Stacy Brooks response to Teresa Summers

12 Oct 2001

[Reposted outside of monster thread for better propagation.]

From: Stacy Brooks <stacybrooks@lisatrust.net
Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology
Subject: Re: Teresa Summers
Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2001 17:54:49 -0400

(On Tue, 09 Oct 2001 10:28:15 -0400, Teresa <tsum166700@aol.com wrote the message quoted at the end of this post.)

I'm going to respond to the things Teresa said in her post but first there is something I want to say about her.

I love Teresa. I was profoundly saddened when I read this post from her. She was one of my dearest friends. I think she's extremely intelligent and capable and talented, and I'm sorry she isn't working with me any more. She helped a tremendous number of people while she was at the LMT. We all miss her terribly. I think I probably miss her more than anyone else.

The last time I saw her was on Thursday, September 6. She came into my office and we talked for perhaps an hour before she left for the day. I thought we had a really good talk, making plans and discussing some of the people Teresa was working with. There was nothing about her demeanor that afternoon that hinted there was anything wrong.

The next day I was in deposition all day. I called the office on a break and asked to talk to Teresa. I wanted to let her know that I was doing OK, because she had said she was concerned about me going into depo. But Ingrid said Teresa had called to say she was going to visit her sister for the weekend. I was surprised that Teresa hadn't mentioned it the day before, but I knew that it was her birthday on Sunday so I thought she must have decided to spend her birthday weekend with her sister.

On Saturday I went out and bought Teresa a big stack of birthday cards. They were all funny, and I planned to leave them in strategic places in the office throughout the day on Monday. Mark baked Teresa a birthday cake on Sunday. We were going to have a big party for her.

On Monday morning I got to the office early, because I wanted to leave Teresa one of the cards so she would find it when she came in. No one else was there yet. I walked into my office and saw a plastic bag in the middle of my desk. When I looked inside I saw that it was one of our cell phones. I didn't know whose it was. Then I saw two envelopes with my name on them. The first had a short letter of resignation from Teresa in it. The second had a long letter from her, several pages long. In it Teresa accused me of deliberately putting her in legal danger, of lying to her, and many other things.

It was a devastating letter. What could possibly have happened between Thursday afternoon when I had seen her last, and Thursday evening, when she had apparently written this letter? It was as though she had been transformed into a totally different person. It seemed to me that the explanation lay in the first paragraph, where she said that she had come to her conclusions after consultation with others. Who had she spoken to?

I tried to call her, but she wasn't answering her phone. I wrote her a long letter and emailed it to her that same day, but I never got an answer. Since then she has spoken to Bob and several other friends from the LMT, but she continues to refuse to speak to me.

Does this make any sense to anyone? This is someone who was a very good friend of mine. I am convinced that someone has done this deliberately to drive a wedge between Teresa and me and to hurt the LMT, because Teresa's leaving really did hurt the LMT very badly. Teresa was one of the key people working with people coming out of Scientology. She was a very hard worker, very organized, and very determined to stop Scientology's criminal conduct.

Now Teresa won't even speak to me, and she isn't doing her work any more. Who benefits from that? Whose agenda is being furthered? I can't believe Teresa is happy not to be here any more. I also bet she misses me as much as I miss her. She used to bring her daughter over to my house and she and I would chat over a glass of wine while her daughter played in the jacuzzi. We used to hang out together all the time. We really had a good time together.

Now suddenly she thinks I've used her and lied to her and put her in danger because of my own selfishness. It's not true. In fact I used to tell Teresa over and over that no matter what happened I would always do everything I could possibly do to make sure she and her daughter were OK. I meant it.

But Teresa isn't the only one who feels this way about me. Now Deana Holmes is so convinced I am evil that she wishes I would disappear altogether. Yet the last time I saw Deana was in Clearwater last December, and we were friends. Who has convinced Deana that I am such a different person than the one she thought she knew? It certainly isn't anything she actually knows herself. She hasn't been to Clearwater since last December, when we got along really well.

And this person Tigger is another one. Who is that? I don't think I even know that person. How could someone I don't even know be so convinced about what a bad person I am? These people are getting bad information from somewhere, and since they are all seeing me through pretty much the same lens, I have to assume they are all getting their information from the same source.

Again, I have to wonder who benefits from this?

Now I will respond to the things Teresa said in her post, but first let me say that I don't think she is lying. Teresa is a totally honest person and very outspoken, and no one could convince her to lie. If she didn't think these things are true about me, she wouldn't say them.

