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CITY OF CLEARWATER COMMISSION HEARINGS RE: THE CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY |
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EXHIBIT IX: AFFIDAVIT OF ADELLE HARTWELL I, Adelle Hartwell, hereby depose and state under pains and penalties of perjury: I have read the affidavit of my husband, Ernest Hartwell, describing our experiences with the Church of Scientology and I affirm the contents of that affidavit. During the three weeks that Ernie and I were together at the "base" in Indio, I could see what they were doing to him. He had no one to talk to and everyone was treating him like a criminal. I kept asking them to help him, give him some auditing, and help him settle down, but they wouldn't. He was getting very upset, and their lies and broken promises were making him worse, and we were having more and more trouble getting along and figuring a way out of that complicated mess. I tried to talk with Ver Dawn about the troubles I was having with Ernie, but they told me I should never tell any of my problems to Ver Dawn. This made me feel very isolated. Finally, on the last day Ernie was there we spent three hours together and realized just how much we did love each other. But I felt I should stay at the base while Ernie went back to Las Vegas to get back on his feet again, so that I could be with Ver Dawn and have a chance to get some auditing. They still had not given me any auditing and I was anxious to get some because I still thought it might improve my health problems. And we were both very worried about Ver Dawn who seemed to be brainwashed. After Ernie left I became very depressed and cried for days. I was given several auditing sessions, but nothing like what I had been promised and it just added to my confusion. For the rest of the summer I worked on the film production in costume and make-up work. The work was long and hard, with very irregular hours. I was always required to work for people who didn't have the slightest idea what they were doing. They were invariably insulting, obscene, arbitrary, erratic and given to angry outbursts, just like Ron. Their favorite thing was to threaten R.P.F. Although I was never sent there, almost everyone else at the base was put in R.P.F. at one time or another. The food was always very poor and in short supply. When we were working on a set we were often not fed at all, sometimes for twelve hours at a stretch. About a month after Ernie left the base, the base "Chaplain" Fred Rock told me that Ernie had blown security after getting back to Las Vegas, by telling people about the base. He said he was going to go up to Vegas to handle the situation. That evening he wanted to see me. He wanted me and Ver Dawn to fill out passport papers and he wanted a passport photo of me. He said that the story was that the base was going to move overseas. Everyone would disseminate this story and take the heat off Ron. Fred Rock also told me he needed my marriage license and Ver Dawn's and my birth certificate. This whole thing made me very upset because I realized that I was lying to Ernie. Later, when Fred got back from Las Vegas he told me that it was not Ernie who had blown security. He told me Ernie was OK and that was all he told me. Later, Fred went into the R.P.F. for saying the word "scientology" on a golf course where a wog might hear it. A wog was a person outside of scientology. While I was at the base I rarely got to see Ver Dawn. At first she was busy all the time acting as one of Ron's messengers. Then she got into trouble and was put into R.P.F. She got in trouble because one day she left a box of papers next to the shredding machine. This was considered a breach of security and she was punished. In the R.P.F. Ver Dawn was not allowed to talk to anyone, and so I was totally out of touch with her. She was made to run everyplace. They were made to do menial labor. Their mattresses were put outside. When Ver Dawn was in R.P.F. she became ill. During the heat of the day I would see her moving her mattress from one shady spot to another to try and keep out of the blazing sun and 115º heat. I have never seen illness treated this way. Eventually Ver Dawn was released from R.P.F. and went back working for Ron. For awhile she worked on the night shift for him. Then she became ill again and developed a fever. Anyone with a fever is placed in isolation so as not to spread anything to Ron. This is the main job of the medical officer, putting sick people in isolation. They wouldn't let her out of there, even when she only had a fever of one degree. Sick people were treated like enemies of Ron. At one time they had 13 people in a small room that was so filled with smoke you could barely breathe because of the chain smokers. The only attention they were given was to have their fever checked, and be given food and vitamins. Only if they stayed sick for a long while was a doctor called. Anyone who went to the doctor had to go under a fake name. Ver Dawn was kept in this hell hole for two months. Finally, when I had to leave because I just couldn't take it anymore, she was still there. It was very upsetting to me to leave her there, but I just couldn't stay in that place any longer. During this time my own health was getting worse because of the bad food and crazy schedule. Several times I passed out while on the job and I was losing weight. By September my condition had gotten so bad they decided to send me to a doctor. Then one day when I was logging orders for Ron, a job I did for a short while, I came across this one: "Elaine White still wants to drop her body. That's OK with me but get rid of her. She is not going to drop her body on my property". This really hit home. Elaine was about 40, and in poor health. So I knew then I had to get out. One day I received a telex that my husband was in the hospital and dying of a brain tumor. I didn't know for three hours that it was not Ernie but my ex-husband and Ver Dawn's father. We were given a leave of absence to go off the base and while we were off we went to see Ernie. It was a joyous reunion. I just wanted to get out, but I still felt I should go back and finish the tests I was having with the doctor in Palm Springs. It took me about a month to wrap things up. I left for good in mid-October. All the time I was working on the film sets I saw L. Ron Hubbard daily. I can vividly remember the first time I saw him. I was wondering why this man was so honored and so guarded. I was working in the wardrobe shed when I heard the greatest bellowing of cuss words I had ever heard in my life. "You dirty God damn sons of bitches, you're so God damn stupid. Fuck you, you cock suckers". This went on and on. I asked someone who in the world was that. "That's the Boss", she said. "The Boss" was Ron's code name around the base. When I finally left the base and went back to Las Vegas we both hoped that would be the end of it. But then came the manipulations with our daughter, the demands for money, the death threats, the threats to have Ernie thrown in jail, and the public slander. This has all caused us a tremendous amount of emotional pain. I have even had to deal with my own daughter threatening me with death. [Signed] Adelle Hartwell
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