Mayor abandons anti-drug program affiliated with Church of Scientology

Mayor abandons anti-drug program affiliated with Church of Scientology

LAS CRUCES — The city is immediately ending an anti-drug program aimed at third-graders after it was revealed it was created and bankrolled by the Church of Scientology.

The “Drug-Free Marshal” program, started in late November, had only been presented to five schools but was intended to be promoted eventually among all third-graders in the Las Cruces Public Schools.

Mayor Ken Miyagishima apologized Saturday and said it was not his intention to promote the religion. The mayor said he was approached this summer by Richard Henley, of Foundation for a Drug-Free World, who showed him a pamphlet adorned with the seals of El Paso, Española, the Rio Arriba County Sheriff’s Department and the Horizon City, Texas, and Socorro, Texas, Police Departments and asked if the city would “support eradicating drug use in the community.”

In small type at the bottom, the pamphlet is copyrighted by Foundation for a Drug-Free World, Narconon and Association for Better Living and Education, all Scientology programs.

 

Smith Dismisses Scientology Rumors

Smith Dismisses Scientology Rumors

Will Smith has brushed off reports his Hollywood pal Tom Cruise has converted him to Scientology, because he is a student of all religion.

Smith, who was raised in a Baptist household, had his own faith questioned since striking up a friendship with Cruise — a well-known follower of Scientology.

But the star insists having security in his belief system has helped him become more open to others’ religious practices without taking them on as his own.

When asked to clarify if he is a Scientologist, Smith tells Newsweek magazine, “No, but when people are afraid of religion they have to go back and get in touch with the Good Book. Fear of other religions means you’re questioning your own understanding, and that’s just not where I am.”

 

Cult documents to be housed at MBTS

Cult documents to be housed at MBTS

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (BP)–When James Walker hears of another person converted to faith in Christ after years of deception in a cult, he rejoices at the news. But if that new believer is eager to discard newsletters and books filled with the false teaching that once entrapped him, Walker is likely to respond, “Not so fast!”

What is reasonably regarded as harmful literature can serve to enlighten those who study Christian apologetics. Former practitioners are just one source of materials that Walker and the staff of Watchman Fellowship acquire to build an extensive library of primary source material.

Over the past 30 years, materials from countless cultic groups that range from the New Age Movement to the Unification Church have been collected by scouring yard sales, used bookstores and family files.

 

Katie Holmes: I Don’t Read About Myself Online

Katie Holmes: I Don’t Read About Myself Online

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes get his ‘n’ hers Old Hollywood-style T Magazine covers in this Sunday’s New York Times. And yeah, we’d like to know why Suri Cruise didn’t get her own, too. But then again, we want to know why Suri isn’t on every magazine cover.

However, Katie does give us plenty of adorable details on our favorite little fashion icon. For instance, after seeing Hairspray twice now, Suri thinks Tracy Turnblad is her friend and waves to her. And for Halloween, when Katie asked what Suri wanted to be, she responded with “Halloween.” And so Katie designed matching orange outfits for them both.

But perhaps our favorite Suri deet is…

Katie confirms previous reports that Suri has an entire apartment in their East Village building devoted to a gym. After being overwhelmed by the amount of attention Suri received at a Chelsea Piers gymnastics class, Tom decided to bring the gym to his little girl.

 

Sheriff criticizes drug rehab program

Sheriff criticizes drug rehab program

A controversial drug rehab program on Albuquerque’s West Side may be on the verge of losing its state funding.

Second Chance has been ridiculed for its expensive carrot juice and sauna approach to cleaning up addicts and now some people are questioning whether it’s a good use of taxpayer dollars.

“Let’s put that money, especially right now, when were on real hard economic times, let’s put that money where we know it has a proven successful track record,” said Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White.

White says Drug Court has best track record for getting addicts off drugs. He says that he has a problem with a an unproven program shrouded in secrecy with potential ties to scientology getting tax dollars.

