The church selects Johnson Blakely to represent it on a number of local issues. CLEARWATER – The Church of Scientology has hired Clearwater's most prominent and well-connected law firm to represent it on a wide range of issues, yet another indicator of Scientology's increasing acceptance into Clearwater's civic circles. Church officials reached an agreement for legal services on Tuesday with the firm of Johnson Blakely Pope Bokor Ruppel & Burns. The account will be handled by Ed Armstrong, a partner in ...

One Clearwater official says the church need not provide parking until its building is nearly complete, but others disagree. CLEARWATER — The foundation has been poured and two towering white cranes reach into the downtown sky. Construction is well under way on a 370,000-square-foot Church of Scientology building that will take two years to build. When it opens, Scientology expects to have doubled its uniformed staff to 2,000. It also projects that the number of Scientology parishioners visiting Clearwater will increase ...

Workers today will pour the base for the Ministerial Training and Counseling Center, which is expected to be the largest building in downtown Clearwater. CLEARWATER — A massive foundation will be constructed beginning early this morning for what is expected to be the largest building downtown. The Church of Scientology and its contractor, Beers Construction Co. of Tampa, have coordinated an 18-hour task that will involve more than 500 construction workers, 130 mixing trucks, 1,200 truckloads of high-strength concrete from six ...

The Church of Scientology in Clearwater says it is immune from criminal prosecution in the death of Lisa McPherson and wants the felony charges against it dismissed. In lengthy motions filed this week, Scientology's lawyers argue that the charges filed against the church last November "are both unnecessary and impermissible." Church staffers gave "spiritual assistance" to McPherson, a fellow Scientologist, in the days before she died, thus their actions were protected under the First Amendment and the state's new Religious Freedom ...

[This article appears to be a reprint of an article published the day before] The city, concerned about Scientology, is choosing a low-key recognition of major contributors. City commissioners decided Thursday that they would rather collect less money for the new main library than allow controversial groups that make large donations to be recognized prominently. The Church of Scientology was not mentioned at the televised meeting, but commissioners have said they are uncomfortable with the church being named in a ...

pictures of FBI raid on Scn churches; newspaper article titled, “Secret probe sparks raid on Scientology” VO: On July 7, 1977, 134 FBI agents stormed into Scientology centers in Washington and Los Angeles. Washington Post newspaper article titled, “Scientologists Kept Files on ‘Enemies’ ROBERT VAUGHN YOUNG (voice of): We hit the front page of every newspaper in the country at that time. footage of Scn press conference; copy of “Alaska Mental Health Act”; newspaper article titled, “Woman Sees ‘Political Siberia’ In ...

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Dec 6, 1998 - "I am L. Ron Hubbard," the woman on the hotel room bed announced in a robotic voice. "I created time 3 billion years ago." She rambled on and on, every outburst dutifully scribbled down by those assigned to watch her. "I can't confront force . . . I need my auditor . . . I want to take a toothbrush and brush the floor until I have a cognition." The jargon of Scientology was ...

CLEARWATER, Florida (CNN) — The Church of Scientology was charged by Florida prosecutors Friday in the death of a member. The State Attorney's office in Pinellas County filed the felony charges after a lengthy investigation into the 1995 death of Lisa McPherson. McPherson had been a member of the church for 18 years and, according to relatives, had been talking about leaving the church. McPherson, 36, died December 5, 1995, after being confined for 18 days to a Scientology property called ...

Justice: Severe dehydration proved fatal to female believer who, family contends, was held against her will. Prosecutor files two felony counts. CLEARWATER, Fla. — The Church of Scientology was charged Friday in the 1995 death of a member whose family claimed she became severely dehydrated after being held against her will for 17 days. Prosecutor Bernie McCabe charged the church with abuse or neglect of a disabled adult and unauthorized practice of medicine, both felonies. The church noted that prosecutors did ...

ORLANDO, Fla., Nov. 13 — Florida prosecutors filed criminal charges today against the Church of Scientology in connection with the death of a church member while she was under the care of Scientologists three years ago. The church's Flag Service Organization, its chief operating arm in Clearwater, Fla., was charged with abuse or neglect of a disabled adult and with the unauthorized practice of medicine in the death of the church member, Lisa McPherson, 36. The felony charges were filed in ...

