CLEARWATER — The Tarpon Springs Chamber of Commerce and Scientology critic Alex Cornell have taken separate shots at the Church of Scientology — with differing results. On Tuesday, the Tarpon Chamber board pared a resolution asking the church to kindly stay out of its city. On Wednesday, Cornell continued to urge motorists passing the church-owned Fort Harrison Hotel, 201 S Fort Harrison Ave., to show their displeasure with Scientology by honking their horns. The Chamber resolution was greeted with airy indifference ...

Church of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard told his followers early on that they should use civil litigation to harass, silence or even to destroy opponents. From the defamation suits filed four years ago by Scientology's Calgary, Edmonton and Old Strathcona Missions, however, seven weary but very determined Albertans last week emerged unsilenced and undestroyed. The $100,000 lawsuits against them (the figure, incidentally, specifically recommended by scientologist Hubbard) were thrown out of court without coming to trial. Even so, lawyers say, ...

Alberta courts called the bluff of the Church of Scientology which had extended a libel suit against seven former members for four years. The case fizzled out in Edmonton when the church failed to deposit $45,000 as security for costs if it lost the case. The court dismissed a defamation suit launched by the church against Lorna Levett, Brendan Moore, Les Jackman, William Reid, Neil Taylor and David Wallace, all of Calgary, and Betty McCoy of Edmonton. The defendants are now ...

EDMONTON (CP) — A Church of Scientology defamation action against seven people has been dismissed in Court of Queen's Bench because the church did not produce $45,000 security to cover costs. The defendants in the action were Lorna Levett, Les Jackman, Brendon Moore, William Reid, Neil Taylor and David Wallace, all of Calgary, and Betty McCoy of Edmonton. Yvette Shank, director of public affairs for the church in Alberta, said yesterday the church did not deposit the security with the court ...

LANSING (UPI) — A man seeking damages from the Church of Scientology on the grounds he shot another man after the group's theories convinced him to discontinue psychotherapy has won a new trial from the Michigan Court of Appeals. Frank Sternicki said he lost control of himself and shot Charles Schang in a restaurant parking lot after the controversial Scientology group's "misrepresentations" persuaded him to end his treatment with a psychotherapist, the appeals court said Tuesday.

Brendon Moore was yesterday piecing his life back together — after. being cleared by a court of defaming the Church of Scientology. The case, which has lasted four years, was thrown out of Court of Queen's Bench in Edmonton Monday when the church failed to post a $45,000 bond to cover future court costs. But Moore says the scars from his association with Scientology have yet to heal. The Scientologists sued eight ex-members in September, 1976 for allegedly defaming the church ...

The Church of Scientology's four-year-old defamation lawsuit against seven Albertans has fizzled out on the eve of trial. The Scientology organization was required to deposit $45,000 by Monday at the Court of Queen's Bench in Edmonton. But Calgary lawyer Ken Staroszik, who represents the seven defendants, said the court clerk's office confirmed Tuesday that the money has not been received. At a Queen's Bench hearing June 18 in Edmonton, Justice Arthur Crossley ordered the organization to post the money as security ...

SHERIDAN — For Sister Saito, a Roman Catholic nun from Japan, her summer visit to the Delphian School has been more than just a trip half way around the world. The educator has been sent at the request of her school board to study the technology of education developed by L. Ron Hubbard and determine the feasibility of implementing the methods into one of Japan's largest school systems. "This is the first time I have enjoyed studying so much," said Sister ...

Carol Garrity and Dick and Janie Peterson don't call Scientology a church anymore. After dropping about $40,000 in five years into church courses and training, they left the church three weeks ago disillusioned, angry and humiliated. Is Scientology a church? "No!" they answer. "You never hear mention of God or any praying," Dick Peterson said of the church that won tax-exempt status only after a 19-year court battle with the IRS. "It doesn't operate like a church," Garrity added. "It's run ...

ST. LOUIS — A niece of Sen. Thomas F. Eagleton, D-Mo., has been charged with attempting to extort money by claiming to have damaging evidence against the senator. Eagleton told reporters Monday his niece threatened to release damaging material unless he forced the family-owned Missouri Pipe Fittings Co. to purchase her stock in the company. He said he refused to purchase the $220,000 in stock because he felt the money would have gone to the Church of Scientology, of which his ...

