The 16 witnesses who testified in Clearwater's public hearings on Church of Scientology activities provided the first-hand information city officials will use if they decide to design ordinances to regulate the sect. Boston attorney Michael Flynn, who gathered the witnesses, said he questioned them extensively about their Scientology experiences and people they knew in the sect. He confirmed that information through other witnesses and contacts inside the church, he said. If they had not been in the sect, Flynn said, "I'd ...

In a story of international intrigue, a former senior executive of the Church of Scientology testified Saturday about a worldwide sect network involving infiltrations, conspiracies and smuggling. Scott Mayer, 38, told Clearwater city commissioners "I have personal experiences of all of these," in the forth day of the city's Scientology hearings, where legal consultant Michael Flynn paraded seven of his most damaging witnesses. Commissioners heard also from a former Guardian Office worker who said she used the sect's "confessional files" during ...

CLEARWATER. Fla. (UPI) — The father of a young girl who was killed in 1971 aboard a ship owned by the Church of Scientology in Morocco said Friday he doesn't believe the church officials who told him his daughter committed suicide. George Meister, testifying before the City Council, said he flew to Morocco and was shown a photograph of his bloodied daughter Susan and was told by church officials she had been found shot to death with a long-barreled .22-caliber pistol, ...

CLEARWATER — Six more witnesses denounced the Church of Scientology and its practices Friday during public hearings on the organization. For the third straight day, the critical testimony was a mixture of information concerning Scientology's Clearwater operations and church activities elsewhere. City commissioners, who are having the hearings, heard from: * Casey Kelly, 23, who joined Scientology to crusade against "war," "crime" and "insanity" but later became disenchanted with long hours and low pay as a church employee here. * Rosie ...

Teen-ager David Ray testified Friday he had a spectacular start with the Church of Scientology in California, but quickly became a rebel trapped in The Fort Harrison Hotel, relegated to cleaning rooms and stomping garbage. Casey Kelly, 23, testifying for the second day, said he "wasn't a very good Scientologist," either. "One thing you don't do in Scientology is joke around, so obviously I didn't make out very well," he quipped. Like one other witness called in the third day of ...

The son of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard said Thursday he thinks his father probably is dead, although "I have never seen his dead body or anything." Ronald Edward DeWolf, the eldest son of the Scientology recluse, told Clearwater city commissioners that changes in the letters he has received from his father "leads me to believe he just possibly, might be dead, but I just don't know." The letters, he said, began changing in 1975 "and more recently, some of the ...

CLEARWATER — Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney James T. Russell said Tuesday that members of the Church of Scientology have attempted to infiltrate his office at least five times since 1976. The alleged infiltration attempts failed because routine background checks on the job applicants revealed that hey were members of the Church of Scientology, Russell said. Asked if it was legal to turn down job applicants solely because they are Scientologists, Russell said, "I don't know, but I'd like to fight a lawsuit ...

Clearwater City Commissioner Richard Tenney said he will ask Pinellas State Attorney James T. Russel to investigate the death of Church of Scientology member Margarit Winkelmann, 51, who apparently jumped into Clearwater Bay. Tenney said he is concerned the Zurich, Switzerland woman may not have been getting the right kind of psychiatric help prior to her death Friday. The woman and her husband had been staying at the church's Clearwater headquarters and have been counseled there since November, according to church ...

CLEARWATER — Police are investigating the apparent drowning of a woman who reportedly fell from a sea-wall into Clearwater Bay Friday morning. The name of the woman, believed to be a visitor from out of town, is being withheld by police. The victim was described as a white and in her early 50s, 6-feet 3-inches tall and weighing about 160 pounds. She was clad in a blouse, sweater and skirt when she was found floating 10 feet from the wall behind ...

CLEARWATER – A woman in her early 50's apparently stumbled and fell into Clearwater Harbor this morning and drowned, police said. The woman fells from a height of 20 feet on a stretch of rocky and uneven ground near Pierce 100 Condominiums at about 9:30 a.m. Paramedics were summoned to the scene by a man who saw the woman fall into the water, police said. Police said they do not suspect foul play in the death and have not ruled out ...

On June 25, 1971, a young Colorado woman named Susan Meister died in an apparent suicide aboard the Apollo, the 3,280-ton flagship of the Church of Scientology and for nearly a decade the personal yacht of the church's founder, L. Ron Hubbard. In mid-July that year, according to State Department correspondence obtained by The Times, Miss Meister's father traveled from Colorado to the Moroccan port of Safi, 125 miles south of Casablanca, where the Apollo was then moored, to inquire into ...

Queens District Attorney John Santucci said yesterday that his staff was looking into charges by the Citizens Commission on Human Rights that six unexplained deaths have occurred at the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center in Bellerose. Santucci said that the commission, reportedly affiliated with the Church of Scientology, had presented his office with some 180 pages of charges, the majority alleging patient abuse. He said that while he understood that the Church of Scientology was opposed to the psychiatric treatment of mental patients, ...

Geoffery Hubbard, the son of Church of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, has been cremated at the request of his family, it was reported Wednesday. Hubbard, who died from an unknown cause Nov. 12 was cremated Tuesday by Palm Mortuary. His remains reportedly were being taken to Los Angeles, where the church has its main headquarters. Results from microscopic tests to determine what killed Hubbard were expected later. An autopsy and a toxicological exam failed to turn up any clues as ...

LAS VEGAS, Nev. — (AP) — A man who died here Nov. 12 was identified Monday as Geoffrey Quentin McCaully Hubbard, son of L. Ron Hubbard, who founded the controversial Church of Scientology. Young Hubbard, 22, was found semicomatose in an auto near McCarran International Airport on Oct. 28. He failed to respond to medical treatment at Southern Nevada Memorial Hospital, officials said. Coroner Richard A. Mayne said the cause of death was not known, and the results of tests will ...

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Mystery continued to shroud the death of Geoffrey Hubbard, the son of Church of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, as officials here asked Tuesday for a delay in the release of the cause of death. Dr. G. Sheldon Green, chief Clark County medical examiner, asked for the delay so he could consult with outside pathologists. Young Hubbard, 22, of Clearwater, Fla., was found unconscious in his car near McCarran International Airport on Oct. 28. Because he carried ...

Police and private investigators are probing the mysterious death of the Church of Scientology founder's son, found unidentified three weeks ago near McCarran International Airport in a coma, Coroner Dick Mayne said Monday. Cause of death is still unknown for Geoffrey Quentin McCally Hubbard, 22, of Clearwater, Fla. He was a student and counselor in scientology. The homicide division of the Metropolitan Police Department Monday combed the scene where Hubbard was found, and discovered identification, license plate, car registration and ...

The 22-year-old son of Church of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard was cremated in Las Vegas at the request of his family. Nevada officials said the remains would be brought to Los Angeles, where the church has its main headquarters. Geoffrey Hubbard of Clearwater, Fla., died Nov. 12 at Southern Nevada Memorial Hospital in Las Vegas. The cause of his death is still a mystery; he was found in a semicomatose condition in Las Vegas Oct. 28 and died before being ...