The Santa Rosa Raid, 4/16/2011

[skeptic2girl]

Some people don't like it when you draw on "their" sidewalk:



Sometimes they call the police:



That's skeptic2girl in the black skirt and mask.

Apparently it was the owner of this mortgage brokerage who called the police. He came out, irate, with this little kid saying we were scaring away his customers. In fact, I think it was his website that scares away his customers with its sleazy, "No credit? Bad credit? No problem!!" vibe.



In fact, it was the mortgage broker guy who said he owned the building. We wonder if he is a Scilon. He knew why we were there, but he was mad at us, not the cult. Of course, you can get mad at whomever you want. However, he and members of his "family-owned" business took down one of our signs. When I asked the lady where it went, she said it was "probably trashed by now." When another of our party asked for it back, the same lady said she didn't know what happened to it. It was very Scilon to me.

On the positive side, what a gorgeous day for a protest!



Luckily, we had an even bigger xenu.net sign to represent after the mean mortgage brokers trashed these signs which were taped to the street post...





It was even reversible!



Our fearless leader!



The official name of the raid was Operation Bunnyhop, in concert with a protest in Germany.



Since the Santa Rosa org's only weekend hours are Saturday 9am to noon, we made it a morning protest this time. So, it was muffcaeks instead of cupcaeks. Mmmm... greasy!!



The cop did ask us to move behind the "Keep to the right!!" electronic sign which flashed for pedestrians and bicyclists alike. We had already moved down the street to appease Angry Mortgage Broker.

Our tireless organizer...



...had a great idea to fill these plastic eggs with candy and wwp.net slips of paper and offered them to people passing by.





Thanks for stopping by!!

[operatingwog]

Good work! =D>

[daisy]

Great job! What are their weekday hours?

[I'mglib]

Great job, Skeptic2girl. Was this your first protest? Did you see any public Scientologists coming and going? Loved the signs.

[skeptic2girl]

Great job, Skeptic2girl. Was this your first protest? Did you see any public Scientologists coming and going? Loved the signs.

Thanks Glibby, daisy, and operating wog!

People would actually slow down to read the signs and see what was going on. Lots of people honked and whooped and all that. They seemed amused and kind of happy. It was great! And last time, this one guy in the passenger seat even hung out the window beating on the car door and yelling enthusiastically, "Anonymous!!!!"

This was my second protest, actually... we had one the month before: first Anon one in Santa Rosa, as far as I know. However, it turns out the org wasn't even open during the time we protested.

We did see one Scientologist go in the office -- a few of my cohorts asked him, "How much money have you paid to Scientology?" and "Would you like a hug?" He politely declined.

The interesting thing was when the policeman turned up, it seemed like everyone who was in the insides of the building that housed the org and the mortgage broker (not sure if there are any other businesses there) came out to see what was going on. People also came out from the org, but they were all mixed up with the mortgage people.

Apparently the org has a back entrance, and the organizer, squirrel, ventured back there and did some chalk work. She waved at the Scilons but they didn't wave back.

It was a good thing we had a sign out there saying, "Protesting the Church of Scientology" because none of the public seemed to know the org was there! As you can tell by the photo of the sign outside the building, it's hard to read the script as you are passing by in a car. There's only a small sign on the actual door to the org listing the meager hours the cult org is open.

I can't remember the weekday hours. I'll try and take a photo of the door next time, which has the sign. If I remember right, it's not open during most days, just like the San Rafael org. Just open a few hours in the evenings.

***

Even though the police man was REALLY nice, it was kind of intense, just because the mortgage broker/landlord was so very angry.

The police officer politely listened to all of the complaints of the tenants and then reminded them that we were engaging in free speech. God bless America!! Truly.

So there was about the same level of activity around the Santa Rosa org when it was open than when it was closed. There was just that one guy.

Other people could have gone the back entrance, though.

Seems the Scilons have stress test tables set up at the Farmer's Market that starts up in May. Don't worry. We're on it.

