[Times photos: Scott Keeler]
Posted on 03/27/2005 6:00:35 AM PST by dennisw
As Scientologists launch unprecedented expansion, downtown Clearwater's identity is at stake. A two-part special report
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[Times photos: Scott Keeler]
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| Scientology’s new Flag Building is the centerpiece of a $160-million construction campaign. “I get chills when I see that building,” says Scientologist Randy Poletz. But its sheer size — it commands a full city block — makes some non-church members nervous. |
CLEARWATER - The room is packed with computer consultants, real estate agents, home financing professionals, Web site designers, accountants, hairstylists, artists, interior designers.
All based in Clearwater. All Scientologists.
Guest speaker Mark DeEulio bursts in.
"How are you doing?" he booms.
"Great!" comes an enthusiastic chorus.
"Who could use more money?" DeEulio teases.
Without pause, he launches into the basics of financial planning - as taught by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.
It is the weekly meeting of the Clearwater chapter of the World Institute of Scientology Enterprises, business people using Hubbard's business techniques. Akin to a chamber of commerce for Scientologists, WISE members network, recruit employees, share business tips and hear lectures on topics such as marketing.
And they refine ideas for new businesses for downtown Clearwater.
For Scientologists, opening a business is "just as natural . . . as taking a shower and putting their shoes on," said WISE's Tampa Bay area president, Bud Reichel.
In Clearwater, the shoes fit especially well.
Scientologists now own more than 200 shops, restaurants, service outlets and small businesses in and around Clearwater's downtown. Many employ fellow Scientologists. WISE's Clearwater membership stands at 687, more than triple what it was five years ago.
More growth is coming. Scientologists will open twice as many businesses in the next five years, Reichel predicts. As many as 900 condos and townhouses are to be developed downtown, mostly by Scientologists.
A group of Scientologists from Mexico plans a project that could bring hundreds of condos to prime downtown property bought last year for $9.8-million.
Just two blocks away, a Scientologist will break ground this summer on a 146-unit, 15-story condo tower. Church members also will build dozens of townhomes downtown.
For Clearwater, it's an unprecedented wave of private-sector investment by entrepreneurial Scientologists. And it's taking root alongside the numerous high-profile properties of the expansion-minded Church of Scientology, which since 1976 has made Clearwater its worldwide spiritual headquarters.............
ping
Yyyyyyyyyawn.
ot oh. if the st. pete times is trying to distract us with Scientology, the nature of the evil that rules Pinellas County may not be so clear cut after all.
Do you really expect us to belive this garbage? This is from that link you provided.
I think it much more likely that Terri's husband used some of the $20M to buy heavy influence in the corrupt Democrat machine.
The extent of the wickedness in that place has yet to be exposed.
read later bump
Michael Schiavo Changed His Story About How He Found Terri!
IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE SIXTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT
OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA, IN AND FOR PINELLAS COUNTY
2 CIVIL DIVISION
DATE AND TIME: July 27, 1992; 9:05 a.m. CASE NO. 92-939CI-15
p.99 Michael Schiavo Deposition Medical Malpractice Pt 4
24 Q Now, what -- when you saw her, do you know
25 what time it was? ___
p.103 of MS Depo Med Mal Pt 4
1 A I believe it was almost five a.m..
2 Q When you saw her, how was she lying; in other
3 words, on her back or --
4 A On her back.
5 Q Did she make any sound at all before she fell
6 that you heard?
Excerpts of Michael Schiavo's July 27, 1992 Deposition
CIRCUIT COURT OF THE SIXTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT
STATE OF FLORIDA IN AND FOR PINELLAS COUNTY
PROBATE DIVISION
CASE NO. 90-2908-GD3 January 24, 2000
BEFORE: GEORGE W. GREER Circuit Court Judge
PLACE: Clearwater Courthouse
Clearwater, FL 33756
Q Michael, tell me what occurred on
11 February 25, 1990.
12 A I got home late from work that night. I
13 came in the house. Terri woke up. She heard me.
14 I gave her a kiss good night. She gave me a kiss
15 good night. A few hours later, I was getting out
16 of bed for some reason and I heard this thud. So
17 I ran out into the hall and I found Terri on the
18 floor. I knelt down next to her and I turned her
19 over because she sort of fell on her face. On her
20 stomach and face.
21 I turned her over going, "Terri, Terri.
The 'anti-Terri pressure' was coming from every group guided by the 'Evil One'.
He never got a $20 million insurance settlement though that's what he begged the court for so he could take care of Terri for the next 51 years. Once he and Terri got a lousy 1.3 million he started trying to kill her.
The man is a scammer, con artist. In his diseased mind he was counting on that 20 million and to make a career of taking care of Terri and to do it in high style. With girlfriends, a huge house with a separate wing for him etc (my speculation)
And the governor and president are running scared from them?
You bettcha and the evil one(s) have opperatives stationed in every party, every government office, every family...and on every forum.
OMGosh! One of the Schiavo lawyers is named Thomas Dolby!
"She blinded me with Scientology"
Judge Greer is legally blind. Needs a driver, cannot drive a car
Greer is legally blind and has a soft voice and a patient manner in the courtroom. He was born in Brooklyn but grew up in Dunedin, Fla., a small town on the Gulf of Mexico. He stayed in Florida for college and law school, and returned to the Tampa area to practice law. He divorced and remarried, and has two adult sons. He won a seat on the Pinellas County Commission in 1984 and spent the next eight years learning how to weather political maelstroms.
Stop posting your cherry picked trash. A lot from that link is valid
You want scientology then try this site
http://www.libertytothecaptives.net/
nuts imo........
"The Republican Party of Pinellas County welcomes the support of various Scientologists. Scientologists tend be conservative in a number of areas and therefore find agreement with Republicans and, politicians being the whores they are, are more than happy to jump through a hoop or two, or look the other way when it's expedient, in order to get some money or even an endorsement or two."
Based upon my understanding of the situation, I would expect the Scientologists to swing Democratic in 2008. Nobody panders to a special interest group like the Clintons.
Hillary would let them build a monument to aliens from outer-space on the Capitol lawn if she thought it could get her into the White House. And Pinellas County is a "swing" region.
And think of all that Hollywood money from Tom Cruise and John Travolta. In fact, isn't Travolta already a big fan of the Clintons?
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