The Rev. Enid Vien, former director of the Church of Scientology's Flint mission, has resigned from the church. Her letter of resignation is strongly critical of the church's operation. Her letter, submitted after nearly 18 years as a Scientologist and a minister since 1967, says in part: "I can no longer support a church that bleeds its parishioners, abuses its staff, uses fear tactics to insure everyone at least pretends to agree and engages upon coercive tactics to sew its missions ...

It is not uncommon for present or former Scientology members to try to kill themselves, according to three national experts on the controversial religion founded by L. Ron Hubbard. The head of the Scientology Church in Michigan, however, denies that Scientology practices have led to suicides. And the president of the international Church of Scientology, the Rev. Heber C. Jentzsch, headquartered in Los Angeles, dismisses the experts quoted in this story as "liars," who he says are out to discredit a ...

A Flint-area physician who once had a promising career is now in a Colorado rehabilitation center, unable to take care of herself or communicate, the result of a suicide attempt. Her doctors report she may have suffered permanent brain damage from a self-administered overdose of insulin. Family members, her psychologist and her associates say she had been emotionally unstable for some time. They contend the local Church of Scientology and the Michigan Purification Project, a detoxification program, aggravated her condition. Glenn ...

L. Ron Hubbard wrote his most important books and articles, the foundation of the Church of Scientology and his psycho-therapeutic treatment, Dianetics, while "saturated" with cocaine and other drugs, according to his son. Ronald E. DeWolf, the oldest of Hubbard's six children, contends his father distorted his military record to create cult devotion to his budding church. And, the son maintains, his father lied about his physical health, maintaining that Dianetics had made him well, when in fact he was severely ...

He's been called the Son of Scientology. His name has been changed from L. Ron Hubbard, Jr., to Ron DeWolf, and he's the firstborn son of the former science fiction writer who founded the Church of Scientology. It's been 23 years since hes seen his father, and he suspects that the founder of what many people call a destructive cult may, in truth, be dead. "To be perfectly frank, my life's been pretty much of a disaster and a miserable mess ...

Calling Clearwater's public hearings on the Church of Scientology a "Roman Circus," the sect's lawyer walked out on the proceedings Monday. "The Church of Scientology has been embarrassed and scandalized," said Tampa attorney Paul B. Johnson before leaving. In a brief presentation as Monday's session began, Johnson chastised city commissioners for what he said was their lack of objectivity. He also questioned the selection of Boston attorney Michael Flynn as the city's consultant and the credibility of "handpicked" witnesses Flynn provided. ...

In a story of international intrigue, a former senior executive of the Church of Scientology testified Saturday about a worldwide sect network involving infiltrations, conspiracies and smuggling. Scott Mayer, 38, told Clearwater city commissioners "I have personal experiences of all of these," in the forth day of the city's Scientology hearings, where legal consultant Michael Flynn paraded seven of his most damaging witnesses. Commissioners heard also from a former Guardian Office worker who said she used the sect's "confessional files" during ...

CLEARWATER. Fla. (UPI) — The father of a young girl who was killed in 1971 aboard a ship owned by the Church of Scientology in Morocco said Friday he doesn't believe the church officials who told him his daughter committed suicide. George Meister, testifying before the City Council, said he flew to Morocco and was shown a photograph of his bloodied daughter Susan and was told by church officials she had been found shot to death with a long-barreled .22-caliber pistol, ...

CLEARWATER — Six more witnesses denounced the Church of Scientology and its practices Friday during public hearings on the organization. For the third straight day, the critical testimony was a mixture of information concerning Scientology's Clearwater operations and church activities elsewhere. City commissioners, who are having the hearings, heard from: * Casey Kelly, 23, who joined Scientology to crusade against "war," "crime" and "insanity" but later became disenchanted with long hours and low pay as a church employee here. * Rosie ...

Teen-ager David Ray testified Friday he had a spectacular start with the Church of Scientology in California, but quickly became a rebel trapped in The Fort Harrison Hotel, relegated to cleaning rooms and stomping garbage. Casey Kelly, 23, testifying for the second day, said he "wasn't a very good Scientologist," either. "One thing you don't do in Scientology is joke around, so obviously I didn't make out very well," he quipped. Like one other witness called in the third day of ...

CLEARWATER — Unlike some of his colleagues in the Clearwater business community, developer Alan Bomstein doesn't regard the Church of Scientology as a threat to the city's economic future. But he does agree that L. Ron Hubbard's 32-year-old, self-styled "religion" has an image problem. "The Church of Scientology," Bomstein says, "is the classic, textbook example of bad public relations." On the eve of City Commission hearings into church activities, there is little doubt that Scientology is the least popular institution in ...

