1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 ⇑ Latest ↑ Later Earlier ↓ Earliest ⇓ Jun 19, 2001
Parking garage plans fall apart — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Type: Press
Author(s):
Christina Headrick Source:
St. Petersburg Times (Florida) That means plans for a new bus terminal downtown also have crumbled. CLEARWATER — A first-of-its-kind partnership to build a downtown parking garage on top of a new bus terminal was pronounced dead Monday. Negotiations involving the city, the Church of Scientology, Pinellas County and the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority failed to produce a deal to make the project work. Several months of talks ended last week, after one last-ditch effort to save the project. "We really did try," said Assistant ...
Apr 26, 2001
Scientology critics to get bricks — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Type: Press
Source:
St. Petersburg Times (Florida) A group beautifying a Clearwater alley reverses course and will let donors memorialize a church member who died. CLEARWATER – Lisa McPherson will be memorialized in a downtown alley next door to a Church of Scientology building. A group that sold hundreds of engraved bricks to beautify the city-owned alley has reversed an earlier decision, deciding to allow a McPherson memorial brick and two other bricks submitted by Scientology critics. McPherson was a 36-year-old Scientologist who died in 1995 in the ...
Mar 22, 2001
A Times Editorial / Police work for Scientology — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Type: Press
Source:
St. Petersburg Times (Florida) Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Thomas Penick, who has the unenviable task of refereeing sidewalk skirmishes between the Church of Scientology and anti-Scientology protesters in Clearwater, recently pointed to an arrangement that allows off-duty Clearwater cops to work for Scientology and noted, "They are coming very dangerously close to becoming a private security force for the Church of Scientology." Penick was right to call attention to the uncomfortably cozy relationship developing between city police and the church, which has its spiritual headquarters in ...
Mar 11, 2001
Church pays those it reviled — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Type: Press
Author(s):
Deborah O'Neil Source:
St. Petersburg Times (Florida) Off-duty Clearwater police provide security for the Church of Scientology, subject of many investigations. To some in law enforcement, the officers are crossing an ethical line. [Picture / Caption: "Off-duty Clearwater police officer Scott Wilson watches for oncoming cars on Watterson Avenue as Scientologists leav a bus."] CLEARWATER – Every day, off-duty Clearwater police officers provide security for the Church of Scientology, which was investigated by police for 18 years but now is putting thousands of dollars in officers' pockets. The ...
Jan 30, 2001
Scientology adds quietly to holdings — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Dec 2, 2000
Scientology critics plan protest this weekend — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Type: Press
Author(s):
Deborah O'Neil Source:
St. Petersburg Times (Florida) The annual event is restricted by a court order prescribing where the pickets can be. Police expect little or no friction. CLEARWATER – Critics of the Church of Scientology will take to downtown streets this weekend and march in a protest that has become an annual ritual. They will picket against a backdrop of special community events celebrating the holidays and the 10th anniversary of the Pinellas Trail. As it was last year, the protest will be tempered by a court ...
Mar 29, 2000
Scientology's building heads upward — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Type: Press
Author(s):
Thomas C. Tobin Source:
St. Petersburg Times (Florida) The city's permit allows the church to shift from underground work to above ground, where the $45-million building will rise seven stories and a tower, 15 stories. CLEARWATER – After months of negotiations with the Church of Scientology, city officials issued a permit Tuesday that allows the church to continue construction of its massive new downtown building. The pair of towering white cranes that loom over the project, mostly idle since the fall, will come to life once more. For 16 ...
Mar 3, 2000
Church wants judge removed in McPherson case — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Type: Press
Author(s):
Thomas C. Tobin Source:
St. Petersburg Times (Florida) Questioning his impartiality, Scientology asks Judge Brandt C. Downey III to remove himself. LARGO – The Church of Scientology says it fears Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Brandt C. Downey III cannot be impartial and is asking that he remove himself from presiding in the Lisa McPherson case. In a motion filed late Thursday, Scientology asserts that several of Downey's former law partners were active in anti-Scientology efforts in the late 1970s and early 1980s, after the church's controversial arrival in Clearwater. The ...
Feb 6, 2000
How much oddity can one town take? — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Jan 6, 2000
Scientology foe sets up office close to church — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Dec 2, 1999
Scientology hires top Clearwater law firm — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Type: Press
Author(s):
Thomas C. Tobin Source:
St. Petersburg Times (Florida) The church selects Johnson Blakely to represent it on a number of local issues. CLEARWATER – The Church of Scientology has hired Clearwater's most prominent and well-connected law firm to represent it on a wide range of issues, yet another indicator of Scientology's increasing acceptance into Clearwater's civic circles. Church officials reached an agreement for legal services on Tuesday with the firm of Johnson Blakely Pope Bokor Ruppel & Burns. The account will be handled by Ed Armstrong, a partner in ...
