Scientology work limits protesters
Church officials say the timing of the sidewalk project has
nothing to do with the annual demonstrations planned in Clearwater.
By THOMAS C. TOBIN
St. Petersburg Times, published December 1, 1999
----------------------------------------------
Ah, early December in downtown Clearwater.
Light poles wrapped in red holiday ribbons.
Trees along Cleveland Street abloom with tiny white lights.
And, now, a newer tradition: the annual game of cat and mouse
between the Church of Scientology and about two dozen of its
most vocal critics, who for three years have gathered in Clearwater
to stage protests on the anniversary of the Dec. 5, 1995, death of
Scientologist Lisa McPherson.
Once again, both sides are trying to outsmart each other.
And Scientology has struck first. The critics are arriving this
week to find no sidewalks where they traditionally have walked while
carrying anti-Scientology picket signs.
The church has torn up sidewalks on the north and west sides of its
worldwide "mecca," the Fort Harrison Hotel.
Just around the corner, it has constructed a 20-foot-high steel
scaffold sheathed in green mesh across the lower facade of the
hotel, making walking there impossible.
It also has pulled up about 1,000 feet of sidewalk along Drew
Street, most of it in front of its glistening Sandcastle property.
"They'd rather destroy their own property than see criticism," said
Jeff Jacobsen of Arizona, an organizer of the annual picket.
Not true, church officials say. They contend the work has been
planned for more than a year as part of a major expansion and
improvement program downtown.
The old sidewalks, they say, will be replaced with "integrally
colored stamped concrete" that will look and feel like bricks.
Though the public owns the sidewalks, the church has agreed to
maintain them and is paying $500,000 to rebuild them.
The scaffolding is needed for roof, window and stucco repairs to the
Fort Harrison, according to a city permit. Workers also will drill
into the base of the building to test the load capacity for a skywalk
that someday will connect the Fort Harrison with Scientology's
mammoth new building under construction immediately across the street.
All that work simply coincides with the arrival of the pickets, said
Mike Rinder, a top church official in town from Los Angeles.
"Sometimes I think they believe the whole world revolves around
them," Rinder said. "They come in for a few days, and they think
whatever happens goes on for them. Then they leave and Clearwater
goes on. I'm surprised they're not saying Christmas is being held
for them."
Jacobsen was wholly unconvinced.
"It's the only hotel in the world that would tear up its sidewalk in
its peak season," he said.
Rinder scoffed. The hotel always is crowded, he said. Peak is March,
early May and summer.
The pickets will choose another place for their protest, Jacobsen
said. They also plan a conference on "Scientology/Clearwater
Relations" on Saturday at the Holiday Inn on U.S. 19 near Gulf-to-Bay
Boulevard. A candlelight vigil is planned that evening.
The events, as in past years, memorialize McPherson, the Scientologist
who died while in the care of church staffers after a 17-day stay at
the Fort Harrison Hotel.
Last December, just before the critics gathered, the church tore up
the sidewalk across the street from the hotel, where the critics had
a permit to protest. But the group trumped the church, getting a second
permit to picket directly in front of the hotel. And when critics also
surprised the church with anti-Scientology advertising on local buses,
church officials countered, persuading the bus system to remove the
signs.
The previous year, Scientology had responded to planned pickets with
a massive demonstration of its own. An estimated 3,000 Scientologists
marched and chanted around police headquarters and the St. Petersburg
Times Clearwater office, protesting what they said was discrimination
against the church.
The pickets argue they are crusading against an organization that
abuses its members. They say the church tries to deny the critics
their First Amendment rights to voice opposition.
The church, in turn, portrays the critics as a motley group of
hatemongers with nothing better to do than harass Scientologists. They
say the critics are impinging on their First Amendment rights to
practice their religion.
Rinder said church members, as last year, would try to avoid the
pickets this weekend.
Tampa Bay area news
Copyright 1999 St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.
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