At those peak years, I was the Warehousing Department Coordinator...... and carried the responsibility of overseeing the organization, work flow, safety, and evolving potential of the warehouse facility.This cult warehouse transitioned from a forklift workplace to a fitness-for-living workout facility in the evening to a daycare facility during Sunday teaching services.
By 1981,1982, twi was in transition from the BRC to the Auditorium.........and was utilizing the OSC lunch room for Corps Night teachings and Sunday Teaching Services. To best accommodate wierwille and other teachers/emcees, a makeshift backroom was constructed that extended out into the warehouse. Like all things (it seemed) at headquarters, this slapped-up project was "temporary".........and remained a permanent feature for years to come. It was still there in 1995 when I last attended the roa. And, I would imagine that it's STILL there......an ugly, protruding wart out into the warehouse.
I can't help but laugh........with some $68 Million in assets, you'd think that twi has a better handle on things, no?
And, that Auditorium that they built.......with all its bells and whistles of a production rehearsal room, orchestra pit, welcoming lobby and lavish balcony...
What productions?.........except, the Swinging Ladies of The Way. LOL
What orchestra?.........it scattered to the winds within a year of the Auditorium opening.
What welcoming lobby?.........the cold, icy glares of armed security watching at the doors.
What lavish balcony?..........the one that no one sits in, because they can't fill the bottom rows.
Heck, they can't even get enough sign-ups of advanced class students each year to justify running that class. What a pathetic waste of human and financial resources. I suppose they'll teach ........read a sermon on "Joyful Giving" this coming Sunday as the staffers sleepwalk thru another service.
In those Night Owls Meetings in 1980/1981.......wierwille invariably focused on the wierwille heritage, homestead, spiritual impetus and future momentum. He also noted that twi needed more property and that a couple of the old farmers might soon be selling land that was west of the Way Woods and to the north of the OSC Building. Wierwille kept a vigilant eye (pun intended) on the developments........and when the neighboring farmer died, wierwille swiftly moved in to buy this property. The purchasing of this land made way for the building of a staff dormitory "Founders Hall" and the defunct Auditorium.
After all the hoopla of the "president-elect year" (propping up martindale's stature and image), Living Victoriously in July 1982 and then, the installation of the 2nd President of Twi ...............much of the Manufactured Process at hq turned its eyes on the financing and building the Auditorium. The OSC dining room was the center of massive labor output each week as it transitioned between food services AND Wednesday night corps meetings AND Sunday teaching services AND monthly Staff Meetings. All of this OSC dining room activity kept the in-residence corps and the multi-services department busy bees.
Expectations and excitement were building as wierwille and martindale hyped the growing stages of a future auditorium........prompting donors to give $1,000 and have their names added to a displayed Donor's List, wierwille and geer walking the auditorium grounds and staking out its perimeter, architects building a model and displaying it in the OSC Lobby, the groundbreaking in March 1984, and finally the Grand Opening on March 17, 1985 with hundreds of twi's clergy (in robes) making a grand entrance, and seated front-and-center, in direction and honor of one Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille.
Two months and three days later........wierwille was dead.
The spiritualizing of his time of death began.....
Within days of wierwille's death......the Manufactured Process of the cult moved into this production phase of "Athletes of the Spirit." So, while martindale was frolicking across the stage in tights........there was this emotional/psychological upheaval when wierwille exited stage left feet-first.
The Man in Tights never had a clue of the coming exodus.
The Auditorium, also...........has a blundering backstory.
Although there was input from wierwille, martindale, geer, rivenbark, winegarner, coulter, architects, production personnel, etc.............the auditorium has major flaws that should have been foreseen by competent people.
The front entrance of the auditorium should face west.....not north. It makes no sense for the front entrance of the auditorium to face north towards Wierwille Rd with a tree line blocking some of the view. Once in the parking lot, the vast majority of people will see the building from the west side vantage point.
Wierwille claimed to build his whole ministry on *teaching*.......so, why is the auditorium primarily focused on production?
