I said in my last post in 2007 that I was going to
stop blogging for awhile so I could concentrate on a 9/11-related paper. I’ve
been working on it on and off since then, but I’ve been having problems getting
much beyond the information gathering stage. So instead, I’ve decided to write
about individual violent events that have possible connections to me. I am
basing these connections on the theory that these events seem to be related to
significant events in my life through some sort of process that was begun since
at least around 1989 when I was being harassed and surveilled in Los Angeles by
I believe Scientology and others and my subsequent fleeing of L.A., eventually
ending up in New York City in 1991 where the harassment and surveillance
continued.
I noticed a few of these types of events in Los
Angeles, but on a smaller scale. In New York, especially in the early 1990s,
these events seemed to become larger, more frequent and more violent. Possible
supernatural or not-yet-explainable occurrences like mind reading or weather
control, especially in the early years, plus the seeming involvement of a
sometimes mysterious, powerful organization like Scientology made the
possibility of these otherwise implausible-seeming connections seem more
plausible, though I had no direct proof of this. I wrote to many public
agencies and officials and private organizations about my circumstances and
theory in the early ‘90s, but didn’t get too many responses. Those that did
respond either said they couldn’t do anything or didn’t really address the
issue. A good overall view of my circumstances and theory can be found in a
1994 paper I wrote which I originally called the “38-page letter” and later
changed to “Scientology, Christians and Crime” when I posted it to my website,
musicalsandconspiracy.com, in 2004 along with similar writings.
[1]
The first new event I’ll cover is the April 20, 1999
killings at Columbine High School by Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold.
The thing that first caught my attention was that
Eric Harris and I have the same first name, Eric. Later I noticed that we also
had the same middle name, David.
[2]
Eric and Dylan were students. I was a student at the time, but in college, not
high school. Eric (and Dylan to a lesser extent) were being harassed by some
students at school, mostly the athletes. I was being harassed at my school by
some students and some professors, too. But it was more indirect than what Eric
seemed to experience, things like students and professors saying negative
things near me, but not directly to me, or from certain students who I found
annoying frequently being in my vicinity. While harassment had been an ongoing
occurrence in New York City to varying degrees, being harassed in a school
setting was a similarity to the Columbine situation.
[3]
In terms of significant events in my life, since
around the end of 1998 I had been having problems with my welfare payments,
food stampsmay have been and
Medicaid due to my non-compliance with workfare requirements in 1995. I had not
complied because of harassment at the workfare assignment. I wanted the people
in the workfare department to investigate in the context of my conspiracy-like
situation which I believed the harassment was may have beenrelated to, but they wouldn’t do it.
I had various administrative “fair hearings” by the
New York State Department of Social Services to try and possibly get my
benefits restored and to get my allegations investigated. My benefits had
continued for awhile after my workfare non-compliance as I made my way through
the fair hearing and appeal process. I won the first administrative fair
hearing in terms of benefits, but lost the last two, including the final
hearing in August 1996. I appealed the August decision to the Supreme Court of
New York State which referred my case to the next highest court, was the Appellate Division, which
ruled against me. At the time of the Columbine killings, I was trying to get
permission to appeal to the state’s highest court, the Court of Appeals. I was
very late in applying for this appeal, however, since I was not aware that the
Appellate Division had issued its decision on April 28, 1998. I had not been
notified by the NYS Attorney General’s office, which was representing the
Department of Social Services, that the decision had been issued as they were
supposed to. Nor was a copy of the decision mailed to me as had occurred with a
previous decision on a procedural matter. I did not find out what the decision
was until January 28, 1999 when I called the court to see if anything had
happened yet. In order to appeal to the Court of Appeals, I first had to submit
a motion with the Appellate Division to either reargue my case or appeal to the
Court of Appeals. The Appellate Division denied my motion in a decision dated
March 30, 1999. I then began the process of submitting a Motion for Permission
to Appeal directly to the Court of Appeals. I received a Permission to Appeal
form and instructions from the Court of Appeals, postmarked April 2, 1999. I
mailed the motion to the Court on May 3, 1999, but it denied my motion on July
1, 1999.
Another big event occurred on April 16, 1999, a few
days before Columbine, when I handed in a required annual statement of income
to the public housing development where I was living. I was told that student
loans, which I was using to pay my rent and other expenses after my welfare
benefits had been discontinued, could not be counted as income. People living in
public housing need an acceptable source of income to live in public housing.
Welfare was an acceptable source of income, but since my welfare had been
discontinued, I no longer had that acceptable source. The public housing staff
and I were able to work something out eventually, but as of April 20 my
eligibility for public housing had been uncertain.
