Clearwater, December 1998

By THOMAS C. TOBIN
St. Petersburg Times
December 9, 1998

Scientologists say side panels on the buses carried ads attacking their church, violating state law.

CLEARWATER -- Pinellas County's transit chief pulled 10 buses off the road Sunday after the Church of Scientology complained that the vehicles' side panels contained anti-Scientology advertising.

The ads were purchased by church critics and were to be on buses Saturday through Monday as part of a weekend-long protest against Scientology.

Each of the 11 ads carried a different message. Among them: "Think for Yourself. Quit Scientology," "Find out why so many people oppose Dianetics and Scientology" and "Why does Scientology lie to its members?"

Scientology representatives began phoning the homes of transit and Clearwater city officials after the buses began rolling Saturday morning. The church argued that the ads violated a state law regarding published material that "tends to expose any individual or any religious group to hatred, contempt, ridicule or (abusive language)."

The law says such material must contain the name and post office address of the corporation or person responsible for publishing them. The anti-Scientology bus ads contained only an internet address.

"Until I could get a legal opinion one way or the other, I wasn't going to take any chances . . . I wasn't going to put the buses back on the road," said Roger Sweeney, executive director of the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority.

Sweeney said he received several calls Saturday from Mary Story, a Scientology official in Clearwater, and Paul Johnson, a Tampa lawyer who has represented Scientology for years. Board members of the PSTA also had been contacted, he said.

"I just wanted to cool things down a little bit," Sweeney said. "My phone was ringing off the hook."

He said replacing the offending buses with other buses posed no problems because of Sunday's light schedule.

Others who were contacted by Scientology on Saturday included Clearwater City Attorney Pam Akin and Alan Zimmet, attorney for the PSTA. Zimmet said Story showed up at his home.

Story was trying to find "anybody she could raise" to express concern about the signs, said Marty Rathbun, a top Scientology official. "There were no heavy-handed tactics."

Rathbun said of the ads: "I think anybody can see that they're extremely inflammatory."

About 50 Scientology critics showed up for the weekend protest, which focused on Lisa McPherson, whose 1995 death while in the care of fellow Scientologists resulted last month in criminal charges against the church.

Rathbun said ads were part of "an unprecedented level of taunting" against Scientologists. "I think they went out of bounds in terms of inciting hatred toward Scientologists and inciting Scientologists to react in some fashion," he said.

Had the church engaged in the same activity, it would have been skewered by the media, Rathbun said. "You might as well have no rights as far as we're concerned."

The ads were placed on buses traveling past Scientology's Fort Harrison Hotel in downtown Clearwater, where the protest was centered.

They were purchased by a group called Former Scientologists Speaking Out, which had its three-day advertising contract cut short, said Frank Oliver, a former Scientologist and a Scientology critic who heads the Miami graphics company that designed the ads. He would not disclose the names of individuals who run the group.

He said the text on the ads consisted of questions and statements that can be backed up by former Scientologists. They are no less critical of Scientology than Scientology is when it smears its critics, Oliver said.

"None of those statements are inflammatory in any way," he said. "They don't have a leg to stand on. They're grasping at straws."

Sweeney said he referred the matter to Gateway Outdoor Advertising, the company that sells and installs bus ads for the agency. He also said he fully expected a legal challenge, in which case he would seek an opinion from the Florida Attorney General.

"You think they're going to sit still?" Sweeney said. "I don't think so."

Oliver said the group that placed the ads had not decided how to proceed. "Obviously the contract was violated, but I think our point was made," he said.

In a Pinellas County Commission meeting Tuesday, Commissioner Calvin Harris said it was "bad public policy" for the transit agency to post "political" ads.

Clearwater City Commissioner Bob Clark, a PSTA board member, said he was disturbed when he saw the ads Saturday on a bus on Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard. "We don't want attacks on any individuals or groups" on bus ads, Clark said. "Whether you agree with Scientology or not, that's just inappropriate in my mind. It got my blood pressure up a couple of points."

Clark said, coincidentally, the PSTA board discussed its advertising contract last week and he understood that it forbade political ads on PSTA buses.

But Sweeney said the contract refers only to campaign ads. He said he read the anti-Scientology ads. Under the contract, he said, "I don't know how anybody can construe that as political."