The whole construct of the auditorium is impersonal.....unless you're coming to see a grand production and it needs elevation for all to see.
The orchestra pit was a must when twi had an orchestra. Yeah, that lasted a long time......LOL
Since a cult moves in groups, classes, 2-hour teachings.......everyone needs to use the bathroom at the SAME time. The auditorium should have been built with 3X as many bathroom facilities to accommodate the time constraints. Running advanced classes in the auditorium was a joke.
The auditorium lobby was cold and echo-y. If the entrance faced west, then the lobby would have had the western sun warming it.
The lobby windows were a major blunder. Facing north, these windows didn't provide the insulation needed.....and they leaked when it rained heavily.
This auditorium seats 1,440........and it rarely has the bottom level seats full.
All those brass railing add for lots of polishing that manufactured process.
Since a cult moves in groups, classes, 2-hour teachings.......everyone needs to use the bathroom at the SAME time. The auditorium should have been built with 3X as many bathroom facilities to accommodate the time constraints.
Who needs plumbing codes when you have divine revelation? /s
the concentrated glut of activity at a "central complex" is strikingly strange. Hundreds upon hundreds of staffers working at a *headquarters compound* in offices, trailer units, service outbuildings, barns, grounds maintenance and an auditorium in the woods was deemed the "spiritual epicenter of the world" by its founder victor paul wierwille.
Been watching Leah Remini's expose of Scientology on the A&E channel. They have a location like TWi, hidden away in the hills of Riverside county CA.
Who needs plumbing codes when you have divine revelation? /s
I know...........in fact, who needs common sense when you have divine revelation? /s
All you need is architects like Randy Z. sitting in an office drawing up sh!t-for-brain plans and calling it good.
~~~~~~~~~
Another Warehousing incident.........
More storage space was needed for accounting/finances/legal departments......and the architects were in the planning/design stages of using the west end of the warehouse. They'd been studying those sliding-track systems to maximize storage and facilitate access to file cabinets behind file cabinets. The concrete floor needed to be torn up and steel tracks set in place to slide large cabinets back and forth. Anyways, I got wind of it and thought it was nuts! I went to my area coordinator, A.J....and told him how this would compromise that whole section from further use during special events. Many people just had no idea how vastly diversified that warehouse was used throughout the year. A multi-purpose warehouse....for a multi-purpose cult. The foot-traffic alone, with finance staff carrying R-Kive boxes back and forth, would have been a major safety hazard and time-management factor on multiple levels. Sheesh.
So, I quickly studied up on mezzanine usage and sent my proposal to A.J. B3rreta and Howard Allen. The mezzanine would be installed over the shipping/receiving area and other offices....the high ceilings were empty space anyways. Next day, Howard sent back a short note to me thru interoffice mail......"Best idea I've seen on this."
Why don't the big guys get off their high horses and ask?
9. Twi is a piker......compared to Scientology. With hundreds of millions and a cult empire at stake. Scientology is ruthless.
Last night on the latest Scientology series by Leah Remini...........it highlighted Scientology's ruthless tactics to takeover Clearwater, FL and claim it as *their Scientology City* for the world to see. City officials were fighting this in 1983.....when, city officials claim, Scientology was taking in ONE MILLION dollars a day worldwide.
The Scientology believers, dressed in uniform, walk around downtown Clearwater......in what appears as a "ghost town."
[ ..... When I think of twi's Camp Gunnison in the dead of winter........I can't help but think of that 1980 movie The Shining. ]
Ha! He didn't get the moniker "round windows" for no reason...
I was not privy to this moniker......