1) Regarding Dell Leibreich and the Lisa McPherson civil case -- Yes, there were several times that I told Teresa that I wished I could get Dell to dismiss the case. I thought if Dell knew how much Scientology was using the case to go after Bob Minton and the LMT, she probably would ask Ken to dismiss it. I did tell Teresa one afternoon that I wished I could call her and go see her and talk her into dropping the case. I never did it, but I wished I could. The reason was that I couldn't think of any other way to stop Scientology's relentless attack on all of us at the LMT and all the people we are trying to help.

I've been trying to remember what triggered such desperation that I came up with that crazy idea. I think it was right after I was deposed one day in August. It was a deposition in the civil case, and Judge Beech was sitting in on the deposition. Moxon was conducting the deposition. One of the things they had demanded in discovery was all the records of the people who have ever come to us for help. Everyone at the LMT had agreed that there was no way any of us would ever turn over those records. We had all agreed that we would go to jail before we would betray the confidence of our people we were helping.

When Moxon brought up this issue in the deposition, I tried to explain to the judge that Scientology was only trying to get those records so they could harass the people, and that I had an obligation to them never to let Scientology get hold of their records. But the judge told me that he was going to require that I bring those records into court and let him look at them in camera and then he would decide then and there if he thought they should be turned over to Scientology, and that if I refused to give him the records he would have me put in jail.

Everybody at the LMT can tell you that when I got out of that deposition I was in a state of utter panic. I just couldn't believe this judge was going to do this -- force me to turn over our records under threat of incarceration. To me it was such a clear indication of how much control Scientology has gained over the courts in Clearwater that it literally terrified me. I felt that we were all in serious danger because of what Scientology had managed to do to this case. I felt that they had hijacked the case and that it was no longer about Lisa at all -- it was now about Bob Minton and the LMT, because that was what Scientology wanted.

So I was frantic and not thinking very clearly, and I did tell Teresa that I wished I could get Dell to drop the case. When I called Dell it was not to ask her to do that though. I did call and ask her if I could come and see her, but I wanted to talk to her to try to get her to get Ken to do more to protect Bob and the rest of the LMT. Even this was misguided because the fact is that Bob Minton and the LMT aren't Dell's problems, nor are they Ken's problems. Our plans now to distance ourselves from the case in every possible way stem from this fact -- the courts have been inundated with lies and innuendo and have totally bought into Scientology's claim that Bob and the LMT and the civil case are all the same thing, and they are allowing Scientology to use them to go after us.

Teresa wasn't there when I called Dell, because I called her from New Hampshire. So I don't know who told her the version of events that she described in her post. It isn't what happened.

I know for sure that someone has convinced Teresa that I have some magical ability to manipulate Bob, because Teresa used to comment to me all the time about how ridiculous it was for people to think that. She saw for herself that our relationship isn't like that at all. Now someone has convinced her that I am the great manipulator.

2) Regarding the LMT being dissolved -- I think I did use that word but it was the wrong word to use. What I meant was that the corporation was no longer going to be active in its current form. No action was taken for dissolution in any legal sense. But Teresa is wrong about the reasons given. It wasn't to protect me. It was to protect all of us. Again, the courts in Clearwater are allowing Scientology to run wild, and we are trying to do everything we can to protect those who are turning to us for help.

With regard to Bob's finances, again, Teresa knows Bob and knows how committed he has been to keeping the LMT going. Someone has planted these suspicions in her mind. It's just not how Teresa has ever been before.

Regarding my having pled the Fifth Amendment to a question about money laundering, I announced at the beginning of the deposition that I wasn't going to answer any questions about my personal finances or about Bob's personal finances. I pled the Fifth Amendment to any question that involved our finances and the advice of my attorney John Merrett was that I had to consistently plead the Fifth -- I couldn't pick and choose which questions I would answer and which I wouldn't because that might waive the privilege. So whenever I was asked any question about finances I invoked the privilege. It doesn't mean I've been laundering money.

I have never in my life told Teresa to mind her own business. She would come in and ask me questions and I would always answer them as well as I could. There is nothing I am doing that is not on the up and up. I think someone has filled Teresa's head with suspicions that have turned her against me. It just isn't like Teresa and she would never on her own say that I told her myob. It just never happened.

Teresa said in her post that the bottom line for me is my desperate bid to hang on to Bob Minton. All I can say is that I care about him immensely and respect what he is trying to do, and Teresa knows this. This attitude is not coming from the Teresa I knew. What I told Teresa many times was that I thought I must have a hand at my back because the only way I could be doing this work was if God was directing me to do it, because it can be so hurtful and sometimes I do hate it, yes. The part I hate the most is when something like this happens, because it is so hurtful I can hardly bear it. I also told her many times that I made it clear to Bob if he ever wanted to stop doing this work I would back him up on his decision a hundred percent, because I felt he had done so much already and I didn't think he ought to keep going to the point where he would allow Scientology to destroy him.

