About 2,000 fans of Scientology and jazz gathered in unheavenly weather Monday night for the Crusade for Religious Freedom concert, a hastily organized effort anchored by the hastily formed thick Corea Trio. The four-hour concert featured jazz pianist/composer Corea and movie composer Frank Stallone, whose brother Sylvester Stallone has made a career out of boxing films about a fictional fighter named Rocky. Gray skies failed to erupt in rainfall as dusk turned to darkness on the waterfront area opposite the main ...

PORTLAND ATTORNEY Ted Runstein was arguing a pretrial motion last March on behalf of the Church of Scientology when a portly Boston Irishman with thinning red hair and a fat briefcase ambled into the courtroom and parked himself at the counsel table. "I'm too old to fight the preliminaries," the Boston lawyer told Multnomah Circuit Judge Donald H. Londer. "I'm just measuring the ring and getting a feel for the rules. I'll be here for the main event." Such was the ...

About 2,000 Scientologists and Portland music fans gathered in downtown Portland's Tom McCall Waterfront Park Monday night for a free concert that was billed as part of a crusade for religious freedom. Against a backdrop of the Burnside Bridge and a huge U.S. flag on which the cross of Scientology was superimposed, piano virtuoso Chick Corea and rock musician Frank Stallone performed. Scientologists identifying themselves as having come to Portland from Canada, Britain, Mexico, Germany, France, Australia, Sweden and New Zealand ...

The Church of Scientology in Portland waged an expensive, large-scale advertising campaign throughout the fraud trial that led to a $39 million verdict against the church and its founder, but jurors said they paid no attention to it. Printed advertisements appeared frequently in daily and weekly newspapers in the Portland area throughout the 10-week trial, and radio and television commercials were played on several local stations. Two jurors who were interviewed Monday said the jury's decision was based on long discussions ...

PORTLAND, Ore. — Thousands of Scientologists, including actor John Travolta and jazz musician Chick Corea, showed, up in Portland yesterday to rally behind their beleaguered church. Members of the Church of Scientology flew to Portland from all over the United States and as far away as Europe and South America. In Seattle, about 80 Scientologists singing "We Shall Overcome" and protesting what they called an assault on religious freedom gathered last night at the Flag Pavilion in Seattle Center. The Scientologists, ...

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Thousands of Scientologists, buoyed by an appearance by church member John Travolta, marched downtown Monday in the third day of protests over a $39 million fraud judgment against their church and its leader. Police Sgt. Jay Decker estimated "a few thousand" Church of Scientology members participated in the demonstration. "There will be more," he predicted, as the weeklong series of rallies and concerts progresses. Scientologists had been arriving in Portland from across the United States, Europe and ...

Local religious spokesmen Saturday disputed statements by Scientologists that a $39 million court judgment against the Church of Scientology represented a threat to freedom of religion. "This is not a freedom of religion issue at all," the Rev. Rodney I. Page, executive director of Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon, said Saturday of the punitive damages awarded Julie Christofferson Titchbourne, who sued the Church of Scientology and its founder, L. Ron Hubbard, for fraud. "This was a case in which someone's civil rights ...

An estimated 300 members of the Church of Scientology rallied in downtown Portland Sunday, protesting a $39-million judgment against the church issued by a jury last week. For 90 minutes, the demonstrators, many of whom came to Portland from around the country, carried placards and chanted slogans as they marched around the Multnomah County Courthouse, which was closed Sunday. There were no incidents and no visible police presence during the rally. The protest is expected to continue at least through Monday, ...

Hundreds of members of the Church of Scientology converged in Portland on Sunday to protest a $39 million fraud judgment against the church.. A jury Friday awarded the judgment to a woman who had been a member of the church for nine months in 1975 and 1976. She testified that church teachings held that Scientology could improve her weak eyesight and raise her intelligence quotient. About 500 members rallied outside the Multnomah County Circuit Court, where the case was decided.

