1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ⇑ Latest ↑ Later Earlier ↓ Earliest ⇓ Jun 23, 1984
Sect ruling 'beginning of the end' — Clearwater Sun (Florida)More: link
Type: Press
Author(s):
George-Wayne Shelor Source:
Clearwater Sun (Florida) Lawyers who for years have engaged the Church of Scientology in legal battles said Friday that a Los Angeles County Superior court decision handed down this week heralds "the beginning of the end of Scientology." "The walls are collapsing and the truth is finally coining out," Boston attorney Michael Flynn said of the "landmark ruling" of Judge Paul G. Breckenridge. The California judge late Thursday exonerated a former sect member charged with stealing thousands of Scientology documents. But a sect attorney ...
Jun 22, 1984
Judge stings Scientologists — Clearwater Sun (Florida)More: link
Type: Press
Author(s):
George-Wayne Shelor Source:
Clearwater Sun (Florida) In a stinging rebuke to the Church of Scientology of California, a Los Angeles Superior Court Judge ruled Thursday that a former sect archivist was justified in taking about 10,000 Scientology documents when he fled the Clearwater-based sect in 1982. Most of the documents in question belonged to the reclusive 73-year-old founder of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard, who has not been seen publicly since 1979. In his 12-page decision, Judge Paul G. Breckenridge said 37-year-old Gerald Armstrong—who was personally authorized by ...
Jun 19, 1984
Letters to the Editor — Clearwater Sun (Florida)More: link
Type: Press
Author(s):
Barbara F. Georgius Source:
Clearwater Sun (Florida) Editor: Regarding Armstrong and his claim against the Church of Scientology: Since when does reponsible journalism only look at one side of the story? He has allegedley stolen documents. This is "theft" in the eyes of the law. A man who steals rarely tells the truth. His justifications for this theft really, are amazing, but more than that; why wouldn't the Clearwater Sun want both sides of the story? Your readers deserve to have all of the facts here, wouldn't you ...
Jun 19, 1984
Sect-related organization breaks up — Clearwater Sun (Florida)More: link
Type: Press
Author(s):
George-Wayne Shelor Source:
Clearwater Sun (Florida) An organization affiliated with the Church of Scientology has filed papers of dissolution in Pinellas Circuit Court, breaking up that arm of the Clearwater-based sect. Sect spokesman Richard Haworth said Monday he was unaware of the Church of Scientology of Clearwater Inc. and that its dissolution would have no effect on the operations of the Church of Scientology. The Church of Scientology of Clearwater Inc., incorporated as a non-profit religious organization in December 1982, filed paper's of corporate dissolution in April ...
Jun 16, 1984
Court told sect raid should have been restricted — Clearwater Sun (Florida)More: link
Type: Press
Source:
Clearwater Sun (Florida) TORONTO—A 158-page search warrant Ontario Provincial Police used to raid the headquarters of the Church of Scientology in Toronto last year should have been restricted to prevent a massive search and seizure of church records and artifacts, a lawyer for the Clearwater-based church says. Marlys Edwardh, a lawyer representing the Church of Scientology of Toronto, told Ontario Supreme Court Justice John Osler that a higher standard must be applied by police when they search a church, even if the church is ...
Jun 15, 1984
Canadian court told religion protects cult — Clearwater Sun (Florida)More: link
Type: Press
Source:
Clearwater Sun (Florida) TORONTO—A search warrant used to raid the Church of Scientology's headquarters here should be quashed because sect members could not commit a fraud while practicing their faith, the Clearwater-based organization's lawyer told the Ontario Supreme Court. Clayton Ruby said the Church of Scientology is protected by the guarantee of freedom of religion under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Ontario Provincial Police used the search warrant to seize more than 200,000 documents from the group's Toronto headquarters in March ...
Jun 14, 1984
Letters to the Editor // In defense of Scientology — Clearwater Sun (Florida)More: link
Type: Press
Author(s):
Bruce Silton Source:
Clearwater Sun (Florida) In defense of Scientology Editor: What gives with your vast and biased reporting on the Scientologists in Clearwater? The recent articles were a bit too much. I simply never hear any evidence of the widespread dislike you suggest exists in our community for Scientology. Perhaps you are actually trying to create hatred and prejudice? Your manner and presentation has all the marks of the same irrational attacks made by Germany on Jesus, Christians and other religious and ethnic groups. On your ...
