OSA Press Release (December 21, 1984)

Source  “PR Newswire”
Author  Heber C. Jentzsch
Date  December 21st, 1984¹

LOS  ANGELES,  Dec.  21/PRN  –  Los  Angeles  Superior  Court  Judge  Lawrence
Waddington has granted a temporary restraining order against the release of thousands of
pages  of  the  personal  and  private  papers  of  best-selling  author  and  founder  of
Scientology,  L.  Ron  Hubbard,  a  spokesman  for  the  Church  of  Scientology  announced
today.

The restraining order was granted as a result of a suit filed yesterday by individuals –
whose  names  were  withheld  due  to  reasons  of  confidentiality  –  who  are  named  in  the
documents  and  are  asserting  their  own  right  to  privacy  and  protesting  the  fact  that
personal information about them had been released in violation of their First Amendment
rights.

According  to  Howard  Stechel,  attorney  of  record  for  the  action  filed  yesterday,  “The
granting of this restraining order by the court is a major victory for all American citizens
who  expect  the  court  system  to  protect  them  from  the  dangers  of  being  viciously
maligned by those with malicious or even criminal intentions.”

The  private  papers  of  Hubbard  have  been  the  subject  of  a  lawsuit  for  more  than  two
years,  after  former  church  archivist  clerk  Gerald  Armstrong  allegedly  stole  several
thousand pages of private archival material belonging to Hubbard, the church claims. The
Church of Scientology and Hubbard’s wife, Mary Sue Hubbard, sued Armstrong for the
return of the stolen documents.

At a press conference today at the newly completed L. Ron Hubbard Gallery, Rev. Heber
Jentzsch,  president  of  the  Church  of  Scientology  International,  dealt  directly  with
Armstrong’s “theft” of the Hubbard documents and his failure to research and document
the  actual  facts  of  Hubbard’s  life,  which  Jentzsch  emphasized  that  church  researchers
were easily able to document.

“What Armstrong’s interest is in these stolen materials has yet to become totally clear,”
Jentzsch said. “We are confident, however, that in the final analysis, when discovery has
been completed, the facts will show that Armstrong has affiliated himself with the IRS. It
is hard to tell at this point who is using whom, but clearly they deserve each other.”

Jentzsch provided a package of completed biographical research about Hubbard’s life to
those attending the press conference, comparing Armstrong’s “specious” interpretation of
isolated documents with what he claimed was the true story, as revealed in the completed
research materials.

“Armstrong  was  incapable  of  even  the  simplest  biographical  research,”  Jentzsch  said.
“Yet he presented his twisted, malicious interpretation in a court of law as though it were
the truth.

“Even in court, when Armstrong’s claims about Mr. Hubbard’s life were documented as
false,” Jentzsch continued, “he admitted that he merely ‘went through some books … but
that was it … I stand corrected.’”

The  biographical  documents  released  to  public  view  are  only  part  of  the  thousands  of
pages of records that comprise the personal archives of Hubbard, according to Jentzsch.
“Mr. Hubbard’s extensive personal records are the raw materials from which a biography
of monumental scope will one day be written,” Jentzsch said.

“Here at the L. Ron Hubbard Gallery,” he added, “one sees only a small portion of the
results  of  the  humanitarian  works  of  Mr.  Hubbard  and  a  mere  fraction  of  the  many
recognitions which continue to pour in from around the world.

Contact – Rev. Heber C. Jentzsch of the Church of Scientology at 213-662-9431.

Notes