Cathy Fraser, Director of Public Affairs

TRANSCRIPT:

I’m Cathy Fraser. I’m the Director of Public Affairs for Golden Era Productions and I work a lot with the community here in this whole area, San Jacinto and Hemet.

I give tours consistently. We have a very open-door policy and I always enjoy showing people around. In fact, we have toured probably all the Fire Department, you know, all the firemen, they’ve all come on a tour. The Sheriff’s come. We tour them anywhere they want to go, they see it all. CHP officers. We have a very good working relationship with the law enforcement in this area. You know, we just—anything that they need, we help them with and… and vice versa, if we need something.

You know, when I give tours here too… I mean, it is amazing how much the staff love giving and showing off their area and talking to people. The thing that makes Golden Era so special are the staff. Because they are the best people I’ve ever worked with in my life. They’re unique, they’re wonderful, they’re warm, they’re caring. And when I give tours, one for one, the people walk away and they’re like so enamored with the staff here. And they always comment on how professional they are, what artistry it is here, how warm they are, how friendly. It’s like our staff will do anything for this community.

The first time that Ron Miscavige tried to get a special favor from me was back in 1988. And we were on the Freewinds which is a ship, it’s a religious retreat for Scientologists, and it sails in the Caribbean in the main, and I was the Public Officer there. And he came up to me and—because it was packed, it was just completely packed. And he’s like… he’s like, “Cathy, you’re the Public Officer. You know, I need you to get me a better room. I really need to have a better room. I mean, of course you know who I am, and I really need a better room.”

And I’m like, “Ron, the ship is packed. I mean there’s not a bed that not’s filled.” And he’s like, “Oh no, no—but you will be able to do this for me. You work it out. You get this handled.” So I’m like, “Okay, alright.” And I tried, you know, to do the best I could. But it was impossible. I mean, it was packed. That was my first encounter with it.

I will say that Ron Miscavige was arrested by the police for reckless driving. He almost ran three, maybe six cars off the road, and he was arrested. But he’s the only one, ever, since the… Golden Era started back in 1978.

After he was arrested and he finally came back here, he came to see me. And I’m like, “Ron, you need to hire an attorney because this is a pretty serious allegation. I mean, you were very belligerent with the police. You know, they handcuffed you, threw you in the back of a police car, put you in jail. I mean this was not a light matter. You know, you were… you know, you were basically unbelievably rude to the police. So you have some charges against you, so you’re gonna need to hire an attorney.” And he looked at me and he says, “Cathy, you hire the attorney for me. You… you do it.” And I’m like, “Ron, I can’t do that. This is not a Church matter. This is a personal matter and you need to handle this. I mean you could end up with a sentence, Ron, do you get that?”

Finally, you know, he did. He finally agreed and he finally hired an attorney. And you know, they did get him off and they got him assigned to do community service—which by the way, as an aside, he tried to get out of and not do. And he tried to—he was like, “Come on, just… just sign it off. You know, nobody’s gonna know that I didn’t do it.” And myself and the other person I worked with in my office were like, “No. You do the community service, Ron. That’s the deal. That is what you have to do.”

Well, I would say on that—why it’s important to have a good relationship—it’s like you’re being a good neighbor. It’s… and they are our neighbors. And the people that we live with right here, there’s probably, what, fifty to eighty thousand people between the two cities, San Jacinto and Hemet. And there are probably around about two hundred, two hundred and fifty different groups, non-profits, schools, churches, et cetera, that come and use our facilities at Golden Era, and we have a very open-door policy.

Golden Era, we have received over a hundred different awards from various community groups. In fact, from the city of San Jacinto just a few months ago, we received their highest award and thanking us for our work in the community. We’ve received three U.S. Congressional certificates of acknowledgement for the work that we do in our community.

For instance, one of the things that we do every year—in fact, this is our 18th year, is that we do a cast party for the Ramona play. Now, Ramona is the longest-running outdoor play in the whole of the United States and it’s California’s number one play and… outdoor play. And every year we have all of the cast over here to Golden Era and we give them a party. And there’s about 500 people that are going to come and they’re gonna be here in about four hours.

And, whoa, let me tell you, this community absolutely loves having the use of this clubhouse. They do their events there, their parties, their dinners—I mean anything you can imagine! I mean, they come here and they’re able to use it, they do their fundraisers. It’s just a total wonderful relationship we have with them.

CHAPTERS:

#1 Cathy Fraser introduces herself. #2 Golden Era open door policy (tours, working with community, hosting Ramona play, use of clubhouse by the community) #3 Staff commented on as professional and friendly. #4 Ron Miscavige requesting special favor on the Freewinds. #5 Ron Miscavige arrested by the police for reckless driving. #6 Ron Miscavige not wanting to do his community service. #7 Gold received awards from community.