From braintree!news.sprintlink.net!howland.reston.ans.net!ix.netcom.com!netcom.com!janda Wed Sep 27 15:57:10 1995
Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology
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From: janda@netcom.com (Keith "Justified And Ancient" Cochran)
Subject: SCIENTOLOGISTS DELETED DATA BEFORE RETURNING COMPUTERS
Message-ID: <jandaDFIKI7.65s@netcom.com>
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Date: Tue, 26 Sep 1995 13:08:30 GMT
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[From The Rocky Mountain News, Page 20A. All typos mine, used without
permission.]
SCIENTOLOGISTS DELETED DATA BEFORE RETURNING COMPUTERS
By Tillie Fong
Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer
The Church of Scientology defied a federal judge and deleted material
from the computers and floppy disks of two critics from Boulder before
returning them Monday.
"We are not ... returning our sacred, confidential, unpublished and
copyrighted scriptures," Warren McShane, a church leader in Los Angeles,
wrote in a letter that accompanied the return of the computers to the
law officies of Faegre & Benson in Denver.
The missing documents prompted attorneys for church critics Robert
Penny and Lawrence Wollensheim[sic] to file a contempt motion in
federal court.
The church had filed a motion in Denver U.S. District Court to keep
the hard drives, floppy disks, and a compact disk, claiming their
return would be "sacrilege."
A federal judge in Denver this month ordered the computers and materials
returned to Penny and Wollensheim[sic], who are being sued by the church
for copyright infringement. The church appealed to U.S. Supreme Court,
which rejected the plea.
"The plaintiffs did not follow Judge (John) Kane's order," attorneys
Tom Kelley and Natalie Hanlon-Leh said in a statement. "The original
computer drives were not return but ... altered copies (were)."
Kelley said the deleted materials were the so-called secret scriptures.
"It's a very small percentage," he said. "Nontheless, they were the
most important materials in this case."
Attorneys and representatives of the church contended they were in
compliance with the court.
"We gave everything except for small portion of the confidential
documents," said Leisa Goodman, media relations representative for
the Church of Scientology.
"We're entitled to them. They were stolen in the first place. We
believe no one has the right to take these basic religious rights
(from us)."
Kelley disputed that assertion. "They're claiming the right to
unlawfully seize something that the court has decided was not
properly seized," he said.
The computers and disks of Penny and Wollensheim[sic], both former
Scientology members, were seized by federal marshals and Church
officials armed with search warrants on Aug. 22.
The church claims the two had violated copyright laws by publishing
Scientology materials on 48,000 electronic bulletion boards.
[End of article]
I haven't heard about the federal courthouse exploding yet. I wonder
if Judge Kane has heard about what happened?
I would expect to see arrest warrents go out for all the lawyers
involved, McShane, and possibly some other people on contempt of
court charges real soon now.
Wow. That foot must be dangling by just a few strange of flesh by
now.
--
Attention Cult of Scientology: We Are Everywhere!
ÿ