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McPherson relatives lead protest

Protesters gather in a somber ceremony outside the Fort Harrison Hotel, where Lisa McPherson spent her final days.

By THOMAS C. TOBIN

St. Petersburg Times, published December 6, 1998

CLEARWATER -- Relatives of Lisa McPherson made a tear-filled trip Saturday night to the Scientology hotel where she spent her final days under guard and in the grips of a mental breakdown.

Her aunt and uncle, Dell and Art Liebreich, and her cousin Kim Krenek led a group of about 60 anti-Scientology protesters who held candles and laid a wreath outside a privacy wall at Scientology's Fort Harrison Hotel. A few feet away, just beyond the wall, was Room 174, where McPherson is said to have spent 17 days under the care of fellow Scientologists.

She died at 36 on Dec. 5, 1995, and the Church of Scientology was criminally charged last month with abuse and practicing medicine without a license.

As Dell Liebreich and Krenek wept, a Scientology staffer wrote down license plate numbers of protesters who had parked nearby. And church spokesman Brian Anderson released a written statement saying in part: "These protesters did not and do not care about Lisa McPherson. The proof is this: They are showing no love or kindness for any of the thousands of church members who live in and are continuing to serve this community as Lisa once did."

McPherson's family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit that contends Scientology's procedures regarding mentally disturbed parishioners are what killed her.

The church contends Dell Liebreich was a disengaged relative who was not interested in McPherson when she was alive and who engineered the lawsuit to cash in on her death.

Dell Liebreich and Krenek are among McPherson's closest surviving relatives. Her mother, Fannie McPherson of Dallas, died shortly after the lawsuit was filed in 1997.

Told of the church's statement Saturday, Liebreich said, "The protesters care a lot more about her than they (Scientologists) did. . . . They did nothing but torture her."

McPherson was guarded, kept from licensed medical care, held down and forced to swallow food and medicine, according to documents in the civil and criminal cases against Scientology.

Saturday marked the first time McPherson's family had been to the Fort Harrison. They traveled from Texas for the ceremony, which also was attended by many of Scientology's most determined critics.

Liebreich thanked them and others around the world who have expressed support for the family. Krenek wore a locket with McPherson's picture. A bagpiper played Amazing Grace. The family held close to a private security team.

The evening vigil followed a day of picketing by the critics in downtown Clearwater as hundreds of Scientologists stayed off the streets.

Visiting parishioners and church staffers were ferried between Scientology's buildings in rented vans with dark tinted windows and holiday decorations. When protesters came near, staffers ran into church buildings, which were fortified in several ways.

A 5-foot-high masonry wall surrounding much of the Fort Harrison Hotel was made three feet higher with temporary lattice and cardboard. A row of Christmas trees blocked views at another Scientology hotel. Many entrances were blocked from view.

"The church and its members have made an active effort during this week to avoid any sort of confrontation with protesters, despite having been taunted and baited continuously," Scientology said in a statement.

About two dozen police officers monitored the protest, which was held without incident.

The church's defensive posture contrasted with its history of counterattack. At a similar protest early last year, Scientologists surrounded the pickets, taunted them, blocked their signs and blew out their candles. In response to another picket last December, about 3,000 Scientologists surrounded the Clearwater Police Department in an angry march that irritated city officials.

Their only offensive this year was verbal. In its statement, Scientology called the protesters a small group of "biased and slanted" critics who "don't represent the views of this community."

The only obvious presence of Scientologists on Saturday was on the roof of the Fort Harrison, where about 20 church staffers installed giant red letters atop the old hotel's graceful facade. The words read: "Happy Holidays!"

Copyright 1998 St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.

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This transcription is thanks to tfcvp:

HTTP://www.sptimes.com
St. Petersburg Times
Dec. 6, 1998

Scientologists steer clear of protest marking woman's death
by Tom Tobin

Clearwater--Hundreds of Scientologists stayed off the streets of downtown Saturday, an effort, their leaders said, to avoid contact with about 45 anti-Scientology protesters.

Visiting parishoners and uniformed church staffers were ferried between Scientology's building in rented vans. Dark tinted windows and holiday decorations prevented outsiders from seeing in and passengers from seeing out.

