Fair Game: Keith Henson, Hot Report Pre Picket from Hemet, 23 Feb 2002

hkhenson@cogeco.ca (Keith Henson)
Hot Report Pre Picket from Hemet
23 Feb 2002

Toronto got a picket today, some dianetic thing, and we kept at least one person of substantial means out of the cult. More later. But at the end of the picket, I got a cell phone call from Arel that Edwin Richardson was at Ida's. Here is her report. Keith Henson

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Edwin Richardson just paid Ida and me a visit at her house. I answered the door, expecting another picketer. Standing on the outside of the locked screen was this tall dark guy who looked very familiar. "Hello, you know me," he said.

When I didn't respond, he worked his face into a resemblance of his smile and said his name. I think I then backed up a bit and asked Ida if there was someone she wanted to call, such as the park manager. I told her that "Mr. Richardson" was here. Ida came to the door as well. She was not happy at Mr. Richardson's unannounced visit. "The sheriff is here to keep the peace," Richardson said. "Where is the sheriff," I asked. "He's parked out front," Richardson said. I went to the drapes at the front of the living room and looked out. I saw the sheriff's SUV.

When I went back to the door, Richardson was saying, "I just wanted you to know that we know about the post." He was looking at me more than at Ida.

"What post?" I asked.

"The post about the pipe bomb and the cake," he said.

"What?" I asked. I was feeling as if I had just heard some Edward Lear nonsense--he might as well have said, "The Owl and the Pussycat."

"I just want you to know what we know about the post about the pipe bomb and the cake," he repeated mechanically. Ida was telling him that we know that people post things on a.r.s. or elsewhere that threaten themselves.

He said again that the sheriff was here to keep the peace, as if we two old ladies would rush out and attack him with pipe bombs or possibly with cakes.

I said I wanted to talk with the sheriff. He said I could (kind of him, I thought).

Knowing that the sheriff was there, I unlocked the screen and went outside.

Ida followed me, leaving both doors open. I noticed that Richardson was walking away from the house ahead of me toward the sheriff's car. He told the sheriff that we wanted to talk with him. He went around the other side and apparently went to a car and sat in it while we talked with the sheriff through the passenger window, which the sheriff deputy lowered for us. The deputy was Deputy Gonzales, I discovered when we both asked for cards from him.

He was polite and straightforward, flanked by his (probably) semiautomatic weapon in its built-in slot by his right hand. Deputy Gonzales told us that the Hemet police would ordinarily have answered such a request, but that he had been out at "gold" as part of an investigation there. When I questioned him about it, "I suppose you can't say anything about the investigation?"

He shook his head.

He said that Richardson had requested accompaniment in the course of his "line of business." I asked what that business was. Richardson was still there and seemed somewhat put out that I should ask. The deputy looked at Richardson and Richardson (through the driver's side window) said something about how I knew that. I reiterated to Deputy Gonzales that I wanted to know what Richardson's line of business was. Gonzales then said that he is a private investigator at about the same time that Richardson said it.

I told Deputy Gonzales exactly what Richardson had said and that we didn't know what he was talking about as far as any threat was concerned. I said that he was probably trying to keep us from picketing "gold" today. The deputy asked if we intended to picket today. I said that we did.

He said he wanted to give his boss a "heads-up" and what time would we be out there. We said probably in a couple of hours. He said they would be off at 5, and said they would be aware that they might receive a call until dark. I said we were afraid to go there after dark or that we didn't go there after dark, I don't remember, and Ida reiterated that.

Ida invited the deputy to lunch and told him she would fill him in. The deputy said several times during the conversation that they didn't know much and that it was unfortunate. He said they were "secretive." I warned him both that Ida is a good cook and that what she tells him might be very hard to believe because the founder of $-ology told his followers to depend on people's not believing what they're about.

I told the deputy that we promised that we had made no threats, that we intended nobody any harm, and that we would carry no weapons of any kind, not so much as a toothpick. I told him in generalities about Keith's case--he knew something about it--and how they pretend to receive threats to scare away picketers. I told him I was trying to move out of California and out of the United States and that the $-ologists had chased my husband out of the country.

I told the deputy that we would only carry picket signs and walk along the highway.

He said he was glad to know what we intended and that he would report that.

I told him we knew nothing of the "threat." He said we might see him at "gold" along with another deputy or deputies, and that they expected to get a call about us. He seemed clueless about the Kult. If I see any deputies this afternoon during picketing I will be sure to give them my card with some URLs on it--"Through the Looking Glass" and http://www.operatingthetan.com

So if we get arrested--you'll know why. (I think they're just trying to scare us.)

Love to all,

Arel

[This was posted just as I heard they were leaving Ida's to go picket gold. hkh]