Three years ago, somewhere near this dusty little town of watermelon fields and senior citizen trailer parks, a pudgy, prolific science fiction writer named L. Ron Hubbard climbed into a black van and reportedly disappeared from sight. Nobody in Hemet, 80 miles east of Los Angeles, or anywhere else might have cared about the fate of a 71-year-old eccentric with a lust for privacy, except that Hubbard was the founder of one of the word's wealthiest and most controversial new religions. ...

DENVER — A handwritten letter signed "L. Ron Hubbard" was published under copyright in the Sunday edition of the Rocky Mountain News, purporting to knock down rumors that the reclusive father of the controversial Church of Scientology is dead. In the letter, dated Feb. 3, the writer says he was "dismayed" at the church's confrontations with the FBI, the Internal Revenue Service and the Food and Drug Administration, and noted that the incidents occurred after Hubbard resigned from the church in ...

Church of Scientology officials Monday produced a second letter purportedly written by church founder L. Ron Hubbard, saying he is alive and well and believes his estate to be in good hands. The handwritten letter was filed as part of a motion to dismiss the Riverside County Superior Court probate battle in which Hubbard's son, Ronald DeWolf, claims his father is either dead or incompetent. DeWolf says church officials have been stealing millions of dollars from the 71-year-old Hubbard and is ...

[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 ...

NEW YORK — A new group of leaders has emerged with a plan to purge what it calls deviationists from the ranks of Scientology, a magazine report says. "The 'anything goes' days are over," David Miscavige, 22, told a San Francisco conference of 70 local Scientology leaders, who gathered to hear him and eight other young leaders last October, People magazine said Sunday. The nine new leaders have assumed quasi-military titles and speak a special jargon composed of computerese and ...

Defections by older members and publicity given a legal battle over control of hundreds of millions of dollars are believed to be cutting into the membership of the Church of Scientology. The church, which has a headquarters in Clearwater, is described by its leaders as a religion and by its critics as a highly profitable business with cult-like overtones. The church claims a worldwide membership of 6-million, although former officials say the number of adherents is probably fewer than 700,000. According ...

The son of L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of the Church of Scientology, has asked to be named trustee of the religion's holdings. "I think he's dead, or become as mentally incompetent as a cigarstore wooden Indian," Ronald E. DeWolf said of his father. "I've known for years that the person writing me and other members of my family, and sending presents, was not L. Ron Hubbard." Mr. DeWolf, who is 48 years old, is an apartment manager in Carson City, ...