It’s Boxing Day in some of the countries that read the Underground Bunker, and while we don’t really understand this strange custom, we’re just happy if you’re enjoying yourself on this day after Christmas.
We thought it might be a good time to remind the general public, at this quiet time of year, that Scientology is, to its very core, a deceptive, duplicitous organization, and that no public official, no government institution, no innocent onlooker, should ever take anything Scientology says on face value.
This is a totalitarian organization built on the principle of taking over the world by looking down on and disregarding the rest of us and our quaint laws and morals and ethics, none of which Scientology respects in the slightest.
Our helper who digs through newspaper archives recently brought to us a wonderful example of this, one of the best of all time really, which allows us not only to remind you about Scientology’s true nature, but also to celebrate the hard work done by the journalists of the St. Petersburg Times, now the Tampa Bay Times, which has done heroic work over the years exposing Scientology’s controversies, with Tracey McManus continuing that tradition today.
What we’re referring to is the way Scientology surreptitiously crawled into Clearwater, Florida in 1975 after founder L. Ron Hubbard had gotten sick of running Scientology from sea for the previous eight years and wanted a town to take over. In order to accomplish it, he had his minions create a couple of front operations — the Southern Land and Development Corporation, which said it was looking for buildings to purchase on behalf of a tenant it called the United Churches of Florida.
Both were actually Scientology, but they kept up the ruse long enough to get control of Clearwater’s iconic Fort Harrison Hotel and the nearby Clearwater Bank building, all without the locals realizing that they’d been invaded by Hubbard’s fanatical followers.
It was Clearwater mayor Gabe Cazares who began to ask publicly why something calling itself the “United Churches of Florida” had not only taken over the town’s major hotel, but also that it was patrolling it with security guards armed with billy clubs. What kind of a “church” was this?
Then, on January 29, 1976, the St. Pete Times revealed the truth that it was Scientology that had used fake names to buy the buildings.
We thought it would be fun to look at that piece again, and think about what it must have been like in that town to hear that news. If you were there at the time, we’d love to hear how it struck you.
But we’ll say it again: After this date, no public official should ever have taken Scientology at its word again, and it still shocks us that they do today.
Church of Scientology surfaces as Fort Harrison Hotel owner
By Ardith Hilliard and Jeanne Pugh
CLEARWATER — The controversial Church of Scientology of California, describing itself as “the foremost religious reform group in America and the world,” announced Wednesday that it is the real buyer of the Fort Harrison Hotel and is backing United Churches of Florida, the hotel’s tenants.
Pushed into revealing its “95 percent backing” of the venture by a rising tide of public curiosity and distrust, the Church of Scientology flew a spokesman to the Tampa Bay area in the early morning hours to make the announcement.
The spokesman, Rev. Arthur J. Maren of Los Angeles, told reporters that the church had decided originally to keep out of the picture, even to the extent of not letting the hotel sellers know about the tie, to spare the fledgling United Churches of Florida publicity.
“Because of previous controversy...(the Church of Scientology) would have overshadowed United Churches,” he said.
Since Southern Land and Development Corp. bought the hotel last month, the new renters, United Churches, have housed more than 300 persons in the former hotel and have evaded reporters’ repeated attempts to learn details about it and Southern Land. Armed guards at the Fort Harrison’s doors have thwarted many attempts to enter the building.
Clearwater Mayor Gabriel Cazares, publicly incensed by the guards’ presence and the renters’ evasiveness, reacted strongly to the Church of Scientology’s announcement.
“This confirms what we suspected from the beginning,” he said. “They did not level with us...they have misused our ministers, they have misled the public, and they have evaded the truth.”
Looking out his city hall office window at the hotel, he told a reporter...
“The Fort Harrison has been there for half a century and now, for the first time, it is actually a fort...it’s frightening.”
Pointing incredulously to guards on the hotel roof, he added, “There's no doubt about it. Those are armed guards on regular patrol.”
A request by Cazares for an on-the-spot tour of the Fort Harrison and the old Bank of Clearwater building was turned down at a late-afternoon meeting between the mayor and the Church of Scientology representatives.
“I think that’s out of line,” said Maren when Cazares proposed to walk from his city hall office to the nearby Fort Harrison for an impromptu look at what the mayor said has become “an armed fortress.”
Maren said it is not his right to intrude on the activities of United Churches of Florida with no warning.
Cazares had just questioned Maren about reports of motorcycles on the Fort Harrison roof, paper shredders and “coded messages” being sent into the building. Maren said he knew nothing about these reports but would “check into them.”
Maren said that in backing United Churches, “the idea was to unite religions for community and social betterment and not an idea to propagate Scientology.”
Cazares called this “a gratuitous insult.”
