Lynley Hood finds deep flaws in the Lake Alice settlement. News that the police have found no evidence of criminal offending by psychiatrist Dr Selwyn Leeks, former head of the child and adolescent unit at Lake Alice Hospital, has been greeted with dismay by the psychiatric patient advocacy group, Citizen's Commission on Human Rights (CCHR). "We're not giving up now. We are still working with victims and are still going to be filing criminal complaints," the group's New Zealand executive director, ...

A former Southern California business consultant received a four-month prison sentence for conspiring to obstruct a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation of financial advisor Reed E. Slatkin's $593-million investment scam, federal prosecutors said Tuesday. Daniel W. Jacobs helped stall the SEC for more than a year by pretending to represent a Swiss brokerage holding hundreds of millions of dollars in funds from Slatkin investors, according to his plea agreement with the government. Jacobs, 63, who pleaded guilty and cooperated extensively with ...

In July 2003, a nonprofit called Applied Scholastics International opened a spanking-new headquarters on 55 acres in Spanish Lake. Among those who attended the festivities were U.S. Congressman William "Lacy" Clay and actors Tom Cruise and Anne Archer. Newspapers from coast to coast published stories heralding the group's move from LA to the great Midwest. After the initial fanfare, Applied Scholastics quietly went about its business: pitching tutoring services to local groups with after-school programs and looking to ally with prominent ...

When the Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre moved to Far East Dallas, the neighbors were nervous. Visions of traffic clogging the tree-lined streets and rumors about religious rituals had some homeowners on edge. Now, after spending five years in a salmon-colored mansion at Buckner Boulevard and Dixie Lane, the Scientologists are moving to the suburbs. And many of their neighbors are sorry to see them go. "They've been very friendly," said Jim Depetris, who lives next door to the Celebrity Centre. ...

A New Zealand website spoofing Hollywood actor Tom Cruise and his religion of choice is facing legal action from the Church of Scientology. The church is not amused by scienTOMogy - which features spoof videos of the star - and says it is breaching copyright. When Cruise engaged in some sofa stomping, he coined a new phrase called jumping the couch - the defining moment when someone has gone of the deep end. From that moment Glen Stollery has been chronicling ...

Another downtown landmark has been sold and targeted for remodeling. But the 76-year-old Ramona building at Sixth and J streets won't become office condos or upscale housing. It's becoming a church - the new area center of the Church of Scientology, known for celebrity members such as Tom Cruise, John Travolta and Kirstie Alley. The church just completed acquisition of the Spanish-style, five-story building, paying $4.75 million - in cash - to an investment group headed by Harry Gerdes. The Ramona ...

Just when Tom Cruise was starting to look good again, we hear from the New York Daily News that Cruise's pregnant fiance, Katie Holmes, is supposed to sign on for a "silent birth," without screams or painkillers. Ouch. But is "Quit yellin', it's only childbirth," as the News headline so succinctly put it, the true position of the Church of Scientology, of which Cruise is a member? Not according to Greg LaClaire, vice president of the Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre ...

At first I thought it was a tossup which news item was scarier: the bombing of a peaceful Smurf village in a new UNICEF commercial, or the news that Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are expecting a child. But after reading up on Scientological birth practices, the choice is clear. Even the loss of Smurfette to carpet bombs, and the subsequent abandonment of Baby Smurf, who ends the 20-second public service announcement alone and weeping amidst what one New York tabloid ...

For Maria Guy, renovation of the old Hart Hotel at Washington Avenue and West Van Buren Street has meant "10-to 12-hour workdays" since the Church of Scientology bought the building, gutted it and started turning it into a church facility in 2002. Guy, a petite woman and native of the Dominican Republic who moved to America in 1979, said she and a co-worker just finished installing 123 new windows in the building. The windows cost the church about $750,000. Guy also ...

