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 ...

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 ...

Each side is consumed with painting the other as evil in a battle that recently came to gunfire at a 200-acre estate. SANDOWN, N.H. — So is Boston financier Robert S. Minton an arch-enemy of the Church of Scientology or a prospective member? The multimillionaire, who has infuriated the church with his financial support of its enemies, says top Scientologists recently tried to recruit him as a member. Scientology leaders deny offering membership but acknowledge they made overtures to help Minton ...

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. ...

Continuing a long-standing practice, the Church of Scientology again is investigating the personal life of a news reporter. Church officials say their lawyers have hired a firm to investigate Joseph Mallia, a Boston Herald reporter who recently wrote a five-part series that raised questions about church practices. In a follow-up article last week, the Herald reported that an investigator contacted Mallia's ex-wife seeking what the investigator referred to as the "scorned wife story." The woman, who was divorced from Mallia 15 ...

The Church of Scientology, stung by a five-part series in the Boston Herald that raised questions about its practices, has hired a private investigator to delve into the Herald reporter's private life. The Rev. Heber Jentzsch, president of the Church of Scientology International, confirmed that the church's Los Angeles law firm hired the private investigative firm to look into the personal life of reporter Joseph Mallia, who wrote the series. "This investigation will have to look at what's riving this" coverage, ...

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 ...

There are some Germans out there who don't trust John Travolta. Not only that, at least one of these Germans - actually a member of Germany's parliament - doesn't at all like the idea of Travolta talking with the president of the United States or his national security adviser, Sandy Berger, about the state of U.S.-German relations. The reason this German lawmaker worries about the popular movie actor getting to see the president and his advisers is that Travolta is a ...

A federal mediator is assessing whether the U.S. Department of Justice can help ease tensions involving the Church of Scientology and Clearwater police. The mediator, Ernest Jones, works out of Atlanta with the Justice Department's Community Relations Service. Last week, he met separately in Clearwater with City Manager Mike Roberto, police Chief Sid Klein and Scientology officials. The church has been saying for more than a year that a police investigation into the 1995 death of Scientologist Lisa McPherson amounts to ...

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 ...

CLEARWATER—City officials are considering building a new City Hall and a main library across from each other at the intersection of Cleveland Street and Myrtle Avenue. The proposal calls for the two buildings to face Cleveland Street, separated by a well-landscaped, decorative traffic circle. A drawing created by a consultant shows City Hall at the southwest corner, in place of an old hotel owned by the Church of Scientology. It puts the library at the northeast corner on the former Chick ...

Re: Spreading pure innuendo, Dec. 11, 1997 When reading the letter from Scientology spokesman Mike Rinder, it is important to keep a crucial fact in mind. Rinder's department, the Office of Special Affairs (OSA), is part public relations machine and part covert intelligence agency. OSA is the successor to Scientology's Guardian's Office (GO), which was supposedly "disbanded" after its leaders were convicted of conspiracy against the U.S. government for executing "Operation Snow White". The GO also ran a number of operations, ...

As if your article of pure innuendo (For some Scientologists, pilgrimage has been fatal) weren't enough, you've also continued to use discredited sources as "authoritative consultants" to forward your bigoted agenda. I won't detail how a similar article could be written about any religion. Indeed, I'd bet money that no newspaper in the United States has ever started isolating the death of the members of a religion. If you were to do it with the local Catholics, I am sure it ...