We’re still looking back at the most significant stories we covered here at the Bunker this year as we get ready to welcome in 2015.
Today, we’re looking at the stories of July, and once again we had some real fireworks lighting up the summer.
And wow, what a surprise we had for readers on Independence Day: Scientology’s ‘disconnection’ policy was defeated by one Missouri family when Jeremy Powers defied the church and finally returned to the family he had spurned on Scientology orders.
It was an emotional reunion for Jeremy’s mother Meshell Little and his grandmother Edie Fields, who had been harassed by local church officials for her decision to leave the organization. This was a great year for reunion stories, and we hope it gave hope to mothers like Lori Hodgson and Cindy Plahuta who are still suffering from their families being ripped apart.
The next day, we said goodbye to John Joseph, a man who had quietly been a solid supporter of the Underground Bunker we had known only as “Plain Old Thetan.” We paid tribute to this man who died at only 59.
Continuing this year’s theme of Scientology defectors speaking out relatively soon after walking away from the church, former Sea Org worker Camilla Andersson became the latest to tell her story, both in video interviews with Karen de la Carriere and in an interview at the Bunker.
On July 17, we reported that David Miscavige had managed to get out of being deposed (at least so far) in Monique Rathbun’s harassment lawsuit against him. The Texas Third Court of Appeals decided that as a CEO, Miscavige should get special treatment and shouldn’t have to answer questions under oath, even though he’s a named defendant in the lawsuit and Monique is alleging that he had personal responsibility for her years-long harassment. In Texas, it pays to be boss.
On July 23, we live-blogged the premiere of ID network’s fine new documentary about the 2003 death of Scientologist Elli Perkins at the hands of her mentally ill son.
Three days later, we learned that some of Scientology’s entities had begun throwing in the towel to get out of the lawsuits Las Vegas attorney Ryan Hamilton has been filing against the church’s drug rehab network, Narconon. With only a few bumps in the road, Hamilton has been proceeding smoothly on the 25 lawsuits he’s filed so far.
And near the end of the month, a real highlight — Scientology sent a spokeswoman, Sylvia Stanard, to the annual Chautauqua conference, where she really got an earful from members of the audience. Does Scientology really not understand that the public is on to them?
A LOOK BACK AT JULY 2013: Leah Remini defects, Shelly Miscavige speaks, Jim Lynch exteriorizes, and Christian Stolte rocks.
——————–
Posted by Tony Ortega on December 27, 2014 at 07:00
E-mail your tips and story ideas to tonyo94@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter. We post behind-the-scenes updates at our Facebook author page. Here at the Bunker we try to have a post up every morning at 7 AM Eastern (Noon GMT), and on some days we post an afternoon story at around 2 PM. After every new story we send out an alert to our e-mail list and our FB page.
Learn about Scientology with our numerous series with experts…
BLOGGING DIANETICS (We read Scientology’s founding text) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25
UP THE BRIDGE (Claire Headley and Bruce Hines train us as Scientologists) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48
GETTING OUR ETHICS IN (Jefferson Hawkins explains Scientology’s system of justice) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14
SCIENTOLOGY MYTHBUSTING (Historian Jon Atack discusses key Scientology concepts) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49
PZ Myers reads L. Ron Hubbard’s “A History of Man” | Scientology’s Master Spies | Scientology’s Private Dancer
The Underground Bunker’s Official Theme Song | The Underground Bunker FAQ
