CLEARWATER, Fla. — In 1975, L. Ron Hubbard, the flamboyant founder of the Church of Scientology, was intent on finding a home base for his religion, which had come under criticism in several countries. The result was Operation Goldmine. Late that year, a dummy corporation paid $2.3 million in cash to buy the Fort Harrison Hotel, a historic building that was the symbolic heart of downtown Clearwater. The buyer was identified as the United Churches of Florida, an unknown organization. A ...

Lisa McPherson turned to the Church of Scientology in her 20s as she tried to shed the emotional baggage of a rocky youth. By age 36, with a high school education, she was earning a handsome salary as a sales representative in Clearwater. Today, as the church tries to rebut assertions that it caused her sudden death, it also credits Scientology for her successes in life. But McPherson's turnaround came at a financial price. From 1991 until she died in December ...

The Los Angeles Board of Education should reject the controversial application for the proposed Northwest Charter School in the San Fernando Valley. Why? Because the public school system should not open its doors to potentially sectarian teaching. That is what private schools are for. The author of this charter school petition is a Scientologist, which is no more disqualifying for a public school educator than any other religion. However, Linda Smith, a veteran public school teacher, says she would use the ...

CLEARWATER — Was it an honest mistake, a slip of the tongue? Or was it the naked truth, carelessly uttered on camera A top official for the Church of Scientology told a German television crew recently that church member Lisa McPherson died in a room at the Fort Harrison Hotel in Clearwater. On its face, the statement marks a major change in Scientology's version of events surrounding McPherson's unexplained death at age 36. It came in the presence of one of ...

A visitor to the Internet World trade show in Los Angeles last month would have come away with the impression that Luckman Interactive was an industry powerhouse. The 3-year-old firm, which makes software and Internet directories, hung a giant banner on the side of the Los Angeles Convention Center—the only company to spring for the expense. Its booth was among the biggest at the show, rivaling those of Netscape, Apple Computer and Sun Microsystems. The company has raised more than $20 ...

BERLIN — “Historically inaccurate and totally distasteful." Strong words from Madeleine Albright, who had good reason to apply them. America's new secretary of State was referring to the widely publicized statement by Oliver Stone, Dustin Hoffman and other Hollywood celebrities equating Germany's current treatment of the Church of Scientology with the Holocaust. When she met with German Chancellor Helmut Kohl last week, Albright was committed to bringing up U.S. "concerns" about Germany's treatment of Scientologists. At the same time, she clearly ...

When L. Ron Hubbard penned his ground-breaking book, Dianetics, a shot rang out in Hollywood. The book, now available in more than 32 languages, has sold over 16 million copies since 1950. It has also attracted legions of famous followers to its Church of Scientology in Hollywood and its castle-like Celebrity Centre located in the heart of Tinseltown. During John Travolta's Golden Globe acceptance speech, for example, the church member — long rumored to be gay — thanked L. Ron Hubbard ...

Since its founding in 1954, the Church of Scientology has sparked some fear, mistrust and controversy. This doesn't surprise the Rev. Lee Holzinger, 38, minister of the Santa Barbara Church of Scientology. "We are different from other churches in many ways," he said. "How could anything come along that is so fundamentally important to life and society and not rouse controversy?" The church was involved in a 40-year battle with the Internal Revenue Service that ended Oct 1, 1993 when the ...

Scientology is the religion everyone loves to hate. So how come so many movie stars are devout followers? Moves into the church's Celebrity Centre for an exclusive look at the starway to heaven. AT FRANKLIN AND BRONSON A LOGJAM OF LIMousines crawls toward the mock-French Normandy Chateau. At the grand doorway, celebrities, lawyers, producers, and the children of the well-heeled of the entertainment industry step onto the crimson-carpeted tarmac, chattering through the pink-and-gold lounge to the lawns and fairy-lit trees beyond, ...

Clients of deprogrammer Rick Ross call him a savior. Perhaps that's why people he's branded cult leaders want to crucify him. Rick Ross is describing how Arizona's cults use mind control to exploit their members. He warns about 70 people gathered at Arizona State University's Memorial Union that they are prime targets for groups that tend to prey on university students. The Moonies have a house on North Central. Scientology has a church in Mesa. There's Scottsdale's CBJ, whose members believe ...

The Founding Church of Scientology dedicated its new center last weekend in the renovated Fraser Mansion at 20th and R streets NW, near Dupont Circle. The mansion, built in 1890 for former representative George S. Fraser, will serve as a spiritual center for local members and as the East Coast center for ministerial training, spokeswoman Sylvia Stanard said. The church, with about 3,000 members in the area, will continue to operate its "celebrity center" on 16th Street NW for counseling purposes, ...

