Scientologist hospitalized after jump into harbor (1997)
Android Cat
St. Petersburg Times - St. Petersburg, Fla.
Author:THOMAS C. TOBIN
Date:Mar 2, 1997
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/sptimes/access/17004392.html?FMT=FT&dids=17004392:17004392&FMTS=ABS:FT
A barefoot woman ran between two Church of Scientology buildings early
Saturday before jumping into Clearwater Harbor, where police took her into
protective custody for a psychiatric evaluation.
As the incident unfolded over more than three city blocks downtown, a patrol
officer tried twice to ask the woman if she needed help, police said. They
said she and a Church of Scientology security guard behind her kept running
and eventually she was found by police in shallow Clearwater Harbor.
Scientology attorney Elliot Abelson said Saturday that the woman had a
personal emergency at a Scientology building, the Sandcastle hotel, and was
running to get there from the Fort Harrison Hotel.
The guard was trying to help her, Abelson said. "The guard was absolutely
not running after her."
<continued>
Oo look! Abelson's lips are moving!
Did anything ever result from that or did Scientology do the old night and
fog routine to sweep it under the rug as fast as possible?
(Speaking of rugs, I bet the Carpet Dudes wouldn't have batted an eye at
wierdness like that--cause that's all part of being a Carpet Dude.)
--
Ron of that ilk.
banchukita
> Scientologist hospitalized after jump into harbor
> St. Petersburg Times - St. Petersburg, Fla.
> Author:THOMAS C. TOBIN
> Date:Mar 2, 1997
>
>
> A barefoot woman ran between two Church of Scientology buildings early
> Saturday before jumping into Clearwater Harbor, where police took her into
> protective custody for a psychiatric evaluation.
>
> As the incident unfolded over more than three city blocks downtown, a patrol
> officer tried twice to ask the woman if she needed help, police said. They
> said she and a Church of Scientology security guard behind her kept running
> and eventually she was found by police in shallow Clearwater Harbor.
>
> Scientology attorney Elliot Abelson said Saturday that the woman had a
> personal emergency at a Scientology building, the Sandcastle hotel, and was
> running to get there from the Fort Harrison Hotel.
>
> The guard was trying to help her, Abelson said. "The guard was absolutely
> not running after her."
> <continued>
>
> Oo look! Abelson's lips are moving!
>
> Did anything ever result from that or did Scientology do the old night and
> fog routine to sweep it under the rug as fast as possible?
>
> (Speaking of rugs, I bet the Carpet Dudes wouldn't have batted an eye at
> wierdness like that--cause that's all part of being a Carpet Dude.)
>
> --
> Ron of that ilk.
If I remember correctly, it was a Mexican woman. And she ducked into a
martial arts place to ask for help. Or maybe this was another one.
Happens all the time, hard to keep track of all the attempted
escapees.
-maggie, human being
Android Cat
> On Nov 13, 9:43 pm, "Android Cat" <androidca...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>> http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/sptimes/access/17004392.html?FMT=FT&dids=17004392:17004392&FMTS=ABS:FT
>>
>> A barefoot woman ran between two Church of Scientology buildings
>> early Saturday before jumping into Clearwater Harbor, where police
>> took her into protective custody for a psychiatric evaluation.
>> Did anything ever result from that or did Scientology do the old
>> night and fog routine to sweep it under the rug as fast as possible?
>
> If I remember correctly, it was a Mexican woman. And she ducked into a
> martial arts place to ask for help. Or maybe this was another one.
> Happens all the time, hard to keep track of all the attempted
> escapees.
It doesn't sound like that in the rest of the story:
==
On Saturday, Officer Terry Kelly saw the woman run out the front door of the
Fort Harrison and head north on Fort Harrison Boulevard, Shelor said. She
was dressed in a shirt and jeans with no shoes or socks, and was being
followed by a security guard, he said.
"She was in a full-gait run," Shelor said. Kelly "described her as
wild-eyed," Shelor said.
Shelor said the McPherson case had no bearing on how the department handled
the Saturday incident.
"At 5:40 in the morning, this tends to catch the eye of a police officer,
regardless of where it happens," Shelor said. "He was concerned for her
well-being . . . It was imperative that a police officer speak with the
woman and determine if she needed assistance."
