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 ...

[Picture / Caption: Towed by a small plane, this banner flies over downtown Clearwater Tuesday to commemorate the death of Scientologist Lisa McPherson.] There have been candlelight vigils and sidewalk pickets, but this year a small group of Scientology critics took their annual protest to the air, hiring a plane to fly over downtown Clearwater at lunchtime Tuesday with a banner that read: "Clerwater- Rember Lisa McPherson (sic)." McPherson was a 36-year-old Scientologist who died in 1995 in the care of ...

On Saturday, "48 Hours" ran a story about the 2003 murder of Elli Perkins, a murder that her 28-year-old son Jeremy confessed to committing. Jeremy had been hallucinating and behaving erratically before his mother's death, but his parents, devout Scientologists, resisted giving him psychiatric treatment. As "48 Hours" notes, "[s]ome pro-Scientology materials declare that psychiatrists are not only useless, but evil – their medications nothing but poisons." The Perkins' opted to medicate their son primarily with vitamins. The Scientology community was ...

(CBS) There was never a question who committed the murder of Elli Perkins on March 13, 2003. As correspondent Peter Van Sant reports, within hours, police had a confession. His jeans drenched in blood, 28-year-old Jeremy Perkins had just stabbed his mother 77 times. Weeks later, in a recorded interview, Jeremy told a psychiatrist what was going through his mind. "My mom, I thought she was out to get me," he said. "Like sometimes she’d be totally normal and then she’d ...

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 ...

RAMOS, JAIRO ENRIQUE, 58, of Largo, died Thursday (Sept. 28, 2006) at Gulfside Regional Hospice, New Port Richey. He was born in San Fernando de Apure, Venezuela, and came here in 1986 from Venezuela, where he served in the Venezuelan Army obtaining the rank of captain. He worked as a manager for Hertz Car Rental, Tampa. He was a member of the Church of Scientology, Clearwater. Survivors include a son, Jamil Ramos, and two daughters, Obsana Sturiale and Jaira Ramos, all ...

Reporter Elodie Harper goes undercover to reveal the tactics used by Scientology followers in the immediate aftermath of traumatic events.

A group affiliated with the Church of Scientology has forged close ties with several influential members of the Arizona Legislature as part of a nationwide battle against the mental-health industry. The Citizens Commission on Human Rights has courted key lawmakers with trips to glitzy Scientologist events in Hollywood. And, observers say, it has been the force behind more than two dozen bills in Arizona in recent years, including measures to restrict prescriptions of Ritalin and mood-altering drugs. One of the measures ...

Even before I start writing this column, and pretty much regardless of what I say, I know I am going to tick off the Scientologists. I know this because I have ticked them off already. A few days ago, I visited their new anti-psychiatry museum in Hollywood, thinking, correctly, that it would offer an intriguing window into the thinking of a notoriously secretive organization. With a name like "Psychiatry: Industry of Death," the exhibit was not exactly going to be coy ...

The Rev. Mary Lou Reile of Elma, director of special affairs for the Church of Scientology in Buffalo for 20 years, died Monday in Mercy Hospital after a short illness. She was 72. Born in Buffalo, the former Mary Lou Urso graduated from Kensington High School, what was then Rosary Hill College and Hubbard College, where she achieved Executive Status One. The mother of seven, she was crowned Mrs. Buffalo in 1957. As a minister in the Church of Scientology, she ...

Lafayette Ronald Hubbard, a science fiction writer who founded the Church of Scientology 51 years ago, saw his teachings span the globe before his death in 1986. Born in Tilden, Neb., on March 13, 1911, the son of a Navy officer, he described an early life rich in adventure and travel to exotic lands, where his encounters with Blackfoot Indians, Chinese Buddhist priests and other cultures helped influence his writings as well as his spiritual beliefs. Hubbard was a writer of ...

Dr. Joan Wood gives up her medical license after a report strongly criticizes her handling of a disputed 1995 death. Former Pinellas-Pasco Medical Examiner Joan Wood has relinquished her Florida medical license in the wake of a state health department claim that she "became an advocate for the Church of Scientology" in a bitter dispute over the 1995 death of Scientology member Lisa McPherson. Wood changed the probable cause of death from "severe dehydration" to "accident" based on "factors other than ...

336/03 Male aged 40 years died on the 27th February 2003 at St Vincent’s Hospital, Darlinghurst. Finding handed down on 24 March 2004 at Glebe by NSW State Coroner John Abernethy. This death has been assessed as a death during a police operation within the meaning of Section 13A, Coroners Act 1980. In those circumstances it has been independently investigated as a Critical Incident in accordance with NSW Police Protocols. This ensures impartiality on the part of the investigative team and ...

Terms of the unexpected settlement are confidential in the wrongful death suit brought by the estate of Lisa McPherson. A 7-year-old wrongful death lawsuit filed by the estate of Lisa McPherson against the Church of Scientology reached a surprise settlement this week, ending one of the most fiercely contested and enduring legal battles in Pinellas County history. The out-of-court agreement ends the last remaining legal threat facing the church after the widely publicized 1995 death of McPherson, a Scientologist who died ...