It was a strange way to describe an aspect of a theology. But L. Ron Hubbard, the highly successful science-fiction writer who founded the Church of Scientology in the 1950s, had little tolerance for those who challenged his beliefs. And so it was, at one time, that Scientology scripture came to include an unusual litigation clause: "The only way to defend anything is to attack, and if you ever forget that, then you will lose every battle you are ever engaged ...

WHY DID LISA Marie Presley and Michael Jackson get married? Love, if you believe her press release, the one pledging to "dedicate my life to being his wife." Or, according to speculation from Hollywood, Jackson is rehabbing his image and simultaneously consummating the ultimate entertainment empire merger. But another possibility is circulating among the conspiracy-minded former members of the Church of Scientology. It's an astounding theory — that the church itself helped arrange the Presley-Jackson union. But these defectors say that ...

They never broke into church buildings or planted electronic bugs, but for the past 13 years, undercover Clearwater police detectives have investigated the Church of Scientology. They never developed a case against the church that was prosecuted. The work ranged from gathering Scientologists' names to seeking refunds for dissatisfied parishioners. Police once stormed Scientology headquarters after hearing anonymous allegations - unfounded, it turned out - that Scientology children were being strapped to gurneys and given electric shocks. The investigation boils down ...

The IRS' exemption of the Church of Scientology may doom the county's effort to collect a tax bill exceeding $7.9-million. CLEARWATER — Pinellas County's property tax lawsuit against the Church of Scientology is badly wounded by an Internal Revenue Service ruling that exempts the organization from federal income taxes, Property Appraiser Jim Smith said Wednesday. The two sides are headed back to mediation that likely will result in many, if not all, of the Scientology properties being removed from the property ...

The Church of Scientology now owns one of this city's most historic storefront buildings but might not for long if it completes a land-swap deal. The Los Angeles-based Church of Scientology Religious Trust bought the J. D. Baskin Building, 115 S Garden Ave., in June for $500,000 from Imre and Anne Tozser of Clearwater, courthouse records show. The [Jefferson Davis] Baskin building, Scientology's 14th purchase in Clearwater, is being traded for a parcel controlled by the Indiana-based Mitchell Foundation, said Richard ...

The organization adds one property and plans a 2,500-seat auditorium for another in Clearwater. CLEARWATER — The Church of Scientology added a 13th property to its list of Clearwater holdings Monday and unveiled plans to build a 2,500-seat auditorium that will be available to be rented for public events most of the year. Scientology officials said the auditorium, being designed as part of a $40-million building planned for the former Gray Moss Inn site, will play an important role in downtown ...

With its glass walls, classic architecture and limited space, the Church of Scientology's Garden Pavilion was hardly the place for the blasting riffs, slam pits and combat boots that accompanied Tool's performance Friday night. Although neither band nor audience seemed to mind the inappropriateness of the Hollywood venue, the heavy security present still hinted that the Church of Scientology may have been unnerved by the thought of 300 screaming fans talking over its beautiful West Hollywood building. Composed of Maynard James ...

Church of Scientology officials are retooling designs for their $40-million counseling and training center on the site of the old Gray Moss Inn, across the street from the Fort Harrison Hotel religious retreat. A model of the six-story Technical Delivery Building features a broad domed roof and concentric white concrete circles around one side that recall the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Guggenheim Museum in New York City. Scientologists expect to break ground on the new building at 215 S Fort Harrison Ave. ...

[Parent document: Church of Scientology International (CSI): Form 1023 filing.]

The Church of Scientology is asking its members for $40-million in donations so it can pay for the new building it plans to put up in downtown Clearwater. The church has received at least $7.4-million, including three donations of more than $1-million each, according to a flier mailed recently by the church. But the flier asks members to contribute more, because the building would help expand Scientology worldwide. The Church of Scientology has its international spiritual headquarters in Clearwater. Some denounce ...

The tale of Jon and Stacy Roberts and the Church of Scientology is the story of a typical couple, in many ways, who were looking for answers. When the financial advice they sought turned into spiritual guidance, the couple began to regret the direction their search had taken. In the process, they gave more than $100,000 to the Church of Scientology and an organization connected with it. Now they want to warn others not to do the same. Jon Roberts filed ...

The Church of Scientology uses private detectives and bulldog litigators to pursue its numerous detractors. It also hires low-key establishment lawyers who work quietly within the system. So who is directing the $416 million libel suit against Time? On April 27, 1992, lawyers for the Church of Scientology International filed a $416 million libel action in federal court in New York against Time Warner, Inc., Time Inc. Magazine Company [Time Warner is a partner in American Lawyer Media, L.P.], and writer ...