http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/state/060718lawsuit.shtml

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

STATE SUING KITTERY 'HEALING' GROUP


By GREGORY D. KESICH, Portland Press Herald Writer

Copyright © 2006 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.

The Gentle Wind Project, which for 22 years has distributed "healing
instruments" built on designs adherents claim were transmitted from
the "spirit world," has been sued by the Maine Attorney General's
Office for allegedly violating the Unfair Trade Practices Act.

According to the suit, which was filed June 29 in York County
Superior Court, the nonprofit group has made false claims about its
products, which range from small laminated cards to hockey puck-like
discs the group says will treat everything from alcoholism to
paralysis. The group claims the devices have been put through
rigorous scientific testing and have been proven effective in
hospital settings.

Instead, according to the complaint signed by Attorney General
Steven Rowe, there was no scientific testing, and the medical
professionals who endorsed the products had undisclosed financial
relationships with the Kittery-based group.

The defendants, five members of the Gentle Wind board and their
bookkeeper, have been charged with violating the laws regulating
charitable organizations. They could be fined as well as forced to
pay sales tax that was never collected on millions of dollars worth
of transactions.

Gentle Wind's president, Mary Miller, did not return a phone call
seeking comment about the case. She is one of the defendants, along
with John "Tubby" Miller who, according to the complaint, directs
the manufacture of the healing instruments and writes the
descriptions of them in the group's literature.

The state's suit marks Gentle Wind's latest appearance in the legal
arena. In 2003, the organization sued former members Judy Garvey and
her husband, Jim Bergin, of Blue Hill for defamation after the
couple published autobiographical essays about their 17 years in the
Gentle Wind Project, which they compared to a "mind-control cult."

The couple claimed that they had been exploited financially and let
group leaders control every aspect of their lives. Garvey said she
was involved in "sexual rituals" that she was told were necessary to
create the healing instruments.

A suit against the couple and the operators of some Web sites that
published their work was dismissed from federal court by U.S.
District Judge Gene Carter in January. The suit was filed again in
state court and is scheduled to go to trial in October or November.

The attorney general's complaint will not directly affect the
pending lawsuit, said Bergin and Garvey's lawyer, Jerroll Crouter of
Drummond Woodsum & MacMahon. However, many of the statements the
couple will have to defend in court have now been made by state
authorities, which their lawyer said vindicates their position.

"The state is alleging that Gentle Wind Project (officials) are
acting deceptively regarding their healing instruments, and that's
exactly the same claims that Bergin and Garvey have been making on
their Web site," he said.

According to the Gentle Wind Web site, each human is surrounded by a
web of energy. It is oval in shape, 8 to 10 feet tall and made up of
32 layers. "Over 90 percent of the world's population is missing
between 10 to 15 layers," the Web site claims. Human technology
cannot heal the broken energy, according to the group. The healing
instruments are effective, they say, and they can solve "most of the
problems found in humanity."

The state's lawsuit seeks to stop Gentle Wind from making claims
about the products, pay uncollected sales tax and permanently bar
all the defendants from serving on the board of any charitable
organization.

The suit also seeks control of Gentle Wind's property, including
homes in New Hampshire and Florida, and would force it to pay
restitution to any customer who purchased a healing instrument.

Staff Writer Gregory D. Kesich can be contacted at 791-6336 or at:

gkesich@...