X-Message-Number: 22386
Date: Tue, 19 Aug 2003 17:35:38 -0400 (EDT)
From: 
Subject: Questions from Peter Merel

I will attempt a partial answer to Peter's questions,
although the following should be understood:

1. I am not and have never been an Alcor employee; I am an
independent contractor who cannot speak definitively on
behalf of Alcor as an organization.

2. I did 90% of the work of looking for someone to lead our
field team, and Larry Johnson was my choice originally.

3. Since litigation is being contemplated by Alcor, there are
some topics which should remain off limits temporarily.

> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> From: Peter Merel <>
>
> I hope Alcor folk won't be troubled that I ask these on cryonet. I
> think they're relevant to all of us:

Personally I always like to see questions or doubts raised
publicly, so that they can be addressed publicly.

> 1) That LJ had medical skills of value I don't doubt. But how did he
> come to be named COO?

I'm afraid your short question requires a long answer. Most
of the following information has been presented in board
minutes and in Alcor News, so, none of it is private.

Initially I was Director of Suspension Services. My personal
highest priority was to find someone to replace myself, since
I felt insufficiently qualified. Larry was hired, in January
I think, and received the job title Director of Clinical
Services (thus avoiding the word "suspension" which I
dislike, since it is confusing, ambiguous, and means nothing
outside of cryonics). Larry replaced me in field work.

In March, at the end of the 6 months that I had guaranteed to
Alcor, I was asked to continue my assistance. Since I had
started doing a lot of managerial tasks at the facility,
Jerry Lemler named me "Chief Operating Officer." This was
very flattering but I started to feel I was doing things that
I didn't enjoy, so I quit and handed the tasks back to Jerry.

Jerry then asked Larry Johnson to adopt the "COO" title.
Larry said he didn't want the responsibilities. Alcor bylaws
state that any officer must be confirmed by the board; Larry
never was confirmed as COO and therefore, since he didn't
want the title anyway, it seems inappropriate to me that he
should describe himself that way to journalists.

> 2) Tim Freeman is right - the sports illustrated story isn't actually
> worse press than Alcor had on the TW thing before. And Alcor have
> responded appropriately. But how about following up by giving SI a full
> guided tour and showing them exactly where and how TW is stored - let
> them make a big photo montage of their hero - leverage the bad
> publicity into good?

SI has visited Alcor more than once. You will note that in
the current SI, a picture of Jerry Lemler shows him without a
beard. This is a recent photo. SI knows all they want to know
about Alcor, and from their point of view, they will gain
nothing from another guided tour (they already had one).

> 3) It seems like Alcor needs a considerably more rigorous security
> protocol. If LJ is as nuts as he appears, then I'm not happy that he
> had free access to the facilities. Apart from stealing equipment, he
> could easily have damaged the people in the dewars. How can security be
> addressed without compromising quality of service? And how does Alcor's
> security protocol differ from that of the other orgs?

This is the big question. Here are the steps that I took
personally, to reassure myself about Larry Johnson.

a) References were checked quite carefully.
b) Paramedic status was confirmed.
c) National certification was confirmed.
d) I spent a lot of time with Larry, trying to get to know
him as informally as possible. I drove to California and back
with him, partly with this in mind.
e) Security issues were discussed. Usually he was the one
arguing for greater security.
f) I witnessed his participation in two cases. He saved both
of them from significantly worse outcomes.
g) I conferred frequently regarding his outlook toward Alcor.
Was he happy in the job? Was anything bothering him?
h) I prepared teaching materials with him and watched him
give training courses for paramedics and for Alcor
volunteers. He learned Alcor procedures thoroughly.
i) He was diligent, smart, and careful about setting up our
new meds kits, using an entirely new set of medications
(specified and approved by our friends at a resuscitation
research laboratory).
j) He worked more than 8 hours a day, and seemed highly
motivated.

After three months, I felt comfortable with Larry in a
position of responsibility. Unfortunately, in retrospect, I
think he turned against Alcor after that. I don't think he
was "nuts," as you put it; I speculate that he was
disappointed by cryonics (most people expect more from
cryonics before they realize what a small field it is),
disappointed by his pay, dissatisfied with career prospects,
unhappy doing so much admin work, and looking for a golden
parachute. Larry Johnson might claim that he was motivated
entirely by an altruistic desire to expose and correct
practices of which he disapproved, but personally I find it
hard to believe that money was not a motivating factor. Why
else would he have tried to sell photos online?

Possibly if I had remained more intimately associated with
Alcor I might have noticed a change in him, but he was not an
expressive person. A current Alcor employee spent 10 or 15
minutes with Larry at the beginning of every day, right up to
the last day, and never picked up any significantly hostile
vibes. Larry hid his intentions and his emotions very
successfully. I have no idea how to protect oneself against
someone like that, who proved himself to be such an important
asset initially, gained the trust of absolutely everyone, and
then made everyone feel that he had betrayed their trust.

Re security: Alcor security no doubt could be improved
(almost all small businesses find it hard to take enough time
to be absolutely, totally secure) but does feature the
following precautions:

The entire building is always locked--always. The patient
care bay is protected against intrusion, vandalism, and other
forms of attack in several different ways. Surveillance
cameras monitor the facility, including the parking lot and
the roof, and automatically record any motion that is
detected. No stranger is allowed to walk unaccompanied
through the facility. All visitors, employees, and
contractors sign nondisclosure agreements. All patient
storage devices are locked down (so far as I know, Larry
Johnson did not have keys).

> 4) LJ will have obtained some compensation both from Alcor and from SI
> for his efforts, so is worth suing. But SI itself is a much fatter
> pigeon - if LJ was acting as their agent in all this, can't they be
> sued directly?

SI keeps attorneys on retainer, and any major news story such
as the one about Alcor and Ted Williams will have been
examined in relentless detail prior to publication. That
said, litigation against SI is being contemplated by someone
who was mentioned in the article but may not wish to describe
his plans at this time.

--Charles Platt

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