A funeral service for Frank Hoeffer III, 57, of San Francisco will be private. Disposition will also be private. Mr. Hoeffer died July 23, 2003, in San Francisco following a bout with cancer. Born July 15, 1946, in San Diego, he resided in Vacaville from 1954 to 1969 before moving to San Francisco. He was self-employed. He was a member of the Church of Scientology and enjoyed computers. A graduate of Vacaville Union High School in 1964, he earned an associate ...

An argument that exploded Thursday morning ended in the death of an Amherst woman who was stabbed by her 28-year-old son, police said. The body of Elli Perkins, 54, was discovered on a bedroom floor of her home in the 1400 block of Hopkins Road about 10:30 a.m., Amherst Police Chief John J. Moslow said. She had been stabbed several times in the chest, police said. An autopsy is being conducted. Jeremy M. Perkins was arraigned late Thursday before Amherst Town ...

By: Nicole Hamilton The Cincinnati Enquirer Retired Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra violinist Laurent Joseph Fafard spent his life inspiring others through music. As a violin teacher, it wasn't unusual for one-hour lessons to turn into three-hour lessons about life. "He was a very compassionate person who gave of his talents beyond what was expected," said his sister-in-law, Elizabeth Fafard of Brooks, Maine. Mr. Fafard died a few days before his 68th birthday, which he would have celebrated Jan. 23, in his Avondale ...

Greg Bashaw's father respected him and trusted him to make wise choices. Even after he chose to devote his life to Scientology. While the shock and grief of his son's suicide were still fresh, Bob Bashaw read back through their decades-long correspondence, looking in particular for references to Scientology. "I wanted to see what there was here I missed," he says. His son Greg had been a member of the Church of Scientology for more than 20 years. During that time ...

[...] Begin time: 05/05/2002 17:29:30 End time: 05/05/2002 18:00:00 [...] Classification: THRX Disposition: N Staff: Z GORTON Event: 02-005875 Time: 0510512002 17:29:30 Call Taker: L CASTLEBERRY Location: 18950 GRIZZLY MINE RD, TUOLUMNE RP: MCNAIRN, JANE Synopsis: RP STATES THAT RICHARD ODOM, WHO LIVES NEXT TO THE CHURCH OF SPIRITUAL TECHNOLOGY, HAS BEEN RECEIVING VERBAL DEATH THREATS. DISPATCH WAS UTL ON ANY EVENTS SHOWING ODOM AS THE RP OF THREATS, BUT RP IS CONCERNED AND REQUESTING CONTACT BECAUSE IT HAS COME BACK ...

CLEARWATER – No angry swarms picketed the Church of Scientology last week. No candlelight vigils. No TV cameras. No extra police patrols. For the first time in six years, the anniversary of the death of Scientologist Lisa McPherson passed quietly. The McPherson maelstrom, which brought nightmarish publicity for the church, has ebbed dramatically, now that the high-profile criminal charges against the church were dropped and a raucous group of church critics recently left Clearwater. But one critical battle remains, one so ...

David I. Minkoff loses his license for one year for improperly prescribing drugs for the Scientologist. TALLAHASSEE — Florida's Board of Medicine has sternly sanctioned Clearwater physician David I. Minkoff, finding he improperly prescribed medicine for a patient he had never seen — Scientologist Lisa McPherson. Minkoff, also a Scientologist, prescribed Valium and the muscle relaxant chloral hydrate at the behest of unlicensed Church of Scientology staffers who were trying to nurse McPherson, 36, through a severe mental breakdown. When they ...

A judge dismisses the allegation that Lisa McPherson was falsely imprisoned. ST. PETERSBURG — The Church of Scientology won a partial victory Thursday when a judge dismissed one of four counts in a 4-year-old wrongful death lawsuit filed by the estate of Lisa McPherson. In one of his final acts overseeing the case, Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Frank Quesada dismissed the count alleging that McPherson was falsely imprisoned. Ken Dandar, the lawyer representing the McPherson estate, argued that McPherson was psychotic and ...

Hemet — A man involved in a traffic collision that killed a 16 year old San Jacinto girl pleaded not guilty to a charge of vehicular manslaughter Wednesday. Thomas Nove, 35, of Moreno Valley was taken into custody on an unrelated matter following the arraignment in Hemet. He is charged with misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter in connection with the death of Ashlee Shaner last year. She was killed the night of May 17 when her car crashed into the bucket of a ...

The 20-year-old Hemet woman died after she fell in a transformer vault. SAN JACINTO — A woman killed on the Church of Scientology's film studio grounds near San Jacinto is 20-year-old Hemet resident Stacey Myer, according to the county coroner. She apparently was electrocuted when she fell in a transformer vault at Golden Era Productions north of San Jacinto, said Riverside County sheriff's spokeswoman Perri Feinstein-Portales. "Her autopsy was performed today," Feinstein-Portales said Tuesday. "Right now the cause of death is ...

Criminal charges against the Church of Scientology in the death of a church member who was under the organization's care were dropped yesterday because Florida prosecutors said they could no longer prove the accusations. Bernie McCabe, the state attorney for Pasco and Pinellas Counties, said in a document filed in state court in Clearwater that his office was dismissing the charges because the medical examiner had determined earlier this year that the death of the church member, Lisa McPherson, was accidental. ...