Winnipeggers should steer clear of the Church of Scientology and its many organizations, which include a drug rehabilitation program called Narconon, a U.S cult expert said yesterday. "There are far safer programs," Cynthia Kisser, executive director of the Cult Awareness Network, said in an interview from Chicago. "Narconon is more likely to do harm than good." The Sun reported Sunday about 60 Winnipeg teenagers have been hired to sell pepperoni and T-shirts door-to-door to raise money for Narconon. However, a Narconon ...

I ARRIVED FOR MY APPOINTMENT AT THE L. RON Hubbard Life Exhibition Hall a few minutes early. Unlike in other commemorative mausoleums, such as the Nixon Library and Birthplace, you're not allowed to walk around the Hubbard by yourself. Instead, you must sign up for an hour-and-a-half guided tour. Possibly they don't trust the unassisted viewer to fully reap the museum's rewards, though it might also be a matter of security. The presence of a young guard dressed in the Church ...

By all appearances, Noah Lottick of Kingston, Pa., had been a normal, happy 24-year-old who was looking for his place in the world. On the day last June when his parents drove to New York City to claim his body, they were nearly catatonic with grief. The young Russian-studies scholar had jumped from a 10th-floor window of the Milford Plaza Hotel and bounced off the hood of a stretch limousine. When the police arrived, his fingers were still clutching $171 in ...

Testimonials of the famous are prominent in the church's push for acceptability. John Travolta and Kirstie Alley are the current headliners. The Church of Scientology uses celebrity spokesmen to endorse L. Ron Hubbard's teachings and give Scientology greater acceptability in mainstream America. As far back as 1955, Hubbard recognized the value of famous people to his fledgling, off-beat church when he inaugurated "Project Celebrity." According to Hubbard, Scientologists should target prominent individuals as their "quarry" and bring them back like trophies ...

EVEN the strongest stomach at this summer's American Booksellers convention must have heaved in protest when comely goons hired by Bridge Publications, the publishing arm of the Church of Scientology, marched up and down the aisles of the auditorium literally setting ablaze a book by L. Ron Hubbard — a "hot" author, get it? — a man who is said to have improved the lives (If not the careers) of such celebrities as Sonny Bono and John Travolta. Judging from their ...

THE author of a book that allegedly blows the whistle on the bizarre founder of the Church of Scientology says he has been terrorized by cult fanatics seeking to suppress the shocking exposé. "They've sent out thugs to intimidate me, threatened my family, tried to bribe us and even tried to jail the publisher," says Bent Corydon, author of L. Ron Hubbard: Messiah Or Madman? (Lyle Stuart). Corydon, a loyal disciple of Hubbard and his cult for nearly 22 years, now ...

Description of video is in italics. VO=VOICEOVER shot of Church of Scientology, Los Angeles; apparently group of ex-members VOICEOVER: The Church of Scientology, one of the largest and richest new religious movements, is being sued for a billion dollars by former members for fraud and breach of trust. They regard Scientology as a dangerous cult. group of Scientologists VO: Yet the church goes on expanding, making converts and claiming it is "The Road to Total Freedom". ''"Panorama" opening credits; while music ...

CLEARWATER — Call this music cassette The L. Ron Shuffle. A celebrity group of L. Ron Hubbard's followers — including John Travolta, Chick Corea, Karen Black, Leif Garrett and Sylvester Stallone's brother Frank — have put together a pop-music cassette of 10 songs whose lyrics and music are said to have been written by the Scientology founder before his death. The cassettes have been mailed to more than 600 "various local people in Clearwater," Scientology spokesman Ludwig Alpers said, and will ...

CLEARWATER — Could the composing abilities of the late L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the Church of Scientology, nudge Madonna and Billy Ocean out of the top-20 in pop music? Some 600 Clearwater residents will have the chance to decide. Parishioners at the Fort Harrison Hotel, the sect's Clearwater headquarters, have forked out the money to mail out more than 600 cassette tapes that contain Hubbard's musical statement on what Scientology is all about. "The Road to Freedom" cassette — with ...

