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

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

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 ...

Helping judges determine when to permit an exception to the attorney-client privilege, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that judges may conduct in camera reviews of attorney communications to their clients — if the judges reasonably believe the clients sought advice to commit a crime or fraud. Reversing a decision of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the justices ordered the appeals court to reconsider whether a trial court judge properly refused to listen to tapes the Internal Revenue Service ...

TAMPA — A newspaper waited too long before asking a judge to open court files that were sealed more than two years ago, attorneys for the Church of Scientology argued Wednesday. "It's unprecedented, this kind of wait," said new York lawyer Michael Lee Hertzberg. He was referring to the 26 months that went by after U.S. District Judge Elizabeth A. Kovachevich sealed four lawsuits that were settled with the church in 1986. But at a hearing before federal magistrate Paul Game ...

Seattle lawyer Walter D. Palmer says it was strictly "a business decision." But a result of an investment he made with business associate John G. Ritchie could result in a forced sale of Church of Scientology buildings in downtown Clearwater. And holding the auction for the men would be the Pinellas County government. Scientology lawyer Paul B. Johnson said he will seek an injunction to stop the sale. The proposed auction, which Palmer suggested two weeks ago, relates to Scientology's annual ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Contributions called "fixed donations" made to the Church of Scientology by its members may not be claimed as federal income tax deductions, the Supreme Court ruled today. By a 5-2 vote, the justices upheld the Internal Revenue Service's contention that the fixed donations are not charitable contributions that can be counted as tax deductions. Lawyers for the Scientologists had argued that the IRS singled out their church for unfair treatment - a contention with which two justices agreed. ...

NEWKIRK - Renovations have begun on buildings at nearby Chilocco Indian School, according to Simon Hogarth, a representative of the Association for Better Living and Education (ABLE) which owns Narconon, the proposed drug rehabilitation center to be located on the grounds. The press release issued Monday by Hogarth said that Narconon has obtained a Certificate of Need from the Oklahoma State Planning Commission to establish a 75-bed facility at Chilocco for drug and alcohol abusers. The center is currently employing 25 ...

TAXATION Deductions Are Denied for Payments Made to Receive Religious Services Cite as 89 Daily Journal D.A.R. 7177 SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES Syllabus HERNANDEZ v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT No. 87-963. Argued November 28, 1988—Decided June 6,1989* The Church of Scientology (Church) provides "auditing" sessions designed to increase members' spiritual awareness and training comes at which participants study the tenets of the faith and seek to attain ...

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled Monday that taxpayers can't deduct the cost of Church of Scientology courses and counseling. In Clearwater, where the church has its headquarters and is locked in legal battles with the city and the Pinellas County Property Appraiser, local officials were encouraged by the ruling. The 5-2 ruling written by Justice Thurgood Marshall said that money paid to the church by Scientologists for training and a form of counseling called "auditing" are more like fees for ...

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled Monday that the "fixed donations" paid by members to the Church of Scientology are not tax-deductible, charitable contributions. In the 5-2 ruling, the high court said that money paid to the church by Scientologists for training and a form of counseling called "auditing" are more like fees for a service than donations to a church. The church requires fixed donations of as much as $3,000 for 12 1/2 hours of "auditing," during which a person ...

A Pinellas judge presiding over a Scientology tax dispute has removed himself from the case because of a newspaper report that cited a real estate transaction between the judge and the Church of Scientology. The St. Petersburg Times reported in December that Circuit Judge Howard P. Rives, who was presiding over a lawsuit concerning taxes on Scientology properties, sold one of those properties to the church in 1979. Rives said in December that there was no conflict in his role because ...

U.S. District Court Judge Mariana Pfaelzer, for the second time, has recused herself from a controversial Church of Scientology case, it was learned yesterday. In each instance, she stepped aside shortly after the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was asked to forcibly remove her. The attorney seeking her disqualification, Jerold Fagelbaum of Myerson & Kuhn, said yesterday he thinks the judge is now permanently off the case. Fagelbaum is representing church defectors who are being sued by the church for ...

Three workers at a prominent Silicon Valley electronics company claim they were forced by their superiors to take communications courses taught by firms connected with the Church of Scientology – with practices that included staring into co-workers' eyes for four hours at a time to "guide and control communication." The workers said they left Applied Materials Inc. of Santa Clara after being harassed over their refusal to take the courses. They [...]

A group that follows some of the teachings of Church of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard is setting up a national drug and alcohol rehabilitation program at the former Chilocco Indian School in northern Oklahoma, and that has some area residents worried. The Newkirk City Commission has scheduled a Monday night informational meeting about the Narconon International project, which over 25 years could bring as much as $16 million in lease payments to five Indian tribes in the Chilocco Development Authority. ...

Whoa, now! Maybe it's time for us backwater Cowboys and Indians to slow down our wagons and ponies a bit, before we git stampeded into thunderation by a bunch of slick talkin' riverboat shysters toutin' some new fangled snake oil cure for the fire-water frazzles. Like olden days when Dr. Malingerer visited the town with his wagon of "tonic" guaranteed to cure everything from gout to the vapors in man or beast, we're about to be hoodwinked by another bunch of ...

NEWKIRK, OK – A proposed drug treatment and rehabilitation center which could be in operation on Indian land at the former Chilocco Indian School north of Newkirk by June 15th may be part of a notorious religious cult. Narconon was approved for a 75-bed facility by the State Health Planning Commission in January of this year as part of The Chilocco Development Authority. The projected cost is $400,000 for renovation and the five Indian tribes involved are projected to receive $16,000,000 ...

A federal judge in Los Angeles has denied a motion to oust his colleague Mariana Pfaelzer from presiding over an action brought by the Church of Scientology against defecting members, saying the motion stems from defense counsels' "paranoia." The defendants, who are alleged to have conspired to steal and distribute secret church courses, sought Pfaelzer's recusal based on what they viewed as an improper ex parte conversation with members of her old law firm, Wyman, Bautzer, Christensen, Kuchel & Silbert. Pfaelzer ...

ROME - Seventy-five members of the Church of Scientology's Italian operation go before a Milan court today to face a long list of charges ranging from fraud, extortion and tax evasion to the illegal practice of medicine and taking advantage of incapacitated people. "It should be a lively court session," said the Milan daily Il Giornale, predicting possible courtroom demonstrations by Scientology sympathizers. The Scientologists have hired some of Milan's most prominent lawyers to defend them and are expected to base ...

Police on Thursday arrested an American suspected of acting on behalf of the Church of Scientology to investigate the private life of a judge looking into fraud and tax evasion charges against the church here. A police spokesman said police arrested Humberto Juan Fontana, 33, a native of Havana and reportedly a Church of Scientology member, and confiscated three dossiers containing information of a confidential nature. No hometown was available for Fontana, the spokesman said on condition of anonymity. Other charges ...

SAN LUIS OBISPO — The once-contested multimillion-dollar estate of Church of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard has been settled, and control of it was given to the top church official Hubbard had named as executor. Superior Court Judge William R. Fredman on Tuesday ordered the estate turned over to Norman F. Starkey, who besides his position in the church was a longtime friend of Hubbard. The estate is valued at more than $26 million, but the value of the assets that ...

After years of sparring with the townsfolk and veiling itself in secrecy, the Church of Scientology has succeeded in turning Clearwater into its spiritual mecca. Scientologists quietly run teen nightclubs, schools, day-care centers, management consulting firms and other businesses, records and interviews show. Now the strategy of the organization, longtime observers say, is to confront controversy, gain converts and make money - lots of it. Scientology's Clearwater operation brings in $1.5-million to $2-million a week, say church watchers who include Clearwater ...