SPT: Letter to the Editor -- Scientology imposes its identity on a city
Scientology imposes its identity on a city
http://www.sptimes.com/2003/06/20/Northpinellas/Scientology_imposes_i.shtml
I've been closely watching the St. Petersburg Times' coverage of
downtown Clearwater's economic difficulties, almost all of which
can't help but mention the notorious Scientology organization.
All the rhetoric about how the core problems in Clearwater are
related to Scientology's unfortunate presence is fully justified.
Clearwater has become synonymous with Scientology, a goal that
the organization deliberately set out to achieve when it sneaked
into town under the assumed name "United Churches of
Florida" and promptly tried to frame and eliminate Gabe
Cazares, then-mayor of Clearwater.
Just how synonymous Clearwater is with Scientology is something
that most of the St. Petersburg Times' readers are probably not
aware of unless they read national news. It might not be much of
a surprise to learn, however, that encyclopedias are starting
to make the association, inexorably equating Clearwater with
Scientology. Horribly, if you visit the Web site Encyclopedia.com
and enter "Scientology" in the search request, Clearwater
is offered as one of the four encyclopedia entries.
In a fairly recent court case in the county, a judge reviewed
documentation covering the more than 100 video cameras Scientology
has set up to watch and record vehicle and pedestrian traffic in
downtown Clearwater. The judge turned to the Scientology lawyers
and rhetorically asked them, "I just don't get it. When is
the invasion coming?"
The fact is Scientology's invasion - what the organization called
"Operation Normandy" - was a success. The city of
Clearwater lost.
-- Fredric L. Rice, Glendora, California
Letters to the Editor
St. Petersburg Times
June 20, 2003
[Note: The
Scientology®
organization has at best estimate approximately
45,000 to 50,000 followers world wide -- contrary to the 8 million figure
that the organization has been claiming for the past few years or so.
While that number continues to drop (thanks in part to the Internet) few
of the remaining followers are even aware of the unending series of police
raids, indictments, and prison terms their leaders and fellow cultists are
subjected to routinely. Few are allowed to know about their organization's
criminal history, or its current racketeering activities. Even fewer of
the cult's remaining followers are privy to their messiah's written
policies which dictates the criminal behavior that keeps getting their
organization raided (see Xenu.NET for
suitable references of Scientology policy) Scientology management
is the problem, not the thousands of honest believers who are good,
honest citizens; themselves victims of Scientology - flr]
The name "Narconon"® is trademarked to the Scientology organization through one of their many front groups. The name "Scientology"® is also trademarked to the "Church" of Scientology. Neither this web page, nor this web site, nor any of the individuals mentioned herein assisting to educate the public about the dangers of the Narconon scam are members of or representitives of the Scientology organization.
E-Mail Fredric L. Rice / The Skeptic Tank