In addition to Eric Harris and I having the same
first and middle names and our both being students who were being harassed,
another thing that caught my attention was that some students would sometimes
call Eric and Dylan “freaks” and other names as a kind of insult.[4]
I believe an episode of Nightline on ABC on April 21, 1999 even had a video of
Eric say the line “the freaks of the school.” I had written my first musical
called Freaks the previous year and
had mailed inquiries to different New York City theaters in November 1998 to
see if they might be interested in producing it. By the time of the Columbine
killings on April 20, I had received some responses (polite rejections) and was
waiting for others.
Dylan was friends with the theater students at
Columbine High and would work behind the scenes at school plays.[5]
A few of the victims had theater or music connections also. Rachel Scott had
the lead role in a non-musical school play the previous month. She had also
written a play about a piano player who couldn’t read music, but wrote music in
his head. Rachel is said to have written songs in a similar manner.[6]
I couldn’t read music much and wrote songs mostly in my head as well. I am not
a piano player, but I would play my songs on an electric piano keyboard that
was connected to songwriting notation software in order to have a record of my
songs or bits of songs. I completed the songs for my musical using the piano
keyboard and songwriting software. Another victim, Kelly Fleming, also wrote
songs and other things.[7]
A third victim with music connections was Isaiah Shoels who wanted to become a record company
executive.[8]
His father, Michael, owned a small independent record company, Notorious
Records, and a company that promoted black musicians, Ft. Knox Entertainment.[9],
[10]
On April 28, 1999, about a week after the killings,
I picked up a letter at my PO Box from a company called Columbine Records in
Hollywood, California. It was a form letter that said I had been referred to
them by one of their sources as being interested in songwriting. They wanted me
to send them some of my songs to possibly record and help promote. The envelope
had an April 20, 1999 postmark and another marking that said April 21, 1999. So
apparently I wasn’t the only one thinking about a possible connection, assuming
the letter wasn’t just a coincidence. Or maybe they were just playing with me.
But this was another music connection and one with a significant name and date
attached. The Columbine Records’ letter wasn’t the first such letter I had ever
received, however. Prior to the killings, I had gotten somewhat similar
letters, also unsolicited, from a song production company called Hilltop
Records, also from Hollywood, California. I had sent a few songs in response,
sometime in the summer of 1998, though nothing came of it after I found they
wanted money to produce my songs.
Christianity
also played a prominent role in the stories of several of the victims. Cassie
Bernall famously was said to have died a martyr after Dylan asked her if she
believed in God. Cassie, a devout Christian said yes, and then Dylan shot her.
[11],[12]
Rachel Scott,
Isaiah Shoels and another
victim, John Tomlin, were also said to be very devoted Christians.
[13]
Christianity had also played a role in my original conspiracy situation, mostly
in the form of Christian-run or affiliated shelters I had stayed at after
fleeing from Los Angeles. Later, I began noticing that several of the events
that I included in my theory also had a Christianity connection.
One of the bigger events, at least in terms of
notoriety, was the Branch Davidian standoff at Waco in 1993. The Branch
Davidians were also described as a cult-like group. Since my conspiracy theory
involved Scientology, which I and others described as a cult-like group, this
made me think there might be a possible connection. The lead FBI investigatorFBI ,, psychologist Dwayne Fuselier,
was part of the FBI Crisis Management Unit at Waco. He was also the lead
investigator for the FBI in the Columbine killings. Dwayne had previously
worked for the Air Force like Eric’s father, Wayne. His son, Scott, had
attended Columbine High School which was apparently how Dwayne got involved in
the FBI investigation.[14],[15]
Columbine had some New York references also and
since I was living in New York City, this also caught my attention. The
after-prom party on April 17, 1999 that the parents threw for the Columbine
High School students had a “New York, New York” theme.[16]
Eric had also said in his journal that he and Dylan would hijack a plane loaded
with bombs and crash it into New York City if they escaped and could not find a
safe haven.[17]
But the New York link that made me pay the most attention was that Eric had
lived in Plattsburgh, New York for two years before moving to Littleton,
Colorado in 1993 with his family. Though this is several hundred miles from New
York City, it’s still in the same state. I was also in the preliminary stages
of appealing my workfare-conspiracy case to the New York State Court of Appeals
which is located in Albany, New York.[18]
Albany is not especially near Plattsburgh either, but it is curiously almost
halfway between Plattsburgh and New York City, 141.4 and 134.8 air miles
respectively, in an almost perfectly straight line.[19]
Eric was living in Plattsburgh because his father
was stationed at the Air Force base there. Wayne had been stationed at a number
of bases around the country prior to this as well. He was a decorated Air Force
pilot, flight instructor and trainer who had helped develop and modify the Air
Forces’ EC-18 (JSTARS) electronic warfare plane and others. He had had the type of high level
military career that might put him in a position to be involved, either
wittingly or not, with a conspiracy as complex as the one I am proposing,
though I could find nothing specific beyond his high level career. Though he
had retired from the Air Force after leaving Plattsburg for Columbine, Eric’s
father still had active Air Force connections through his new job training
pilots at
the Flight Safety Services Corp. which had contracts with the Air Force and
Department of Defense.[20]
During his two year stay in Plattsburgh, Eric’s two
best friends were said to be black and Asian.[21]
I am Asian-American. Another possible Asian connection is the owner of
Blackjack Pizza where Eric and Dylan worked. The owner, Christopher Lau, who
had bought the store only six weeks before the killings, could
be Asian based on his last name.[22]
Pictures of most people I’ve seen on the internet with the last name Lau are
Asian-looking, but there were a few people who looked white also, so it isn’t
certain that Christopher is of Asian descent based on his last name alone. I
was only able to find one picture of Christopher on the internet. Based on
this, it appeared he could be of Asian or part Asian descent, but he’s facing
away from the camera so it’s hard to tell.[23]
And Blackjack Pizza’s address was 6657 West Ottawa.[24]
I connect things with the number “57” to myself since my birth year is 1957.