Nov 6, 1999
Police no longer monitoring Scientology — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Aug 20, 1999
Scientology expansion raises parking question — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Type: Press
Author(s):
Thomas C. Tobin Source:
St. Petersburg Times (Florida) One Clearwater official says the church need not provide parking until its building is nearly complete, but others disagree. CLEARWATER — The foundation has been poured and two towering white cranes reach into the downtown sky. Construction is well under way on a 370,000-square-foot Church of Scientology building that will take two years to build. When it opens, Scientology expects to have doubled its uniformed staff to 2,000. It also projects that the number of Scientology parishioners visiting Clearwater will increase ...
Aug 7, 1999
Scientology project gets foundation — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Type: Press
Author(s):
Thomas C. Tobin Source:
St. Petersburg Times (Florida) Workers today will pour the base for the Ministerial Training and Counseling Center, which is expected to be the largest building in downtown Clearwater. CLEARWATER — A massive foundation will be constructed beginning early this morning for what is expected to be the largest building downtown. The Church of Scientology and its contractor, Beers Construction Co. of Tampa, have coordinated an 18-hour task that will involve more than 500 construction workers, 130 mixing trucks, 1,200 truckloads of high-strength concrete from six ...
May 12, 1999
Scientology files motions to drop charges — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)More: pqasb.pqarchiver.com
Type: Press
Author(s):
Thomas C. Tobin Source:
St. Petersburg Times (Florida) The Church of Scientology in Clearwater says it is immune from criminal prosecution in the death of Lisa McPherson and wants the felony charges against it dismissed. In lengthy motions filed this week, Scientology's lawyers argue that the charges filed against the church last November "are both unnecessary and impermissible." Church staffers gave "spiritual assistance" to McPherson, a fellow Scientologist, in the days before she died, thus their actions were protected under the First Amendment and the state's new Religious Freedom ...
May 8, 1999
Clearwater opts for discreet honors for library donors — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)More: pqasb.pqarchiver.com
Type: Press
Author(s):
Anita Kumar Source:
St. Petersburg Times (Florida) [This article appears to be a
reprint of an article published the day before] The city, concerned about Scientology, is choosing a low-key recognition of major contributors. City commissioners decided Thursday that they would rather collect less money for the new main library than allow controversial groups that make large donations to be recognized prominently. The Church of Scientology was not mentioned at the televised meeting, but commissioners have said they are uncomfortable with the church being named in a ...
Dec 29, 1998
Scientologists buy Red Cross building — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Nov 14, 1998
Florida charges Scientology in church member's death // 2-year investigation leads to felony filing — New York TimesMore: link
Type: Press
Author(s):
Douglas Frantz Source:
New York Times ORLANDO, Fla., Nov. 13 — Florida prosecutors filed criminal charges today against the Church of Scientology in connection with the death of a church member while she was under the care of Scientologists three years ago. The church's Flag Service Organization, its chief operating arm in Clearwater, Fla., was charged with abuse or neglect of a disabled adult and with the unauthorized practice of medicine in the death of the church member, Lisa McPherson, 36. The felony charges were filed in ...
Nov 14, 1998
Hubbard's teachings guide treatment of mental illness — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Type: Press
Author(s):
Thomas C. Tobin Source:
St. Petersburg Times (Florida) CLEARWATER — When Lisa McPherson left Morton Plant Hospital with her fellow Scientologists, she crossed a line between worlds that differ sharply on how mental illness should be treated. The Scientologists who watched her for the next 17 days relied on the teachings of their late founder, L. Ron Hubbard, who scorned psychiatry and wrote that any apprentice of his mental health practices "knows more and can do more about the mind than any psychiatrist." In contrast, doctors at Morton Plant ...
Nov 14, 1998
Scientology charged in member's death — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Type: Press
Author(s):
Thomas C. Tobin Source:
St. Petersburg Times (Florida) The church faces two felony charges in its treatment of Lisa McPherson. The Church of Scientology in Clearwater has been charged with criminal neglect and practicing medicine without a license in the 1995 death of Lisa McPherson, the mentally disturbed Scientologist who turned to outsiders for help before church officials intervened and placed her under their care. Unlicensed Scientology staffers "medicated her without her consent," isolated her and took other measures to treat her physical and mental condition at Scientology's Fort ...