Maybe it was "Defy Evil Bushism" or "Christmas Is No Fun in Fallujah." Or it may have been one of the other not-so-subtle references to President George W. Bush posted on the sign next to his law office; perhaps "Vote the Thug Out." Or was it the sight of the American flag suspended upside down from that same sign, in protest of the outcome of last November's election? Ford Greene isn't quite sure what sent his opponents over the edge with ...

A FORMER Scientology staffer is breaking her silence about being sexually assaulted 100 times at ages 16 and 17 by the church supervisor she was "ordered" to live with, and then receiving threats and intimidating phone calls when she reported the abuse. Five years ago, Gabriel Williams, then a 27-year-old chief supervisor at the Church of Scientology in Mountain View, Calif., forced then-16-year-old Jennifer Stewart to have intercourse with him on the first evening she moved in, according to her statements ...

Los Angeles city school officials were caught off guard this week by the Church of Scientology's role in an upcoming event at a South Los Angeles high school, which, while not illegal, is considered unusual. On Monday, teenagers from about 25 countries are expected to meet with students at Jordan High School in Watts for a conference on human rights. The gathering is part of a three-day event organized by Youth for Human Rights International — a group with close ties ...

Outside the 2,000-bed temporary shelter in Baton Rouge’s River Center, a Church of Scientology band is performing a version of Bill Withers’s classic Use Me – a refreshingly honest choice. "If it feels this good getting used," the Scientology singer belts out, "just keep on using me until you use me up." Ten-year-old Nyler, lying face down on a massage table, has pretty much the same attitude. She’s not quite sure why the nice lady in the yellow Scientology Volunteer Minister ...

A former Lake Alice patient is disgusted police have decided not to charge a psychiatrist accused of abusing young people there in the 1970s. Police say they have found no evidence of criminal offending after investigating more than 20 complaints from former patients of Selwyn Leeks, who headed the child and adolescent unit of the now-closed hospital near Wanganui. A man who was a patient at Lake Alice in the mid-1970s told The Dominion Post the police decision not to press ...

A financial services company that once ran newspaper ads touting its high rates on certificates of deposit is now seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Clearwater-based First Liberty Group LLC filed its petition Aug. 31 in Tampa bankruptcy court. The company has more than 100 creditors and estimated debts of $1 million to $10 million, according to the petition. Assets are estimated at $100,000 to $500,000. A case management summary in court records describes First Liberty as a financial services company that ...

For a moment, you might think you're in 17th century France and glaring up at a Normandy chateau. But you're not - you're peering up at L. Ron Hubbard's towering salute to the artist on Franklin Street in Hollywood. The Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre International, a 10-minute drive from USC, is a church, but one like no other. The church caters not only to the spiritual needs of its parishioners but also to its artistic needs. L. Ron Hubbard, the ...

A HIGHER PROFILE ; CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY OPENING MORE VISIBLE FACILITIES, INCLUDING ONE IN NEW HAVEN FRANCES GRANDY TAYLOR; Courant Staff Writer Hartford Courant 09-09-2005 A HIGHER PROFILE ; CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY OPENING MORE VISIBLE FACILITIES, INCLUDING ONE IN NEW HAVEN Byline: FRANCES GRANDY TAYLOR; Courant Staff Writer Edition: STATEWIDE Section: LIFE Despite such high-profile adherents as Tom Cruise, John Travolta, Chick Corea and Kirstie Alley, the Church of Scientology can seem as mysterious to outsiders as its reclusive founder, science-fiction ...

Silly man What a disappointment to see published in the Pasadena Weekly the rambling article by Carl Kozlowski, purportedly detailing the “evils” of Scientology. I must admit to quitting when I got to, “I know tons of people who died …” The next time there is a slow week, I’d strongly advise this silly man (Kozlowski) to find something the public cares to read about, rather than nasty innuendos, petty disagreements and squabbles from people who would do well to ...

The Rev. Mary Lou Reile of Elma, director of special affairs for the Church of Scientology in Buffalo for 20 years, died Monday in Mercy Hospital after a short illness. She was 72. Born in Buffalo, the former Mary Lou Urso graduated from Kensington High School, what was then Rosary Hill College and Hubbard College, where she achieved Executive Status One. The mother of seven, she was crowned Mrs. Buffalo in 1957. As a minister in the Church of Scientology, she ...