Jun 13, 1984
Judge has L.A. sect testimony — Clearwater Sun (Florida)More: link
Type: Press
Author(s):
George-Wayne Shelor Source:
Clearwater Sun (Florida) Testimony has ended in the Los Angeles trial of a former Scientologists charged with stealing thousands of documents, letters and pictures when he fled the controversial sect. A Superior Court judge is weighing the evidence before handing down a decision. "The judge (Paul G. Breckenridge) has taken the case under submission, and we don't know how long it will take," Scientology attorney Barrett Litt said Tuesday. "I assume he'll be working on it and we'll hear sometime in the next little ...
Jun 12, 1984
Letters to the Editor // Scientology pro and con — Clearwater Sun (Florida)More: link
Type: Press
Author(s):
Dale Christiansen Source:
Clearwater Sun (Florida) Scientology pro and con Editor: I read a copy of the "Way to Happiness," by L. Ron Hubbard, tried it and found happiness. Who can dispute that truth and honesty is the basis of happiness in life? Anyone can try this out and find out for themselves. I read the Clearwater Sun fand felt miserable for hours afterwards. If honesty equals happiness, then I wonder what caused my bad feelings in reading the Sun ? DALE CHRISTIANSEN Clearwater —– Editor: The response ...
Jun 9, 1984
Letters to the Editor // Proud Scientologist — Clearwater Sun (Florida)More: link
Type: Press
Author(s):
James M. Justice Source:
Clearwater Sun (Florida) Proud Scientologist Editor: Recent articles and an editorial at the Clearwater Sun have asserted that Scientology is dangerous or dying. Neither is true, to my observation. I came to Clearwater in September 1981 to do a Scientology service and was so impressed by both the Flag Land Base and the city that I never left. Since then, all the changes I have witnessed in the church have been positive and expansive, and I have experienced spiritual gain far in excess of ...
Jun 9, 1984
Sect trial ordered to continue — Clearwater Sun (Florida)More: link
Type: Press
Author(s):
George-Wayne Shelor Source:
Clearwater Sun (Florida) TORONTO—The church of Scientology of Toronto was commanded Friday to move ahead with its case in Ontario Supreme Court proceedings unprecedented in Canadian history. The sect's reason for being in court—a civil motion questioning the legality of a police search warrant—has been usurped by arguments about religion and parishioner/priest confidentiality. Originally, the sect requested the hearing before Justice John Osler asking that he quash the March 4, 1983, Ontario Provincial Police warrant because, the sect said, the document was based on ...
Jun 8, 1984
Sect hearing likely to mushroom — Clearwater Sun (Florida)More: link
Type: Press
Author(s):
George-Wayne Shelor Source:
Clearwater Sun (Florida) TORONTO—An Ontario Supreme Court judge is expected to rule today in a hearing brought by the Church of Scientology centering on questions of religious equality and criminal wrongdoing. Judge John Osler said Thursday he will study lawyers' arguments and legal precedent in deciding whether to move forward in the hearing to quash an Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) search warrant resulting in the seizure of 25,000 sect documents. At issue is whether the massive
158-page search warrant and its supporting documents ...
Jun 8, 1984
Sect trial in Los Angeles nears end — Clearwater Sun (Florida)More: link
Type: Press
Source:
Clearwater Sun (Florida) (AP)—Attorneys for the Church of Scientology Friday accused a former archivist of acting like a "spurned lover" when he left the organization and took 10,000 confidential documents with him. But the attorney for ex-church member Gerald Armstrong said his client was a frightened man trying to use the documents as a shield against a "clandestine" organization. A judge who had listened to five weeks of testimony took the matter under submission Friday afternoon after both sides completed their closing arguments. Mary ...
Jun 7, 1984
Scientology compared to Catholicism — Clearwater Sun (Florida)More: link
Type: Press
Author(s):
George-Wayne Shelor Source:
Clearwater Sun (Florida) TORONTO—A lawyer representing the Church Scientology likened the 34-year-old sect to the Roman Catholic Church during hearing Wednesday in Ontario Supreme Court. Arguing that the Ontario Provincial Police had no right to seize Scientology files during a raid on the sect's Toronto mission last year, Clayton Ruby told the court that Scientology should be given the same respect and protection afforded established religions. "Should a new church be (treated differently) because its doctrines are not as well-known?" Ruby asked Justice John ...
Jun 5, 1984
Sect's religious status just one part of trial — Clearwater Sun (Florida)More: link
Type: Press
Author(s):
George-Wayne Shelor Source:
Clearwater Sun (Florida) TORONTO—Is Scientology a religion? Since the inception of Scientology in 1950, the question of the sect's religious status has been argued in courts worldwide. And various courts' have offered different opinions. The Canadian Province of Ontario may rule on the religious status of Scientology during a hearing here that began Monday. But "religion" is only one of a myriad of questions before the Ontario Supreme Court. Monday's proceedings stemmed from a March 4, 1983, police raid involving 100 Ontario Provincial policemen ...
