Eufaula, Okla. — An international drug rehabilitation program will more than double its bed space in Oklahoma when it opens in a former state lodge in eastern Oklahoma. Narconon Arrowhead is to open a 230-bed campus Saturday on Lake Eufaula with federal and international drug rehabilitation experts on hand. The center has operated since 1990 as the Chilocco New Life Center with a 105-bed facility in Newkirk. Narconon uses saunas, vitamins and a special diet as part of a three-month program ...

TAFFY Hotene was ordered to live in an Auckland city drugs and alcohol rehabilitation house for two years as part of his parole conditions. He ran away within two weeks, apparently with the knowledge of the Corrections Department. Five weeks later he murdered Kylie Jones. The Sunday Star-Times has obtained documents on Hotene including his parole conditions. The Corrections Department refuses to comment on its role in the saga, citing Hotene's privacy and his pending sentencing. However, his parole papers show ...

L. Ron Hubbard said he didn't want his science-fiction work to be a press release for the church he founded. Nevertheless, the connections between Battlefield Earth and Scientology are worth noting. Put him in front of a typewriter and L. Ron Hubbard's fingers flew. He did not "piddle around" with his prose like other writers, as his friend and fellow science fiction author, Robert A. Heinlein, observed in a 1982 letter. Known in the 1930s and 1940s as a writer of ...

Scientology's biggest star comes to Canada to make a movie that will bring church's values and villains to a theatre near you Members of the Church of Scientology were in Yorkville this past holiday weekend, questionnaires in hand, to collect opinions about the church from passersby. It's been a difficult couple of years for Scientology, which is trying to polish its fringe image as it awaits word from Revenue Canada about its application for charitable status. But positive PR may be ...

An organization with ties to the Church of Scientology is recruiting New England schoolchildren for what critics say is an unproven — and possibly dangerous — anti-drug program. And the group — Narconon Inc. of Everett — is being paid with taxpayer dollars without disclosing its Scientology connections. Narconon was paid at least $942,853 over an eight-year period for delivering anti-drug lectures at public and parochial schools throughout the region, according to federal income tax documents. The money came from fees ...

Having spent the morning on the Net, surfing any number of hideous accounts by ex-scientologists, I climbed the stairs of the Civic Scientology office with some trepidation. I felt armed with my newly enhanced awareness of cult recruiting tactics and brainwashing techniques, and had the specific aim of grabbing any printed material I could see and getting out fast. I was greeted warmly by a young woman and told that someone would be 'with me shortly.' A few minutes later she ...

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Scientology course 'potentially dangerous,' says Oklahoma report A drug treatment program backed by a controversial church is trying to sell Alberta natives addiction-cure services that medical experts have warned are unsafe and ineffective. As many as 10 Alberta reserves have been approached by Narconon, a U.S.-based program associated with the Church of Scientology. The program — which costs about $18,000 US and prescribes daily saunas and megavitamin doses — has been rejected by a U.S. state board of health because it ...

Is L. Ron Hubbard's morals text harmless? When Carol Burgeson received a copy of "The Way to Happiness" in the mail 18 months ago, she read it through and decided it was the perfect non-religious vehicle for teaching moral values to her senior students at Thornton Township High School in Harvey, Ill. So Burgeson ordered more free copies of the book by L. Ron Hubbard and used them to stimulate discussions in her classes. "It seemed so harmless," she says. "Brush ...

When Carol Burgeson received a copy of "The Way to Happiness" in the mail 18 months ago, she read it through and decided it was the perfect non-religious vehicle for teaching moral values to her senior students at Thornton Township High School in Harvey, Ill. So Burgeson ordered more free copies of the book by L. Ron Hubbard and used them to stimulate discussions in her classes. "It seemed so harmless," she says. "Brush your teeth, do your work, don't be ...