CLEARWATER — When Lisa McPherson left Morton Plant Hospital with her fellow Scientologists, she crossed a line between worlds that differ sharply on how mental illness should be treated. The Scientologists who watched her for the next 17 days relied on the teachings of their late founder, L. Ron Hubbard, who scorned psychiatry and wrote that any apprentice of his mental health practices "knows more and can do more about the mind than any psychiatrist." In contrast, doctors at Morton Plant ...

The church faces two felony charges in its treatment of Lisa McPherson. The Church of Scientology in Clearwater has been charged with criminal neglect and practicing medicine without a license in the 1995 death of Lisa McPherson, the mentally disturbed Scientologist who turned to outsiders for help before church officials intervened and placed her under their care. Unlicensed Scientology staffers "medicated her without her consent," isolated her and took other measures to treat her physical and mental condition at Scientology's Fort ...

CLEARWATER (AP) — A prosecutor charged the Church of Scientology on Friday with two felonies in the death of a member whose family claims she became severely dehydrated after being held against her will for 17 days. Lisa McPherson, 36, died in December 1995. She had been under the 24-hour care of church members at the Fort Harrison Hotel, Scientology's international retreat in downtown Clearwater. Her family has claimed she was held against her will after trying to leave the church. ...

David Miscavige, the seldom-seen leader of the church, comes forth in his first newspaper interview to talk of a more peaceful time for Scientology. LOS ANGELES — When David Miscavige recounts his rise to power in the Church of Scientology — a journey that began when he quit high school at age 16 — it is mostly a story of war. War against renegade Scientologists. War against Scientology’s critics. War against its one-time arch enemy, the IRS. But Scientology’s 38-year-old leader ...

The doctor who pronounced Scientologist Lisa McPherson dead pays her estate $100,000. A Clearwater doctor who declared Scientologist Lisa McPherson dead when she arrived at a New Port Richey hospital in December 1995 has paid her estate $100,000 to settle his portion of a wrongful death suit McPherson's family filed against the Church of Scientology and others. James Felman, the Tampa lawyer who represents Dr. David Minkoff, said two medical malpractice insurance companies paid the entire amount. "It wasn't our idea ...

Some of the study techniques, such as students' learning at their own pace in multigrade classrooms, are being tried in public schools. [Picture / Caption: Visitors file past a bust of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard after opening ceremonies Tuesday at Clearwater Academy International.] CLEARWATER — A new private school using educational concepts promoted by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard is scheduled to open today downtown. Clearwater Academy International, at Drew Street and Myrtle Avenue, will have an enrollment of 120 ...

CLEARWATER — Members of the Church of Scientology recently have been rising to the defense of embattled City Manager Mike Roberto in an outpouring of public support for a Clearwater official that would have been inconceivable in the past. The unusual display, in the form of letters and e-mails to City Hall and the Times, is an indicator of how dramatically City Hall's relationship with the church and its members has changed — from the icy co-existence that began with Scientology's ...

WASHINGTON – After years of holding the U.S. government in contempt, the Church of Scientology is enlisting members of Congress, the U.S. State Department and even President Clinton to advance its agenda in foreign lands. Prodded by the Scientologists' paid lobbyists and its cadre of sympathetic entertainers, several lawmakers and the Clinton administration have criticized the German government for allegedly discriminating against Scientology practitioners. They even got their argument against Germany to the floor of the House of Representatives last November. ...

Lisa Marie Presley, the city's most famous resident, has put her home on the market. The 30-year-old daughter of Elvis and Priscilla Presley bought the home in late 1996 for $1.2-million. A spokeswoman for her publicist said she did not know whether Presley planned to relocate locally or move from the area. The home overlooks Clearwater Harbor and is situated several blocks north of the downtown headquarters of the Church of Scientology, where Presley is a parishioner. She is part of ...

She is one of an estimated 3,300 Scientologists who have migrated to Clearwater in the 1990s, the most dramatic period of growth for the church during its 22 years in Clearwater. In addition, the church has said it is "deadly serious" about its plans for the year 2000, which include tripling the size of its Clearwater staff to more than 3,500; launching a local Scientology "university" that would accommodate more than 10,000 students a week; and having "Clearwater known as the ...