Most of the local recovery facilities apply for use permits to remain open. Those that did not may stay open for one year. At least two drug and alcohol recovery home operators, including Newport’s second largest, have chosen not to apply for use permits with the city by the Thursday deadline. City officials had received 30 applications from rehabilitation homes as the deadline closed in late Thursday afternoon. “The majority of homes have submitted applications at this point, albeit most with ...

Scientology defector Jason Beghe on Scientology spokesman Tommy Davis: "You see the eyes, the lying that he's doing. Anybody can see that this guy is not clean. It's clear as day." Last week, John Roberts of CNN grilled Tommy Davis, a Scientology spokesman, who was predictably evasive about what L. Ron Hubbard's wacky minions are up to. 'Disconnection,' the church policy of splitting up families in order to shun critics of the church? Never happens, Davis claimed. And as for that ...

There is a national media storm surrounding the Church of Scientology. Celebrity members have said Scientology saved their lives. Celebrity ex-member Jason Beghe spoke out against Scientology in a series of YouTube videos. There has been widespread criticism and debate among Scientology proponents and adversaries. Tiger Weekly’s own Web site was submerged in one such debate in response to an article published April 23, “I visited the Scientology Center of Baton Rouge … and lived to write about it.” Local ex-Scientologist ...

[Embedded Youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNUjMz9-W2I] American TV actor and former Scientologist Jason Beghe has labelled the controversial religion “destructive” and a “rip-off” in a video interview posted on YouTube, writes Veronica Schmidt. The 48-year-old is the first celebrity to speak out against the religion, telling how his 12 years with the church have damaged him. “My experience personally, and what I’ve observed for myself, is that Scientology is destructive and a rip-off,” said Beghe, who has acted on Cane, CSI and Veronica ...

Veteran television actor Jason Beghe tells the Village Voice that the Church of Scientology will be feeling blindsided by the YouTube video of him that hit the Internet on March 14. Long-held frustrations with the church motivated Beghe to leave Scientology seven months ago, after he had spent about 12 years in the organization as one of its most celebrated success stories. Over the course of about a year, he negotiated his "disassociation" with the church, trying to give every indication ...

La scientologie est une entreprise ultramoderne qui a aussi des activités séculières. Par exemple, en 1966, Ron Hubbard fondait avec un collègue Narconon une cure de désintoxication qui compte aujourd'hui plus d'une centaine de centres dans le monde, dont un à Trois-Rivières. En plus d'être une cure de désintoxication, Narconon s'est donné pour mission d'instruire les jeunes sur les méfaits de la drogue en donnant des conférences dans de nombreuses écoles de la province. L'atelier offert dans les écoles, appelé La ...

Raymond James Exchanges 50,000-SF Office in Wayne County for $3.5M Raymond James Financial Services sold One Griswold St. in Detroit, MI, to the Church of Scientology for $3.5 million, or approximately $70 per square foot. Built in 1926, this eight-story office building is in the central business district along Detroit's waterfront. The building features an on-site property manager. Sam Munaco and Angela Arcori of Signature Associates represented Raymond James Financial Services, and Tim Jarzembowski and Dave MacDonald of the Staubach Co. ...

The optometrist wants to hear about my most painful memories. This is an auditing session, an important component of a religion called Scientology. The optometrist is the auditor. His name is Steve Sasala. He is skinny. And tall. His face is long and narrow. I can make out the shape of his skull. We sit across from each other, on opposite sides of a tiny desk inside a claustrophobic room at the back of some historic building in Parma Heights. The ...

IT was Hollywood, so it was bound to follow the script. Two minutes after walking through the ornate gates of the world famous Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre, an exquisitely renovated 1920s chateau-style, former hotel overlooking Los Angeles, I came face-to-face with my first Scientologist. He was impressive, tall, broad-shouldered and impeccably groomed with a set of blindingly white teeth. He looked like an actor who'd play a secret service agent.

Scientology is trying to transform its image from that of a shadowy cult When Scientology officially opened its spectacular new British church in the Square Mile, the movement was given an unusually warm embrace by the Establishment. Ian Luder, an Alderman of the Corporation of London and a magistrate, lauded the organisation’s anti-drugs efforts. “The work which you do in this area is greatly to be welcomed,” he said, “and I wish you growing success.” It was a satisfying moment for ...

Bishop E.L. Warren says the goal is far-reaching, but so is the problem it is addressing. "The purpose of this is to eradicate illiteracy and provide a new place of learning and hope in downtown Quincy," he said. Warren, who pastors the Cathedral of Worship, 215 N. 25th, and is the head of E.L. Warren Ministries International, said earlier this week that Quincy will be the headquarters of the Vision Literacy Center. There will be 52 learning centers around the world, ...

