When the Times told officials at the Church of Scientology in Clearwater about plans to write a story about its suppressive person and disconnection policies, Scientology spokesman Ben Shaw aggressively sought to refute the story and persuade the newspaper not to tell it. Shaw provided numerous articles about the ways other churches deal with apostates, including one in which a Catholic bishop in Nebraska excommunicated every member of one church. "I don't see how you can do a fair article on ...

Karen Pressley of Atlanta and her then-husband Peter Schless — a musician and composer who wrote the hit song On the Wings of Love — became Scientologists and later joined staff. Pressley mostly worked for the church's international organization in Los Angeles, but she spent six months in Clearwater. She said she designed the new uniforms still worn by staffers today. Pressley left Scientology in 1998 and refused to come back for sec checks. She has publicly denounced "substandard" child care ...

Religions have always penalized those who betray the cause. Catholics excommunicate, barring the wayward from church rites. The Amish, Jehovah's Witnesses and some orthodox Jewish sects shun their nonconformists. In the Tampa Bay area's burgeoning Scientology community, members abide by a policy considered by some religious experts extreme: Scientologists declare their outcasts "suppressive persons." Another Scientology policy — called "disconnection" — forbids Scientologists from interacting with a suppressive person. No calls, no letters, no contact. An SP is a pariah. Anyone ...

The church is purchasing a building in St. Petersburg, where it plans to start a new recruiting effort. ST. PETERSBURG — After more than 30 years in Clearwater, the Church of Scientology is making its first significant step toward recruiting members in the heart of downtown St. Petersburg. The church has a contract to purchase a historic 7,000-square-foot building at 336 1st Ave. N, near Williams Park. The sale is not final, but church officials hope it will be by June. ...

ST. PETERSBURG — In the world of Scientology, Scott W. Snow is a winner. He has achieved the religion’s highest level of training, higher even than megastar Tom Cruise, a distinction that brings with it lofty ethical standards. But in St. Petersburg, city leaders call him slumlord. Snow, 51, is the owner of the Chinook Apartments in Midtown, which the city shut down May 2 after finding multiple fire code violations. Now two dozen Chinook tenants have hired a lawyer and ...

In the works for decades, the closely guarded spiritual training program will be revealed in Clearwater. CLEARWATER - Matt Feshbach believes he has super powers. He senses danger faster than most people. He appreciates beauty more deeply than he used to. He says he outperforms his peers in the money management industry. He heightened his powers of perception in 1995 when he went to Los Angeles and became the first and so far only "public" Scientologist to take a highly classified ...

After a period of worldwide growth, the church is turning its attention back to expansion at its Clearwater headquarters. CLEARWATER - A global expansion by the Church of Scientology delayed construction of a flagship building in this city it considers its spiritual headquarters, church officials say. But after spending hundreds of millions of dollars from Madrid to Mountain View, Calif., the church is once again turning its attention to downtown Clearwater in a big way. The church plans to finish its ...

Dr. Joan Wood gives up her medical license after a report strongly criticizes her handling of a disputed 1995 death. Former Pinellas-Pasco Medical Examiner Joan Wood has relinquished her Florida medical license in the wake of a state health department claim that she "became an advocate for the Church of Scientology" in a bitter dispute over the 1995 death of Scientology member Lisa McPherson. Wood changed the probable cause of death from "severe dehydration" to "accident" based on "factors other than ...

After years of conflict, the church and the media seem to have reached a truce. Is it because Scientology has become less confrontational — or because the press is scared? For anyone interested in the Church of Scientology, the May 6, 1991, issue of Time magazine remains a milestone in news coverage. For those who back the church, it ran an outrageously biased account that eventually led to a libel suit by the church — later dismissed — and prompted Scientology ...

The largest private development project planned for downtown could reshape the northwest corner with two condo towers and upscale shops. CLEARWATER — What started as a modest plan for 39 condominiums just north of the Church of Scientology's Sandcastle retreat has gradually blossomed into an ambitious residential and retail development plan that could dramatically reshape the long neglected northwest corner of downtown Clearwater. Triangle Development is now proposing two 15-story condominium towers on the bluffs overlooking Clearwater Harbor. Between them will ...

