Barry Coziahr
This week, one of our readers noticed that a Phoenix event was being promoted in a flier posted to Twitter. (More and more, Scientologists are using social media — if you happen to spot something on Facebook or Instagram or Twitter, please send it our way!)
The flier indicates that Barry Coziahr has quickly become a rising star in the church for the publicity he managed to get in Ferguson, Missouri.
Before his star turn in Ferguson, Coziahr was known to us for his role in helping to pull Jeremy Powers away from his family — a classic case of Scientology “disconnection.” While Jeremy’s family, including his mother Meshell Little, were turning away from the church, Jeremy married Coziahr’s daughter and was encouraged to break ties with his parents. Last July, we reported that Jeremy finally spurned the Coziahrs and the church and has reunited with his mother and grandmother.
Barry went on to his fame-making gambit when he showed up in Ferguson during the recent unrest to hand out copies of The Way to Happiness, the 1981 booklet that Scientology put out in L. Ron Hubbard’s name while he was in seclusion in order to give the impression that the church — which had just gone through the prosecution of eleven of its top executives for infiltrating the US government — actually had some kind of moral code. It’s a hilarious little booklet of ripped-off moralizing.
Anyway, now Barry is apparently on the road, explaining to people how his efforts solved all of the problems in Ferguson, and naturally the church will treat it as a fundraising opportunity…
Keep signing those checks, Grant and Elena!
Note the repeat names on this list. Just imagine how much regging they’re going through…
The East US is rocking!
Ooh, a New Year’s greeting from the folks at CSRT — the Church of Scientology Religious Trust — the folks who will be knocking at your door at 2 am to make sure you sign that check for an L. Ron Hubbard Hall donation!
“Your infinity of future” — just rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it.
Ah, money!
1,000 auditors by March 13!
And finally: Yikes, is Fearless Leader asking us to shed a little blood for Scientology?
Thanks again to our great tipsters!
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Who is on Scientology’s anti-aquarium hit squad?
The Tampa Bay Times had a fascinating story yesterday about the Church of Scientology being sneaky and trying to undercut the city of Clearwater’s attempts to move an aquarium to its desolate downtown. Since Scientology used subterfuge to invade the Florida town’s downtown in 1975, the place has become a creepy desert that tourists have learned to avoid. The aquarium, which features the dolphin Winter, the one with the prosthetic tail, is probably Clearwater’s best chance to start to revive the place.
But the Times reported that the church, which is officially neutral, has been working behind the scenes to keep the project from happening — clearly, Scientology wants the creepy downtown all to itself.
The Times cited city commissioners who said the church’s opposition is obvious, but the most interesting part of the story was this assertion that the church has hired a kind of hit squad that is investigating the aquarium non-profit just like it would any other former church member or critic…
The campaign has become increasingly aggressive. The church has brought in an accountant, an economist and an investigative reporter to dig into the nonprofit aquarium’s financial projections and its animal-care history, according to aquarium supporters.
That is so Scientology! But for some reason, the newspaper didn’t name these three individuals. We can guess who the investigative reporter might be, but do any of our tipsters know for sure who that is, as well as the accountant and the economist? We’d love to know!
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Bonus photos from our tipsters
Here’s a Facebook photo of Barry Coziahr suited up for the Cause Resurgence Rundown at Super Power! If you’re going to run around a pole for hours at a time in order to become superhuman, you need the right duds!
Scientologists are using social media more than ever. Drop us a line if you spot them posting images to Instagram or Facebook!
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21 days until Alex Gibney’s film Going Clear: Scientology & the Prison of Belief opens at the Sundance Film Festival at 2:30 pm on Sunday, January 25 in Park City, Utah
8 days until our special Underground Bunker announcement at noon, January 12
Posted by Tony Ortega on January 4, 2015 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 cover to cover with the help of LA attorney and former church member Vance Woodward
UP THE BRIDGE: Claire Headley and Bruce Hines train us as Scientologists
GETTING OUR ETHICS IN: Jefferson Hawkins explains Scientology’s system of justice
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
