The agreement ends a fight that lasted decades. And the deal may help Scientologists avoid paying millions of tax dollars in Clearwater. The Internal Revenue Service says the Church of Scientology and its myriad entities don't have to pay federal income taxes, ending a 40-year battle with the controversial church over its purpose and methods of dealing with opponents, which included burglary and intimidation. In the past week, the Internal Revenue Service issued 30 "determination letters" that exempted 153 Scientology churches, ...

In 1975, the Church of Scientology used a front company to secretly buy the historic Fort Harrison Hotel in downtown Clearwater for $2.3-million. There has been controversy ever since. Shortly after making the hotel its worldwide spiritual headquarters, Scientologists issued an internal directive outlining a plan to "fully investigate the Clearwater city and county area so we can distinguish our friends from our enemies and handle as needed." It called for protecting "ourselves against any potential threat by taking control of ...

Dear Friends and Colleagues! As you know Heber Jentzsch, President of the Church of Scientology International, has used, or rather misused, the Conference in London to launch an attack against churches, newspapers and the public in Germany and elsewhere. He has charged them with participating in a smear campaign against the Church of Scientology and has drawn a parallel with the persecution of Jews in Nazi-Germany. You will certainly know about the Scientology brochure titled Hatred and Propaganda where this argument ...

Last month we published an article by PREMIERE senior writer John H. Richardson that carefully examined the growing influence of Scientology in Hollywood. The Church vehemently protested the article, and we have given David Miscavige, the head of the Church, the right of reply. —Ed. IT IS AN UNFORTUNATE FACT THAT late in the 20th century, I find myself defending my religion between these covers. It is, however, a necessity, for if truth is not presented, then untruths become accepted ...

There is a story that Steve Tisch, producer of the 1983 coming-of-age classic Risky Business, the film that would eventually vault Tom Cruise into the warm aerie of megastardom, likes to tell. After a tough day of shooting, Cruise approached Tisch, his partner Jon Avnet and the film's director, Paul Brickman. It seemed Cruise was concerned: He felt that his costar, Rebecca DeMornay, a newcomer who had snatched the part of sexy hooker Lana from Michelle Pfeiffer, was miscast. Things just ...

CLEARWATER — Church of Scientology officials are installing concealed cameras and microphones in at least 69 counseling rooms where church members reveal their innermost thoughts, a church spokesman confirms. What transpires behind the closed doors of an auditing session — one-on-one counseling — is as confidential as a confession from a parishioner to a priest in the Roman Catholic Church, said Scientology spokesman Richard Haworth. "It's subject to what's called the priest-penitent privilege," Haworth said. Occasionally, be said, sessions are videotaped ...

After we ran a 250-word article about the introduction of the Church of Scientology into Russia ("L. Ron's Russia," March/April), our office was inundated by letters, the majority coming from within a ninety-mile radius of our San Francisco offices. Following is a sample of the thoughts expressed in the letters: —– Mother Jones reached its journalistic bottom with "L. Ron's Russia." It appears that you are using propaganda from either Interpol or Eli Lilly as your news. To spread this ...

Rick Ross, self-confessed "cult deprogrammer" and ATF advisor in the Waco holocaust has been charged, in the United States, with the 1991 abduction of a Christian teenage boy. Ross and his accomplices, Mark Workman and Charles Simpson, were charged in July with unlawful imprisonment in the abduction of Jason Scott. If convicted they face a maximum penalty of 5 years in prison. The charges against the three were the most recent in a string of legal actions brought against deprogrammers by ...

Now [Nancy] Cartwright is appearing on television in another role: a 30-minute television program that the Church of Scientology hopes will expose more people to [L. Ron] Hubbard's message and increase the number of people seeking Scientology counseling. Now, next to those telephone-order woks and real-estate courses comes Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health, the 1950 self-help classic from Hubbard, whose writings and research are the gospel of Scientology. The group has its spiritual headquarters in Clearwater. Scientology is never ...

The Courier has received a number of letters this week which are not being published because they are considered to be defamatory. —– Misdirected energy AS SPOKESMAN for the Church of Scientology I have only one thing to say to Mike Ricks (Letters, August 13), and that is that if he had spent as much time on improving conditions in town as he did in persecuting a religion, East Grinstead would be an even more pleasant environment to live and ...

[Transcription of the meaningful parts of the 1023 form as submitted by the Church of Spiritual Technology to the IRS. For the complete document, see PDFs] [...] Church of Spiritual Technology 419 Larchmont, Suite 162 Los Angeles, CA 90004-3013 Form 1023 [...] [b]Part I, Question 8 – Previous Exemption Application[/b] Church of Spiritual Technology ("CST") filed an application for recognition of its tax exemption under section 501(c)(3) on August 24, 1983. That application was denied by an adverse ruling dated July ...