Gov. Jeb Bush vetoed a bill Thursday that would have required schools to inform parents about the possible repercussions of mental disorder diagnoses before referring students for mental evaluations. By attempting to color parents' perception, the bill "places the school between the parent and the medical professional," Bush said. The bill was backed by the Church of Scientology and sponsored by Rep. Gus Barreiro, R-Miami Beach and Sen. Victor Crist, R-Tampa.

The sponsor gets word that Bush plans to veto $500,000 for the prison program. TALLAHASSEE — A $500,000 program that uses some teachings of Church of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard to help prison inmates likely will be vetoed by the governor today, the bill's sponsor says. The program, known as Criminon, was quietly added to the state budget by one powerful legislator: Rep. Gus Barreiro, a Miami Beach Republican. He heads the House subcommittee overseeing billions of dollars in criminal ...

Bills in the state Legislature that aim to keep students from receiving psychiatric treatment bear the familiar marks of Scientology. L. Ron Hubbard was a science fiction writer before he decided, more than a half-century ago, to publish his views on mental health. Now, apparently, his adherents are writing Florida law. Two bills aimed at schoolchildren that are winding their way through the Legislature bear a familiar Hubbard trademark. They hold the practice of modern mental health medicine in contempt and, ...

Opponents say the legislation takes advantage of lingering stigma and will deter parents from seeking help for their children. TALLAHASSEE - Legislation backed by an offshoot of the Church of Scientology aims to discourage public school students from seeking mental health services. The measure would require schools to tell parents that any mental health treatment would be part of a student's permanent record, which is true only in limited cases now. It also would require school officials to tell parents that ...

For obvious reasons, the lauding of religious leaders isn’t supposed to be practiced in U.S. public schools, at least not as a class activity. Yet one widely used school program concludes by having students applaud Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. The program is called Narconon, and it has notable Scientology links. The state of California is now in the midst of a three-month investigation of the Narconon Drug Prevention and Education program with an eye to possibly barring it from the ...

Ben Shaw, 53, is the church's lead spokesman in Clearwater. The son of a career Army officer, Shaw graduated from high school in India, where he played in a rock band and studied Indian religions. After reading Dianetics while working on a shrimp boat in Key West in 1971, he joined the church staff. He became a minister in 1978 and has held church positions throughout Europe and in Miami, Boston and Los Angeles. He has directed external affairs in Clearwater ...

A local lawyer and political consultant are hired to help break down barriers for Scientology. It was a sticky decision and everyone in the room knew it. Bennetta Slaughter, the charismatic businesswoman whose tireless committee work had impressed so many, was being nominated to the Clearwater Regional Chamber of Commerce board of directors. "Do we really want one on the board?" several asked. By "one" they meant: a Scientologist. Board members worried that the chamber's rank and file might quit in ...

[Picture / Caption: After Alicia and Jason Regensburg married, the location of their first home was a no-brainer: Clearwater. Alicia grew up in Clearwater’s Scientology circles. Now, the second-generation church member likes living close to the church's spiritual headquarters downtown, where she takes Scientology courses “pretty much constantly.” Also nearby is Clearwater Academy International, the Hubbard-flavored school where the couple’s 3-year-old son, Hudson, is in pre-school.] [Picture / Caption: The Church of Scientology gets credit for bringing Starbucks downtown. Church officials ...

The driver, a Church of Scientology employee, says the man ran at the bus; others disagree. CLEARWATER — A Largo man remained in serious condition at Bayfront Medical Center on Wednesday, a day after being struck by a Church of Scientology bus in downtown Clearwater. The bus driver, an employee of the church's Flag Service Organization in Clearwater, told church officials the injured man ran at the moving bus and punched a window before slipping under it, according to church spokesman ...

To the disappointment of some outsiders, those mired in the Scientology case were ready for the draining episode to end. CLEARWATER — The recent settlement of the 7-year-old Lisa McPherson wrongful death lawsuit against the Church of Scientology was a shocker for many, seemingly coming out of nowhere. It wasn't a spur-of-the-moment decision at all, but rather a resolution that had been simmering more than six months in quiet negotiations at the St. Petersburg law offices of mediator Michael Keane. It ...