When prospective students tour GW, one of the things they learn is how easy it is to start an organization. Tour guides chirp about the school's most famous alumni - Colin Powell and Jackie O, of course, and if the tour guide is feeling daring, he might throw Watergate's "Deep Throat" into the mix. But one name that prospective students do not hear is that of L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of the Church of Scientology. Perhaps it's because students are ...

Take years of research, clinical observations, technological advancements and scientific discovery, and then subject them to derision and skepticism during a celebrity rant that's part of a promotional tour for an upcoming movie, and suddenly it's a media event. Sounds odd, but it describes what happened after Tom Cruise decided to take on psychiatry while hawking his new movie, War of the Worlds, and the news media decided to turn the story into the latest shouting match for talking heads. While ...

“It is irresponsible for Mr. Cruise to use his movie publicity tour to promote his own ideological views and deter people with mental illness from getting the care they need.” —– So states Dr. Steven Sharfstein, president of the American Psychiatric Association (APA), in response to recent talk show activities of actor Tom Cruise. Weeks earlier, Cruise had criticized actress Brooke Shields for taking anti-depressants for postpartum depression. Cruise believes all psychiatry to be pseudoscience, chemical imbalances to be imaginary, and ...

Tom cruise calls his religion "extraordinary," but 26-year-old Astra Woodcraft, who grew up in the Church's inner circle, has a different story to tell — about bizarre beliefs, pressured rules and how she finally broke tree to start her life over. On a chilly February evening in 1998, I strode quietly through Los Angeles International Airport, clutching a Virgin Atlantic ticket for London in one hand and a duffel bag stuffed with my clothes in the other. I was drenched, having ...

If a high-ranking LAPD official can be believed, perhaps the Scientology-affiliated The Way To Happiness should take a page from its own teachings. Two of the Glendale-based nonprofit organization’s 21 guides to achieving happiness are “Be Worthy of Trust” and “Seek to Live the Truth,” neither of which were followed apparently in the group’s dealings with the LAPD and a city in Texas. Officials with the group, which over the past two decades has distributed booklets of the same name to ...

Posted on Aug 16, 2005 | by Staff ATLANTA (BP)–Karen Pressley has heard it all before. The talk of space aliens having come to earth a millennia ago, the authoritative worldview, the buffed movie star glibly handing out solutions to personal conflicts. Movie star Tom Cruise may be spouting the truth according to the Church of Scientology these days, but Pressley has lived in that world longer than Cruise and knows firsthand the nightmare it entails. “Tom Cruise is doing exactly ...

A drug program run by Scientologists and labelled dangerous by medical authorities is being given free rein at dozens of Melbourne schools. The controversial Narconon group gave a speech at Melbourne High on Sunday and has made classroom presentations at Melbourne schools including MacRobertson Girls High. The group – which does not disclose its Scientology background to schools – gives students booklets that condemn prescription drugs and equate coffee with heroin. "All drugs are basically poison . . . Two or ...

In response to the July 24 Post-Gazette news articles "Scientology Comes to Town": As a 60-year resident of Pittsburgh and a 20-year member of the Church of Scientology, I am compelled to set the record straight on your July 24 articles about Scientology. The article missed the help the church and its members are extending to millions around the world, including residents of Pennsylvania. The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, were a rude awakening for everyone. For many of ...

A walk through Codman Square past the shoulder-to-shoulder houses of worship can put you in a spiritual state of mind: Greater Life Baptist Church, The Temple of Restoration, Global Ministries Christian Church. But one storefront in particular, with its eight-pointed cross, has piqued local curiosity. ''Dorchester Scientology, Something Can Be Done About It," a poster on its window declares. Amid the 35 churches and temples in the Codman Square area, Dorchester Scientology opened a year ago as a satellite of the ...