Clearwater



A St. Petersburg Times editorial on June 9th reacted to charges made by

Scientology that Clearwater area residents have been prejudiced against

them by press coverage.



"Many Pinellas County residents know the story of how the Church of

Scientology slipped into Pinellas under a different name in 1975 and began

buying property in downtown Clearwater, where it established its

international religious retreat known as Flag. They remember the clashes

that followed between Clearwater city officials and Scientology, the

church's penchant for secrecy and the disinformation campaign hatched by

the organization to discredit a city official who opposed Scientology.



"Many Pinellas residents also remember hearing that a member of the Church

of Scientology, Lisa McPherson, died in 1995 after being kept in the care

of staffers in the church's Fort Harrison building. Because they know all

that, some of them have strong opinions about Scientology, and it should

come as no surprise that many of those opinions are negative. What is

surprising, given the history of the church in Pinellas, is that

Scientology officials are shocked by how many Pinellas residents distrust

or dislike their organization.



"The church recently hired professional researchers to survey 300 shoppers

at a St. Petersburg mall to learn their opinions of Scientology, Flag and

the McPherson case.  Since getting the results, the church has asked for a

change of venue in an upcoming jury trial that peripherally involves

aspects of the McPherson case. The church's motion for the venue change is

filled with accusations about the 'religious bigotry' of the Pinellas

population and 'hate-mongering' by local media, including the St.

Petersburg Times. The church claims that the media have poisoned the

public's view of Scientology.



"The truth of the matter is that most residents of Pinellas County are

neither misled nor confused about Scientology. What they are is

well-informed, and they have good memories. They see not just the

dressed-up image the church has displayed since getting smarter about

public relations a few years ago, but also the years of shenanigans that

preceded the change.



"Church officials apparently thought they had made more progress at

changing perceptions, especially in Clearwater. And indeed, Clearwater

officials have forged a cooperative relationship with Scientology, in some

cases accepting campaign support and assistance from church members,

bestowing awards on the church and even inviting church officials'

participation in city government affairs.



"Perhaps it was the city of Clearwater's accommodating attitude that

recently led the church to believe it had the standing to start recruiting

national retailers to downtown Clearwater.  The church prepared a brochure

spotlighting the city's demographics and benefits (including a section

touting the positive presence of the Church of Scientology downtown) and

sent it to retailers such as the Gap and Banana Republic. Because no

author is listed, the brochure promotes the mistaken impression that it

comes from city government. Yet asked about this presumptuousness by the

church, Mayor Brian Aungst said merely, 'I don't know that it hurts

anything. It's probably helpful, but we'll find out.'



"Clearwater officials would do well to review the results of the

Scientology survey and consider whether an informed and wary public would

be comfortable seeing them hold hands with the Church of Scientology."



Message-ID: 1055153838.94746@newshost01.voicenet.com





Lisa McPherson



The Palm Beach Post reported on June 11th that Scientology has withdrawn

its request to move the breach of contract counterclaim in the Lisa

McPherson case to another county.



"In a letter to the judge on the breach-of-contract case, an attorney for

the church wrote that since the court date was only four weeks away, the

church would try for a fair jury panel there. The Scientologists

previously argued that they could not continue in the Clearwater area

because a survey conducted by the church had shown a bias in the area.



"The church lawyers asked that the case be moved to Palm Beach or Broward

county because the counties have demographics similar to Pinellas County.

The church is involved in expansive litigation after a church member died

while under psychiatric care at a church facility. The church member, Lisa

McPherson, 36, a devout Scientologist from Clearwater, had a mental

breakdown in 1995 and was taken to a church retreat facility, where she

died 17 days later."



Message-ID: 3e471c14.0306110811.564c44d8@posting.google.com





Tom Cruise



The Washington Post reported on June 15th that Scientology celebrity Tom

Cruise visited U.S. Government officials in part to discuss issues

important to Scientology.



"Church of Scientology cause celeb Tom Cruise slipped into town this week

for private meetings with senior Bush administration officials at the

Department of Education and the White House. On Thursday, Education

Secretary Rod Paige hosted a lunch for Cruise so the actor could gab with

education officials in the secretary's dining room. 'He wanted to learn

more about the president's 'no child left behind' program,' Education

Undersecretary Eugene Hickok told us yesterday. Hickock added: 'We're

willing to talk to anyone interested in the issue. I don't think I'm

star-struck.' But we hear that on Friday at the White House, where Cruise

lobbied officials on Scientology-related issues, there were plenty of

young female staffers standing around, hoping to bump into him in the

corridors of power."



Message-ID: 3e471c14.0306142123.1d697177@posting.google.com





Reed Slatkin



Slatkinfraud.com reported on June 14th that an attorney for Scientology

will be asking for a subpoena in the Reed Slatkin Ponzi scheme case to

discover communications between creditors of the Slatkin estate and the

Slatkinfraud creators.



"Scientology lawyer Helena Kobrin, here acting as counsel for herself

(independent from Scientology) and other Scientology investors, has filed

a declaration revealing her intent to target members of the Creditors'

Committee for subpoena. First on Kobrin's list is George Kriste. Among the

monstrous laundry list of material she asks Kriste produce is a request

for 'all documents which relate to communications you have had with any

person who is involved in the Slatkinfraud web site, including, without

limitation, David Touretzky, Kady O'Malley, and Scott Pilutik.' Kirkland &

Ellis attorney Alex Pilmer replies in a letter that Kriste will only

respond to the subpoena if ordered to by the court. If the court does

allow the Kriste subpoena, Kobrin states plans for serving identical

subpoenas to the rest of the Creditors' Committee."



Message-ID: 5e0371c5.0306141502.2f1b9142@posting.google.com