PORTLAND, Ore.—Members of the Church of Scientology converged on Portland on Sunday to protest a $39 million fraud judgment which one church leader called "a slap in the face of the First Amendment." The Rev. John Carmichael, head of the church in Oregon, predicted Sunday morning that the Multnomah County Circuit Court jury award will not stand on appeal. "Major disasters in which hundreds of people are killed don't get $39 million judgments," Carmichael said. In Clearwater, Scientology midday followers gathered ...

An estimated 500 members of the Church of Scientology rallied in downtown Portland late into the night Sunday, anticipating the early morning arrival of film star John Travolta. Travolta, flying his private plane from Los Angeles for a quick stop in Portland to show solidarity with other Scientology members, arrived at Portland International Airport shortly after midnight. He was greeted by more than 200 supporters who had been bused to the airport after a day of protest against a $39 million ...

Pushing a baby stroller towering with blankets, Jennifer Decker of Eagle Rock was among hundreds of Church of Scientology members who boarded buses, planes and trains Saturday bound for Portland, Ore., to protest a $39 million court judgment against the international church. An Oregon jury awarded the multimillion-dollar judgment on Friday to a woman who claimed the church defrauded her, which prompted church president the Rev. Heber Jentzsch to organize the pilgrimage to Portland. Decker was among 200 people who filled ...

CLEARWATER—Local members of the Church of Scientology took to the streets Saturday night to protest a $39 million jury award to an Oregon woman who claimed she was defrauded by the sect. Approximately 300 Clearwater Scientologists mounted a candlelight vigil to protest the Portland jury's Friday action in favor of disgruntled former church member Julie Christofferson Titchbourne. The Scientologists paraded from their headquarters at the former Fort Harrison Hotel through downtown Clearwater to the Coachmen Park area, where they listened to ...

Several thousand members of the Church of Scientology are planning to converge on Portland, Ore., today and Monday to protest a jury's $39-million damage award to a former church member who claimed that she was defrauded out of $3,253 by the group. The Rev. Kathleen Gorgon, president of the Church of Scientology of California, said that several hundred members left Saturday from the church's Hollywood headquarters by car, bus, train and plane to join others from around the world in a ...

Thousands of Scientologists, including actor John Travolta, are planning to flock to Portland this week to protest a $39 million court judgment against the church, Scientology officials said Saturday. Scientologists started their protest Saturday night with a march outside the Multnomah County Courthouse by about 150 persons carrying signs that read "Restore the Bill of Rights" and "We Want Justice" and chanting "religious freedom now." Another rally is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Sunday outside the courthouse in response to the jury ...

A Multnomah County Circuit Court jury awarded $39 million in punitive damages Friday to a Portland woman after finding she was victimized by "wanton misconduct" by the Church of Scientology and its founder, L. Ron Hubbard. The verdict was returned in favor of Julie Christofferson Titchbourne, 27, after 2½ days of deliberation and a 10-week trial. One of her lawyers, Ronald L. Wade, said it was the biggest punitive damages verdict in Oregon history. John Carmichael, president of the Church of ...

A jury today awarded $39 million to a woman who says the Church of Scientology defrauded her with claims it would improve her eyesight and make her more intelligent. The Multnomah Circuit Court jury, after a 10-week trial and two and a half days of deliberations, found that the church defrauded the woman, Julie Christofferson Titchbourne, who had been a church member for nine months. "This is a ridiculous decision," said Earle C. Cooley, a, attorney representing the church. "The Constitution ...

After winning a $39 million judgment against the Church of Scientology late Friday afternoon, Julie Christofferson Titchbourne said she hoped to establish a foundation to help other victims of thought-control organizations. Titchbourne, a soft-spoken civil engineer who hugged her mother, husband and lawyers after hearing the jury's decision, said she hoped her experience could be turned to an advantage for others whose lives need rebuilding. During a brief appearance before reporters outside the courtroom door, neither Titchbourne nor one of her ...

