Letter J. Vander Meer of the Battle Creek Enquirer

Here is a letter I wrote to the author of an article on a new Narconon facility currently setting up shop in Battle Creek, Michigan.

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Dear Mr. Vander Meer,

I just read your article about the opening of a new Narconon facility in Battle Creek, found at:

http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/news/stories/20020719/topstories/253344.html

In the text of your article, I read a statement from the new center's owner, Kate Wickstom, who said "We're a secular program," she said, emphasizing the program is not affiliated with the 'Church of Scientology."

In fact, that statement is a bald-faced lie.Narconon has long been known to be a "front" group for the "Church" of Scientology. The allegedly secular ritual which initiates a Narconon client's drug rehabilitation is the exact same ritual which many Scientologists undergo as their initiation into the "Church" of Scientology proper. The ritual is called the Purification Rundown, and it's a dangerous bit of medical quackery involving the infesting of dangerous doses of the B-vitamin Niacin, dangerously long hours of sweating in a sauna, and fasting.

People with diabetes and other health problems have been permanently blinded by doing this ritual. Others have suffered liver damage. And for all that risk, Narconon doesn't appear to be a very effective drug treatment program, anyway. But getting the honest story about that from the Narconon supporters is akin to asking a propagandist for some facts. And with Narconon, the few people who actually are helped off drugs, risk ending up addicted to a fairly nasty, high-control cult instead.

As you come to better understand the "Church" of Scientology, you'll start to understand how they direct the lives of their members, how they set themselves apart from the whole of society, and hypnotize themselves to believe in their elite status. You'll learn that they actually train in how to spin and lie about themselves and their goals to the general public, whom they learn to despise as inferior beings. Scientologists learn to call non-Scientologists "Wogs" and "raw meat." Scientologists like Ms. Wickstrom rarely speak honestly about these issues, or about Scientology's true intentions in the political arena, which are almost invariably concerned with expansion into new areas, and getting more people into Scientology.

Whatever Ms. Wickstrom might claim, the primary goal of Narconon, and likely Ms. Wickstrom herself, is to serve the interests of the "Church" of Scientology, and to get people started on Scientology's mental conditioning programs.

I hope you will help your readers to better understand this manipulative, unethical, and militaristic cult which is now setting up shop in your home town. I ask you to please be skeptical when dealing with the public statements of Scientologists. Don't take Scientology's self-serving, and often wonderful sounding claims at face value.

But I also hope you will be forewarned. Journalists who publish stories of which Scientology does not approve, often find themselves the victims of coercive harassment. For more information about this, search the Web for stories about Scientology's lawsuit against Time Magazine and one of it's writers, Mr. Richard Behar. For a truly horrifying glimpse at the very worst of Scientology, search the web for the name "Paulette Cooper" an author who wrote a book called "The Scandal of Scientology." For her troubles, she was treated criminally and dispicably by.the "Church" of Scientology for about 15 years.

Also, for a happier perspective from one journalist, for whom Narconon's attempts to start a new facility in Bowden, Georgia, became a professional interest, I would recommend you contact Mr.J. Pilkonis, who is with "The Carroll Star-News." The phone number of the Carroll Star-News is 770-214-9900.

Thanks for your attention. Feel free to contact me if you wish to discuss any of these matters in more depth. My E-mail address is ....

Respectfully,
Michael Reuss