Michael Edward Douglas

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Michael Edward Douglas (1947-2003) was a senior off icer in the Church of Scientology.

Michael Douglas of Princeville died at his home on July 11, 2003, at the age of 56.

Born Feb. 7, 1947, in San Francisco, Calif., he is survived by his wife of 28 years, Kima Douglas; stepdaughter Kelly Hooper; two stepgrandchildren; and sister, Susan Anderson.

Michael was President of the Kekahu Foundation, the governing board of KKCR, Kauai's community radio station. Prior to moving to Kauai, Michael, a graduate of John F. Kennedy University in Orinda, Calif., practiced psychotherapy for 7 years.

An avid surfer, motorcyclist, chess player, ceramic potter and collector of world music, Michael, a Lakota Yankton Sioux tribal member, was recognized by many for his "On the Journey" radio show, which broadcast every Sunday morning on KKCR.

A memorial celebration will be held on Monday, July 14, at 5 p.m. at the Amaama Road location of Hanalei Bay. Donations in Michael's honor may be made to KKCR, P.O. Box 825, Hanalei, HI 96714.

He had been diagnosed with brain cancer in mid April. He was 56 years old.



The following notes are from Gerry Armstrong's(2) report on his friendship with Michael Douglas.

He was MEA I/C, in charge of Mission European Agency in Madrid, Spain, when I came through from the U.S. to join the crew in February 1971.

Michael returned from MEA to become the Apollo’s(1) new Deputy Captain and Org Officer in the Flag Ship Org.

he had a quiet way of avoiding trouble, and a quiet way too of maintaining a degree of independence in a very independence-crushing group. He could get away with both avoiding trouble and with his modicum of independence because he was a competent and smart guy.

Michael was generally a communications guy in the SO, first in the External Communications Bureau, which was in the Flag Bureau Org, and later as Hubbard’s personal External Communications Aide.

Michael and Gerry Armstrong triggered some alarm with the authorities at Barajas Airport, and they were hauled into an airport police office and detained for some hours. All the boxes of mail traffic were opened, the contents gone through, and Scientology documents read. They were interrogated separately, bullied a bit by an American-English speaking agent, and then let go to fly on to Madeira. They became the “Madrid Two.”

As is well known, the cult’s United Churches of Florida cover in Clearwater was blown in early 1976, and the media discovered Hubbard’s identity and his secret Dunedin location shortly thereafter. So he packed up his Cadillac and fled with Michael and Kima, who had recently married Michael, and who was then Hubbard’s Household Unit I/C. They drove north up the east coast, ending up in a brownstone in Washington, D.C. I remained in Dunedin as Michael’ s deputy and the relay terminal for all Hubbard’s dispatch and telex traffic to and from the Clearwater base and orgs around the world. Michael and I had, I recall, a pretty good time during this period, sending funny comms back and forth, maintaining the ruse that the old man was still in Dunedin, and keeping his lines running smoothly.

At the end of 1977, I was ordered with Terri to WHQ, and spent the next eight months or so shooting movies with Hubbard. Michael was still doing his LRH Ext Comm hat, and was also by this time Hubbard’s “Investments Officer.”


Michael and Hubbard at the 1979-80 New Year party at “X” in Hemet, CA. Hubbard chose a gambling theme, in violation of HCOB 16 March 1977. Several other photos of Ron the Gambler were in the set that Scientology stole from me in April, 1982.

In early January 1980, as is well known, I petitioned Hubbard to assemble an archive of his personal documents and work on getting his biography written. Around the same date, Michael and Kima blew from X. Both of them subsequently said that the reason was just one too many meals that Hubbard in one too many rages flung across the room. In any event, their blowing was a huge threat to Hubbard, who already believed himself in peril from the criminal prosecution of the GO Eleven, the ongoing IRS case, and the several civil cases then being filed. So not long after the Douglases blew, Hubbard fled again, this time taking with him Pat and Annie Broeker.

Christmas 1981, and then returned to southern California, where I was going to continue working with Omar in one capacity or another.

Not too long after our arrival back from Canada, Jocelyn and I got in contact with Michael and Kima, who were then living in Palm Desert, California, not far from the La Quinta properties. They had developed some wog ® contacts while in the SO, and had gotten into the real estate business after leaving. Michael was a significant encouragement to me during this period to stand up to the Scientology cult and to talk about the Hubbard lies and the organization fraud I had discovered. In retrospect, I think Michael transferred on to me his own anger at being lied to, defrauded and abused by Hubbard, and to some extent I took on Michael’s desire for justice from the cult as my own crusade.

he Douglases had some unique photos they’d taken during the periods they’d lived with Hubbard, Jim had a set of photos from 1973 when he’d lived with Hubbard in Queens, New York, and I had an album of photos from my wedding to Terri on board the Apollo.

As is known, the cult stole the photos, and when I went into the CMO building in LA and demanded their return,

At the beginning of 1987, I moved from Boston, where I had been working for Flynn, to California, and purchased a house with Michael and Kima in the Berkeley-Oakland hills. After my years in the Sea Org and five years of fair game and litigation, this was a reasonably relaxed time for me, and I think it was relaxed and comfortable for the Douglases. I incorporated The Gerald Armstrong Corporation (TGAC), and spent hours writing, drawing and getting strong. Michael and I started a business together, the Whynot Group, we invested together, hung out together, and did all sorts of things together.

In October 1991, the Oakland Firestorm destroyed both the homes I had owned with the Douglases, and virtually all their personal belongings, and they too moved to Marin.

Michael went back to university during this period and got a degree in psychology, and he took up surfing again.

I sent Michael and Kima Christmas cards most years, but it was obvious to me that they didn’t want to be in touch. They moved to Kauai where the surfing is paradisial, and I believe I found Michael’s name mentioned a couple of years ago on a surfing web site. I see that he had a counselling job at a health spa and resort on the island

Notes:
1.  In 1967 the Church of Scientology purchased HMS Royal Scotsman which they renamed the Apollo, which was used as the Sea Org's Flagship. In 1975, the church sold the Sea Org's ships and moved the organization to land bases around the world, which as of 2003, were operating in Clearwater, Copenhagen, London, Los Angeles, Saint Hill Manor in the UK, and Sydney, with smaller offices in Budapest, Johannesburg, Madrid, Milan, Moscow, and Toronto.
2.  Gerald "Gerry" Armstrong was a member of the Church of Scientology. In 1980, the Church assigned Armstrong, then a member of the Church's elite Sea Org, to organize some personal papers of L. Ron Hubbard that were to serve as the basis of a new biography of Hubbard.



Sources


Sources for this article include:

• Gerry Armstong

 
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