“I seriously challenge the need for such a group here,” he said, recalling that a cooperative enterprise organized about 10 years ago, Religious Community Services Inc., would seem to serve the same purpose.
Maren said Southern Land was set up as a sort of middleman to acquire the property, and 95 per cent of the $2.3 million cash came from Church of Scientology coffers.
He said L. Ron Hubbard, former science fiction writer who founded the church, was in the area for a short time helping to set up a radio show planned as a bulwarks of the financing of United Churches. Maren was vague on Hubbard’s whereabouts now, as he was on detailed questions about main figures in all the organizations involved.
He said the Church of Scientology amassed the wealth needed to buy the hotel by offering lectures and through “personal counseling.” He said the hotel will continue to be used as a convention center and meeting place for members of various religions.
He described Scientology as a non-denominational belief “akin to Buddhism in a sense.”
Two of eight Clearwater area ministers listed by United Churches as members said they were unaware of its tie with the Church of Scientology.
Rev. Otis Green of Everybody’s Tabernacle and Rev. John S. Gatewood, St. Paul United Methodist Church, said their agreement hinged solely upon their decisions to accept an unsolicited offer from United Churches to give them an hour of free radio time. Rev. Gatewood said he had decided before Wednesday’s announcement to withdraw.
The other six ministers could not be reached.
In a meeting with Cazares several hours after the announcement, Maren indicated that Sorrel Allen, United Churches’ membership and public affairs director, may be relieved of his position because of the publicity that got out of hand. He said Allen “was in a difficult position, and part of his difficulty was in not communicating how hot the situation was.”
Earlier, Maren had explained the guards as an attempt to prevent robberies, but conceded that their intense inspection of strangers could be an indication “that United Churches was getting a little uptight.”
Continuing our year in review: The stories of June 2023
We began the month still reeling, of course, from the news of Danny Masterson’s conviction. But there was also the intriguing subplot of the leak of prosecution material to the Church of Scientology, and Judge Charlaine Olmedo ordered Masterson’s attorneys to appear at a meeting to discuss it.
It was in June that we got the distressing news that Mike Rinder had been diagnosed with stage four esophageal cancer. He’s doing remarkably well, and we’re glad that he and Christie Collbran have assembled such a good medical team to take it on.
After hearing from the DA’s office, Judge Olmedo ruled that Danny Masterson’s previous legal team, defense attorneys Tom Mesereau and Sharon Appelbaum, were responsible for leaking the sensitive prosecution evidence to Scientology’s attorneys, and she sanctioned them.
The same day, we learned that federal Judge Thomas Barber was granting Valeska Paris and the Baxters the right to appeal his ruling about forcing their labor trafficking lawsuit into “religious arbitration.”
With Masterson convicted, we could now tell the story of Damian Perkins, a remarkable former Scientologist who had helped bring Masterson’s victims together before they went to the LAPD.
Chicago Fire star Christian Stolte did us a favor by coming on our podcast to tell us about his days as a Scientologist.
We learned that an independent Scientologist named Victoria Palmer was running for Seattle City Council, and she was good enough to answer some of our questions.
In a surprise, one of Danny Masterson’s victims, Jane Doe 1, had filed a separate civil lawsuit against Scientology, its leader David Miscavige, and Sea Org recruiter Gavin Potter, alleging that she’d been forced to marry Potter and considered her sexual contacts with him to be non-consensual. In June, her lawsuit was unsealed and we began to read some of the terrible details about how she was forced into such an awful situation.
And then another surprise: After years of waiting for Rizza Islam’s charge on Medi-Cal fraud to begin, the state dropped its case against him just as the trial started. We still don’t know why.
Yashar Ali had a bombshell report about Shelly Miscavige, showing that when Leah Remini had filed her missing person report, the LAPD had met with Shelly in a coffee shop in West Covina, and while she was accompanied by David Miscavige’s personal attorney, Jeffrey Riffer. Also, that she had renewed her drivers license, also in West Covina, in 2010, and her years of confinement showed in her photo.
A LOOK BACK AT JUNE 2022: California Supreme Court refuses to dismiss rape charges against Danny Masterson. Michael Peña and his wife Brie Shaffer join the Scientologists moving from Los Angeles to Clearwater, Florida. Joy Villa spotted staffing a Scientology table in Brighton. After Roe v. Wade, we asked Claire Headley how it might affect Scientology.
A LOOK BACK AT JUNE 2021: An indication that Scientology was calling the shots in Danny Masterson’s defense, and why he needed to sell his Hollywood Hills home in a hurry. Video leak of a crazy Austin fundraiser. The Bunker lost Puget Buckeye. And then the world lost Ron Miscavige.
