On Tuesday, February 22, the Utah Fox News affiliate is scheduled to
run an expose on Narconon
®/New Life's
activities in the Utah juvenile court system.
For those of you in Utah, that is channel 13 at 9 pm. Contingent on
other news of the day, it will be the top story.
This is a story that I started and have been heavily involved in.
The Narconon infiltration of the juvenile court system here in Utah
began early in 1998 when Ed Fila and Annaliesse Calder, local
Scientologists, began negotiations with Utah State Court officials
in an attempt to make Narconon the official program for juveniles
remanded to drug rehabilitation.
They were successful in getting a contract for one location in Provo,
Utah. They set up a small course room in one of the state juvenile court
buildings and began administering the program, which includes
non-professional TRs and the Purification Rundown. I volunteered on
several occasions by helping out in the course room, coaching the
students on their programs. The course room was run just like a
standard Scientology
®
course room, with roll call and muster. The only
difference was that there was no "hip hip hooray" nor
were there any pictures of LRH. However, all of the course materials
had LRH's name on them.
I had several conversations with Annaliesse shortly after the program
began. One question I distinctly remember asking her was whether or
not the state officials had offered any resistance due to Narconon's
association with the Church of Scientology. She smiled and told me
that the state personnel had asked about that, but that she had
"downplayed the connection."
After a while, I became occupied with receiving my auditing and didn't
have time to volunteer. I heard miscellaneous stories about Narconon's
activities in Utah county. Primarily, the talk was that the program
was being closely watched from up lines and that it was a model that would
be used in the future for taking the program into the juvenile court
systems in other states.
After I left Scientology, I decided to find out what had become of the
small Narconon program in Provo. I went to the Court Administration offices
in downtown Salt Lake City and found out that the program was receiving
state funds, that they were building saunas on leased state property, and
that the Narconon people were in negotiations with the juvenile court
administration to bring the program into Salt Lake county as well.
I have a friend who works for the Fox news affiliate here in Salt
Lake. I told him about the situation and very quickly Fox became
interested in doing the story. Remi Baron, Fox's investigative reporter,
was assigned to the story.
Remi set up interviews with Kimball Bird (a state employee responsible
for administering the program), a Utah judge, Annaliesse, a juvenile who
had been through the program, and his parents. Shortly thereafter, all of
them cancelled.
Remi was able to get interviews with state personnel by waiting in the
parking lot and approaching them as they went into the building. One
judge granted an interview. Remi finally got an interview with Annaliesse
(can you say damage control?) and asked her on several occasions if she was
a Scientologist. She denied that she was and even went so far as to
claim she is a Mormon, which I know is a bald-faced lie. Annaliesse flatly
denied on camera that there is any connection between Narconon and
Scientology.
They are finishing up the story now, which will also include an
interview with me! I haven't seen it yet, but I think it's going
to be great.
-
The Anti-Reg, ATS (Actual Trouble Source)
The name "Narconon"® is trademarked to the Scientology
organization through one of their many front groups. The name
"Scientology"® is also trademarked to the "Church"
of Scientology. Neither this web page, nor this web site, nor any of the
individuals mentioned herein assisting to educate the public about the
dangers of the Narconon scam are members of or representitives of the
Scientology organization.
If you or a loved one needs help -- real help -- there are
a number of rehabilitation programs you can contact. The real
Narcotics Anonymous organization
can get you in touch with real people who can help you.
Click [HERE] to visit Narcotics
Anonymous's web site. Narcotics Anonymous's telephone number is
1 (818) 773-9999.
Return to The NarCONon exposure's main Index page.
Forward: For a systematic, detailed, professional exposure of
Scientology's "Narconon" front group, visit the
Narconon Exposed web site.
"I got regged one too many times!"
The views and opinions stated within this web page are those of the author
or authors which wrote them and may not reflect the views and opinions of
the ISP or account user which hosts the web page. The opinions may or may
not be those of the Chairman of The Skeptic Tank.