after one year. They were about to wrap up the Fitness Board and kick me out of the Sea Org but one word she had spoken had stuck in my mind. She said I was forbiden to be a technical terminal in the Org and I remembered that at recent staff meetings, she was telling the staff that they desparately needed one or two more people in Treasury and for all staff to try and recruit a Treasury terminal. I said to Yvonne, "Sir you mentioned I am unfit to be a technical terminal in this Org but what if I agreed to be posted outside of tech?" She answered, "Where would you agree to be posted?" I answered that I am very good at finance and like it a lot and that I would be willing to be posted in Treasury Division. Yvonne lit up like a Christmas tree and the other execs followed her cue and everyone cheered up and was happy. I told everyone that I would stay in Treasury at least two years and then would like to return to my first love which was tech and also asked if I could now finally get my Dianetic auditing. Yvonne agreed to these terms and since Ira had already graduated as CCLA's first Dianetic Interne, I would immediately go into session with the newest Interne, Kenny Lipton, the brother of the well known actress on television's "Mod Squad", Peggy Lipton.
By the way, Ira graduated after only about 50 hours of auditing in the chair instead of 100 as required by the course checksheet. Not only that but Keeler even Graduated him with honors.!! Ira' wife, Kathy Hirsch was a Division 3 cashier and shortly after this incident, she was moved to the Guardian's Office and became assistant Guardian for CCLA. Ira and Kathy then asked for a transfer out of CCLA to some other place, I believe it was Saint Hill and after Ira graduated the interneship, I believe he never gave another session at CCLA and never tech trained any further as far as I know. I was committed and wanted to audit CCLA staff day in and day out for years and train up to at least Class VI immediately after graduating my interneship. By literally trying to have me thrown out of the Org after over 100 perfect hours in the chair and passing Ira Hirsch with honors after only 50 hours, I was sure he was a surpressive person. He was trying to get rid of anyone good and staff up with less able people. I am not putting down Ira, he was very intelligent, able and likeable but I am saying that Ira had no where near the dedication and willingness to serve and outflow to help others that I did. Keeler observed that I had an independent streak in me and could possibly be a threat to him later and decided to boot me out. He had a run in with two OT's and highly classed auditors, Helen and Joe Hochman and Helen was in tears after trying to get things handled with him and there was another auditor who he successfully off loaded who I thought was a good guy but whose name I do not remember.
Thats the end of this installment. In my next installment I will cover my time period in CCLA Treasury Division and the Dianetic auditing I received from Kenny Lipton, who was one of those really great guys whom one meets during life.
See you all soon for Installment 5
Lkwdbld aka Lakey