All I know is that A.J. told me the architects were tasked with the finance/legal storage problem and they were ready to order that track-system filing/storage set-up in the west end of the warehouse. The number of reasons why I was not willing to allow it:
The multi-purpose use of the west end of warehouse:
Staging area for loading/unloading from various departments before storage into warehouse
During roa, refrigerated and freezer semis were parked at west end of warehouse....and this area was vital
Forklift training.........this open space was utilized to help train others on various forklifts
In the early 80s, twi had major limb homes.......and lots of furniture, at times, was staged in west end
With Sunday teachings in OSC.......this west end was utilized for children's activities during meeting
Safety......the less foot-traffic wandering in and out of the warehouse, the better.
Time management......with mezzanine, it allowed staffers to step onto mezzanine from 2nd Floor
Win/win all around.......A.J. and receiving dept got a legitimate roof over their offices (warmer in winter)
Since a cult moves in groups, classes, 2-hour teachings.......everyone needs to use the bathroom at the SAME time. The auditorium should have been built with 3X as many bathroom facilities to accommodate the time constraints. Running advanced classes in the auditorium was a joke.
To clarify further.........
When advanced classes were run in the auditorium......bathroom breaks were like 15-minutes long. People quickly stood in line at the bathrooms, while others went outside for a smoke break (early 90s). The ONLY way to accommodate this situation was to allow one of the men's bathrooms upstairs and the one downstairs to be utilized by the women. In other words, it took longer for the women to utilize the facilities than the men........
Welcome to the Advanced Class........where attention to spiritual details is everything. LOL
When I took the advanced class at Emporia, I would stand in line at the ladies' room door for ten minutes, get right up to the door, and here would come the trustee's wives, and frequently Mrs. Wierwille. The ladies room would be closed for their convenience and rest of us would be ushered back to our seats, bladders aching. One person actually complained and was promptly reminded if the privilege she was given to be there, and the greater privilege of waiting for the next break, when it would happen all over again.
"Privilege"..by any chance, was that straight from Rozilla? That's her standard response to complaints that thinks are done wrong. "You have many privileges with this that can easily be taken away." (Don't like how we're instructing you to do things? We can task you with making bricks without straw....) Subtle THREATS as a management style. Not what you'd expect from a religious organization...
Been watching Leah Remini's expose of Scientology on the A&E channel.
When at Scientology "Gold Base".........the only way to make a phone call to ANYONE OUTSIDE THE CULT was to go thru in-house phone dispatch. Scientology controlled the accessibility to contact/converse with "the outside world." The Scientology Cult held the levers of power over their followers in this regard...
The Scientology Cult could deny you access to speak with your parents or loved ones.
........they could use this power as a means to manipulate and indoctrinate you for lifetime servitude.
........they could use this leverage to control your behavior/dissent.
........they could use this to monitor your contacts/conversations.
........they could deny you phone calls if/when you dissented.
........they could deny that you were not even there.
While at Twi's HQ...........we needed to go thru main switchboard to get an outside line.
While in-residence in Emporia.......we needed to go thru main switchboard to talk to our parents, friends and loved ones.
While in-residence in Emporia.......we needed to go thru main switchboard to talk to our parents, friends and loved ones.
Surveillance tactics ??
Control ??
Yep.
When I went thru my deprogramming experience............my brother and mother told me that it raised alarm when they couldn't reach me at Emporia or Camp Gunnison without going thru a controller, a switchboard person. I supposed this really did seem strange to them.......especially when all that "cult awareness" was hurled around 1977-1983.
Wasn't it in November 1978......that the Jim Jones cult and the mass suicide hit national news?
When I went thru my deprogramming experience............my brother and mother told me that it raised alarm when they couldn't reach me at Emporia or Camp Gunnison without going thru a controller, a switchboard person. I supposed this really did seem strange to them.......especially when all that "cult awareness" was hurled around 1977-1983.
Wasn't it in November 1978......that the Jim Jones cult and the mass suicide hit national news?
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skyrider
By 1981,1982, twi was in transition from the BRC to the Auditorium.........and was utilizing the OSC lunch room for Corps Night teachings and Sunday Teaching Services. To best accommodate wierwille and other teachers/emcees, a makeshift backroom was constructed that extended out into the warehouse. Like all things (it seemed) at headquarters, this slapped-up project was "temporary".........and remained a permanent feature for years to come. It was still there in 1995 when I last attended the roa. And, I would imagine that it's STILL there......an ugly, protruding wart out into the warehouse.
