HEDGE WIZARD: Busy apostate deals another blow to Scientology’s sneaky ways

Tuesday night, Alex Barnes-Ross, a/k/a Apostate Alex, revealed in a video that in July Scientology had applied for a special legal exception so that protests could be banned for three years outside its UK headquarters, Saint Hill Manor in East Grinstead, England.

It’s a pretty extraordinary development and quite an escalation in the ongoing saga of Alex’s activism that began last year with a three-day demonstration at the International Association of Scientologists (IAS) annual gala, which returned to Saint Hill last year for the first time since the pandemic started.

Scientology’s chief legal representatives in England, Peter Hodkin’s firm, have been pushing the Mid-Sussex District Council to approve what’s known as a “Public Space Protection Order” so that it could be in place, and prevent any demonstrations, for this year’s IAS gala in October.

Scientology is arguing that last year's protests were disruptive and motivated by religious bigotry, and so they're asking for the special protective order that would allow police to keep demonstrators out of the area.

But Alex pointed out that the district council isn't keen on acting so fast. As the district council itself admits in a document, this is a situation "with the potential national and international interest and the need to exercise democracy in the most transparent way possible."

In other words, they are very aware of the coverage being done here and by Alex and by other outlets about the protests, and they know that whatever they do will be watched very carefully.

So the district council has laid out a plan to gather evidence during this year's event in order to make a decision about a special order for 2025.

That can't make Scientology happy, but it is still alarming that the district council is considering such a drastic step at all.

A district council meeting to discuss the proposal is scheduled for October 2.

“They want to make sure they do it right. If they mess up, the district council could be taken to court and end up costing taxpayers a lot of money,” Alex says.

But he agreed with our observation that Scientology seems to be very concerned about the results of his activism.

“It's absolutely a sign that they are scared of our protest movement,” he says. “The fact that they are trying to push back so hard is an indication that [church leader David] Miscavige is telling them to get it shut down.”

And last night, Alex told us about another result of his persistent efforts: Scientology is going to lose a barrier it had planted illegally to keep outsiders away from the compound.

“They planted a hedgerow out in front of Saint Hill a few years back,” Alex says. “I reported that to the authorities, and the highway authority came back and said it is obstructing and dangerous, and not on their private land. They are outraged that Scientology has planted trees and put fencing on public land. They have written to Saint Hill and given them 28 days to remove it. They're going quite hard on it.”

Indeed, here’s a paragraph from a letter Alex forwarded to us from a government official:

I have been advised that the Highways Authority will now write to the Church of Scientology and ask them to remove the trees/hedgerow, wooden beams and fencing from the Highway boundary within 28 days.  If no communication is received, the Highways authority will write to the Church of Scientology again giving a further 14 days notice.  If communication is still not received then the Highways authority will intervene and remove the trees/hedgerow, wooden beams and fencing and seek to recover associated costs from the Church of Scientology.

So long, hedge.

Also, Alex reported Scientology’s big tent, which has gone up in anticipation of this year’s IAS event. He pointed out to the Mid-Sussex District Council that if a structure is up for more than 28 days it requires permitting, which Scientology had not acquired.

“I showed them it's already been up that long,” he says. “They got back to me and said there's been a change of use. And it's unauthorized. However, because the tent is going to come down, they aren't going to do anything about it. I got back to them, why are you letting it stay longer than 28 days without permit when that's the law? I think this is all a sign that the Mid-Sussex District Council is majorly safe-pointed.”

“Safe-pointing” is a key policy from Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard which requires church officials to seek relationships with local officials in order to co-opt them.

Last year, Alex was successful calling out members of the Mid-Sussex District Council and the East Grinstead Town Council for showing up at Scientology events like the IAS gala. Will those council members do that again this year, with the increased scrutiny?

Alex says Scientology is keeping the date of this year’s IAS gala a close secret, but he believes it will be either the weekend of October 11 or October 18, and he thinks the 11th is most likely.

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Scientology asks for more time in Whitney Mills case

[Victim Whitney Mills and quack doctor David Minkoff]

Now that Leila Mills has added notorious Scientology doctor David Minkoff as a defendant in the lawsuit over the 2022 death of her daughter Whitney, the six Scientology institutional defendants that were originally named in the case have asked for more time to answer it.

Those six defendants — Church of Scientology Int’l, FSO, FSSO, the Tampa org, the Belleair mission, and the IASA — were originally supposed to answer the lawsuit in late July, but they asked for more time saying that they knew Mills was going to add Minkoff and they wanted to see those allegations first. And also, they claimed that if they could just talk to Ms. Mills’ attorney, Ramon Rasco, they could probably talk them out of suing the church.

Now that Minkoff and his LifeWorks Wellness Clinic in Clearwater have been added (and with horrible allegations and experts’ affidavits we’ve been telling you about) Scientology says it still needs more time before responding.

Why? Because, they say, they have learned that Leila Mills intends to file yet another amended complaint.

“Upon information and belief, Plaintiff now intends to file a Second Amended Complaint in the near future to correct some inaccuracies and/or delete information from the First Amended Complaint,” they say in a motion for an extension of time.

Is this related to their claim that they could clarify some things and maybe talk Mills out of the lawsuit? We don’t know. But we will be curious to see what changes she does make if she is going to file another amended complaint.

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