General Discussion

among residents as to who the purchaser was. The church kept it really hush-hush. Years later, I returned there to work a FEMA disaster and one of my colleagues asked if there was a Navy base there. Explained that those were the Scientologists wearing their white uniforms. It's allegedly the word "clear" in Clearwater that attracted them in the first place.

The church has pretty much taken over the city...bought up tons of real estate and non-church resident/business owners were pretty much put out of their shops.

The Tampa Bay Times (formerly The St. Pete Times) has covered the church forever -- even contested its tax-exempt status as a ""religion," but lost.