And now, the next Walt Disney Studios— the Church of Scientology! That is, if entrepreneurs connected with the Hollywood based cult can muscle into the film business with their proposal to homogenize films by tailoring them to the tastes of the unwashed masses. It all began last July, when Future Films, a new, eccentric studio, began running ads in Variety and the Hollywood Reporter touting its revolutionary ideas. No one knew what to make of it all. The grand concept, to ...

The director of public affairs for the Church of Scientology in Western Canada denied yesterday it misled about 60 Winnipeg teenagers, hired to raise funds for a drug rehabilitation program linked to the church. "I just think it's very much a tempest in a teapot. This (project) employed a lot of kids," Robbie Hepburn, who flew in to Winnipeg from British Columbia, said. "Yes, there's a connection, but it's not some kind of covert or bad connection." Just because Narconon uses ...

Emerging from years of internal strife and public scandal, the Scientology movement has embarked on a sweeping and sophisticated campaign to gain new influence in America. The goal is to refurbish the tarnished image of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard and elevate him to the ranks of history's great humanitarians and thinkers. By so doing, the church hopes to broaden the acceptability of Hubbard's Scientology teachings and attract millions of new members. The campaign relies on official church programs and a ...

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 ...

NEWKIRK, Okla., July 16—When a California group received Oklahoma's permission to open a 75-bed drug and alcohol treatment center on an Indian reservation, people in nearby Newkirk thought the project would ease local economic troubles brought on by slumps in the oil and farming businesses. The initial euphoria has been replaced by distrust, frustration and fear. Townspeople say the California group, Narconon International, has not been honest about its affiliation with the Church of Scientology, its financing, its medical credentials and ...

[This is a reprint of an article published on Dec. 22, 1988 in the St. Petersburg Times.]

Operating under auspices of the Church of Scientology are dozens of groups, many of them separate legal entities. Untangling Scientology's lines of organizations can be difficult; even the sect's own charts that have been used in court cases are complex. Here are some of Scientology's organizations. Flag Service Organization — The legal name of Scientology's Clearwater operation, which serves as the sect's spiritual headquarters. Before 1981 the organization was part of the Church of Scientology of California, and Pinellas County officials ...

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 ...

Eighteen months ago, the U.S.-based Church of Scientology launched a global—and unsuccessful—campaign to prevent publication of a Reader's Digest report called "Scientology: Anatomy of a Frightening Cult." The church engaged a detective agency to investigate the author, Digest Senior Editor Eugene H. Methvin. Digest offices in a half-dozen nations were picketed or bombarded with nuisance phone calls. In Denmark, South Africa and Australia, the church sued unsuccessfully to prevent publication. In the months since the article appeared, in May 1980, a ...

"The DEFENSE of anything is untenable. The only way to defend anything is to ATTACK, and if you ever forget that, then you will lose every battle you are engaged in, whether it is in terms of personal conversations, public debate, or a court of law." — L. Ron Hubbard For more than a decade, the worldwide Church of Scientology, one of the burgeoning new religions of the 1960s and '70s, has conducted sophisticated intelligence and propaganda operations on an international ...

EL PASO, Tex. (AP) — Narconon Inc. filed a $25 million libel suit Tuesday against El Paso Times reporter Steve Hallock, Times Editor William I. Latham, Gannett Corp., owner of the Times, and El Paso County Atty. George Rodriguez Jr. The suit, filed in the El Paso district clerk's office, alleges that two articles written by Hallock about Narconon Oct. 28, 1973, were damaging to the organization, which is self-described as a rehabilitator of drug addicts. The suit states the articles ...

Seven graduates, including the executive director of the YWCA, received diplomas last night at the first graduation of the first public Narconon drug rehabilitation program in the country. About 40 attended the ceremony at the YWCA. Among those graduating were Maryclare Granata, the executive director of the YWCA, and Patrick Healey, an investigator at Legacy, Inc. Healey directed the Narconon program. Although primarily geared toward detoxified drug addicts, Healey said the program is open to alcoholics or to anyone who needs ...