As the woman they called "Lee" spoke from the church pulpit, the crowd, estimated at 1,000 was deathly quiet, hanging on every word. For most, it was the first time they had heard about the alleged goings-on within the Church of Scientology. They listened, somewhat in awe, as the 34-year-old Wisconsin woman recounted methodically her 12 years in the church. Then, as she spoke more passionately about the past two years, they heard of her emotional and physical struggle to break ...

CLEARWATER — A crowd estimated at 1,000 persons packed Clearwater's Trinity Presbyterian Church on Thursday night to hear a woman who clams to be a former Scientologist describe practices designed to exorcist demons. Refusing to identify herself other than as "Lee," the 34-year old Wisconsin woman told the audience that she had been a Scientologist for 12 years and had actively pursued secret exorcising procedures, part of the time at the organization's Clearwater headquarters. She said she was eventually ostracized for ...

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 ...

CLEARWATER — Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney James T. Russell said Tuesday that members of the Church of Scientology have attempted to infiltrate his office at least five times since 1976. The alleged infiltration attempts failed because routine background checks on the job applicants revealed that hey were members of the Church of Scientology, Russell said. Asked if it was legal to turn down job applicants solely because they are Scientologists, Russell said, "I don't know, but I'd like to fight a lawsuit ...

The faithful inner core serve as thieves, decoys and spies. The shocking story behind one of the most dangerous “religious cults” operating today IN THE late 1940s, pulp writer L. Ron Hubbard declared, “Writing for a penny a word is ridiculous. If a man really wants to make a million, the best way would be to start his own religion.” Hubbard did start his own religion, calling it the “Church of Scientology,” and it has grown into an enterprise today grossing ...

AFFIDAVIT OF ANNE ROSENBLUM In December, 1972, after my first semester of college (in the state of Washington), I was introduced to Scientology when another Scientologist encouraged me to take a "Personality Test" at the Portland "Org". I was given a poor evaluation on the test. I later learned, however, that it is a customary practice of the "Church" to give one a poor evaluation on the test in order to induce the person into Scientology processing. The Scientologists also told ...

Freelance writer Paulette Cooper is a finely honed, long-haired accumulation of nervous energy. She was dressed with a New Yorker flair that seemed out of context in the small windowless room in the grey dignity of the U. S. District Court building in Washington.

Toronto ON — L. Ron Hubbard, the former science fiction writer who publicly resigned in 1966 from leadership of the Church of Scientology, continued to give orders to its leaders into 1977, a Washington court has been told. Evidence obtained in 1977 in raids on U. S. offices of the cult by the Federal Bureau of Investigation revealed there was a detailed program to cover up Mr. Hubbard's involvement in the leadership of Scientology. Called Operation Bulldozer Leak, it was part ...

A woman who was a member of the Church of Scientology for seven years and who has now filed a $200 million class action suit against the church, said of her experience that “it was a whole menagerie of lies.” Lavenda Van Schaick, a 29-year-old native of Texas who joined the church in Las Vegas, recited a list of experiences that her attorney, Michael Flynn, said, can only be described as “Orweilian,” referring to George Orwell’s depiction of a future society ...

Clearwater City Commissioner Richard Tenney said he will ask Pinellas State Attorney James T. Russel to investigate the death of Church of Scientology member Margarit Winkelmann, 51, who apparently jumped into Clearwater Bay. Tenney said he is concerned the Zurich, Switzerland woman may not have been getting the right kind of psychiatric help prior to her death Friday. The woman and her husband had been staying at the church's Clearwater headquarters and have been counseled there since November, according to church ...

CLEARWATER — Police are investigating the apparent drowning of a woman who reportedly fell from a sea-wall into Clearwater Bay Friday morning. The name of the woman, believed to be a visitor from out of town, is being withheld by police. The victim was described as a white and in her early 50s, 6-feet 3-inches tall and weighing about 160 pounds. She was clad in a blouse, sweater and skirt when she was found floating 10 feet from the wall behind ...

CLEARWATER – A woman in her early 50's apparently stumbled and fell into Clearwater Harbor this morning and drowned, police said. The woman fells from a height of 20 feet on a stretch of rocky and uneven ground near Pierce 100 Condominiums at about 9:30 a.m. Paramedics were summoned to the scene by a man who saw the woman fall into the water, police said. Police said they do not suspect foul play in the death and have not ruled out ...