On May 6, 2006, from 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm, a group of Scientology critics, accompanied by residents of Leona Valley (a small community north of LA) will picket the Monterey Park office of Los Angeles Sheriff Leroy Baca. The protest will then move to 6331 Hollywood Boulevard, which houses the offices of the Church of Scientology's "intelligence and dirty tricks squad," the Office of Special Affairs.
The protesters are demanding that Baca sever his ties to the controversial church and stop promoting its Narconon program, an expensive drug treatment regimen that has been bluntly criticized by medical professionals as scientifically unsound and potentially dangerous. Narconon is often mistaken for Narcotics Anonymous, but the two programs are completely unrelated, and in some ways, diametrically opposed. More information is available at the Narconon-Exposed and Stop-Narconon web sites.
http://Narconon-Exposed.org http://Stop-Narconon.org In January 2006, Baca wrote the Los Angeles County Department of Regional Planning to support Narconon's application to open a new faclity in Leona Valley. The residents of that town have made it very clear that they do not want Narconon in their midst. County Supervisor Michael Antonovich has since expressed serious concerns about Narconon, and the planning commission has scheduled an appeal hearing for July 25.
Baca's curious relationship with Scientology goes back a number of years. In 2004 he appeared on a Scientology float at the Hollywood Christmas parade with actress Sophia Milos of the show CSI Miami (who is also currently dating San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.)
He also participated in an event sponsored by a Scientology front group, ABLE International, the parent organization of Narconon, where he accepted an award. In 2006, Baca appeared at a fundraiser for another Scientology group, the cynically named "Youth for Human Rights International". Scientology's gross violations of its own members' human rights, and those of its critics, are well documented.
More information about Baca's Scientology ties is available here:
http://Stop-Narconon.org/Baca For press inquiries or picket information, contact:
Barbara Graham
Email:
ophidia@cox.net Phone: 619-269-9368