BBC reporter John Sweeney was last week seen losing his temper at the end of a sixmonth investigation into scientology. In 1994, The Argus published a damning exposé of the East Grinsteadbased "religion". Former chief reporter Paul Bracchi, who secretly infiltrated the cult, remembers how its followers relentlessly threatened and pursued him in revenge for criticising their deceptive and manipulative methods. Here Mr Bracchi, who now lives in London, tells the chilling story of how he was stalked and intimidated ...

The battleground is YouTube and Scientology's weapon is a clip of me losing it in the "Mind Control" section of a gruesome exhibition. Scientology has fought many battles to keep its secrets off the web, now they are using it to attack my investigation into them. Scientology has prepared an attack video, and they have shown the Scientology v Sweeney shouting match to anyone who would watch it. There is talk of 100,000 copies being released. Family 'disconnects' Scientology works. That ...

Relief may be on the way for police officers ailing because of exposure to methamphetamine labs. Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff's initiative on behalf of scores of sick former narcotics officers will soon open an in-state treatment center offering the New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Program. "Within 30 days, we hope to start sending cops through," Shurtleff said. A closed drug-detox facility in Orem will house the program, and a nonprofit corporation is being formed to run the center, he said. ...

Scientology has started a new propaganda offensive in Europe, opening new offices in capitals across the continent. German authorities are responding by increasing their efforts to monitor the controversial organization. At first sight, the building in Berlin's Charlottenburg neighborhood looks like a run-of-the-mill office complex: a functional, seven-story construction covered with glass windows. The young receptionist is dressed in black and wears a futuristic-looking headset. But for Scientologists, the building is a chapel, a place for studying their own doctrine and, ...

Lafayette Ron Hubbard wrote a book in 1950 that sold 20 million copies in 50 languages and introduced what is arguably the fastest growing religion on Earth: scientology. Scientology translates to "the study of truth." Scientologists can practice other religions and are asked not to believe anything based solely on faith. "The truth" is what each person discovers to be true, said Mike Klagenberg, Northern California director for the Church of Scientology based in Sacramento. Most people don't know what scientology ...

Perhaps it's less of a stretch for Scientologists to believe that aliens arrived here in a spaceship, exploded, and stuck bits of their souls on us, than it is for other religions to believe there was a talking, burning bush or a savior who walked on water. All religions believe they are the, er, gospel truth. Most religions, however, have withstood the test of some time and were not created by a science fiction writer. Scientology, which now claims to have ...

DEREK perches on his seat among the VIPs, eyes blazing rapturously. "Do you have any idea how huge this is for Scientology?" he says, reading the sign over the garlanded new £ 40million headquarters of the "church of Scientology London" in the heart of the Square Mile. "For how long have we dreamed of this! It's like the tipping point. With this base, we'll be recruiting the people who control the planet!" Behind him, beaming ecstatically despite the driving rain, an ...

The head of Narconon International says Bouquet Canyon is a great place to open a drug rehab center. But some neighbors strongly disagree, citing state records to back up their opposition. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors will have a public hearing Tuesday morning in downtown Los Angeles on plans for the Scientology-based drug rehabilitation program in Leona Valley. Narconon Southern California plans to turn an abandoned boarding school on Bouquet Canyon Road into a rehab center for 66 people, ...

Scientologists describe their religion as a cathartic journey toward happiness and clarity of mind. Church of Scientology critics call it kooky science fiction disguised as religion. Whatever you believe, the church says it is growing. Although the church's membership remains a much-debated mystery, its land holdings tell the story of a robust organization in the midst of a new chapter of growth. Worldwide, Scientologists say they have bought 21 buildings they plan to turn into churches. Still, some former Scientologists and ...

EDMONTON - A drug and alcohol treatment program backed by the controversial Church of Scientology is promising addicted Albertans an extraordinary 70-per-cent success rate. The Narconon program is marketed as "100-per-cent natural," and prescribes intensive saunas, exercise and high doses of vitamins to cleanse the body of "radiation, drugs and toxins." Advertisements for the Narconon program have appeared in recent months on Edmonton's CKUA radio and in weekly newspapers throughout the province. Addiction experts and academics in Canada, the United States ...

Jackson Wyan, a young Tom Cruise look-alike with short black hair and a black button-down shirt, greets people with laser-focused eye contact, a fixed smile and solid handshake at the Founding Church of Scientology of D.C. in Dupont Circle. His mission not-so-impossible: Recruit more members. Would-be Scientologists approach the landmark red building, also known as Fraser Mansion, at 20th and R streets NW, with regularity. Wyan, who's been with the D.C. church six years, gives tours that include a sweep through ...