As reported in the Daytona Beach News-Journal, a local mayor rescinded his proclamation marking March 13 as “L. Ron Hubbard Day.”
“After careful consideration and in alignment with my commitment to honor individuals who have positively impacted our community, I am announcing the rescinding of the proclamation of L. Ron Hubbard,” Deltona Mayor Santiago Avila wrote in a post on X. “It was never my intention to recognize Mr. Hubbard, and moving forward, I will implement new Proclamation Guidelines to ensure that our proclamations reflect the values and priorities of the citizens of Deltona.”
The Mayor had originally announced the proclamation on X, along with proclamations recognizing Black History Month and Irish American Heritage Month, with a quote: “On #LRonHubbardDay, we embrace the spirit of curiosity and exploration championed by the legendary thinker.”
A local resident wrote to Avila saying she was “in utter disbelief” the city would recognize Hubbard. Her letter takes issue with the proclamation’s claims, point by point.
I, and others (notably Stefani Hutchison at her blog where she has documented many instances of scientology’s false PR claims) have long noted that the “proclamations” scientology touts for Hubbard at each March 13th event are a sham. Scientology long ago figured out that if you send out hundreds of requests for proclamations, a percentage will slip through the bureaucratic cracks and be signed without anyone checking what they are signing. The language “we embrace the spirit of curiosity and exploration championed by the legendary thinker” is provided by scientology, and deliberately makes no mention of scientology (though of course, it will be used by scientology once signed).
In this case, the upside of having a proclamation to include in the list — “34 cities recognized LRH for his humanitarian works” — from a city where there is NO scientology presence, is far outweighed by the downside of the egg splattered all over Hubbard’s face with such a public disavowal.
We can only hope that as the word spreads about scientology and Hubbard, fewer and fewer elected officials will be tricked into signing proclamations praising Hubbard or his “drug rehabilitation” or “human rights efforts” or anything else scientology tries to get endorsements for. Scientology plays the system. The system needs to wake up.
I saw that Marilyn Hoenig commented. It is seldom that a bully demands answers, from her victim, to bully more, for clicks, and money. I most say….seriously, really…
Have a great day Kim
Coming back to the Blog after reading and posting before because I just realized something:
Whether buildings or vacant land, the more CW downtown real estate the cult acquires and keeps vacant, the less value the remaining downtown Clearwater real estate has, which in turn means more sellers wanting to unload their properties and indeed very possibly needing to sell them, making the cult’s continual acquisitions of same far easier for the cult and more attractive to potential sellers in that area. In Hubbardese this is a dwindling spiral, economically.
I suppose its one way to eventually own an entire town;; empty it out!
Sad, really. Clearwater could be a great little resort town for “not that rich” . Snowbirds. Or, a retirement community. The retiree demographic is certainly there, and growing. Not all of them want to live in The Villages.
Of course these are just some ideas off the top of my head. No reason why Clearwater couldn’t cater resort wise and full time living wise to younger demographics. Clearwater Beach as I recall superb.
I visited some family friends in Holiday back in the early 80s before I got into Scientology. They took us to CW Beach Pure, clean, soft white sand, very clean deep blue water – very nice. I’m spoiled when it comes to beaches.
With a thriving downtown, shopping, pretty bistros and cafes, some nightlife, it CW could be lovely and lively.
Speaking about Hubbard would require an Army veteran (like me) the use of Barracks Language.
Do we have a list of the millions of towns and cities around the world that are doing this. Maybe we can write to the 5 or 6 that really are and remind them of what they are doing and get another public rebuke of this cult.
Bulk mail via each of us, state by state would be one way. Assume each town does proclamations. Send comm to “The Mayor” c/o town hall address. “Don’t be tricked or persuaded into signing a proclamation for this person” and include reason why.
I think that’s a great idea. Mayor associations could also be addressed like the U.S. Mayor Association or the African American Mayors Association or the League of Mayors etc. etc.
A quick first draft:
Dear Sir,
The socalled Church of Scientology and its many front groups are known to regularly send bulk emails to mayoral offices requesting proclamations for L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology, Youth Against Drugs, etc etc
Please be aware and alert your members so that you do not inadvertently become sponsors or advertising tools of this pseudo-religious cult with socially dangerous activities.
We hope that as the word spreads about scientology and Hubbard, fewer and fewer officials will be tricked into signing proclamations praising Hubbard or his “drug rehabilitation” or “human rights efforts” or anything else Scientology tries to get endorsements for.
Scientology is trying to play the system. The system needs to wake up.
Thanking you in advance.