I can't help but laugh........with some $68 Million in assets, you'd think that twi has a better handle on things, no?
And, that Auditorium that they built.......with all its bells and whistles of a production rehearsal room, orchestra pit, welcoming lobby and lavish balcony...
Heck, they can't even get enough sign-ups of advanced class students each year to justify running that class. What a pathetic waste of human and financial resources. I suppose they'll
teach........read a sermon on "Joyful Giving" this coming Sunday as the staffers sleepwalk thru another service.Link to comment
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skyrider
In those Night Owls Meetings in 1980/1981.......wierwille invariably focused on the wierwille heritage, homestead, spiritual impetus and future momentum. He also noted that twi needed more property and that a couple of the old farmers might soon be selling land that was west of the Way Woods and to the north of the OSC Building. Wierwille kept a vigilant eye (pun intended) on the developments........and when the neighboring farmer died, wierwille swiftly moved in to buy this property. The purchasing of this land made way for the building of a staff dormitory "Founders Hall" and the defunct Auditorium.
After all the hoopla of the "president-elect year" (propping up martindale's stature and image), Living Victoriously in July 1982 and then, the installation of the 2nd President of Twi ...............much of the Manufactured Process at hq turned its eyes on the financing and building the Auditorium. The OSC dining room was the center of massive labor output each week as it transitioned between food services AND Wednesday night corps meetings AND Sunday teaching services AND monthly Staff Meetings. All of this OSC dining room activity kept the in-residence corps and the multi-services department busy bees.
Expectations and excitement were building as wierwille and martindale hyped the growing stages of a future auditorium........prompting donors to give $1,000 and have their names added to a displayed Donor's List, wierwille and geer walking the auditorium grounds and staking out its perimeter, architects building a model and displaying it in the OSC Lobby, the groundbreaking in March 1984, and finally the Grand Opening on March 17, 1985 with hundreds of twi's clergy (in robes) making a grand entrance, and seated front-and-center, in direction and honor of one Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille.
Two months and three days later........wierwille was dead.
The spiritualizing of his time of death began.....
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skyrider
Within days of wierwille's death......the Manufactured Process of the cult moved into this production phase of "Athletes of the Spirit." So, while martindale was frolicking across the stage in tights........there was this emotional/psychological upheaval when wierwille exited stage left feet-first.
The Man in Tights never had a clue of the coming exodus.
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skyrider
The Auditorium, also...........has a blundering backstory.
Although there was input from wierwille, martindale, geer, rivenbark, winegarner, coulter, architects, production personnel, etc.............the auditorium has major flaws that should have been foreseen by competent people.
A Series of Blunders
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waysider
Who needs plumbing codes when you have divine revelation? /s
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Rejoice
Been watching Leah Remini's expose of Scientology on the A&E channel. They have a location like TWi, hidden away in the hills of Riverside county CA.
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skyrider
Oh Yeah........that Scientology series is riveting. From all that I've seen, I would say that Scientology is at the APEX of cult dynasties:
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skyrider
I know...........in fact, who needs common sense when you have divine revelation? /s
All you need is architects like Randy Z. sitting in an office drawing up sh!t-for-brain plans and calling it good.
~~~~~~~~~
Another Warehousing incident.........
More storage space was needed for accounting/finances/legal departments......and the architects were in the planning/design stages of using the west end of the warehouse. They'd been studying those sliding-track systems to maximize storage and facilitate access to file cabinets behind file cabinets. The concrete floor needed to be torn up and steel tracks set in place to slide large cabinets back and forth. Anyways, I got wind of it and thought it was nuts! I went to my area coordinator, A.J....and told him how this would compromise that whole section from further use during special events. Many people just had no idea how vastly diversified that warehouse was used throughout the year. A multi-purpose warehouse....for a multi-purpose cult. The foot-traffic alone, with finance staff carrying R-Kive boxes back and forth, would have been a major safety hazard and time-management factor on multiple levels. Sheesh.
