Plowing Up the Field

The January-February issue might be appropriately termed "The Tragedy of Errors" -- and to those embarrassed by our aberrations, we hasten to apologize: One: Philip Friedman points out that in his "Answer to Rosecrans", we printed "Evil has the habit of mitigating good" when we should have said imitating good". Of course, we were correct, but we didn't follow copy, 2. Bernie Ross complains that we quoted him as saying that his 50% increase in wages made it possible for him to lie about his income when he actually said that lying enabled him to get 50% more income. We're still a little bit confused about this. 3. In the masthead, we spelled it "Zydokumzruksehen" instead of "Zydokumzruskehen", and it seems that our Zydokumzruskehen subscribers area bit sensitive about this misspelling of their planet's name. Once, we tried to avoid such errors by abbreviating it to "Zydo", but they didn't like this either. 4. We said in Globicides that Oklahoma elects governors with "panhandle brains", which, while not exactly an error, we did discover that those living in the Oklahoma "Panhandle" don't like to be insulted thataway. Oh, well. Maybe we should print our policy in bigger, blacker type...

Jon Skinner has resigned as corresponding secretary of the Scientology Group of Portland, and as editor of the group's news-letter, ARC-AID. He has been replaced by Wayne Wright as secretary and Henrietta R. Moore as editor...And this is a good place to thank ARC-AID for the review given our "Notes on the Clinical Course". If it hadn't been we already have a stack, we'd certainly h a v e bought one just to see if ANY book could be quite that excellent... Some of our British friends who've had a spot of trouble getting dollars to us will be interested in knowing that we now have a brother stationed in England, who will be more than glad to accept your shillings as our agent sans portfolio. He's Clarence L. Hart, 169 Fakenham Road, Melton Constable, Norfolk. And have no fear, we are the sole horn wearers in this family. And despite the fact he's in the Air Force, he has no wings, either...Norman Fritz has given up his country estate near Wichita and moved to (and furnished) an apartment in one of the ultra sections of town. When he stopped in Enid after a Dianetic missionary trip to Oklahoma City, he denied, mildly, that he was planning to use his new home as other than bachelor quarters...We thought Mark Gallert had gone on to Florida with his classes in Electropsychometry, but a recent note advises that he has preferred Texas landlords for the winter...

Delays continue to hold up the trial of the Rev. Edd Clark on charges of practicing medicine in Phoenix without the blessings of the A.M.A...Tido Churchill, who is somewhat of an artist both with the needle and brush, got to "monkeying around" with a new model recently -- which brought about a minor tragedy. She writes: "A customer for whom I'm making a new wardrobe bit me quite fiercely four times on my right arm. She is from South America and very temperamental. She is a tall willowy ash blond with big black eyes. She was being so very friendly, and in a flash she turned on me. She was severely punished and I felt terrible about it because I had handled her improperly. I forgot she wasn't a cat and tried to scoot her off my lap. In case you haven't guessed, she is a spider monkey belonging to friends. They insist on dressing her so I've made her a fancy skirt, blouse, and ruffled pants. I'd bite someone too"... Burke Belknap is reported selling real estate --not his own -- out in Phoenix... It is rumored that Jack Horner is on his way home from Germany, South Africa, or whereever he finally got, sans Pamela...Jim Pinkham, former tape jockey for the HASI, changed his address recently, and only more recently did we discover the why-of. It seems that on New Year's Day, Jim and "Pennie" Streeter drove to Las Vegas, Nev., and Jim's bachelor days were ended...

The many friends of John Galusha and his wife, the former Barbara Bryan, will be saddened to hear of her death in Pueblo, Colo., on 21 January, after an illness of less than 36 hours. John and Barbara were married in Phoenix on February 16 of last year... Has anyone heard from A.J.S. McMillan, of the BRISTOL DIANETIC REVIEW (B.D.R.), lately? Or has he been induced to take one of the communication-is-the-most-important-point-of-the- ARC-triangle courses? And any Scientologist knows what happens to that to which you give the most importance... Bob Arentz reports he'll be chasing trucks in the Denver area before long, following a transfer from the Nevada- Wyoming radius, and there's just a possibility some stray tandem taillight will be winking him down Oklahoma-way some week-end. The publisher, in expectation of the event, is lacing the red carpet with gold braid. And speaking of "events", Bob admits there's a fourth Arentz due in a few weeks, or days -- and even may find him/herself being audited by one of his/her eager brothers/sister before this item sees print...We think L.J. Nixon, the Pittsburgh, Pa., printer who authored the "knowledge doughnut" reproduced in the letter section some time back, was kidding us when he sent us a linotyped letter so full of typographical "bulls" we could hardly read it. And what did we find when we finally got it deciphered? A complaint that the lack of typographical errors in The ABERREE was unfair to proofreaders. And this we print in the same column that started out apologizing for last month's many mistakes...

Philip Friedman wrote us from Tucson that some friend of his wanted black walnuts in his diet, and since we, apparently, were in the business of dealing with "nuts", would we please ship him 100 or 200 pounds -- unshelled, of course. We checked. And while it is possible to get black walnut meats done up in fancy bags at fancier prices, there was none with husks. And we couldn't help but think this streamlining may be part of today's trouble. If you ever sat down to husk, crack, and pick nutmeats from 200 pounds of black walnuts, you'd know that you'd have little time to worry about what's going to happen to you as an immortal, indestructible, ever- existing "thetan", "soul", or "sliver of God". After a doctor had taken $15 from him for some "wonder drugs" in treating sciatica, Earl Cunard was told he'd have to wait for a newer, more super drug, expected on the market shortly. But in the meantime, "Oil Man" Cunard lost his footing in one of those slushpits around the oil derrick on