Jun 3, 1984
Letters to the Editors // Readers respond to S[?] — Clearwater Sun (Florida)More: link
Type: Press
Source:
Clearwater Sun (Florida) Editor: In response to the your recent editorial headlined "
Silence on Scientology —I'm afraid you misinterpret this "silence." It doesn't mean apathy or lack at interest, it means "So, what's new?" or "What more is there to say?" Nothing has come out at the trial that surprises anyone. So L. Ron Hubbard is not what he claims to be: Who knows what he claims to be? Who reads his writings, except those poor troubled people, most of them young, I imagine, ...
Jun 3, 1984
Scientology near death, ex-members say — Clearwater Sun (Florida)More: link
Jun 2, 1984
Sect will ask court to quash warrant — Clearwater Sun (Florida)More: link
Type: Press
Author(s):
George-Wayne Shelor Source:
Clearwater Sun (Florida) The Church of Scientology of Toronto will petition the Supreme Court of Ontario Monday asking that a search warrant executed last year be quashed, although the Ontario Provincial Police have already used it to raid the sect's headquarters and seize 14 million documents. Investigators armed with the warrant raided the sect's Toronto headquarters in March 1983 and seized 904 boxes of papers and documents believed to substantiate suspected sect fraud, conspiracy, breaking and entering and theft, according to the warrant and ...
May 30, 1984
Hubbard had 'dual personality' — Clearwater Sun (Florida)More: link
Type: Press
Source:
Clearwater Sun (Florida) LOS ANGELES (AP)—Church of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard had a split personality that triggered outbursts of anger against church staffers, his former publicist testified Tuesday. "In a sense he was warm, friendly. In a sense, he could be irrational, erratic," said Laurel Sullivan, a defense witness in a lawsuit filed by the church and Hubbard's wife against former sect archivist Gerald Armstrong. Ms. Sullivan's description was in response to defense counsel Michael Flynn's questions about Hubbard's behavior in 1978 and ...
May 27, 1984
Former sect publicist feared being 'target' — Clearwater Sun (Florida)More: link
Type: Press
Author(s):
Felix Gutierrez Source:
Clearwater Sun (Florida) LOS ANGELES—A former Scientology publicist who was working on a biography of church founder L. Ron Hubbard says she left the organization because she had become "a target" by other church members. Laurel Sullivan, 34, testified Friday in a suit brought by the church and the founder's wife, Mary Sue Hubbard, to recover documents allegedly stolen by former church archivist Gerald Armstrong. Ms. Sullivan said she feared some church members saw the biography as a downgrading of Hubbard's image and that ...
May 25, 1984
Editorial of the Sun // Silence on Scientology shows alarming apathy — Clearwater Sun (Florida)More: link
Type: Press
Source:
Clearwater Sun (Florida) Staff Writer George-Wayne Shelor was talking to Managing Editor Sam Fenton on the phone from Los Angeles, where he was covering a lawsuit brought by the Scientologists against a defector who had taken confidential sect documents. "How many letters (to the editor) have you received so far?" Shelor asked. "None," Fenton replied. "None!" Shelor echoed in amazement. "What's going on?" What, indeed! The silence from the community on the latest revelations of the Scientologists' skulduggery is baffling. While members of the ...
May 24, 1984
Scientologists pleased with restraining order — Clearwater Sun (Florida)More: link
Type: Press
Author(s):
Howard French Source:
Clearwater Sun (Florida) Church of Scientology spokesman Richard Haworth said Wednesday he is pleased that a second restraining order was issued recently against the city's revised charitable solicitation law. "Once again we have been joined by a coalition of religious groups" in the fight against the ordinance, be said, "and we are pleased they are in the (action) with us." Only a week old, the ordinance became the target of a second restraining order from a federal judge Tuesday. U.S. District Court Judge William ...
May 22, 1984
Sect tries the 'unusual' in document trial — Clearwater Sun (Florida)More: link
Type: Press
Author(s):
George-Wayne Shelor Source:
Clearwater Sun (Florida) LOS ANGELES—In an extraordinary move, lawyers for the Church of Scientology have asked that parts of the official court transcript of a civil case be destroyed upon the completion of the trial. The motion was railed "unusual" by Superior Court Judge Paul G. Breckenridge Jr., who denied the request. Breckenridge is ruling over the non-jury trial brought by the sect and Mary Sue Hubbard, the wife of its founder. They are asking for the return of 10,000 documents a former Scientologist ...
