On May 29th, Scientologist Stephen Brackett, 54, committed suicide by jumping off the Highway 1 Bixby Bridge on the Big Sur Coast of California at around 5:30 a.m. [1] He left behind a son and daughter. According to The Monterey County Herald, “there were no indications of foul play, and friends and relatives of Brackett said he was despondent because of financial troubles with his business.” I had worked for Brackett for two years starting in 2000. He was a Scientology ...

FLORENCE – The Church of Scientology is coming to Northern Kentucky, setting up in a building formerly owned by the Florence Baptist Church. Advertisement Florence Baptist, which recently moved to a new $15 million church on Mount Zion Road, sold its former church building at 283 Main St. in Florence for $1.64 million to the Cincinnati-based Church of Scientology of Ohio. The deal closed last week and was announced to Florence Baptist members in a letter from the church trustees. • ...

A multimillion-dollar historic La Quinta property with ties to the Church of Scientology is returning to the fold. Hacienda Serena, a nearly 2-acre property on Avenida Obregon, was purchased Dec. 31 for its appraisal price by the Church of Spiritual Technology, an affiliate of the Church of Scientology. Though church officials have not disclosed the exact amount, they confirm the sale was in the millions. Plans are to restore the 3,450-square-foot adobe home, which was owned by Scientology founder L. Ron ...

Wikipedia has blocked users from the Church of Scientology, along with Scientology's critics, from editing articles about the church found on the online encyclopedia. A team of 15 senior editors called an arbitration committee had been keeping an eye on the more than 400 articles about Scientology and noticed a series of additions and deletions that slanted the bias of the entries, Wikipedia spokesman Jay Walsh said. Some of the IP addresses of users editing the articles came from Church of ...

THE Church of Scientology plans to spend $12 million upgrading its Sydney headquarters, but faces a ban on trawling the street outside the building for new recruits. The group's controversial plans include building an extra level on its Castlereagh St premises, and renovating the facade of the heritage building. Neighbours and businesses have objected to the proposed upgrade at Scientology House, citing aggressive recruitment tactics, nuisance, loss of view, extra pollution and heritage concerns. City of Sydney councillors will vote on ...

The body of a Los Angeles man, who apparently leaped to his death from the Highway 1 Bixby Bridge on the Big Sur Coast, was discovered Thursday. A hiker found Stephen Brackett, 54, about 5:30a.m., said Dan Robison, a detective with the Monterey County Sheriff's Coroner division. Brackett, who was supposed to be visiting friends, disappeared Sunday. Robison said Brackett died from injuries suffered after the nearly 200-foot fall from the bridge. There are no indications of foul play, and friends ...

In an unprecedented effort to crack down on self-serving edits, the Wikipedia supreme court has banned contributions from all IP addresses owned or operated by the Church of Scientology and its associates. Closing out the longest-running court case in Wikiland history, the site’s Arbitration Committee voted 10 to 0 (with one abstention) in favor of the move, which takes effect immediately. The eighth most popular site on the web, Wikipedia bills itself as "the free encyclopedia anyone can edit." Administrators frequently ...

In Santa Barbara’s Church of Scientology, as in each such outpost worldwide, an innocuous office sits equipped but vacant. This office is located beyond shelves of shrink-wrapped books, beyond training rooms, the “comm” rooms, and a room occupied by enigmatic bowls of stones and other obscure objects. The office, with white walls and plush blue-and-gray carpeting, waits, should he somehow return, for the man once known as L. Ron Hubbard. His full name was Lafayette Ronald Hubbard. His followers—in keeping with ...

As a fiercely secular nation, France has always had an awkward relationship with religious groups. Officials often find themselves struggling to strike the delicate balance between maintaining church-state separation and honoring the right of citizens to express their faith. But in the current case against the U.S.-based Church of Scientology, authorities have abandoned their usual attempts at fine-tuning religion's standing in French society — instead, they want to ban Scientology from France altogether. In a long-awaited trial that opened this week, ...

The Church of Scientology and six of its French leaders went on trial on Monday on charges of organised fraud that could lead to an outright ban on the organisation in France.

The Church of Scientology has been accused of manipulating followers into handing over their savings, in a trial that could see the church banned from France. The church's main centre in France, the ASES-Celebrity Centre, its bookshop and six of its leaders were charged on Monday with organised fraud and illegally prescribing drugs. One former church member claimed she had been psychologically pressured into paying thousands of pounds for lessons, books, drugs and a device called an "electrometre", which the church ...

