Washington: Court documents show the Church of Scientology put together a scheme to blackmail the Internal Revenue Service into doing a favorable tax audit on the church. According to documents released Friday, the church stole secret IRS files on famous Americans and.planned to threaten to release them unless the audit was favorable. There was no indication any blackmail threat against any individual was made. The documents were among thousands of files seized from the church in 1977, and ordered released Friday ...

The Church of Scientology plotted to purchase or otherwise "control" the Clearwater Sun by attempting to cut the paper's advertising revenue, discredit reporters and editors and rally readers against it, according to sect documents released Friday.

The Church of Scientology says the time has come for The Government of Ontario to let its clergymen perform marriages. ln the past, the church’s applications to have its ministers licenced as marriage officers have been turned down by the office of the registrar general on the grounds that the religion was not in existence for 25 years — one of the signs required by the province that new groups are permanent and serious. In a 262-page submission to the registrar-general, ...

Secret letters and memos from the personal files of St. Petersburg Times editors and its attorneys were obtained and analyzed by members of the Church of Scientology shortly after the church moved to Clearwater four years ago. The letters and memos were used by the church in calculating its response to news media reports revealing its purchase through a front organization of the Fort Harrison Hotel. How the Church of Scientology or its agents got access to the locked filing cabinets ...

WASHINGTON — Government attorneys said Thursday that Church of Scientology documents cannot he kept sealed because, among other reasons, a federal grand jury in Tampa needs them. Carl S. Rauh, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, and four of his assistants asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District to reject the church's request that the documents be kept secret. The documents were among 48,000 seized in raids on church headquarters in Los Angeles on July 8, 1977. They ...

WASHINGTON — Thousands of top-secret Church of Scientology documents now in the hands of the federal government will be used in widespread probes of the sect by the Internal Revenue Service, prosecutors in several states and grand juries In Tampa and New York, a top U.S. prosecutor said Wednesday. Scientology attorneys have filed four separate appeals requesting the return of the documents, which were the basis of recent conspiracy convictions of nine high-ranking church officials. Today, government attorneys are expected to ...

WASHINGTON — L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the Church of Scientology, was so concerned with the success of his newly formed Clearwater headquarters that he visited there in late November 1975 to "save the operation." A letter Hubbard sent one of his top-level "Guardians" shows the founder wanted to make sure "this scene stays cool" while his United Churches of Florida front group established itself in the old Fort Harrison hotel and Bank of Clearwater buildings. The letter is included in ...

WASHINGTON — There was a temporary lid imposed Tuesday on further public release of documents seized by the government from the Church of Scientology for the prosecution of nine church leaders. The lid could become permanent. Among those documents made public have been some that revealed a church plan to maneuver government officials and news media to "take control" of Clearwater, as well as programs to discredit public officials and private individuals in Pinellas County whom church officials regarded as enemies ...

"Maybe it is time to stop harping on past grudges but instead work toward the goal of a safer and more charitable world. . .This is our plan, our purpose, our goal and has always been." — Nancy Reitze, Scientologist spokesman, Clearwater. THE ABOVE is a recent quote by Ms. Reitze, following the unmasking of Scientology's plans to dominate everyone from Taco Bill (former Clearwater mayor Gabe Cazares) to international financiers, mental health leaders, Clearwater Sun Editor Ron Stuart and Pinellas-Pasco ...

WASHINGTON — United Churches of Florida, the Scientology front group established in Clearwater in November 1975, was designed to be a tax shelter that could launder sect revenue nationwide, top-secret Scientology documents show. Sect founder L. Ron Hubbard wrote in September 1975 that United Churches was being created "to preserve the assets of Scientology . . . in case of a total wipeout of the Church of Scientology by IRS." The secret correspondence between Hubbard and highest-level Scientology "Guardians" show that ...

WASHINGTON — Top officials of the Church of Scientology considered Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney James T. Russell a major enemy because he pressed for an investigation about a gun found in Dunedin that may have belonged to sect founder L. Ron Hubbard. An April 14, 1977, memo between two sect "guardians," on file in the U.S. Courthouse in Washington, shows that Russell was dubbed a "suppressive person" making him a potential target for Scientology espionage and character assassination aimed at removing him ...

WASHINGTON — The Clearwater branch of the Church of Scientology actively participated in a master plan of founder L. Ron Hubbard apparently aimed at taking over the world, internal cult documents reveal. In Clearwater, the plan centered on removing from office political and and media figures considered "enemies" of the cult: former mayor Gabriel Cazares, Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney James Russell, Clearwater Sun Editor Ron Stuart and local broadcaster Bob Snyder. But on a grander scale, Hubbard's scheme was to "obliterate" and ...

CLEARWATER — The lid clamped down hard Saturday at Scientology's headquarters, as church officials chased a reporter through the streets and ordered other church members not to talk to the press. The church had publicized an afternoon open house, but visitors found themselves quickly escorted into a closed room if they tried to wander anywhere in the building. Nancy Reitze, publicity director for the church, wouldn't answer any questions. No, she said, a reporter could not roam the building and talk ...

CLEARWATER — A two-page policy memo written by four top Church of Scientology officials apparently singled out for attack a former vice president of a local bank, according to documents released last week by a federal judge in Washington, D.C. The memo, included among the documents, cites Wilby F. Anderson of Buttonwood Court as an "enemy," apparently because of a speech Anderson made before the city commission in 1975. Anderson, who at one time worked in the U.S. Department of Justice, ...

CLEARWATER — Documents released Thursday by a federal judge in Washington indicate an effort to "take over" the city of Clearwater by the Church of Scientology, but most of the persons and organizations listed in those files said Friday they are not aware of any effort by church members to infiltrate or discredit their offices. The documents were part of a mountain of paper siezed by the FBI in raids on Scientology offices in Washington and Los Angeles in July, 1977. ...

JOURNALISTS PRIDE themselves on being fair and objective. Like any other profession, our barrel has its bad apples. But as a rule, we bend over backward to be fair. Seldom have I questioned my own ability to make the professional judgments required of me as a reporter, city editor, managing editor and editor. Seldom has it been charged that I did not attempt to be fair, though hindsight sometimes has shown that those attempts were somewhat less than successful. But one ...

WASHINGTON — Believe it or not, the Church of Scientology once wanted to be friends with Gabe Cazares. The former Clearwater mayor find that amusing today, having endured years of legal battles with the sect and waged bitter campaigns against its presence in Clearwater. In December 1975, when Scientology was establishing itself in the city under the guise of the United Churches of Florida, top sect officers thought Cazares would a good man to have on their side. Thus, according to ...

The following is a chronology of local events from the Scientologists 1975 purchase of the former Fort Harrison hotel to last week's release of church documents by a federal judge in Washington, D.C. 1975 Oct. 27 — Fort Harrison officials acknowledge sale of the hotel, saying the Jack Tar chain will cease operations on Nov. 30. The buyer is Southern Land Development and Leasing Corp. Nov. 5 — Citizens learn Southern Land has agreed to buy another downtown landmark, the old ...

WASHlNGTON — Documents revealing a Scientology espionage campaign against government agencies ranging from the IRS to the Clearwater City Commission were declared open to further public inspection Friday afternoon by a federal judge. Scientology attorneys had argued strenuously that the papers should be sealed because they would cause "irreparable injury" to the church. The public availability of the dozen cartons of government-seized documents — the basis of last week‘s conspiracy conviction of nine top church officials — was in doubt until ...