_The_Oregonian_ on Jairus Godeka
Geoff Burling
The daily Portland newspaper did some digging into the alleged gunman
in Wednesday's shooting at the Scientology Center. What it has found
is clearly at variance with the claims of the CoS.
Add. Note: On last night's ch.12 10:00 News, the reporters indicated
that the INS (Immigration Service) was very interested in this case.
If found guilty by a court of law, Godeka would most likely be
deported to Kenya.
[And apologies to Rich B. for sharing this article with the NG before
he had a chance to; I had this week off, so I took the opportunity to
type this all up.]
SHOOTING SPOTLIGHTS SCIENTOLOGY
The Suspect: Jairus Godeka holds church responsible for shattering his
American dream
by Brian Smith & Phil Manzano
He came form Kenya in 1979 to ``accomplish something in America," he
said, his hopes fueled by high expectations from friends and family.
But Jairus Godeka felt his dream fade to ``gloom and doom," after he
was introduced to the Church of Scientology in 1980, he told police.
That belief may explain why Godeka is accused of shooting and wounding
four people - Helen Burke, Carlos Colon, Stevne Crandell and Jim Stone
- and starting a fire in the Church of Scientology office in downtown
Portland on Wednesday.
Interviews with friends, acquaintences and former in-laws, and an
examination of police records, reveal a man who was hard-working and
earnest but whose past is plagued by alcohol abuse, violent behavior,
a broken marriage and financial problems.
They also show a man obsessed by the belief that his torubles all stem
from the Church of Scientology.
A judge entered a not-guilty plea for Godeka Thursday, after he was
arrainged in the Justice Center in Portland on charges of attempted
aggravated murder, arson, kidnapping, assault and burglary.
The turn of events shocked at least one friend, who described Godeka
as a gentle man who was ``mild-mannered and had a great desire to
please everyone" - someone who was far from crazy and worked hard to
make a fledgling business successful.
Police records, however, show another side: one of violence,
drunkenness an dobsession.
In a long, sometimes rambling statement to police in February, Godeka
detailed a variety of grievances he had with Scientology and said how
for years he felt the organization should be made to pay $50,000 for
ruining in life.
Born in Kenya in 1958, Godeka said he came to the United States on a
visa.
Godeka's in-laws, who asked that their names not be used, said
Thursday that he came to study business administration at a college in
Vancouver, Wash., several years ago.
[The only college in Vancouver at the time was Clark Community
College. - G.]
They said he and his estranged wife, Christina, met while he was a
student. The two married in Vancouver and lived there for three or
four months before moving to Portland.
About five years into the marriage, they said, Godeka found
Scientology.
A month after he did, the in-laws said, Godeka sold his belongings,
including a stereo the couple owned, and left his wife.
``The Church of Scientology told him he had to cleanse or purify
himself and to leave her," Christina's mother said. ``He was fine
until he got involved with that church."
The mother described Godeka as ``intelligent, hard-working and
honest."
``It's not like he'd just go bonkers. He was looking for help, someone
to just listen to him," she said.
After the breakup, he moved to San Francisco, where, he told police,
he had a business called Phoenix Lighting.
Max Adelson, who provided an answering service to Godeka in San
Francisco, remembers how hard the Kenyan worked.
Adelson, who describes himself as a friend, said Godeka went
door-to-door selling light fixures and for a time found success.
``He was all business, mild mannered, very gentle and had a great
desire to please everybody," Adleson said. ``he's a nice pleasant guy
that tried to make a living.
``This (shooting) startled the hell out of us."
In court documents and police records, Godeka listed his address in
San Francisco as the Cadillac Hotel at 380 Eddy St.
The four-story building, converted inot single rooms that rent for
$225 a month - $175 without a bathroom - sits in San Francisco's
Tenderloin district, a run-down area palgued by vagrancy, prostitution
and drug use.
For Geodeka, the hotel had one convenience: it sat five blocks from
San Frnacisco's Church of Scientology office on McAllister Street.
Over the next few years, Godeka shuttled between San Francisco and
Portland, where he lived in several places. But no matter where he
lived, he could not seem to escape his obsession with the church.
In his statement to police, Godeka said he bercame attracted to
Scientology after a session at the Portland branch to familiarize
himself with the gorup's philosophies.
He then took a free personality test and bought some books.
At some point, however, he began to feel that several church employees
were controlling his mind, he said.
One person particularly torubled him: Burke, the receptionist at the
Portland branch, who would become one fo his gunshot victims.
``It was Helen," he said in one interview with police. ``Helen's kept
me a prisoner all these years." Burke, who is in serious condition,
could not be reached for comment.
