This story is truly funny... I happen to live in Chilliwack and have
been looking for an Auditing partner to move forward with what I am
learning from the Dianetics books I am reading... I wonder if Gerry
Armstrong would be interested in letting me try out the Dianetic
principles on... He might need some auditing...

I am holding a copy of the issue in question and can confirn the story
does actually apear there. Seems that he is not a man to be trusted
though... he agreed to not speak out against the church and yet he
does just that. You cannot trust a person that goes back on their
agreements.

Wanlorn
~ Not a Scientologist, though I am proud to live in a world that
accepts them for all the good they do. ~

On Wed, 24 Nov 2004 00:14:20 GMT, Gerry Armstrong
<gerry@gerryarmstrong.org> wrote:

>Webbed at:
>http://www.gerryarmstrong.org/50grand/media/chilliwack-times-2004-11-23.html#text
>
>TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2004 CHILLIWACK TIMES
>
>Collapse of Soviet Regime left country open to cults
>
>By Mike Chouinard
>mchouinard@chilliwacktimes.com
>
>A local man engaged in a long-standing battle with the Church of
>Scientology recently took his message to the ends of the earth -- in
>this case, Siberia.
>
>Gerry Armstrong spent nine days at a conference called Totalitarian
>Cults and the Democratic State, held in Novosibirsk, the Siberian
>capital. About 600 people attended to hear approximately 20 speakers,
>including Armstrong, speak on a number of topics.
>
>"It was a big thing in the area and will have considerable impact,"
>Armstrong said, adding that conference organizers plan to publish all
>the presentations, likely this winter.
>
>Some of the presentations, he said, were more generalized, while some
>focused on specific groups or trends such as the rise of Islamic
>cultism.
>
>"Mine, of course, was specific to Scientology," he added.
>
>According to Armstrong, Russia has been a conducive environment for
>new cults to take root because of the vacuum left when the old Soviet
>regime collapsed.
>
>"Their experience really relates to the fall of communism...so it has
>been rather fertile ground for cults."
>
>However, he credits the Russian Orthodox Church for its efforts to
>stop this trend.
>
>Armstrong, who was born in Chilliwack and now lives here again, used
>to work closely with the late Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard but
>left in the early 1980s. He has been in court on occasion in the time
>since for speaking out and setting up a Web site about his experiences
>as well as criticizing Scientology for how it treats its critics.
>
>The name of his paper at the Russian conference was 'Scientology: Cult
>of Total Espionage', and he said his experience this time at the
>conference was a little different compared with past ones. This time
>he had some extra security and faced no disruptions, which he said
>Scientology supporters had caused in the past.
>
>"They have on those occasions jumped up and tried to create a
>situation."
>
>Now back in Chilliwack, Armstrong is preparing his response to the
>Church of Scientology's appeal of a Marin County court decision this
>spring.
>
>At that time a judge said Armstrong owed the Church of Scientology
>$500,000 (U.S.), although the group had been seeking a figure in the
>neighborhood of $10 million (U.S.). For Armstrong, the matter is one
>of freedom of speech. One the other hand Church of Scientology
>representatives have said they simply want Armstrong to stick to an
>agreement not to speak out about his experiences. Armstrong has to
>file his response to the appeal by Dec. 9.
>
>© Gerry Armstrong
>http://www.gerryarmstrong.org