A LOOK BACK AT JUNE 2020: Scientology orgs were being boarded up for questionable reasons. Danny Masterson’s stepdad Rusty Tweed was sued for running a Ponzi scheme. Mark Bunker got bizarre records requests from Scientology. LA’s DA finally charged Danny Masterson for three rapes. And we pointed out there was a good reason he changed his DJ name in 2004, the year one of his alleged rape victims went to the LAPD. Derek Bloch wrote us another killer piece, on disconnection. And why Tom Mesereau’s private investigator might become a key witness for the prosecution>
A LOOK BACK AT JUNE 2019: Chris Owen demonstrated how L. Ron Hubbard sought to prop up the apartheid government in South Africa in 1960s. Mark Bunker announced that he was going to run for city council in Clearwater. A national legal team starts its onslaught on Scientology, filing a lawsuit on behalf of Valerie Haney. Journal claims L. Ron Hubbard never falsely claimed to have a college degree, so we published a letter to prove it. HowdyCon took place in our ancestral homeland, Los Angeles. We didn’t get invited to Tommy Davis’s wedding.
A LOOK BACK AT JUNE 2018: Chris Owen uncovered a previously unpublished and damning testament by the ‘world’s first true Clear,’ John McMaster. Actress Erika Christensen dropped a few interesting details in a conversation with Dax Shepard. HowdyCon was held in Chicago, and we revealed the cover of our new book with Paulette Cooper. Actor Christian Stolte was the star of the show with a song about Scientology. Sunny Pereira had three big pieces about a shooting in Portland, more about how children are raised in Scientology, and another slice of Sea Org horror.
A LOOK BACK AT JUNE 2017: Leah Remini’s stepmother Donna Fiore was being hounded by Scientology for dirt on her stepdaughter. Handbag designer Rebecca Minkoff stepped up her support of Scientology front groups. Marty Rathbun started posting attack videos against his former allies, prompting responses from your proprietor, Gary Morehead, Victoria Britton, Paul Haggis, and John Brousseau. And HowdyCon 2017 went down in Denver.
A LOOK BACK AT JUNE 2016: We marked Muhammad Ali’s passing with a look at a Scientology video he was in. We published Dani Lemberger’s “declare.” And we broke the news that Leah Remini was shooting a television series.
A LOOK BACK AT JUNE 2015: We wrote about that time Jim Jones talked about Paulette Cooper from his Guyana compound. We wrote about a person in our book, the inspirational Len Zinberg. We did some live-blogging from the epic Toronto conference organized by Jon Atack. We broke the news that Scientologist Ponzi schemer Reed Slatkin had died. Some poor schlub went to prison after trying to hack Mike Rinder and your proprietor on behalf of Scientology. And we had our biggest audience yet with Paulette Cooper in Clearwater, the belly of the beast.
A LOOK BACK AT JUNE 2014: Another distressing disconnection story: Where is Sami Sterne? A rare audio recording captures L. Ron Hubbard and his wife Mary Sue using an e-meter to come up with the space cooties portion of Scientology. Why we think Original OT 8 is not a hoax — the George White story.
A LOOK BACK AT JUNE 2013: Channel 4’s documentary about Marty Rathbun, Scientologists at War, Neil Gaiman’s Scientology history behind his novel The Ocean at the End of the Lane, and Joe Childs on Denise Gentile’s blunts.
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Source Code: Actual things founder L. Ron Hubbard said on this date in history
Avast, Ye Mateys: Snapshots from Scientology’s years at sea
Overheard in the Freezone: Indie Hubbardism, one thought at a time
Past is Prologue: From this week in history at alt.religion.scientology
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OMG, that's me wearing the black Security Guard outfit. I had the impressive title of Lobby Security Guard I/C. I had a flashlight, never a gun. And yes, there were guards roaming on the roof. You just never knew when the FBI, CIA or Smersh were going to drop commandos on the roof to save Clearwater. As I look back it was one of the crazier times, and SCN had zillions of crazy moments over the years. So here we were, guarding against "Who"? It is still hard for me to believe that I once bought into all that insanity. Just a few weeks later I was off to the RPF. Best thing to happen to me as it woke me up and I then escaped.
We can rely on the criminal organisation known as the "church" of $cientology to be religiously devoted to propagating the characteristics of L Ron Hubbard. In the words of judge Breckenridge
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘻𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘤 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘪𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘣𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳, 𝘓. 𝘙𝘰𝘯 𝘏𝘶𝘣𝘣𝘢𝘳𝘥.
This may be "religious," but it is very definitely driving the organisation to break the law, and for that reason, to protect the rest of the world (and even to protect the victims who are "members" of the "church"), the organisation must have its ability to break the law taken away.