At times, staffers were seen scurrying into church buildings, which were fortified in several ways. A 5-foot-high masonry wall surrounding much of Scientology's Fort Harrison Hotel was made 3 feet higher with temporary lattice and cardboard. A row of Christmas trees blocked views at another Scientology hotel. Many entrances were blocked from view. "The church and its members have made an active effort during this week to avoid any sort of confrontation with protesters, despite having been taunted and baited continuously", Scientology said in a written statement. The protest marked the third anniversary of the death of Lisa McPherson, a 36 year old Scientologist who died in the care of church staffers after a 17 day stay at the Fort Harrison, a Scientology retreat. The church's Clearwater branch, a worldwide mecca for Scientology, was charged criminally in the death last month.
(end of article)

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www.sptimes.com
Church, critics may share path

A permit mix-up results in Scientology and its protesters both claiming the right to use a sidewalk near the Fort Harrison Hotel this weekend.

By THOMAS C. TOBIN

St. Petersburg Times, published December 3, 1998

CLEARWATER -- In what is fast becoming a local tradition, the Church of Scientology and its critics again are trying to outmaneuver each other in preparation for a series of anti-Scientology pickets this weekend in downtown.

The result in recent days has been an unusual game of chess played on the concrete squares of downtown's public sidewalks.

The match began last month when the church convinced city and state officials to close two sidewalks used in past years by Scientology critics. The sidewalks are in front of Scientology's Fort Harrison Hotel on both sides of S Fort Harrison Avenue.

One of them was torn up and barricaded this week by church staffers, even though Scientology critics had reserved the sidewalk in April with a city "special events" permit. City officials were hard pressed Wednesday to explain how the mix-up occurred.

"It shows the church has a fear of public criticism," said Jeff Jacobsen, an organizer of the pickets, which will protest Scientology's treatment of Lisa McPherson, who died in 1995 after a 17-day isolation in the Fort Harrison Hotel.

Mike Rinder, a top Scientology official, said the church requested the sidewalk closings to make room for holiday decoration work on the hotel and construction work on the church's massive new building across the street.

City officials said such permits are routine for major construction projects.

However, Rinder also said the closings were a way to put some distance between church members and the protesters.

"They want to try to goad someone into creating some sort of incident, and we're avoiding any kind of confrontation with them," he said Wednesday afternoon. "They're upset about that? Sorry."

Under the church's permit, the east sidewalk across from the Fort Harrison Hotel will be closed for months, perhaps years, until the new building is finished. The west sidewalk will be closed from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, and from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Saturdays.

Those times overlap the scheduled afternoon pickets on Saturday and Sunday, and a candlelight vigil in McPherson's memory Saturday night.

Late Wednesday, however, the duel took another twist when Jacobsen acquired a city permit shortly before the close of business at City Hall.

The permit allows the Scientology critics to start their picket Saturday and Sunday after the church's permit expires at 3 p.m. and before it resumes at 6:30 p.m.

It also allows the critics to march on the sidewalk directly in front of the Fort Harrison Hotel instead of across the street as was originally planned.

"If they had just left us alone, we'd be on the other side of the street," Jacobsen said. "Now we're on their side. They always have to be in the attack mode."

A surprised Rinder said Wednesday evening that he would talk with city officials today. He said he was under the impression the church's permit lasted the entire weekend with no breaks.

He said the church will be installing its decorations late Saturday afternoon when the critics are now permitted to picket. "It just isn't going to work," Rinder said.

Clearwater police officials said they will be posting extra officers to monitor the protests. Jacobsen said the candlelight vigil, originally planned for the torn-up sidewalk, will be held at the same time in front of Peace Memorial Presbyterian Church, just north of the Fort Harrison Hotel.

About 50 pickets from various parts of the country are expected to show, said Jacobsen, who is from Phoenix.

It is the fourth picket of its kind in downtown Clearwater, and the Church of Scientology has never allowed them to be held without a challenge.

In March 1997, hundreds of Scientology parishioners surrounded and confronted the pickets and blocked their signs. They did the same during the evening vigil and blew out the demonstrators' candles.

Last December, Scientology pressured city officials to close the sidewalk to the pickets, saying they were prone to violence. When city officials did not relent, an estimated 3,000 Scientologists mounted an angry march against the Clearwater Police Department.

Rinder said no such countermeasures are planned for this weekend.

Copyright 1998 St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.