Scientology Lies

January 29, 1976: Maren acknowledges that should United Churches fail to gain public support, the Fort Harrison will become a center for advanced Scientology study. The community reacts to its new neighbors with caution and skepticism.

December 5, 1975: Scientology executives write up "Power Project 3: Normandy": "Major Target: To fully investigate the Clearwater city and county area so we can distinguish our friends from our enemies and handle as needed." It directed that the directors of all local medical societies, intelligence agencies, PR firms, drug firms, government agencies, media companies, "psych groups," and finance institutions be investigated and "handling" be recommended for each.

March 24, 1976: The Scientologists file suit against Assistant City Editor Tom Coat and the Sun, charging that when Coat tried to enroll in a Scientology course, he caused members "extreme mental anguish, suffering and humiliation. Coat was expelled from their branch office in Tampa.

January 25, 1976: In a review of the 3-month-old Fort Harrison sale which traces money for the purchase to a bank in Luxembourg and confirms continuing investigation of the matter, the Clearwater Sun reports that suspicion about the hotel is at an all-time high.

January 29, 1976: Hubbard flees the Clearwater area after a tailor who is a science fiction buff recognizes him as the famous author and cult leader. Hubbard goes to Washington, D.C.

March 18, 1976: Margaret Cazares, the mayor's wife, also files a $1 million libel suit against the Scientologists.

February 29, 1976: Scientologist Sharon Thomas begins working as Scientology's covert operative within the Department of Justice. She works as a secretary to two trial attorneys in the Information and Privacy Unit or the Civil Division. Soon after she begins working there, she starts stealing documents from that Unit which were the basis for a number of pending Scientology-initiated FOIA lawsuits, taking the documents after working hours or on weekends. She meets with Michael Meisner every week, on either a Monday or a Tuesday, at a restaurant or her apartment. During this period, Meisner instructs her to obtain all files on Scientology from the office of Department of Justice attorney Paul Figley, who was supervising the Freedom of Information Act cases within the Department. After collecting all the documents in Figley's office, she was to monitor his office and take any new documents placed in his files. She was also directed to be attentive to Figley in the hopes that she might become his secretary and have immediate access to all his files. In June 1976, she succeeds in becoming Figley's secretary.

September 1, 1976: With the help of other GO Scientologists, Michael Meisner moves out of Richard Weigand's house and into a hotel in Los Angeles, registering under the name of Jeff Marks. He's ordered to change his appearance. GO executives know there's a warrant out for Meisner's arrest; they're now harboring a fugitive.

February 1, 1976: Radio talk show host Bob Snyder is fired by WDCL. He said the station was threatened with a $5-million suit if it did not stop him from criticizing the church. WDCL's general manager, Ross Charles, said the station attorney advised that Snyder be fired because of litigation expenses that "a little station in Dunedin" could not survive. Snyder will be rehired a month later with the understanding that he would not discuss Scientology on his program. However, he begins writing a newsletter and organized several public forums in which he criticized the church. [Early Feb. 1976; exact date unknown.]