PS: Just got back from the Santa Rosa org website. If you click on "free online courses" you're automatically directed to a Scientology Volunteer Ministers website!

I believe I recognize the "Current Mission Holder," Forest Tardibuono as one of the guys who came out of the Santa Rosa org when the policeman came. It's possible he was the one who called the police.

According to their website, it seems the motto for the Santa Rosa "mission" is: "No matter what the problem is, we can help." Somehow, I doubt it.

[whatntha]

Good for you Skeptic2Girl! The police were called out at our protests and told the tenants the same thing – its our right to protest. At the first protest, the police sat on their cars and chatted with the protestors and we gave them a thank you card signed by all the protestors. After that, they would just cruise by our protests and wave.

I think you have a friend in the cult and that’s what started your activism. Same here. My friend was an AOLA Examiner for many years. He’s now public and unfortunately dying of cancer. He says he’ll beat cancer with scientology. See what $cientology does to people? I feel like they robbed him of his life and now he’s not getting treatment due to his strong belief in the so-called tech. Its too late for my friend -- but protesting is so important – because protesting will keep people from joining the cult and it might even get someone to start thinking their way out of the cult. Yeah for Anonymous!

[skeptic2girl]

Thanks, whatntha!

You know, I had also thought about sending that policeman a thank you card. He just seemed so on our side, although I think when he talked with the complainants, he probably managed to seem to be on their side, too. So he was just really tactful, and I appreciated that.

A funny thing he said, when he asked us to move behind the "Keep to your right!" sign was that we we might unfortunately be distracting people from the sign. He said, "Because you guys are waaaaaaay more interesting!"

[skeptic2girl]

It seems that mortgage brokerage may indeed be owned by Scilons. This is getting really interesting...

[daisy]

http://www.truthaboutscientology.com/st ... buono.html
http://www.truthaboutscientology.com/st ... buono.html

Double your fun when protesting!

Yup, you are right. No wonder he was so pissed.

[I'mglib]

Seems the Scilons have stress test tables set up at the Farmer's Market that starts up in May. Don't worry. We're on it.

Oh, goody. Don't forget video cameras!

Also, it's definitely good to have at least one sign with the word Scientology on it, in case the public don't know there's an org. It sounds like they know now.

[skeptic2girl]

http://www.truthaboutscientology.com/st ... buono.html
http://www.truthaboutscientology.com/st ... buono.html

Double your fun when protesting!

Yup, you are right. No wonder he was so pissed.

Thanks, Daisy!

So, yeah, the guy who founded the brokerage and is on the front page of pacific mortgage in a cheesy cowboy hat also founded the Santa Rosa org...

No wonder he doesn't mind having the cult as a neighbor!

[skeptic2girl]

Seems the Scilons have stress test tables set up at the Farmer's Market that starts up in May. Don't worry. We're on it.

Oh, goody. Don't forget video cameras!

Also, it's definitely good to have at least one sign with the word Scientology on it, in case the public don't know there's an org. It sounds like they know now.

Yes! I'm pretty sure that you can get personal video cameras (at least a somewhat crappy one: not Gumby-level, obviously!) pretty cheap these days, so I'm going to look into it!

It would have been CLASSIC to have had it on camera when the broker came out and yelled at us! The strange thing is, he implied he owned the brokerage and was also the landlord of the building, but I swear he wasn't Forest Tardibuono. I recognize Forest T. as emerging from the actual org, not the brokerage.

And I know it's also safer to have a camera.

re: stress tests -- there's been a lot of good discussion here about the FDA and e-meters and I'm looking forward to doing searches here to arm myself at the Farmer's Market.

My main point, though, will be to have sign letting people know that - assuming the cult doesn't own up to it - that it's Scientology giving those tests.

I'm also going to get a cheapy paperback copy of Dianetics and go through it and highlight and bookmark some of the sickest passages for use at our raids, as passersby often want to know specifics about Scientology and what they believe...
This way I can show them the proof...