Many of these things I said to her were in confidence, the way one talks to one's best friend. I don't have many people I can trust with my thoughts, especially when my thoughts are troublesome. This is really stressful work and sometimes I have thoughts about the work and about myself that I would only share with someone I could trust to understand. It was really good to have Teresa as my friend, because we trusted each other and knew we could count on each other no matter what. Now someone has changed that. But I still consider that Teresa is my friend and I always will.

As for Teresa's expectation that I was going to call her a hateful liar, well, I guess it's clear by now that I'm not going to do that. I don't think she's a liar, and I would never call her one.

It's still hard for me to believe that she isn't here any more. Sometimes I catch myself thinking of something I want to tell her, and then I have to stop myself because I remember that she's gone. The World Trade Center was destroyed the day after I got her resignation letter. All I could think of as I watched the tower collapse was that I wished Teresa were there with me. I really miss her.

Stacy

-=-

Dear All,

I feel I need to make a couple of statements here. Many of you realize that I "left" the LMT some time ago. Today for the first time I got on ARS and I see a lot questions, some referring to me. There is a lot of mis-information out here. I think truth needs to be told in some areas.

1) Stacy Brooks did want to go to Texas and ask Dell to drop the LMT case. She blames Ken Dandar for screwing up the case so badly that she and Bob and the LMT were dragged into it. Neither she nor Bob can see that any of their actions have contributed to the mess that Scientology is creating. Scientology is evil. They are manipulating the court system as they always do, this is true. However, Bob and Stacy's actions have created a lot of problems and Scientology, being opportunists, have succeeded in taking their blunders and using them to botch up the case.

Stacy once explained to me that she thought of the LMT as a gekko (sp?) and the Lisa case was the tail. She wanted to get rid of the tail. She did not want Bob contributing money to the case any more. She told me about three months ago that she wanted to secretly contact Dell and convince her to drop the case. Secretly because neither Bob nor Ken could know. Someone told Jeff that Stacy was planning to do this and Jeff became very upset. Stacy outright lied to him and told him she had no plans of doing that. She was though. She did try, too. She called Dell and said she wanted to visit her...not telling Dell the reason. Dell, however, called Ken and told him Stacy wanted to come visit and Ken said....tell her NO. That was the end of that. However, she did manage to get Bob to stop funding the case. Which in the end may be a good thing. Lucky for all Ken cannot be manipulated by Stacy, though sadly Bob can be and is.

I still have no idea why Stacy felt she had any right at all to try to jump in and manipulate the case, except for the money thing.

2) I was told on September 6 in a meeting in Stacy's office with all members of the LMT attending, that "as of two days ago, the LMT has been dissolved." We were all told that we were now independent contractors. Two reasons were cited: no money and protecting Stacy from having to testify as to LMT money. I, personally, was very disturbed when I learned that hundreds of thousands of dollars had been donated to the LMT and given directly to Bob and then he turned around and told us there was not enough money to pay our salaries. Fine. In addition, in a follow up depostion Stacy plead the 5th to a question as to had she ever been involved with money laundering.

Ok. Whatever. I don't have the whole story on this stuff and when I ask question of Stacy I get --- myob. Ok. That's it for me. I am not going to put my neck on the line and be dragged into these depositions and support her if she is doing things that are not on the up-and-up. Or at least if she can't offer explanations.

3) I declined to continue working for the LMT as an independent contractor.

Since I left I have received calls from many people in the US and in other countries. I apologize to all of you for allowing myself to only get Stacy's side of things. I believe Stacy has misled me and outright lied on numerous occasions. I once told her that I would back her up until I myself saw her lying or manipulating. That day has come. I can no longer support her.

The bottom line for Stacy is her desperate bid to hang on to Bob Minton. She told me herself I don't know how many times that she hated working at the LMT and was only doing it for Bob. Well, in the end I saw how true that was.

I apologize to Patricia Greenway and Ursula Caberta for any role I had in harming them or their reputations after the catastrophic Leipzig trip.

As for Bob Minton, well I don't know Bob that well. I think he is a good guy at heart who has done a lot of good things for a lot of good people. I think he needs to take a break for about a month...away from Stacy and everyone else, and take care of himself a little bit. I think he dosen't care a whit what I think.

I still thank him for the opportunity to work at the LMT and help people. Also, I apologize to him for getting mad at him on the phone during our final conversation and screaming at him. I don't like behaving that way. I don't very often.

I am writing this because I think you all deserve to know the truth. I am sure you will now hear what a liar I am. Liar, hateful liar.

I'm signing out now. This has all been too crazy and I've done my part to help. On to different and better things.

Teresa Summers