 

Guard who killed sword-wielder at Scientology center won’t face charges

Guard who killed sword-wielder at Scientology center won’t face charges

A security guard who shot and killed a man wielding samurai swords on the grounds of a Scientology facility in Hollywood will not face criminal charges, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office said Wednesday.

The decision by prosecutors was in line with the conclusion of Los Angeles police detectives, who determined that the guard, a 64-year-old retired Seal Beach police officer, acted in defense of himself and other guards at the church’s Celebrity Centre.

A former Scientologist, Mario Majorski, 48, died from a single gunshot wound in the Nov. 23 incident. Majorski, a Hollywood native who had moved to Oregon several years ago, had driven a rented convertible onto the church grounds and confronted the guards with swords. According to a prosecutor’s report, Majorski threatened the guards and said “something about revenge.” He dropped one sword and began walking back to his car, but then unsheathed a second sword and said he would kill anyone who tried to arrest him, the report stated. The guard shot him after he made “one last run” with the sword at the guards, according to the report.

Det. Wendi Berndt said security videotape left no doubt that the guard was justified in shooting Majorski.

 

Man wants to make his home a church

Man wants to make his home a church

A. Rhodes Wilson wants to use his single-family home on Easton Road as a mission for the Church of Scientology.

Looking for approval from the Plumstead Township Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, Wilson, represented by Doylestown attorney Robert Gundlach, testified he intends to keep the house exactly as it is but convert its use to a place of worship.

Wilson is the church’s Bucks County mission’s director and would lease the home to the church. He does not there.

Gundlach presented three witnesses, including Wilson, during nearly two hours of testimony.

The hearing was continued until Dec. 16 at 7:30 p.m. Several neighbors who live along the 5000 block of Easton Road, or Route 611, questioned what kind of services would take place in the five-bedroom, ranch-style house that sits on 21/2 acres.

“What exactly do you worship?” asked Daniel Belz.

 

4000 kids under 10 on mood drugs

4000 kids under 10 on mood drugs

UNPUBLISHED figures show that nearly 4000 children under the age of 10 were prescribed anti-depressants last financial year, including 553 children under five and 48 babies.

The commonwealth Department of Health statistics give an alarming, although most likely conservative, age-by-age breakdown of the national use of anti-depressants.

Leading pediatricians and psychiatrists can offer no reason why infants would be given the drugs.

Depression expert Gordon Parker said the numbers were “beyond comprehension” and urged the federal Government to ask doctors responsible for supplying scripts for young children to justify their actions.

Professor Parker, the executive director of the Black Dog Institute, said: “At first pass it is beyond comprehension that more than 500 Australian children – aged one to five years – have received an anti-depressant drug.

“When the particular drugs are considered, the risk of significant side effects – let alone their efficacy – is of key concern. It strikes me that there would be wisdom in having the doctors justify such prescriptions to determine whether there are any justifiable reasons for such surprising data.”

 

Tom Cruise pressured Amazon into pulling anti-Scientology book?

Tom Cruise pressured Amazon into pulling anti-Scientology book?

According to John Duignan, the author of The Complex, a book that claims Scientology members are subjected to sleep deprivation and systematic brainwashing, Tom Cruise is directly responsible for Amazon’s unceremonious yanking of the book from both their UK and American sites.

Five days after The Complex’s release, Tom Cruise paid a visit to the Amazon headquarters in Seattle, supposedly to host a preview of “Valkyrie,” Cruise’s newest movie. Several days after Cruise’s visit, Amazon stopped selling The Complex , saying that the book allegedly makes “false claims” about a Scientologist mentioned in the text.

 

Germany Won’t Outlaw Scientology

Germany Won’t Outlaw Scientology

Germany has made no secret of their complete and utter distaste for Scientology in recent years. Last year, government officials dared to ban Tom Cruise from filming on location because of his Scientology affiliation. But that was really only one minor incident in the government’s surveillance and investigation of the organization in an attempt to ban the Church of Scientology from the country altogether. However, the government has now dropped its attempts citing insufficient evidence. But, government insiders say that the organization will continue to be monitored by the government because of concerns that the tenants of the religion go against the constitutional principles of Germany.