A Mid-Sussex District Councillor heckled an ex-Scientologist as he raised questions about the Mayor of East Grinstead’s attendance at events hosted by the Church of Scientology, Tony Ortega reports.
Former London Scientology staffer Alex Barnes-Ross has made measurable progress in his effort to educate and win over England’s elected officials to what he says are very real abuses going on in the US-based religious organization.
But a recent incident shows that he still has some very real challenges ahead of him.
On Tuesday, Barnes-Ross attended the East Grinstead Town Meeting, an annual event put on by the town council which includes a forum that includes questions from the public.
East Grinstead is the home of Scientology’s UK headquarters, Saint Hill Manor, and the site of one of Scientology’s biggest annual events, the IAS gala that takes place over three autumn evenings.
Barnes-Ross has organized protests at the last three galas, and his discovery that Scientology had never asked permission to erect a gigantic marquee each year to hold the event prompted the church to submit a massive development proposal for a new car park and cement footings for the tent. Numerous environmental groups oppose the development, and the East Grinstead Town Council as well as the Mid Sussex District Council are wrestling with the proposal.
Both political bodies are very familiar with Barnes-Ross, and they seem to have become more open to his communications.
And then there’s Dick Sweatman.
The former East Grinstead mayor and town council member is now the Vice Chairman of the Mid Sussex District Planning Committee that is weighing Scientology’s latest development proposal.
He was also at the East Grinstead Town Meeting, sitting in a row with Rhoda Zeffert (sister to million-dollar Scientology donor Sheila Gaiman); Councillor Christine Mainstone, who has appeared in a promotional video on Scientology TV; Scientology public relations officer Liz Ostermann, and Scientology’s British public affairs director Graeme Wilson.
A few rows behind them, Barnes-Ross waited his turn to speak. Earlier, he had distributed a fact sheet about Scientology to the town councillors which explained the church’s practice of “safe pointing” public officials to make them compliant to Scientology’s goals.
In a video that has since gone viral on TikTok showing when it was Barnes-Ross’s turn to speak at the forum, you can hear Sweatman exclaim, “Oh, here we go.”
Barnes-Ross ignored the heckling and continued with his message, pointing out that although previous East Grinstead mayors and other councillors have attended Scientology events, ex-Scientologists have not been given the opportunity to meet with these elected officials and would they be willing to do so, even just for 30 minutes?
Surrounded by Scientology heavyweights, it’s pretty obvious how Dick Sweatman feels about that. But if Barnes-Ross ever wanted to demonstrate a very visible example of Scientology safe-pointing a public official, he could have done much worse than Sweatman heckling him on camera.
Dick Sweatman's comment is so high school. What a tool.
🤣