A Multnomah County Circuit Court jury awarded $39 million in punitive damages Friday to a Portland woman after finding that she was victimized by "wanton misconduct" by the Church of Scientology and its founder, L. Ron Hubbard. The verdict was returned in favor of Julie Christofferson Titchbourne, 27, after 2½ days of deliberations and a 10-week trial. One of her lawyers, Ronald L. Wade, said it was the biggest punitive damages verdict in Oregon history. The jury also awarded fraud damages ...

PORTLAND, Ore.—A jury Friday awarded $39 million to a woman who says the Church of Scientology defrauded her with claims it would improve her eyesight and make her more intelligent. The Multnomah Circuit Court jury, after a 10-week trial and 2½ days of deliberations, found the church defrauded Julie Christofferson Titchbourne, a church member for nine months, in 1975 and 1976. "This is a ridiculous decision. The Constitution is in serious trouble in the state of Oregon and we will appeal," ...

These Americans are finding the answers using Scientology(R) in their daily lives, at work and with family and friends... [Picture Caption: Fred King – internationally known martial artist and business consultant, Lake Oswego] "I've always demanded that any philosophy I use be effective. In business or in the oriental fighting arts, you can't avoid reality. You need to deal with it aggressively. "Scientology has worked for me, helping me with my business ventures, my relations with others, even my performance in ...

A civil fraud suit in Portland seeking $42 million in punitive damages against the Church of Scientology was described Tuesday as the "broadest-based attack on religion that has ever happened in the history of man." Earle C. Cooley, a Boston attorney who headed the church defense, told a Multnomah County Circuit jury that Scientology "ranks up among the most abused religions in the history of the world. Perhaps only the Jews have suffered more at the hands of their enemies." Cooley, ...

The end of a civil fraud trial against the Church of Scientology and its founder L. Ron Hubbard drew unexpectedly closer Wednesday when the defense announced it would call no more witnesses on the church’s behalf. Defense attorney Earle C. Cooley surprised his opposition by resting the defense case early Wednesday in Multnomah County Circuit Court after one week of testimony and eight witnesses. Cooley’s decision means the church will not call any high-ranking officials to refute claims that the reclusive ...

Testimony in a civil fraud trial against the Church of Scientology and its founder, L. Ron Hubbard, ended Thursday in Multnomah County Circuit Court near the end of the ninth week of trial. Circuit Judge Donald H. Londer scheduled closing arguments to begin Monday and indicated that they would last at least two days. Loader and attorneys in the case plan to spend most of Friday discussing legal instructions to be delivered to the jury at the close of arguments. The ...

Members of the Church of Scientology who appear as defense witnesses in a fraud case against their church will not have to answer questions about basic tenets of their religion, a Portland judge ruled Tuesday. Multnomah County Circuit Judge Donald H. Londer based his ruling on the constitutional right to religious freedom. "Religious beliefs are of no concern to the court," he said. "Basic tenets of religion will not be made the subject of examination." The ruling was a victory for ...

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A judge has released from court custody records of reclusive Church of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard's World War II military service and medical treatment. The records could show whether Hubbard, who has written that he was crippled and blinded as a result of war injuries, was actually injured. Attorneys for a woman suing the church contend he never served in combat, and never was seriously injured. Hubbard has written in church materials that he cured himself ...

Records of L. Ron Hubbard's World War II military service and medical treatment were released from court custody Friday by a Portland judge who decided they have become relevant to a fraud trial against the Church of Scientology. Circuit Judge Donald H. Londer ruled that defense testimony offered this week by the church would make the private records relevant to the claim by a Portland woman that the church and its founder, Hubbard, defrauded her in 1975. Londer reviewed several hundred ...

A former Portland man who enrolled Julie Christofferson Titchbourne in her first Scientology course in 1975 testified Thursday that Titchbourne willingly signed up for the class and that she was advised that the course material involved religion. "She came in already wanting to do the course," said William M. Landers, describing Titchbourne's first appearance at the Portland Church of Scientology mission in July 1975 when Titchbourne was 17. Titchbourne is suing the church and its founder, L. Ron Hubbard, in Multnomah ...