[Sometimes the haste that articles are written in combines with the
boilerplate style reporters use and it creates the queerly ironic
effect demonstrated in that last sentence. - G.]
By December 1995, court records began to show traffic arrests such as
drunken driving, driving with an open container and driving without
insurance.
Godeka told police that he began to believe the organization had
somehow kept his sister from coming to America to get her master's
degree.
He told police the church had caused his lighting business $100,000 in
damages, and that he had failed himself, his family and his friends.
``He said that he was embarrassed because of the expectations of his
family and friends tohat he was to accomplish something in America"
but didn't, Portland Police detective Wiliam Johnson wrote in one
report.
As usual, Scientology was to blame.
Godeka first demanded money in 1994 in a call to Angela Mann,
spokeswoman for the Portland banch, police reports indicate.
[She was also one of the CoS spokespeople shown on Channel 12 news
last night. - G.]
Meanwhile, during trips to San Francisco, Godeka made threats to
workers at the Scientology office there.
Then, in January 1996, while back in Portland, he cased the downtown
Scientology office at Southwest Salmon street and Broadway for two
weeks and began placing phone calls again.
Police records show the first came Feb. 1, when he told Burke that he
would kill everyone in the office unless the church came up with
$50,000.
He called again, several times, on Feb. 5, witht he same threats.
He was arrested that day at the Travel Inn motel at 800 E. Burnside
St. A hotel clerk said Godeka had been drunk and obnoxious.
[That motel is located in a run-down neighborhood of S.E. Portland,
just across the river from downtown. A 30 minute walk from the scene
of the crime.]
To the officers, however, Godeka was polite and helpful.
In fact, he said, he knew who had sent them.
When officer K.S. Leighton asked how, Godeka didn't hesitate.
``Because they're using you," he replied.
--------------------------------------------------
Staff writers Chastity Pratt and Peter Farrell contributed to this
report.
Rev. Dennis L Erlich
ge...@transport.com (Geoff Burling):
>To the officers, however, Godeka was polite and helpful.
>In fact, he said, he knew who had sent them.
>When officer K.S. Leighton asked how, Godeka didn't hesitate.
>``Because they're using you," he replied.
I certainly hope this man's story sees the light of day. I would
like to know what could drive this man to such an act.
Rev. Dennis L Erlich * * the inFormer * *
<dennis....@support.com>
<inF...@primenet.com>
"If we as a people are afraid to speak our minds because it causes
embarassment to powerful entities like Co$, then we are little more
than serfs and slaves. Any pretension to 'freedom' then becomes
imaginary." - Daniel Davidson
"Freedom requires a lack of coersion as well as
knowledge of the multiplicity of choices." - JS Mill
Rich Burroughs
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
On Sat, 28 Sep 1996 00:35:14 GMT, ge...@transport.com (Geoff Burling)
wrote:
[snip]
> [And apologies to Rich B. for sharing this article with the NG before
> he had a chance to; I had this week off, so I took the opportunity to
> type this all up.]
[snip]
No apologies necessary :) I didn't mean to sound like I was
calling "dibs" or anything. I just wanted the info to get out
and have had very little time. I'm glad you got to it.
I probably wouldn't have typed the whole thing in, anyway,
because of copyright concerns and lazy finger thetans.
You've been doing a great job keeping people up-to-date,
Geoff. Thanks :)
Rich
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______________________________________________________________________
Rich Burroughs ric...@teleport.com http://www.teleport.com/~richieb
See my Blue Ribbon Page at http://www.teleport.com/~richieb/blueribbon
U.S. State Censorship Page at - http://www.teleport.com/~richieb/state
New EF zine "cause for alarm" - http://www.teleport.com/~richieb/cause
William Barwell
In article <324d537b...@204.245.3.50>,
Rev. Dennis L Erlich <inF...@primenet.com> wrote:
>ge...@transport.com (Geoff Burling):
>
>>To the officers, however, Godeka was polite and helpful.
>>In fact, he said, he knew who had sent them.
>>When officer K.S. Leighton asked how, Godeka didn't hesitate.
>>``Because they're using you," he replied.
>
>like to know what could drive this man to such an act.
>
I suspect that he will be found to be insane and will end up
institutionalized for this act.
Pope Charles
SubGenius Pope Of Houston
Slack!
Bev
William Barwell wrote:
>
> In article <324d537b...@204.245.3.50>,
> Rev. Dennis L Erlich <inF...@primenet.com> wrote:
> >ge...@transport.com (Geoff Burling):
> >
> >>In fact, he said, he knew who had sent them.
> >>When officer K.S. Leighton asked how, Godeka didn't hesitate.
