26 Oct 2000

"M. C. DiPietra" <mdipietra@earthlink.net>

Sorry if this is duplicating [don't mean to step on BatChild's domain here] - my newsfeed was down a few days, so I don't know if it was posted.

A friend sent me snail-mail an article clipped from the Oct. 20, 2000 Vallejo, CA _Times-Herald_, by RIchard Freedman, staff writer:

KENNEDY CLAIMS HARASSMENT

Slam Poet says Scientology members are after him

It used to be Jamie Kennedy would hear demons. Life has gotten a lot worse for the slam poet from Vallejo. Now he hears members of the Church of Scietnology.

Kennedy, the iconoclastic producer of "Tourettes without Regrets" poetry slam nights, psyched himself for today's 8 PM verbal incendiary event at the IMAC Talent Agency at 331 Georgia Street by slamming the organization founded by his great-grandfather, L. Ron Hubbard.

Aparantly, Kennedy's poem, "Judas' Son," slams the controversial church. And Kennedy's been asked to perform it in February at an anti-Church of Scientology event in Florida.

"They don't want publicity going after me," Kennedy said. " IT doesn't look good going after a family member of L. Ron Hubbard."

Kennedy insists members of the church have harassed him, even trying to track him down at his ex-girlfriend's house and at his mother's place.

"They lied and said they were poets," Kennedy said, adding that he wouldn't be surprised if his phones were tapped.

"It's all about the family legacy," the slam poet said.

Kennedy said the two men looking for him "were in shock" when they found out Kennedy's mother is Hubbard's granddaughter.

"It would be like being Jesus' daughter or something," said Kennedy.

Kennedy said his mom "had a bad feeling" about the uninvited visitors and politely asked them to leave.

"She prayed for them to get out of the church," he said, adding that he has become more energized" about doing his poem in Florida.

But first, there's tonight's Poetry Slam night ...[snipped]