That says it quite well, AnEx! Now, if each of us picked a state, not necessarily our own state, and then mailed off, say 50 of these, that would cost each of us roughly $30. I would advise not putting one’s return address on the envelope but instead the address of a post office (not one’s own post office) as the return address. I would also advise that each of us participating mail our bulk mail from another state. For example, if I live in California, I could choose to send all my 50 letters to towns in Florida. I could then mail all the letters, addressed and stamped in one package to someone I know in Idaho, who would then mail them out individually. Scrambled like this, the cult could never know for sure or prove who actually sent what to whom. And I’d also advise, when typing and otherwise handling these papers to not leave fingerprints (wear very thin cosmetic or medical gloves) and to not spit gum close the envelope (DNA). but instead seal with water and a sponge if envelopes are not self stick. How do I know all this? I read a lot of detective fiction, and I was engaged to a detective once 🙂 Last but not least I would suggest that each of us participating pick a state that already has a cult presence.
As a resident of Deltona I can’t thank you enough for putting this in your blog. The citizens of Deltona DON’T want this!
Thanks for the update Mike. Hope you are feeling well.
There is a follow up article today:
https://eu.news-journalonline.com/story/news/local/volusia/2024/02/28/who-sought-deltonas-now-rescinded-l-ron-hubbard-day-proclamation/72762270007/
Answer:
Massimo Parrino, director of public relations at the Friends of L. Ron Hubbard Foundation in New York, wrote to the mayor on Jan. 10. His requested proclamation states “millions of towns and cities on six continents and across all time zones recognize L. Ron Hubbard’s birthday on March 13 every year.”
Of course there is no evidence of “millions” of communities celebrating – to the contrary the cult’s membership is on a constant and healthy decline.
That blatant “big lie” type propaganda alone should be reason to warn anyone off having anything to do with an organization so dishonest if not delusional.
God, the way they lie! I’ll never get used to it.
I’ll take a hit of whatever they’re smoking to believe that BS. “Millions” of communities?? Yeah, RIGHT! Deltona would be the 1 (ONE) community to fall for that trick. And who would have been the person to suggest they so honor the fat blubbery fabulist?
I especially love the positioning for Hubbard at the very end of the article:
Vice Mayor JodyLee Storozuk said Avila has been declaring proclamations without the commissioners’ knowledge.
“This one is definitely one where he should have talked to someone,” Storozuk said. “What’s next? Do we name a day after Hitler? Jim Crow?”
LOL! Hilarious! JodyLee you go girl 🙂
Jar Jar Binks Day?
Hubbard’s only impact on the city was using an entire beachfront hotel (the Neptune Inn) as a temporary base of operations for Flag to work in until the Fort Harrison was obtained in Clearwater. That was back in 1975 and there’s no cult presence in Daytona Beach since so why should the town issue any proclamation about Hubbard? No presence; No impact. Oh yeah, I forgot. It had to be the result of OSA cranking out hundreds of efforts to get politicians to “rubber stamp” what they wrote and wanted issued.
As you mentioned, “No presence; No impact.” I’d wager that THAT is precisely the reason that the mayor briefly considered the proclamation in the first place. Had there been a cult presence in his town, he probably would have know better to begin with.
As the article states, the mayor got a quick education; thankfully, before it was really too late:
“After learning of the digital proclamation, residents and fellow city commissioners took issue, noting Hubbard’s founding of the Church of Scientology, which many former members have labeled a cult.” The problem was Not elron’s writings but the fact that he started this insidious cult!
On the bright side, a revoked proclamation is an even greater PR disaster than if the mayor had simply ignored the request to begin with.
Wrong city – you are talking about Daytona which is about 30 miles from Deltona
But the retraction was reported in the Daytona paper. “Close enough for government [or OSA/cultish] work.”
The poor person doing the grunt work as an ‘amends’ project maybe even thought it WAS an “effective blow” even though it would never have been noticed by ANYone except that the mayor actually looked at what he’d just done and had second or third thoughts.
Typically, when naming a street or an event after someone, their background is also researched. It’s obvious that if these individuals had done a bit more digging, they might have discovered the SnowWhite case and the proven conspiracy and other unsavory hubbard matters.
But there must have been pressure; DM had to say something at the event on March 13 to show expantion and how the world had recognized who this genius was.
Unfortunately for them, the world had already figured out who the guy was a long time ago.
He was one who has consistently and continuously sold the fur before killing the bear, and perhaps he has never even caught one.
Hi
I agree. The logic would go something like this;
Scientology is tax exempt
It is a religion according to Government.
Most religions have committed crimes (catholic church SA)
Ok, but that was not crimes against Government.
Scientology committed crimes against Government directly
= Snowwhite
Government = this organisation can not be regarded a Church.
Tax exemption goes away
Scientology will struggle with the whales donating.
Scientology is now an ordinary organisation.
New rulles now applies, for Scientology, in many, if not all areas.
This logic, was not followed.
This Government failure, could not happen, in most European countries = I have no doubt that underhanded things happen, even in my country.
Kind regards Kim