> >>``Because they're using you," he replied.
> >
> >like to know what could drive this man to such an act.
> >
>
> Sounds to me like he is an ambulatory paranoid-schizophrenic.
> I suspect that he will be found to be insane and will end up
> institutionalized for this act.
>
Well, he certainly does need to be punished for this act of crime.
Lots of people have problems, and have been kicked in the gutter, but
when they resort to violence it is not okay. Hopefully this man will
also get he psychological help he needs as well while he is in prison.
I think one of the best "therapies" will be for him to be able
to tell his story. I hope that the people who need to learn from his
story will learn. I hope that this kind of tragedy doesn't happen
again.
Look how many ex-scientolgists are here on this NG. Given another
time period and circumstances, it could have been anyone. Hell, it
could have been me. I'm sure glad someone that was upset with the
Co$ didn't come in shooting while I was at the local org. Nope,
even though I can understand Godeka's frustration, and I do know
how the standard Co$ policy treats you (like shit) when you have a
valid complaint, there is just simply NO justification.
I am so gald to see all of the critics on the NG have stated their
sympathies to the Co$ victims, and their condemnation of the act
of violence. It's nice to see a group dedicated to exposing the
crimes and misdeeds of the criminal cult, but that still can
differentiate between the "machine" and the individuals who simply
make up the components.
Beverly
Keith Henson
Bev (dbj...@iag.net) wrote:
[mass snip]
: I am so gald to see all of the critics on the NG have stated their
: sympathies to the Co$ victims, and their condemnation of the act
: of violence. It's nice to see a group dedicated to exposing the
: crimes and misdeeds of the criminal cult, but that still can
: differentiate between the "machine" and the individuals who simply
: make up the components.
Bev, part of the reason may be that most of the critics understand the
concepts of memetics and "infectious" information. It is fairly easy
to hate the disease (scientology) without hating the people who have
been infected with the crazyness.
After all, they can get over it.
Keith Henson
Martin G. V. Hunt
Bev (dbj...@iag.net) writes:
> William Barwell wrote:
>>
>> In article <324d537b...@204.245.3.50>,
>> Rev. Dennis L Erlich <inF...@primenet.com> wrote:
>> >ge...@transport.com (Geoff Burling):
>> >
>> >>To the officers, however, Godeka was polite and helpful.
>> >>In fact, he said, he knew who had sent them.
>> >>When officer K.S. Leighton asked how, Godeka didn't hesitate.
>> >>``Because they're using you," he replied.
>> >
>> > I certainly hope this man's story sees the light of day. I would
>> >like to know what could drive this man to such an act.
>> >
>>
>> Sounds to me like he is an ambulatory paranoid-schizophrenic.
>> I suspect that he will be found to be insane and will end up
>> institutionalized for this act.
>>
>
> Well, he certainly does need to be punished for this act of crime.
> Lots of people have problems, and have been kicked in the gutter, but
> when they resort to violence it is not okay. Hopefully this man will
> also get he psychological help he needs as well while he is in prison.
>
> I think one of the best "therapies" will be for him to be able
> to tell his story. I hope that the people who need to learn from his
> story will learn. I hope that this kind of tragedy doesn't happen
> again.
>
> Look how many ex-scientolgists are here on this NG. Given another
> time period and circumstances, it could have been anyone. Hell, it
> could have been me. I'm sure glad someone that was upset with the
> Co$ didn't come in shooting while I was at the local org. Nope,
> even though I can understand Godeka's frustration, and I do know
> how the standard Co$ policy treats you (like shit) when you have a
> valid complaint, there is just simply NO justification.
Absolutely not. I wonder if any staff will leave that particular
cult franchise (the others won't hear a word about it, guaranteed;
keep the slaves ignorant)? When a rock was thrown through the
Vancouver store-front while I was on staff, it sent a little shock
through me. Other staff and the students were affected as well.
Why would anyone hate us so? What was going on here? After all,
the PR lie^Hne goes "the public love us and all we do..."
> I am so gald to see all of the critics on the NG have stated their
> sympathies to the Co$ victims, and their condemnation of the act
> of violence. It's nice to see a group dedicated to exposing the
> crimes and misdeeds of the criminal cult, but that still can
> differentiate between the "machine" and the individuals who simply
> make up the components.
>
> Beverly
There's a lot of good people here; I admire the groups' response as
well. A few total strangers said some nasty things, but they have
nothing to do with the commonly-held opinions here I'm happy to see.
If it had been otherwise, I would have left ars for good.
--
Cogito, ergo sum.
Art Online oil paintings: http://www.islandnet.com/~martinh/homepage.html
Scientology FAQs: http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/~av282