Nov 13, 1998
Church of Scientology charged in member's death — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Type: Press
Source:
St. Petersburg Times (Florida) CLEARWATER (AP) — A prosecutor charged the Church of Scientology on Friday with two felonies in the death of a member whose family claims she became severely dehydrated after being held against her will for 17 days. Lisa McPherson, 36, died in December 1995. She had been under the 24-hour care of church members at the Fort Harrison Hotel, Scientology's international retreat in downtown Clearwater. Her family has claimed she was held against her will after trying to leave the church. ...
Oct 25, 1998
The Man Behind Scientology — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Type: Press
Author(s):
Thomas C. Tobin Source:
St. Petersburg Times (Florida) David Miscavige, the seldom-seen leader of the church, comes forth in his first newspaper interview to talk of a more peaceful time for Scientology. LOS ANGELES — When David Miscavige recounts his rise to power in the Church of Scientology — a journey that began when he quit high school at age 16 — it is mostly a story of war. War against renegade Scientologists. War against Scientology’s critics. War against its one-time arch enemy, the IRS. But Scientology’s 38-year-old leader ...
Sep 15, 1998
Doctor settles his part of wrongful death suit — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Type: Press
Author(s):
Lucy Morgan Source:
St. Petersburg Times (Florida) The doctor who pronounced Scientologist Lisa McPherson dead pays her estate $100,000. A Clearwater doctor who declared Scientologist Lisa McPherson dead when she arrived at a New Port Richey hospital in December 1995 has paid her estate $100,000 to settle his portion of a wrongful death suit McPherson's family filed against the Church of Scientology and others. James Felman, the Tampa lawyer who represents Dr. David Minkoff, said two medical malpractice insurance companies paid the entire amount. "It wasn't our idea ...
Sep 9, 1998
New school to use ideas of Scientology founder — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Type: Press
Author(s):
Thomas C. Tobin Source:
St. Petersburg Times (Florida) Some of the study techniques, such as students' learning at their own pace in multigrade classrooms, are being tried in public schools. [Picture / Caption: Visitors file past a bust of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard after opening ceremonies Tuesday at Clearwater Academy International.] CLEARWATER — A new private school using educational concepts promoted by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard is scheduled to open today downtown. Clearwater Academy International, at Drew Street and Myrtle Avenue, will have an enrollment of 120 ...
Aug 19, 1998
City manager gets rare Scientology support — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Type: Press
Author(s):
Thomas C. Tobin Source:
St. Petersburg Times (Florida) CLEARWATER — Members of the Church of Scientology recently have been rising to the defense of embattled City Manager Mike Roberto in an outpouring of public support for a Clearwater official that would have been inconceivable in the past. The unusual display, in the form of letters and e-mails to City Hall and the Times, is an indicator of how dramatically City Hall's relationship with the church and its members has changed — from the icy co-existence that began with Scientology's ...
Mar 29, 1998
Scientology's influence grows in Washington — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Type: Press
Author(s):
David Dahl Source:
St. Petersburg Times (Florida) WASHINGTON – After years of holding the U.S. government in contempt, the Church of Scientology is enlisting members of Congress, the U.S. State Department and even President Clinton to advance its agenda in foreign lands. Prodded by the Scientologists' paid lobbyists and its cadre of sympathetic entertainers, several lawmakers and the Clinton administration have criticized the German government for allegedly discriminating against Scientology practitioners. They even got their argument against Germany to the floor of the House of Representatives last November. ...
Mar 14, 1998
Presley puts mansion up for sale — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Type: Press
Author(s):
Thomas C. Tobin Source:
St. Petersburg Times (Florida) Lisa Marie Presley, the city's most famous resident, has put her home on the market. The 30-year-old daughter of Elvis and Priscilla Presley bought the home in late 1996 for $1.2-million. A spokeswoman for her publicist said she did not know whether Presley planned to relocate locally or move from the area. The home overlooks Clearwater Harbor and is situated several blocks north of the downtown headquarters of the Church of Scientology, where Presley is a parishioner. She is part of ...
Feb 8, 1998
Scientology got blame for French suicide — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)More: pqasb.pqarchiver.com
Feb 1, 1998
Scientology in Clearwater: digging in / A chronology of major events — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Feb 1, 1998
Scientology in Clearwater: digging in / Scientology in Clearwater — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Type: Press
Author(s):
Thomas C. Tobin Source:
St. Petersburg Times (Florida) She is one of an estimated 3,300 Scientologists who have migrated to Clearwater in the 1990s, the most dramatic period of growth for the church during its 22 years in Clearwater. In addition, the church has said it is "deadly serious" about its plans for the year 2000, which include tripling the size of its Clearwater staff to more than 3,500; launching a local Scientology "university" that would accommodate more than 10,000 students a week; and having "Clearwater known as the ...
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