The top spokesman for the Church of Scientology in Nevada, Arizona and Utah has defected from the church, causing considerable concern among Scientology officials. Church officials are warned about her knowledge of dubious church activities, which may arouse the interest of the FBI. Carol Garrity of Las Vegas has gone into seclusion and is shunning all direct contact with the church, a close friend of the former church official said. Garrity could not be reached for comment. Church officials have ...

Two high-ranking members of the Church of Scientology, in a last minute legal maneuver before their July 7 criminal trial, have asked U.S. District Court Judge Charles R. Richey to remove himself from the case, charging that he is biased against them. One of the defendants, Morrison J. Budlong, said in a sworn statement that he had reviewed tape recorded statements from a deputy U.S. marshal and from Richey's former court reporter, that the church contends, supports their claim that Richey ...

The Church of Scientology has won the first major skirmish in a $1.5-million damage suit brought against it by former Clearwater Mayor Gabriel Cazares and his wife Maggie. Circuit Judge Fred Bryson ruled Friday that there has been so much negative publicity about Scientology in Pinellas County that a fair and impartial jury could not be seated here. He ordered that the trial portion of the Cazares' suit be moved to Daytona Beach. Asked what factors led to his decision, Bryson ...

WASHINGTON — The government said Friday that agents of the Church of Scientology are still up to their old tricks of lying and cheating. The accusation was the latest round fired in the case of United States vs. Jane Kember and Morris Budlong. The two church leaders are scheduled for trial July 7 on charges involving theft of government documents. Kember and Budlong were indicted with nine other Scientologists in 1978. The nine, including Mary Louise Hubbard, wife of Scientology founder ...

A lawyer representing three jailed Scientologists says he will appeal to the state Supreme Court after losing another bid to free his clients on grounds their imprisonment is illegal. Harold De Young, Philip Deland and Donald White, of the Riverside Scientology mission, have been in jail since Friday for refusing to answer questions before the county grand jury. Attorney Howard Gillingham on Tuesday made an unsuccessful attempt to persuade the Court of Appeal in San Bernardino to free the three on ...

A group of independent psychologists that took a rare inside look at the operations of the Church of Scientology in Toronto is critical of the organization's introductory testing and evaluation methods. The psychologists, hired by Scientology last fall to study its activities, found that the stress is on sales, that staff who interpret personality tests of newcomers aren't experienced, and that staff not only emphasize the negative aspects of the test results but suggest things will get worse without help from ...

An education group organizing in the Cupertino School District area may have tried to play down its affiliation with a controversial religious cult, the Church of Scientology. The non-profit Applied Scholastics Inc. (ASI) has also held unauthorized training courses for three district teachers at the district's Hoover School after a request to have the district sponsor ASI programs was turned down by Associate Superintendent for Instruction William Zachmeier. "We're not a front for Scientology," stressed ASI Executive Director Lisa Patella. "Our ...

Toronto ON — Four Ontario Cabinet ministers and a former minister have been accused in a lawsuit of a conspiracy "to bring about the demise" of the Church of Scientology of Toronto. The controversial cult claims that the ministers and others, including the Ontario Provincial Police and the Metro Toronto police, have violated its constitutional rights to freedom of religion, speech and assembly. Among actions cited as harassment is the provincial inquiry, headed by Daniel Hill, into the practices of cults, ...

[Important broadcast about how Scientology took over the town of Clearwater, Florida.]

CLEARWATER — Church of Scientology guardian Douglass Sadwick avoided a second possible jail sentence for contempt Friday by agreeing to cooperate in a criminal investigation of activities of church members. Only moments before Sadwick was scheduled to face a contempt-of-court hearing, Sadwick's attorney, William Plowman, told Circuit Judge John S. Andrews that his client was willing to talk, despite his contention that the questions violate Sadwick's constitutional rights. Prosecutors had asked Andrews to find Sadwick in civil contempt for refusing to ...

The woman would be "very tough," "obviously pregnant" and a "good actress." She would storm into the Sacramento office of the state attorney general, the boss of Deputy Atty. Gen. Lawrence Tapper of Los Angeles. "I told Larry I wouldn't do this but he gave me no choise (sic)," she would shout, following the "Operation Snapper" scenario written for her by someone connected with the Church of Scientology in Los Angeles. "I don't care about his career anymore! I mean look ...