Clearwater
Sun
December ? 1979
Nancy and
her neo-Nazis
[photo
of Scientologist in Nazi uniform]
So here come these
Scientologists dressed up as Nazi storm troopers, goose-stepping along
Myrtle Avenue toward the offices of the Clearwater Sun.
And with them
comes Nancy Reitze, their stony-eyed Madonna of propaganda, bearing a
sheaf of off-the-wall prose that talks about persecution and Nazis and
Jews and pre-war Germany.
The entire
procession, looking as if it had just escaped from a Munich beer hall,
stops in front of the Sun and proceeds to seig-heil and orate and just
have a marvelous time trying to embarrass the Sun and our editor and
reporters and whomever might be standing around.
It happened at 2
p.m. Friday in broad daylight, and at last Clearwater and the world got
a chance to see Scientology in its true colors.
Thanks,
Scientologists. We needed that. We knew that sooner or later you’d
take off those civilian clothes and wear your natural plumage. But we
didn’t think you’d call in the TV cameras and other news media to
witness your doing it.
Nothing we can
write could describe Scientologists any better than they did themselves
on Friday. In their attempt to point an accusing finger at the Sun, the
cult further convicted itself.
The cult’s
members are, shall we say, miffed at the Sun for telling the truth about
Scientology. The wienerschnitzel follies they staged on Friday was their
way of diverting attention from themselves.
Thousands of
Suncoast residents switched on their TV last night and witnessed the
Scientologists-Nazis. Newspaper readers awoke this morning to find the
story on their front lawns.
We predict the
reaction of most viewers and readers was the same as the bystander near
the Sun on Friday who wanted to slug one of Ms. Reitze’s Wehmacht.
He said he’d
fought those so-and-so’s in World War II, and he was ready to do it
again.
If the Sun was
supposed to be intimidated by all these antics, we aren’t. We feel the
same way about the Scientologists, only moreso.
Readers who wish
to express their own feeling about Scientology may do so today at 11
a.m. at Clearwater city hall.
A rally and parade
will be held. It will a chance for all of us to exercise our freedom of
assembly, freedom of expression and our freedom from fear.
Persons who attend
this event will be showing they are fed up with Scientologists, with
out-of-town interlopers and their neo-Nazi charades, with vacant-eyed
men and women who walk our downtown streets with their engrams dangling.
Friday, Clearwater
got its clearest view of the Scientologists.
This morning, we
hope Clearwater will show the Scientologists a clear, unmistakable view
of us.
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