I smiled all the way through that series of photos. Thanks for putting them up, Steve. I know that everyone had a great time.

I could feel the party atmosphere all the way from Dallas, and when I talked to Tom Martiniano on the phone, it was confirmed. You guys had a blast!

The Bell clan will get there next year. In the meantime, we'll keep having our local get-togethers as usual.

Thank you so very much for sharing the story and photos of Indie 2012. It was great to renew old friendships and make new ones. Great fun! Great people!

How Awesome, Count me in on the next one.
Now for my pre-public annoucement of disconnection from the Scientolgy Cult:

MY REVISED APPEAL TO ALL SCIENTOLOGISTS
(Church, Independents and all others)

I am a 37 year veteran Scientologist and I highly recommend what I have just done- Find out for Yourself, Think for Yourself and finally Decide for Yourself, no matter what you decide or the consequences.

It has taken considerable effort to even consider a shift of viewpoint let alone make one. What moved me was the sudden death of a dear friend and another friend’s resignation from the Church.

Although I was very reluctant to dig in and research,  holding tightly to my firmly held, “loyal Church member” viewpoint, I finally realized I was operating contrary to my own beliefs and demands on my fellows. Thus began my search for truth by confronting the very things that had been plaguing me and not-ised as out-points for years.

However, before I could even proceed, I had to wade through a sea of what turned out to be falsehoods regarding individuals who had “disaffected”.   Surprise! They are not anti-LRH or anti-Scientology or  anti-Standard Tech.  On the contrary,  I found that most are very dedicated, true-blue Scientologists.   Factual, documented abuses that would hold up in a court of law and in fact did hold up in the case of Debbie Cook were what tipped the scales in most of their cases.

My search for truth continued following the chain of things that made no sense to me, i.e. I could not figure for the life of me where all the high echelon terminals that I had a great deal of admiration for had vanished.  Mr. Heber Jentzsch (Pres CSI), Mr. Guilleme Leserve (ED INT),Mr. Ray Mithoff (Snr C/S Int), Mr. Marc Yager (CO CMO INT), let alone Exec Strata.

I wish I could say that I found the “Independents” to be spreading a pack of lies.  That would have been so much easier to confront.   However, I regret to say it was quite the opposite. 

That said, as a point of integrity, while remaining a dedicated Scientologist, I hereby announce that after a very thorough independent research I agree that the Church, under the leadership of David Miscavige is truly a cult in the worst sense of the word and needs to be disbanded.

I want to make it clear, however, that I am not resigning from standard Scientology. But, I am most certainly withdrawing my support of any terminals that I do not trust and their programs, particularly and especially Mr. David Miscavige and his devotees.

Admittedly, this is a bit scary for me.  Like jumping off the cliff without a parachute.    But I have some soothing words that have helped me cure the heebie-jeebies… “Never explain-- your friends do not need it and your enemies will not believe you anyway.”  Elbert Hubbard- The Motto Book- 1907

I also know and trust myself sufficiently to know that my intentions are good and that I am operating in a pro-survival fashion.   In fact, it is way upscale to be willing to shift one’s viewpoint!

That said, I am fully willing to be “wrong” in my viewpoint shift and discover that I was fooled by the best of them and that the Independents are the “bad guys” after all.
 
I will take that risk and if in the end, I was “wrong“, I will assume full responsibility, assign myself the appropriate condition and move on up in the group once again.

In ending, my appeal to each and every Scientologist, no matter whether you are with the established Church or the Independents or sitting on the fence undecided- do what I just did- Find out for Yourself, Think for Yourself and then you decide. 

All the best to you in your search for truth.

Best, Cara Voca (an alias name- at least until I fill my coffers as I expect I will lose my job once my identity is revealed by virtue of enforced disconnection that would follow an unjust declare)

Hello, does anyone knows how hard or easy (and what is the cost) it is for Russian to come to one of this events? Probably me and friend of mine are only independent here are in Russia. Maybe one day we could be part of the event.

What a great group of people. And what a great time. Steve's right - it was all about FRIENDS. And I thoroughly enjoyed that.

Hey there!!! Great shots Steve. I was soooo glad to be a part of this celebration and look forward to doing it again next time!!!