One of Eric Harris’s psychologists, Kevin Albert,
was said to be “affiliated with the Colorado Family Center at 26 W. Dry Creek
Circle in Littleton.”[25]
In addition to 57, I connect things with the number “26” to myself because my
birthday is on August 26. I had several experiences in the early 1990s with
psychiatry or psychology also, though I was never in therapy. I had told
several social workers-types I was seeing as a result of my homeless or jobless
condition about my theory and being harassed and some had repeatedly urged me
to see a psychiatrist and arranged interviews for me with apparently psychiatry
or psychology-related people. Some of these people would also urge me to take
some sort of medication which I declined to do.
Eric Harris was taking a psychotropic medication,
Luvox, to help deal with mental problems at the time of the killings. Some
questioned whether the Luvox helped cause the killings, though others denied
this connection.[26]
Scientology has a long history of criticism against psychiatry, including the
use of psychiatric medication.[27]
So it was able to benefit from this aspect of Columbine through a
well-publicized example of the possible negative consequences of psychiatry. I
could find no direct connections between Scientology and Columbine, however.
The closest thing I could find was when Scientology’s anti-psychiatry watchdog
group, the Citizens Commission on Human Rights, had given an award in 2005 to
an anti-psychotropic-drug activist, Lisa Van Syckel,[28]
who had helped fund a lawsuit against the maker of Luvox by one of the shooting
victims, Mark Taylor.[29]
Though they may have given her the award more for her other anti-drug work
rather than for supporting the suit.[30]
Another item I found was a 2002 Columbine-related fictional film Home Room that starred Erika Christensen
who has a background in Scientology.[31]
[1] The best writing on the
early harassment and fleeing of Los Angeles and why I feel Scientology was
involved is probably the Yanny letter, also on my website.
[2] Lynn Bartels and Carla
Crowder, “Fatal Friendship: How Two Suburban Boys Traded Baseball and Bowling
for Murder and Madness,” Rocky Mountain News, 22 Aug. 1999, 1N.
[3] The harassment may have
been more intense in the last semester or two at my college, possibly because
some people may have not been happy with my changing my major from Graphic Arts
to Art and Advertising Design the previous semester, even though a
representative of the Art and Advertising Design department had come to one of
my classes to promote their department and the Graphic Arts professor of that
class had personally urged me to switch to Art and Advertising Design. The
harassment may have also decreased in the weeks leading up to Columbine.
[4] Ann Imse, Lynn Bartels and
Dick Foster, “Killers’ Double Lives,” Rocky Mountain News, 25 Apr. 1999, 24A;
“Columbine Students Talk Of the Disaster and Life,”
New
York Times, 30 Apr. 1999, A1.
[5] Bill Briggs and Jason
Blevins, “Harris, a Consummate Actor, Hid Secret Yen For Revenge,” Denver Post,
2 May 1999, A-18; Lynn Bartels and Carla Crowder, “Fatal Friendship.”
[6] Steve Caulk, “Slain
Student’s Car Becomes a Shrine,” Rocky Mountain News, 22 Apr. 1999, 7A.
[7] Corky Siemaszko,
“Columbine’s Tragic Roll Call,” New York Daily News, 23 Apr. 1999.
[8] James Barron, “Father of
Victim Says Son Had Dispute With Suspect,” New York Times, 22 Apr. 1999, A26.
