A Scientology group targeting “toxic” medications plans to protest in Sudbury today for a public airing of any drugs given to the teen accused of murdering another boy at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School last week.
The group’s gripe hits as the Sudbury community struggles to cope with Friday’s stabbing death of straight-A student James Alenson, 15.
“I think everybody will be devastated,” said Rebecca Goniwich, a Sudbury special-needs advocate, of today’s noon protest.
“Walk a mile in our shoes before you judge,” added the mother of an autistic teen.
– Justice Anderson, Supreme Court of Victoria, Australia, quoted at What judges have to say about Scientology
– Source: Hubbard begged for psychiatric help
Members of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights, established by the Church of Scientology, will hold a 20-foot banner stating: “Psychiatry’s toxic drugs cause suicide and acts of violence.”
The demonstration will call for the release of the types of drugs given to accused killer John Odgren, 16, and the name of the doctor who prescribed them. Odgren, who suffers from a mild form of autism, was taking several undisclosed medications when he reportedly stabbed Alenson three times in a school bathroom.
“These doctors shouldn’t be prescribing willy-nilly. It’s like playing Dr. Frankenstein,” said Kevin Hall, the Scientology group’s New England director.
The group will be kept away from the school on Lincoln Road, and will protest at the corner of Route 27 and Concord Road in Sudbury.
Meanwhile, Odgren’s parents said yesterday in a statement they are “numb.”
“This is a horrible tragedy,” Paul and Dorothy Odgren of Princeton said in a statement released through their son’s attorney, Jonathan Shapiro.
The couple’s son is being held without bail in connection with Friday’s fatal stabbing.
“We cannot find words to express the grief we feel for the tragic death of your beloved James. Our hearts are heavy, and we are numb with sorrow,” the statement said.
Odgren, a special-needs student at the regional high school, suffers from Asperger’s syndrome and a hyperactivity disorder, Shapiro has said in court.
A community meeting for residents of Lincoln, Sudbury and participants of the Boston METCO program who attend school in the district will be held tomorrow evening at the high school.
Laura Crimaldi of the Boston Herald contributed.