[...] *The only irritation of the night had nothing to do with Summer Jam 5 and everything to do with the annoying Church of Scientology recruits stationed on either side of Centro Ybor. On the Seventh Avenue side, where the religious fanatics usually set up shop, a pleasant young man and his newb companion (who was actually wearing a Dianetics shirt) asked, “Where are you going tonight? Would you like a free personality test?” “No, thanks, I like my personality just ...

It claims to be one of the world's fastest-growing new religions but a battery of legal cases threaten its very existence in this secular country In a small Normandy village, surrounded by wheat fields, Gwen Le Berre keeps a Scientology "electrometer" machine in his bedroom. He opens the large green briefcase and peers at the machine inside. It looks like a lie-detector from an old TV cop show and Le Berre doesn't really understand how it works — he just knows ...

L’Eglise de scientologie a bien essayé de passer les grilles du Palais des Nations, mais elle n’y est pas arrivée. Initialement, le 6e sommet annuel international des droits de l’homme devait se tenir à l’ONU. Ses organisateurs, Des jeunes pour les droits de l’homme et Village Suisse ONG, ont dû se rabattre sur les salons feutrés de l’Hôtel Intercontinental. La proximité de ces deux organisations avec l’Eglise de scientologie a fini par éveiller les soupçons, incitant l’ONU à ne pas prêter ...

Scientology spokeswoman Catherine Fraser conceded this week that workers at Golden Era Productions can pass from one side of Gilman Springs Road to the other without crossing Gilman Springs Road. Several people contacted The Valley Chronicle after reading recent stories in which Fraser said the safety of workers is a consideration in the group's consideration of asking that Gilman Springs Road be closed. Fraser conceded the organization built two tunnels under Gilman Springs Road that can be used by employees who ...

Karen and Chris Noel spend their weekdays working at the Church of Scientology in Portland, but on weekends they take on another role: carpet salesmen By Kristen Forbes The Times, Aug 27, 2009 Karen and Chris Noel spend their weekdays working at the Church of Scientology in Portland, but on weekends they take on another role: carpet salesmen. They sell rugs at various locations throughout the Portland area. On Sundays, they can typically be found in the parking lot of the ...

Representatives from the Church of Scientology have discussed tentative plans for the La Quinta property it recently purchased, but nothing has been finalized. “They have yet to submit any permits to us,” said Les Johnson, director of planning for La Quinta. “We have outlined to them what they need to do.” The Church of Spiritual Technology, an affiliate of the Church of Scientology, purchased the 2-acre Hacienda Serena in a multi-million dollar deal in December. The 3,450-square-foot adobe home at 49-875 ...

Concerned residents who filled Sandy Springs City Council chambers Tuesday, Aug. 18 to hear the fate of the Church of Scientology, which wants to relocate from Dunwoody to Sandy Springs, will have to wait. The Council was scheduled to vote on the church's rezoning application that if approved would allow religious use of property the congregation purchased in 2005 at the intersection of Roswell Road and Glenridge Drive. But discussion on the application was short-lived. The city's staff recommended a 60-day ...

GILMAN SPRINGS: Supervisor’s aide says Golden Era would need community leaders’ OK. Whatever happens with Gilman Springs Road, it will not happen at county expense, says Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Stone’s chief aide, Verne Lauritzen. Representatives of the Scientology compound that is bisected by Gilman Springs Road between Highway 79 and Soboba Road have approached some public officials, including Stone, about closing off that segment of the road. “They have contacted us a number of times,” Lauritzen said, “but they are ...

Visit any neighborhood in the Black community and you're bound to find a church on nearly every city block. When it comes to faith-based communities, African Americans are believed to be one of the most religious and spiritual especially those who practice Christianity, Islam, Catholicism, or Judaism. There are even some Buddhists, thanks in part to iconic celebrity, Tina Turner, who introduced Black folk to the religion in her autobiography, "What's Love Got to Do With It." But, when it comes ...