[Picture / Caption: JOHN TRAVOLTA . . . supports sect] LOS ANGELES — Actor John Travolta showed up in court to support the Church of Scientology, and told reporters, "It's been the reason I've been able to survive Hollywood." The organization is fighting a Superior Court lawsuit by former member Larry Wollersheim, who accused it of fraud and claimed it destroyed him financially and mentally.

[Picture / Caption: Commander Hubbard] ''[L. Ron Hubbard] has now moved on to his next level of ... research. This level is beyond anything any of us has ever imagined. It is a level, in fact, done in an exterior state, completely exterior from the body. In this level ... the body is nothing more than an impediment, an encumbrance to any further gain. ... Thus, at 2000 hours, Friday, the 24th of January, A.D. [1986], L. Ron Hubbard discarded the ...

L.A.'s Most Conspicuous "Cult"? Scientology is certainly no stranger to attention, and when the reclusive L. Ron Hubbard died of a stroke at his San Luis Obispo ranch, the bright light of public scrutiny was again cast upon his progeny. But despite the walls of defense evident at Scientology headquarters, the church has, ironically, done everything in its power to keep its product, if not its parishioners, in the public eye. For in the 35 years since Hubbard founded Scientology, basing ...

Mystery death of Scientology founder leaves his son fuming MILLIONS AT STAKE IN BATTLE OVER LAST-MINUTE WILL [Picture / Caption: When L. Ron Hubbard, founder of Scientology, visited his staff in Rhodesia in 1966, all was well among his 6 million converts in 35 countries. In 1980, Hubbard disappeared from view.] TENS of millions of dollars are at stake in a battle over the will of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, whose recent death has proven as big a mystery as ...

PORTLAND, Ore. — Duane Wolcott lives at a Christian church here, earning his keep as a custodian. He decribes his principal occupation, however, as "street evangelist," and it is his belief that this week the mysterious hand of God tossed him a terrific career opportunity. The burly 49-year-old could be found at a park by the Willamette River, happily passing out Christian pamphlets to Scientologists attending a free concert by one of their own, jazz musician Chick Corea. "We feel God ...

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Thousands of Scientologists, buoyed by an appearance by church member John Travolta, marched downtown yesterday in the third day of protests over a $39 million fraud judgment against their church and its leader. Police Sgt. Jay Decker estimated "a few thousand" Church of Scientology members participated in the demonstration. "There will be more," he predicted, as the week-long series of rallies progresses. Scientologists had been arriving in Portland from across the United States, Europe and Australia since ...

Movie star John Travolta, looking tired, tousled and in need of a shave, arrived shortly after midnight Monday in Portland to defend the Church of Scientology and back the growing protest of the $39 million judgment handed down against it last week by a Multnomah County jury. "It's simple," Travolta said after walking into a small conference room on the third floor of the Hilton Hotel and taking a long drink from the water glass placed in front of him. "I've ...

About 2,000 Scientologists and Portland music fans gathered in downtown Portland's Tom McCall Waterfront Park Monday night for a free concert that was billed as part of a crusade for religious freedom. Against a backdrop of the Burnside Bridge and a huge U.S. flag on which the cross of Scientology was superimposed, piano virtuoso Chick Corea and rock musician Frank Stallone performed. Scientologists identifying themselves as having come to Portland from Canada, Britain, Mexico, Germany, France, Australia, Sweden and New Zealand ...

PORTLAND, Ore. — Thousands of Scientologists, including actor John Travolta and jazz musician Chick Corea, showed, up in Portland yesterday to rally behind their beleaguered church. Members of the Church of Scientology flew to Portland from all over the United States and as far away as Europe and South America. In Seattle, about 80 Scientologists singing "We Shall Overcome" and protesting what they called an assault on religious freedom gathered last night at the Flag Pavilion in Seattle Center. The Scientologists, ...