Shelor said Kelly caught up to the woman at the city's main library three
blocks from the Fort Harrison and asked if she needed help. He said the
woman and the security guard continued running.
After that, he said, the woman cut through a hedge at the old chamber of
commerce building at Osceola Avenue and Drew Street and ran to the
Sandcastle, a church retreat overlooking Clearwater Harbor.
The officer again tried to talk to the woman as she paused briefly near a
man who appeared to be a Sandcastle manager or representative, Shelor said.
But she bolted into a Sandcastle building and a short time later was seen in
the harbor, just beyond a 6-foot sea wall at the west end of the property.
The water was only about a foot deep, and the woman was unhurt except for a
cut on her foot, Shelor said.
An officer was dispatched to the Fort Harrison after the woman mentioned her
two children, he said.
Police placed her into protective custody and took her to headquarters to be
interviewed, Shelor said. They decided to admit her under the Baker Act in
part because of a note they found in her room at the Fort Harrison, he said.
Shelor would not disclose the note's contents.
Also, Shelor said, "she was speaking and acting irrationally. Clearly, she
was trying to do harm to herself."
Abelson, the church attorney, said the woman and her children checked into
the Fort Harrison on Friday night. He said she appeared in the lobby holding
two pillows at about 5:40 a.m.
A guard saw her and asked if he could help her, he said.
Church spokesman Brian Anderson said she asked a security guard whether he
had a car available. The guard said he did not, Anderson said.
The woman told the guard there was an emergency at the Sandcastle and that
she needed his help, Anderson said. Then she ran out the door, he said.
The guard radioed to alert the Sandcastle then headed out to assist the
woman, Anderson said.
Abelson said the guard was a block behind the woman. At the Sandcastle, he
said, police asked her whether she was being chased. She responded that the
guard was helping her, then ran into the Sandcastle, Abelson said.
"This is not an escape," he said. "This is a person going from one church
building to another."
Anderson said the woman had told church guards and police that she was
troubled about the death of her husband last year. He said the woman's
family has arrived in town to help her and her children.
He said he did not know what the woman's emergency was. He also said the
church would not intervene for the woman at the hospital.
"It's a private matter," he said.
==
I'll keep an eye out for the Mexican one. *sigh* maybe I'll end up with a
tag category for these kind of incidents in FrontCite...
chuckbeatty77 @aol.com
security guard, a short guy, both came out to do the RPF in Los
Angeles.
My guess this incident preceded and contributed to both that security
guard and Brian Anderson earning a stay in the RPF.
Brian Anderson apparantly is OUT of the RPF, and I think I heard he is
working at the Robert Morse and Associates in Glendale California, a
business with numerous ex Guardian's Office staff.
Brian Anderson I liked, he seemed like he had integrity, and someday I
hope Brian finds his voice and can speak about the unusual
predicaments he lived through, all during the Lisa McPherson tragedy
and events like this one in this article.
Flag, Clearwater, had its share of mega "flaps" in the late 90s, and
David Miscavige going to Clearwater to do the 6 hour interview with
the St. Pete Times and the massive amount of work to gain Clearwater
officials support, in the late 90s, this incident I think preceded the
David Miscavige "handling" of opening up and trying to turn over a new
leaf.
I hope Brian speaks out someday. I know he hated some of the bullshit
that went on at the top ranks of the movement.
Brian had a college education, smart guy, school teacher. I hope he
finds his voice.
I was asked by media what happened to Ben Shaw! Does anyone know
what happened to Ben?
Ben I believe disappeared from the CW scene for several years now
also!
I liked Ben also, and I think all these Scienlogy PR intell people are
put in the ultimate predicaments of following the worst in Hubbard's
ideas!
Chuck Beatty
cultxpt
>
> - Show quoted text -
Yeah, you're mixing up 2 cases. The Mexican woman did have a Co$
security guy chasing her too, but he was yelling something like "I'm
going to kill you!" But of course, it was all just a
misunderstanding...
http://www.lisamcpherson.org/news/archive.htm
You can find the article in there, I'll bet... I'm just supposed to
be doing my homework or I'd look.