A Church of Scientology could be setting up shop in Bucks County after all. A. Rhoades Wilson wanted to convert his home in Plumstead Township into a church. But the township shot him down. Now Wilson is appealing to the Bucks County Court of Common Pleas. There's no word on when the court will have its say.

GOLDEN ERA: Gilman Springs poses danger to members and public, says spokeswoman. By CHARLES HAND/The Valley Chronicle Published: Friday, August 14, 2009 4:39 PM CDT The Church of Scientology wants to close the segment of Gilman Springs Road that runs through its Golden Era Productions compound northwest of San Jacinto. Spokeswoman Cathy Fraser said, however, “It is way premature to talk about it.” The organization has made no formal proposals, she said, and, until it does, there is little to talk ...

Clearwater police Chief Sid Klein, who has been with the department since January 1981, announced today that he is retiring, effective Jan. 29. "Without question, Chief Klein has positioned Clearwater as one of the finest police departments in the country," Mayor Frank Hibbard said in a news release. "His leadership has been a great asset to our city. We wish him the best in his retirement." Klein integrated community policing more than 20 years ago. In the 1990s, he established the ...

Scientology is getting big in the Las Vegas Valley, at least in terms of square footage. The controversial religion is renovating a former synagogue complex near the corner of Eastern and Emerson avenues so it can become Scientology’s focal point in Nevada, with 36,845 square feet of space and a “Celebrity Centre” to specially cater to high-profile artists, celebrities and community leaders. The Las Vegas celebrity center will be Scientology’s fourth such center in the U.S. The others are in Los ...

BENDIGO is the first area of regional Victoria to be targeted by the Church of Scientology for programs to coincide with the opening of its new Melbourne headquarters. The controversial church has used print and television advertising to increase awareness of its programs in the past month and will start operating in the region within weeks. “We’ve got a few different projects happening, and Bendigo is the first country area that’s been chosen,” Melbourne Church of Scientology public relations manager Pauline ...

A FEW months ago, Sydney Council approved a development application for the Church Of Scientology’s Castlereagh St headquarters with little incident. It was somewhat of an anticlimax after the bitter opposition by residents and anti-Scientology activists, who argued the group would increase recruitment drives which “harass, and badger people to join” if the proposal was approved. Residents said they feared the church would use “menacing activity” to target people on Castlereagh and Bathurst streets for recruitment. The $12-million expansion involved adding ...

The advertisement is sleek and subtle, surfacing on the upper right side of the St. Petersburg Times' Web site, tampabay.com. The text floats onto the screen: "Love" then "Hate" then "What is the answer?" The final display comes in a flash of light: "Scientology.org." It's a small spot, rotating among a lineup of online ads that includes commercials for Radio Shack and BlackBerry. But it has drawn some attention, partly because the newspaper has published several stories recently featuring serious allegations ...

BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, AUGUST 11TH 2009 (CUOPM) – St. Kitts registered a 10 percent increase in cruise ship passengers for the first half of this year. Data from the Department of Finance and Statistics of the St. Christopher Air and Sea Ports Authority (SCASPA) also indicate a near 30 percent increase in cruise passengers in June this year compared to the same month in 2008. SCASPA figures state that cruise passenger arrivals jumped 11 percent to 244,746 for the first half ...

Clearwater, Florida – The Church of Scientology is launching a TV ad campaign in Tampa Bay this week. But the controversial group, which is based in Clearwater, insists the ads are not connected to recent news stories that slam the church and its powerful leader. The ad push will target multiple channels, but very particular time slots. The goal's to catch the eyes of anyone watching TV at that moment, even if they flip the channel. Turn to another station, and ...

WILL Smith and his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, deny they are Scientologists and deny the school they founded is a Scientology school — yet they've replaced the head of the New Village Leadership Academy, Jacqueline Olivier, with a woman who's studied Scientology, Piano Foster. The superstar couple had home-schooled their kids, Jaden, 9, and Willow, 7, before opening the school last September in Calabasas, Calif. They reportedly quarreled with Olivier over the school's Study Tech curriculum, which was devised by Scientology ...

