[This is a reprint of an article published on December 23, 1988 in the St. Petersburg Times.]

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 ...

The president of the Church of Scientology and 10 other members arrested in an investigation of alleged fraud and tax evasion have been released on more than $1 million bail, their lawyer said Sunday. A judge's order releasing church President Heber Jentzsch, an American, and the others came Saturday after facts were presented that "corrected" some allegations against the group, said the lawyer, Jose Luis Chamorro. Jentzsch, 53, a native of Salt Lake City, lives in Los Angeles. Judge Jose Maria ...

In the lingo of Wall Street, the Feshbachs are "short sellers," stock traders who make money betting that inflated share prices will drop. "Shorts" borrow stock and sell it on the open market. They make money by repaying their borrowings with stock that has cost them less to buy. A visit to Matt's office makes the Feshbachs' involvement in Scientology pretty clear. Along with statuary of triumphant bears - symbols of a declining stock market - his office is decorated with ...

RICHARD BRANSON's Virgin company has been distributing thousands of newspapers and magazines for the Church of Scientology. The publications, containing propaganda and articles encouraging people to buy the cult's controversial and expensive courses, have been packaged at Virgin's distribution centre at Crawley, West Sussex, and sent to homes in Britain and abroad. Virgin won the contract to distribute the publications, Good News and Source magazine, through an agent in Los Angeles who used Branson's cargo company to fly in thousands of ...

CLEARWATER — In 1975 the Church of Scientology, cloaked in secrecy, made this waterfront city its international headquarters. A lengthy outcry ensued when the public became aware the sect — under another name — bought a Clearwater landmark, the Fort Harrison Hotel. The Scientologists subsequently bought many other parcels of downtown Clearwater property, posting guards to keep the curious at bay. When the public and press asked questions about the aims of the Church of Scientology, sect leaders became mum about ...

"Our connection with the church is that it is the religion of the majority of our staff," says David Riggin, [David] Singer's marketing director. "Scientology is a completely separate thing from Singer Consultants. Someone's decision to take a course from the Church of Scientology is their own affair, and our role is simply to allow the Scientology organizations to come to the seminars." Chiropractors make ideal subjects for Scientology because "they're in a line of work that is not well accepted, ...

Another caller wanted to talk about our Sunday story regarding merchants in downtown Clearwater and how they appreciate the business of their Scientology customers. How many local residents, the caller wondered, stay away from the downtown area only because they don't want to be seen with Scientologists and be considered one of them, or at least because they would feel uncomfortable with the many Scientologists scurrying back and forth on downtown sidewalks? The caller believes there are many such people, and ...