Movement accused of 'organised fraud' against two female members persuaded to part with €20,000 The Scientology movement went on trial in Paris yesterday for "organised fraud" in a case which could lead to the cult's organising bodies being outlawed in France. The French state prosecution service has failed to back the trial but denies that its decision was influenced by the lobbying of French politicians, including Nicolas Sarkozy before he became President, by leading Scientologists, including the actor Tom Cruise. After ...

Members of the Church of Scientology go on trial in Paris Monday on charges of fraud, along with the Church of Scientology itself, which means its operations in France are at risk. The trial is the culmination of two complaints lodged by people who said they were manipulated into spending thousands of euros by the Church. France considers Scientology a cult. Until now, prosecutors have only gone after individual Scientologists in court. But Monday, along with seven Scientologists, the Church itself ...

The Church of Scientology has gone on trial in the French capital, Paris, accused of organised fraud. The case centres on a complaint by a woman who says she was pressured into paying large sums of money after being offered a free personality test. The church, which is fighting the charges, denies that any mental manipulation took place. France regards Scientology as a sect, not a religion, and the organisation could be banned if it loses the case. It is the ...

The Sierra Leone Association of Non-Governmental Organization (SLANGO) on Friday 22nd May 2009 donated 30 (thirty) sets of books and audio cassettes to educational institutes in Freetown at a ceremony held at their headquarters on Pyke Street in Freetown. [Picture]Madam Sonny-Davies handing over the items Handing over the items, the Coordinator of SLANGO, Madam Shella Sonny-Davies, informed that her organization is an umbrella organization that interfaces with local and international Non-Governmental Organizations in the country, organizes training for them and building ...

Brno, South Moravia, May 24 (CTK) — The Czech Education Ministry has approved the establishment of a primary school in Brno that will teach children according to the method of scientology founder Ron Hubbard, the weekly Tyden writes in its issue out on Monday. The school opens in September. The education is allegedly to be completely non-religious, Tyden adds. Yet a couple of years ago the Education Ministry called scientologists a dangerous sect. In some countries they are even monitored by ...

A Peoria pastor wants to see District 150 schools adopt a program that tutors young people on how to better motivate themselves. Reverend Ernest Rodgers held a meeting Saturday at the Greater Apostolic Bibleway Church to introduce parents, students and District 150 assistant superintendent Herschel Hannah to the Applied Scholastics Achievement program. Rodgers was sold on the program during a recent trip to a school in St. Louis. "I was so impressed," said Rodgers. "Kids were testifying how the program worked. ...

Are the secrets of Scientology about to be exposed in a French court? More4 News goes to Paris to find out. It sounds like a science, but calls itself a church, while opponents have other names for it. Despite celebrity followers such as John Travolta, the Church of Scientology is viewed with suspicion in some countries. Now the organisation faces a legal battle in France, with a trial starting next week threatening its operations there.

The MOTHERS Act is under attack by Scientology and its front group, 'Citizens Commission on Human Rights.' Kirstie Alley, the star of Fat Actress, Cheers, and Jenny Craig commercials, is using Twitter to spread lies about this bill, which has the potential to help thousands of new mothers understand and deal with Post Partum Depression. I just got back from San Francisco Monday. I went up to join in a protest of the Scientology rally against the American Psychiatric Association convention ...

Two former executives have been waging a court battle against Diskeeper, alleging the software company's CEO, a Scientologist, practiced religious discrimination. As it turns out, they have documents intended to prove it. The company's former CIO and Automation Planning Officer failed to injoin Diskeeper from using the teachings of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard in the administration of the company. Now the Burbank, California company is going for the legal jugular, seeking summary dismissal of the case. Amid this legal tussle, ...

At 11 a.m. Monday, Front Sight Firearms Training Institute and its president, Ignatius Piazza, went into receivership. All financial transactions involving the firearms training facility – from accepting payment for classes to paying staff and vendors – must take place through a court-appointed administrator. The facility and all assets have been seized by the court, down to the hundreds of firearms included as part of new members' benefits. However, despite the ruling, this weekend at Front Sight everything was "business as ...

May 14, 2009 (La Mesa)—La Mesa’s City Council voted unanimously to table a “Hate Free” resolution proposed by a coalition of 52 community groups countywide at a meeting Tuesday following heated and divisive public testimony. (For text of the resolution and details, see our previous article at http://www.eastcountymagazine.org/?q=node/1105.)Supporters said the measure was needed to reduce hate crimes by addressing “hate-motivated behavior” and promoting tolerance in the community. Opponents argued that it could restrict free speech and religious expression. Supporters of the ...