Don't overlook the good Scientology does I think it is disgusting that you chose to tear apart Scientology and Scientologists. You discriminate against and attack a religion that has much to praise and respect. Have you actually taken a look at what local Scientologists do for their communities? Take Clearwater for instance. There is Criminon, a group of dedicated volunteers who work with criminals in jail to help them change their lives so that they will be worthwhile individuals when they ...

The new head of superstar Will Smith’s New Village Leadership Academy is a Scientologist, RadarOnline.com can reveal. On Wednesday we broke the story that Jada had fired the original hire after her position became “untenable” due to her disagreement with the Study Tech curriculum devised by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. Click here for all the details behind the firing Jada called Jacqueline Olivier to inform her of their decision and the couple filled the position at the private school in ...

The bane of our educational system is that pupils and students study to pass examinations and not learning to understand and apply knowledge practically and productively. Many people think that they study so they can pass a test. But that is not what learning is about. That is not why you study. You study to use what you have learned. Applied scholastics recognises the challenges that teachers and lecturers face in teaching their students. Pressures from school managements, parents, governments, students, ...

LOS ANGELES — Taped to the wall of Elisabeth Moss' apartment here a large, hand-lettered sign reads, "Lock the Door." The woman who plays the tightly controlled Peggy Olson on "Mad Men" needs to be reminded of this? "Fred put it there," says Moss, referring to Fred Armisen, the musician and "Saturday Night Live" comic who is her fiance. "Sometimes I'm just a little," she says, pausing and looking thoughtfully upward, "forgetful." An effervescent 26-year-old trained as a ballerina, Moss recently ...

Published: 6 Aug 09 12:59 CET The Church of Scientology is targeting Berlin and Brandenburg schools for a vague fact-finding mission, sending more than 500 letters to various institutions in recent weeks, daily Der Tagesspiegel reported on Thursday. According to the paper, a Scientologist group called the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) has contacted school leaders with questions about things such as how many of their students suffer from reading deficiencies or behavioural issues, or how many psychologists are on ...

Will Smith and his wife Jada Pinkett Smith have fired the head of their controversial private school The New Village Leadership Academy, RadarOnline.com has learned exclusively. Jacqueline Olivier - the woman the famous husband and wife enlisted to set up their Calabasas campus - was axed from her $200,000 a year position via a telephone call from the Matrix actress. "Jada phoned Jaqueline and told her that they had 'decided to go in another direction' with the school,” an insider told ...

Scientology calls itself a religion and claims to offer purpose and meaning to its members. Yet for some who worked in the church's militaristic Sea Organization, Scientology provided something different: physical punishment, humiliation, beatings, sleep deprivation, and long and ruinous separation from loved ones. The stories of 11 former staffers, reported in a St. Petersburg Times special report Sunday, are told with such detail and emotional heft that the church's official denials of abuse ring hollow. It takes courage to challenge ...

Illawarra doctors have been warned against prescribing mind-altering drugs, including anti-depressants, in a DVD mass-mailed by a watchdog group founded by the Church of Scientology. The film, Making a Killing: The Untold Story of Psychotropic Drugging, appears to have been mailed to all doctors listed in the region's Yellow Pages last month. The DVD claims psychotropic drugs are harmful and includes testimonies from the family members of people who have committed suicide while medicated. It claims psychiatrists "occupy the lowest rung ...

Scientology parishioners learned this week of a milestone in Scientology history when Mr. David Miscavige, Chairman of the Board Religious Technology Center, announced the acquisition of a 159,400 square feet, 190 acre facility for the future home of the Advanced Organization of Canada. Not only will this provide the advanced training and counseling services for all Canadian parishioners, it will also house the Canadian Scientology national offices that coordinate Scientology expansion and social betterment programs for the country. First announced by ...