May 19, 1984
Hubbard letters entered in trial — Clearwater Sun (Florida)More: link
Type: Press
Author(s):
George-Wayne Shelor Source:
Clearwater Sun (Florida) LOS ANGELES—Scientology lawyers introduced several hundred pages of sealed documents in Superior Court Friday, saying they fracture the defense of a man charged with taking thousands of sect papers when he fled the organization. Letters written by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard to his children, parents, and wives were submitted by attorney Barrett Litt in an effort to impugn Gerald Armstrong's testimony. Armstrong, a 37-year-old sect researcher, contends he took 10,000 documents in 1981 to defend himself against an anticipated suit. ...
May 18, 1984
City: Solicitation law will stand test — Clearwater Sun (Florida)More: link
Type: Press
Author(s):
Howard French Source:
Clearwater Sun (Florida) Clearwater city commissioners Thursday quietly put their final stamp of approval on a controversial ordinance regulating fundraising efforts by non-profit organizations. The commission's 4-1 vote made what once was an emergency ordinance a standard law and extended the city's battle with the Church of Scientology one more step. Only Commissioner James Berfield voted against the measure, without comment. The law began life as a temporary measure passed March 15, two weeks before U.S. District Court Judge Elizabeth Kovachevich ruled against the ...
May 18, 1984
Defendant denies sect employment — Clearwater Sun (Florida)More: link
Type: Press
Author(s):
George-Wayne Shelor Source:
Clearwater Sun (Florida) LOS ANGELES—Gerald Armstrong steadfastly maintained Thursday that for 11 years he worked only for L. Ron Hubbard, and he refused to acknowledge Church of Scientology lawyers' contentions he was actually a sect employee. Time and again during his Superior Court trial, Armstrong brushed off suggestions of his sect employment, insisting he worked for Scientology founder Hubbard—regardless of the chain of command. "I was a Scientologist, and I worked for Mr. Hubbard," the former Scientology archivist told Superior Court Judge Paul G. ...
May 17, 1984
Letters to the Editor // On Armstrong trial — Clearwater Sun (Florida)More: link
Type: Press
Author(s):
Sanford Block Source:
Clearwater Sun (Florida) Editor: On May 15, 1984, in the Armstrong trial, we heard more testimony concerning Gerald Armstrong's "state of mind." This is, of course, his defense to justify his taking another's property. It is similar to what we see in a criminal case—the "insanity defense"—that one is justified or not responsible for his acts because of his state of mind. This insanity defense brings to mind the attempted assassination by John Hinckley, a loner, a failure and one trying to make a ...
May 17, 1984
Letters to the Editor // Scientologist responds to coverage — Clearwater Sun (Florida)More: link
Type: Press
Author(s):
Sanford Block Source:
Clearwater Sun (Florida) Editor: This is the first of what I hope will be a series of "equal space" reports covering the Scientology vs. Armstrong trial taking place in Los Angeles. I appreciate your paper providing our church this opportunity. In this case, the Church of Scientology of California and Mrs. Mary Sue Hubbard have filed suit against Gerald Armstrong to retrieve valuable materials that he took from the church. Per earlier admissions by Mr. Armstrong, he gave these materials to Michael Flynn for ...
May 17, 1984
Sect lawyer attack archivist's testimony — Clearwater Sun (Florida)More: link
Type: Press
Author(s):
George-Wayne Shelor Source:
Clearwater Sun (Florida) LOS ANGELES—Church of Scientology lawyers began their cross-examination of Gerald Armstrong in Superior Court here Wednesday, trying to prove he continued collecting sect-related documents after a temporary restraining order prevented him from doing so. Sect lawyers also began eliciting testimony from Armstrong, a former Scientology archivist, that he joined the Clearwater-based church not because of his belief in founder L. Ron Hubbard, as Armstrong testified, but because he believed in the organization and its technology. It was Armstrong's fifth day of ...
May 16, 1984
Witness: Hubbard used black magic — Clearwater Sun (Florida)More: link
Type: Press
Author(s):
George-Wayne Shelor Source:
Clearwater Sun (Florida) LOS ANGELES—Bigamy and black magic were a part of the life of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, according to documents introduced Tuesday as exhibits in Superior Court. And according to a former high-ranking Scientologist, Hubbard wrote a series of "Admissions" in which he acknowledged to himself bis systematic manipulation of the U.S. Navy and the Veterans Administration to increase his disability pension. Basing his testimony on 11 years of firsthand knowledge and thousands of documents under court seal, Gerald Armstrong said ...
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