The Gray Moss Inn, a turn-of-the century downtown hotel, has been sold to a California lawyer for $1.65-million. The hotel at 215 S Fort Harrison Ave. is across the street from another landmark Clearwater hotel: the Fort Harrison. The Fort Harrison Hotel is owned by the Church of Scientology, which has its worldwide spiritual headquarters in Clearwater. The buyer of the Gray Moss is Los Angeles lawyer Bert B. Babero. The sale was handled by state Rep. Gerald S. "Jerry" Rehm, ...

The IRS, which earlier took on the Scientologists in Washington and Los Angeles, now has brought its court battle to federal court in Tampa. Its target is Scientology's worldwide spiritual headquarters in Clearwater. Scientologists vehemently disagree, calling the IRS corrupt and accusing it of pursuing a vendetta against Scientology. ``We feel the federal government should investigate illegal drug running in Florida and should investigate money laundering in Florida banks,`` said spokesman Humberto Fontana. Scientologists also are in court with Pinellas County ...

Pomona police said Friday they are investigating whether beliefs espoused by the Church of Scientology led a family to confine a mentally disabled woman in a cell-like bedroom at a Phillips Ranch house. While stressing that neither the church nor its beliefs are under investigation, police said they want to know if Scientology practices could explain why the woman was kept in confinement. Police and Los Angeles County mental health workers discovered Marianne Coenan, 31, locked in a sparsely furnished room ...

The storage facility on Sunset View Ranch, now owned by The Church of Spiritual Technology, will be used to preserve the religious and philosophic writings for generations to come of the late L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the Church of Scientology. Michel Ouelette, 40, formerly of Montreal in French-speaking Quebec, Canada, who said he is manager of the 3,000-acre ranch, explained the purpose of the Church of Spiritual Technology over coffee in the handsomely remodeled former Ben Walker residence, now called ...

The Church of Spiritual Technology may need a permit for its vault to store church documents. According to Thomas Conlon, county planning director, the church said state geologists have told it no permit is needed to excavate on Walker Mountain for the vault. Conlon said the matter is now under review. Michel Oullette, spokesman, said earlier the church has 45 members and the vault was needed to store church records or documents. Unconfirmed reports say excavation has started and the vault ...