MONTESANO, Grays Harbor County — Three Arizona men have pleaded not guilty to charges of unlawful imprisonment filed in a 1991 attempt to "deprogram" a teenager whose mother was concerned about his affiliation with a Bellevue church. The pleas were entered yesterday in Grays Harbor Superior Court by Rick Ross, 40, and Charles Simpson, 46, both of Phoenix, and Mark Workman, 38, of Flagstaff, Ariz. All were told to appear at a pretrial hearing Sept. 27. Unlawful imprisonment, a felony, carries ...

Pinning our hopes on Old Doll Body I READ with interest Denise Harrison's statement of incredulity that a new religion could be the work of a science fiction writer. According to the saying, truth is stranger than fiction, so what about this one? In his early lectures, Ron Hubbard mentioned "Old Doll Body", a mythical figure from the past, who travelled freely in the universe in his flying saucer. In 1964, I was driving up the Turners Hill Road one night ...

The Church of Scientology now owns one of this city's most historic storefront buildings but might not for long if it completes a land-swap deal. The Los Angeles-based Church of Scientology Religious Trust bought the J. D. Baskin Building, 115 S Garden Ave., in June for $500,000 from Imre and Anne Tozser of Clearwater, courthouse records show. The [Jefferson Davis] Baskin building, Scientology's 14th purchase in Clearwater, is being traded for a parcel controlled by the Indiana-based Mitchell Foundation, said Richard ...

Your July 26 "Counterpoint" gave space to L.S. Hight, international media coordinator for the "Church" of Scientology, who criticized an excellent Bruin article by Nancy Hsu ("Church Members File Suit Against Professor," May 17) in characteristic Scientology fashion: with a vicious personal attack upon me. Hight's diatribe was filled with lies and misrepresentations from beginning to end. My track record on human rights is far superior to that of Hight, L. Ron Hubbard or any other Scientology official past ...

By Linda Hight Your article "Church Members File Suit Against Professor," May 17, quotes psychiatrist, Louis Jolyon West, at length but is less generous with the quotations from reporter Nancy Hsu's interview with me. West seems to think that free speech means that he is free to break laws and misuse state funds to conduct his personal vendettas. He is wrong. West is a victim of his own prejudices and misconceptions. Substitute "Jews" or "blacks" for "Scientologists" in West's remarks and ...

DECLARATION OF MARGERY WAKEFIELD I, Margery Wakefield, having personal knowledge of the following, hereby declare: 1. I was a member of the Church of Scientology of California from October of 1968 until February of 1980. I joined the Church in Los Angeles, California, where I was primarily based although I also took courses and/or worked at Church organizations in St. Louis, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Georgia and Miami, Florida. 2. While in Scientology I progressed to the level of OT 3 (an ...

Scientology's leaders say the best defense is a good offense. DID THE CHURCH of Scientology kill a judge's dog during a trial? Did the judge, who is now dead, think church members did? Did that lead him to be prejudiced, and bias the jury against the church? These and other issues are part of an intense battle by the church's litigation machine to overturn what remains of a $30 million verdict won in 1986 by former church member Larry Wollersheim. Mr. ...

Is L. Ron Hubbard's morals text harmless? When Carol Burgeson received a copy of "The Way to Happiness" in the mail 18 months ago, she read it through and decided it was the perfect non-religious vehicle for teaching moral values to her senior students at Thornton Township High School in Harvey, Ill. So Burgeson ordered more free copies of the book by L. Ron Hubbard and used them to stimulate discussions in her classes. "It seemed so harmless," she says. "Brush ...

When Carol Burgeson received a copy of "The Way to Happiness" in the mail 18 months ago, she read it through and decided it was the perfect non-religious vehicle for teaching moral values to her senior students at Thornton Township High School in Harvey, Ill. So Burgeson ordered more free copies of the book by L. Ron Hubbard and used them to stimulate discussions in her classes. "It seemed so harmless," she says. "Brush your teeth, do your work, don't be ...

Church leaders in the Chichester area have got together to issue a tough warning about scientologists. They are concerned that the cult is increasing Its influence in the district. A warning has been issued by 14 Anglican church leaders from Chichester and Seisey, who are particularly concerned about the curt's attempts to recruit young people. The "church" of scientology has stepped up its presence in Chichester in the last year and has just opened a new centre near the railway station. ...

The organization adds one property and plans a 2,500-seat auditorium for another in Clearwater. CLEARWATER — The Church of Scientology added a 13th property to its list of Clearwater holdings Monday and unveiled plans to build a 2,500-seat auditorium that will be available to be rented for public events most of the year. Scientology officials said the auditorium, being designed as part of a $40-million building planned for the former Gray Moss Inn site, will play an important role in downtown ...

Two UCLA extension students in the Church of Scientology have filed suit against UCLA professor Louis Jolyon West, the Board of Regents and Chancellor Charles Young for allegedly using taxpayer money to fund anti-religious activities. The university has yet to respond to the suit filed last month with the Santa Monica Superior Court. John Van Dyke and Mario Majorski charge that, while on the University of California payroll, West used his position to organize anti-religious seminars and two groups that target ...