So, I quickly studied up on mezzanine usage and sent my proposal to A.J. B3rreta and Howard Allen. The mezzanine would be installed over the shipping/receiving area and other offices....the high ceilings were empty space anyways. Next day, Howard sent back a short note to me thru interoffice mail......"Best idea I've seen on this."
Why don't the big guys get off their high horses and ask?
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TLC
Ha! He didn't get the moniker "round windows" for no reason...
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skyrider
Last night on the latest Scientology series by Leah Remini...........it highlighted Scientology's ruthless tactics to takeover Clearwater, FL and claim it as *their Scientology City* for the world to see. City officials were fighting this in 1983.....when, city officials claim, Scientology was taking in ONE MILLION dollars a day worldwide.
The Scientology believers, dressed in uniform, walk around downtown Clearwater......in what appears as a "ghost town."
[ ..... When I think of twi's Camp Gunnison in the dead of winter........I can't help but think of that 1980 movie The Shining. ]
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skyrider
I was not privy to this moniker......
All I know is that A.J. told me the architects were tasked with the finance/legal storage problem and they were ready to order that track-system filing/storage set-up in the west end of the warehouse. The number of reasons why I was not willing to allow it:
The multi-purpose use of the west end of warehouse:
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skyrider
To clarify further.........
When advanced classes were run in the auditorium......bathroom breaks were like 15-minutes long. People quickly stood in line at the bathrooms, while others went outside for a smoke break (early 90s). The ONLY way to accommodate this situation was to allow one of the men's bathrooms upstairs and the one downstairs to be utilized by the women. In other words, it took longer for the women to utilize the facilities than the men........
Welcome to the Advanced Class........where attention to spiritual details is everything. LOL
.
Edited by skyriderLink to comment
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Watered Garden
When I took the advanced class at Emporia, I would stand in line at the ladies' room door for ten minutes, get right up to the door, and here would come the trustee's wives, and frequently Mrs. Wierwille. The ladies room would be closed for their convenience and rest of us would be ushered back to our seats, bladders aching. One person actually complained and was promptly reminded if the privilege she was given to be there, and the greater privilege of waiting for the next break, when it would happen all over again.
Edited by Watered GardenSpelling
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WordWolf
"Privilege"..by any chance, was that straight from Rozilla? That's her standard response to complaints that thinks are done wrong. "You have many privileges with this that can easily be taken away." (Don't like how we're instructing you to do things? We can task you with making bricks without straw....) Subtle THREATS as a management style. Not what you'd expect from a religious organization...
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Twinky
Surprised there weren't special "executive" toilets for the trustees' wives.
Should have gone out and peed in the woods.
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skyrider
When at Scientology "Gold Base".........the only way to make a phone call to ANYONE OUTSIDE THE CULT was to go thru in-house phone dispatch. Scientology controlled the accessibility to contact/converse with "the outside world." The Scientology Cult held the levers of power over their followers in this regard...
While at Twi's HQ...........we needed to go thru main switchboard to get an outside line.
While in-residence in Emporia.......we needed to go thru main switchboard to talk to our parents, friends and loved ones.
Surveillance tactics ??
Control ??
Yep.
Link to comment
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skyrider
When I went thru my deprogramming experience............my brother and mother told me that it raised alarm when they couldn't reach me at Emporia or Camp Gunnison without going thru a controller, a switchboard person. I supposed this really did seem strange to them.......especially when all that "cult awareness" was hurled around 1977-1983.
Wasn't it in November 1978......that the Jim Jones cult and the mass suicide hit national news?
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WordWolf
Yes. November 18, 1978, fo be specific.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonestown
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Rocky
Wow... 40 years ago. When the 9th corpse was in its first year in rez at Emporia.
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