BENDIGO is the first area of regional Victoria to be targeted by the Church of Scientology for programs to coincide with the opening of its new Melbourne headquarters. The controversial church has used print and television advertising to increase awareness of its programs in the past month and will start operating in the region within weeks. “We’ve got a few different projects happening, and Bendigo is the first country area that’s been chosen,” Melbourne Church of Scientology public relations manager Pauline ...

A FEW months ago, Sydney Council approved a development application for the Church Of Scientology’s Castlereagh St headquarters with little incident. It was somewhat of an anticlimax after the bitter opposition by residents and anti-Scientology activists, who argued the group would increase recruitment drives which “harass, and badger people to join” if the proposal was approved. Residents said they feared the church would use “menacing activity” to target people on Castlereagh and Bathurst streets for recruitment. The $12-million expansion involved adding ...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The district attorney has dropped the citations against a man arrested during a scuffle outside the Church of Scientology. Protesters were walking down the sidewalk last month when security guards hired by the church went after them. Those guards were off-duty Spring Hill police officers. A college student said the officers attacked him. He received three citations, but the district attorney just dismissed them.

Anonymous botnet hacktivist faces spell behind bars A US teenager has admitted involvement in a high profile denial of service attack against Scientology websites last year. Dmitriy Guzner of Verona, New Jersey, 19, pleaded guilty on Monday to charges of using a botnet of compromised PCs in order to flood Church of Scientology-related websites with spurious traffic back in January 2008. Guzner faces between 12 and 18 months at a sentencing hearing, due to take place on 24 August. Guzner identified ...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – There are problems with how security for a Nashville Scientology event was handled, and laws appear to have been broken. In a home video, a group of protesters walk toward the Church of Scientology on the day of the church's grand opening and are stopped by security guards, who knock one protester to the ground and have him arrested for criminal trespass. The altercation happened 400 yards from the church, on the other side of the street. Public ...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – A protest at the Church of Scientology in Nashville led to pushing, shoving, an arrest and the whole thing was caught on tape. The tape, protesters said, proves they were assaulted and bullied by security guards for no reason. A Middle Tennessee State University student doesn't want his name revealed after what happened on April 25 at Nashville's new Church of Scientology on Eighth Avenue. The man is in a group called Anonymous that protests Church of Scientology ...

After publishing this article, supporters of the Church of Scientology sent correspondence to Orbis complaining about what they perceived to be a bias in favor of Anonymous. The fact that they apparently keep such close tabs on media about scientology (Vanderbilt Orbis, after all, isn’t as well-known or as well-distributed as the New York Times) doesn’t do much to further their case that they don’t take… aggressive measures… to silence their critics. In the meantime, the Nashville scientologists have apparently decided ...

It looks like the Church of Scientology will be out in force to protest the upcoming American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting in San Francisco next month. The Citizens Commission on Human Rights, Scientology's anti-psychiatry activist arm, will apparently be setting up their "Psychiatry: An Industry of Death" exhibit next to the Moscone Center for the duration of the convention. How do we know? The flier above was discovered by Anonymous, the masked shock troops who sprang from the Internet over a ...

By Nathan Baca News Channel 3 PART FOUR In the shadow of the conflict between Scientology and "Anonymous," we go inside Scientology's Hollywood complex for the first part of an exclusive one-on-one interview with one of the church's top leaders, Tommy Davis. Davis serves as the Church's spokesman. During the visit, we showed him video shot by members of "Anonymous" as they were being accosted and arrested by guards hired by the Church at the Scientology grounds in Hemet. Davis contends ...

By Nathan Baca News Channel 3 PART THREE Protests in front of the Church of Scientology's headquarters near Hemet may soon be illegal. Sheriff's deputies keep reminding protestors with the group known as "Anonymous" to stay within 50 feet from the center of the road going through the Scientology compound. Video shown in our first segment shows just how forceful Scientology guards are willing to confront those who get a dozen feet past the line. Last fall, Riverside County Supervisor Jeff ...

By Nathan Baca News Channel 3 PART TWO An video from "Anonymous" posted on YouTube last year states, "Hello. Leaders of Scientology. We are Anonymous. Over the years, we have been watching you. The extent of your malign influence over those who have come to trust you has been made clear to us. Anonymous has therefore decided your organization should be destroyed." It's a declaration of war over the internet. A loose coalition of leaderless web activists calling their group "Anonymous" ...

By Nathan Baca News Channel 3 PART ONE It's a full blown war you've likely never heard of. There is a battle between leaders of the Church of Scientology and a group of activists with both sides sworn to fight to the end. This is war; in the shadow of a cross, and behind the gaze of a mask. Like any war, there is violence; there is rage. There are politicians in the middle of it, and there are partisans fighting ...

PART ONE It's a full blown war you've likely never heard of. There is a battle between leaders of the Church of Scientology and a group of activists with both sides sworn to fight to the end. This is war; in the shadow of a cross, and behind the gaze of a mask. Like any war, there is violence; there is rage. There are politicians in the middle of it, and there are partisans fighting on our streets. Both the Church ...

RIVERSIDE — Despite a lashing from critics, the Riverside County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved an ordinance to restrict residential picketing to 30 feet or more from a person's property. In a 4-1 vote — with Supervisor Bob Buster dissenting — the board formally adopted the measure, which went through at least three revisions and repeated debate after board chairman Jeff Stone first introduced it in November. “This ordinance has been vetted many times,” Stone said just prior to the ...

Tous les mois depuis un an, le groupe Anonymous manifeste devant les locaux actuels de l'Église de scientologie, rue Papineau à Montréal. La manifestation a attiré une vingtaine de personnes, hier. Le groupe qualifie le mouvement de «secte» et l'accuse de commettre des abus envers ses membres Photo: Robert Skinner, La Presse Le projet d'expansion de l'Église de scientologie à Montréal a du plomb dans l'aile. Son déménagement au centre-ville, prévu initialement pour 2008, n'aura pas lieu avant la fin de ...

Opponents of the Church of Scientology have accused the controversial organisation of attempting to ban a pair of HIV-positive protesters. Lawyers acting for Scientology are allegedly using medical information about two protesters picketing a Scientology facility near Hemet, California in an attempt to prevent the duo's attendance at further demos. The two protesters Angry Gay Pope and Happy Smurf, a former Scientologist, are contesting the legal action, which would prevent them protesting at the important facility (known internally as Gold Base). ...

Riverside County supervisors are set to vote Tuesday on a revised ordinance to limit picketing at residences and outside the Church of Scientology's base in Gilman Hot Springs. The proposed ordinance, supported by the church and Supervisor Jeff Stone, would restrict picketing to 50 feet beyond the property line of a targeted residence or to an across-the-street sidewalk. Stone is also urging supervisors to approve an urgency ordinance Tuesday. If at least four supervisors approve that urgency measure, the limits on ...

Lance Hoskins joined the church in the 1970's, and then worked for the Sea Org - the church's management body in the US. (duration: 44?58?)