[9] Andrew Guy Jr., “Shoelses
Fight Clouded Image,” Denver Post, 26 Sept. 1999, accessed
http://extras.denverpost.com/news/shot0926.htm.
[10] Mike McPhee, “The Victims:
Isaiah Shoels,” Denverpost.com, 23 Apr. 1999, accessed
http://extras.denverpost.com/news/shot0423r.htm.
[11] Carla Crowder, “Martyr for
her Faith: Youthful Christian Confesses Her Belief to Rampaging Gunman, Then
Pays With Her Life,” Rocky Mountain News, 23 Apr.1999, 5A.
[12] Others say this had
happened not to Cassie Bernall, but to Valeen Schnurr, a student who was not
killed after she said yes. Dan Luzadder and Katie Kerwin McCrimmon, “Accounts
Differ on Question to Bernall: Shooting Victim May Not Have Been Asked Whether
She Believed in God,” Rocky Mountain News, 24 Sept. 1999, 5A.
[13] “Inscriptions For Each
Victim at the Clement Park Monument,” Rocky Mountain News, 22 Sept. 2007, 24.
[14] Dave Cullen, Columbine, New
York: Twelve, 2009, 108.
[15] There were also some other
interesting connections between Fuselier’s two sons and the events at Columbine
which I won’t go into. See Hector Gutierrez and Kevin Vaughan, “Video Produce
by FBI Agent’s Son: 1997 Columbine Grad Is Not Considered a Shooting Suspect,”
Rocky Mountain News, 7 May 1999, 5A; Howard Pankratz, “FBI Agent Downplays
Son's Film: Columbine ‘comedy’ Won't Influence Work,” Denver Post, 13 May 1999,
B-03.
[16] Sara Rimer, “Good Grades,
Good Teams and Some Bad Feelings,” New York Times, 22 Apr. 1999, A27.
[17] Charley Able, “Attack Was
Long Planned: Harris Diary Shows Details In Motion Year Before Shootings,”
Rocky Mountain News, 7 July 2006, 21A.
[18] The state’s Department of
Social Services and Attorney General’s office, both of which were involved in
my welfare-conspiracy case, had their headquarters in Albany also, though I
dealt mostly with their Manhattan branches.
[19] Distancefromto.net;
Maps.google.com.
[20] Dick Foster, “Harris’ Dad a
Military Man of Distinction,” Rocky Mountain News, 27 Apr. 1999, 26A.
[21] Kevin Simpson and Jason
Blevins, “How Team Players Became Loners: Friends Remember Two Suspects As
Bashful, Ordinary Children,” Denver Post, 23 Apr. 1999, A-04.
[22] Christopher Cooper. “The
Pizza Franchise Was His Dream; Then The `Unfathomable' - New Owner's Model
Cooks Became Littleton Killers,” Wall Street Journal, 23 June 1999, A1.
[23] Kevin Moloney, “Christopher
Lau 33 Owner and Manager of a Blackjack Pizza Franchise in Littleton Colorado,”
Getty Images, 23 Apr. 1999.
[24] Peggy Lowe, “Pizza Jobs
Gave Connections: Killers Made Contacts Who Helped Them With Guns, Explosives
They Used In School Attack,” Rocky Mountain News, 22 Nov. 2000, 25A.
[25] Karen Abbott, “Harrises Question
Therapist’s Care: Parents Cite Their Son’s Psychologist in Papers Filed with
Federal Court,” Rocky Mountain News, 19 Sept. 2000, 5A.
[26] Carla Crowder, “Rage Fueled
by Antidepressants? Psychiatrists Dispute Beliefs Medication Was Connected to
Murderous Events,” Rocky Mountain News, 30 May 30 1999, 60A.
[27] Katharine Mieszkowski,
“Scientology’s War on Psychiatry,” Salon.com, 1 Jul. 2005.
[28] Terence, “CCHR: 36th
Annual Human Rights Awards,” ablechild.org, 26 Feb. 2005.
[29] Jeff Kass, “Columbine
Victim Pursues Lawsuit Against Drug Firm: Mark Taylor Claims Drug Luvox Partly
At Fault For Rampage,” Rocky Mountain News, 19 Oct. 2002, 19A.
[30] In a 2009 document listing
successful lawsuits against psychotropic drug manufacturers, the Citizens
Commission on Human Rights cites Lisa and her husband for their 2003 lawsuit on
behalf of their daughter who was misdiagnosed as depressed and had a negative
reaction to a psychotropic drug that was prescribed to her. Citizens Commission
on Human Rights, “Chronology of Psychotropic Drug Lawsuits,” 2009, accessed
www.cchr.org/sites/default/files/downloads/chronology.pdf.
[31] “Home Room (film),”
Wikipedia.