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Thousands of Scientologists, buoyed by an appearance by church member John Travolta, marched downtown Monday in the third day of protests over a $39 million fraud judgment against their church and its leader. Police Sgt. Jay Decker estimated "a few thousand" Church of Scientology members participated in the demonstration. "There will be more," he predicted, as the weeklong series of rallies and concerts progresses. Scientologists had been arriving in Portland from across the United States, Europe and ...

An estimated 300 members of the Church of Scientology rallied in downtown Portland Sunday, protesting a $39-million judgment against the church issued by a jury last week. For 90 minutes, the demonstrators, many of whom came to Portland from around the country, carried placards and chanted slogans as they marched around the Multnomah County Courthouse, which was closed Sunday. There were no incidents and no visible police presence during the rally. The protest is expected to continue at least through Monday, ...

Thousands of Scientologists, including actor John Travolta, are planning to flock to Portland this week to protest a $39 million court judgment against the church, Scientology officials said Saturday. Scientologists started their protest Saturday night with a march outside the Multnomah County Courthouse by about 150 persons carrying signs that read "Restore the Bill of Rights" and "We Want Justice" and chanting "religious freedom now." Another rally is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Sunday outside the courthouse in response to the jury ...

[Picture / Caption: Scientology's headquarters in L.A. was formerly the Cedars of Lebanon Hospital. The church purchased It for $5 million In 1977.] Last October in San Francisco, some 70 local leaders of the Church of Scientology gathered to hear nine church executives harangue them about their shortcomings. Styling themselves with titles that ranged from the quasi-military ("Commander," "Warrant Officer") to the quasi-lunatic ("International Finance Dictator"), the men announced that they represented the new hierarchy of the organization, and that they ...

by Rev. August Murphy President Church of Scientology of San Francisco (Editor's note: In its investigation of the Church of Scientology, the News-Herald has repeatedly attempted to interview members of the Church in order to present a balanced picture of the subject. Scientology officials from San Francisco met with the News-Herald ''briefly and provided a great deal of written information about the Church, but have refused to be interviewed on the record. Officials from the Scientology mission in Santa Rosa also ...

Throughout its nearly 30 years of existence, the Church of Scientology has had problems with its image in the media. Newspaper articles have called it a "bizarre brain-washing cult" founded by a former science fiction writer. Television coverage of recent hearings in Clearwater, Florida — home of the Church's U.S. headquarters — emphasized testimony that the group's founder, L. Ron Hubbard, is in hiding and, according to his son, might even be dead. And the Reader's Digest recently printed two controversial ...

The year was 1950. The book was Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health, written by a 39-year-old "pulp" writer of science fiction, L. Ron Hubbard. A few months earlier, Hubbard had outlined the book's tenets in a magazine called Astounding Science Fiction. And a year before that, at a lecture for science fiction writers, Hubbard had mused, "Writing for a penny a word is ridiculous. If a man really wanted to make a million dollars, the best way would be ...

The film would star a former science fiction writer named L. Ron Hubbard who founded a religion — or what his critics call a "cult." Also included in the cast would be Charles Manson, John Travolta, numerous former cultists turned "deprogrammers," and billions of Thetans, or immortal beings trapped in "meat bodies" on the planet earth — and don't forget Hubbard's renegade son, who works in a Nevada casino and suspects his father is either dead or hopelessly insane. Scenery in ...

If the Church of Scientology aimed to "take control" of Clearwater, it has succeeded, former Clearwater Mayor Gabe Cazares declared Friday. "Clearwater is the first city to be occupied . . . by a master plan by a destructive cult," he said. "Until recently, the Scientologists had won the battle over the minds and hearts of Clearwater residents," said Cazares, who has long been an outspoken critic of the church, which has a headquarters in Clearwater. But Cazares said recent revelations ...