Scientology's Hollywood Real Estate Empire

"I have gotta go I have gotta go." It's June 23, and blogger *Marty Rathbun* and that i are wrapping a extended telephone interview concerning the historic Hollywood property holdings from the Chapel of Scientology. We are swapping finish-of-conversation pleasantries when someone arrives next door from his waterfront home in Ingleside about the Bay, Texas, hastening the finish of our chat. "They have got five men inside a golf buggy having a picture of my face having a mix-out signal before it at this time --- next door right now," the ex-Scientologist shouts, his words collapsing out, fast and disorienting. "I have gotta go," he repeats with growing emergency. Then Rathbun dangles up. Rathbun, an old high-level Scientologist who left the chapel in 2004, had just came back in the supermarket together with his wife, Monique, and was unloading groceries once the golf buggy made an appearance. 5 days later, we reunite, and Monique shows me video from the incident. The golf buggy is imprinted by having an picture of her husband's mind atop the body of the squirrel. Within the illustration, Rathbun's smiling face is situated in the red-colored circle having a diagonal line through it. Some within the number of five put on matching light-blue T-t shirts and black hats that read "Squirrel Busters" in block lettering. One guy includes a video camera shackled by his mind. Tomorrow, Rathbun describes, he'd known as the sheriff and anxiously waited, thinking of getting the group --- even recording all of them with his video camera. Through the time a squad vehicle showed up, the 3 males and 2 women were gone. Rathbun states it had not been the very first time he's been visited through the group, that has stated it's creating a documentary about Rathbun under the Squirrel Busters Productions banner. (The chapel declines affiliation with Squirrel Busters, and there's no documentation that shows the group is really a unit from the chapel.) A "squirrel" is really a derisive expression used by Scientologists to explain an old adherent that has "perverted" the religion. The group's appearance before Rathbun's home throughout our interview seems to possess been basically a coincidence. The conflict between Rathbun and also the Squirrel Busters is well-recorded it's been included in guides such as the _Corpus Christi Caller-Occasions_ and also the _San Antonio Express-News_. Clearly, covering the chapel isn't a simple task because many individuals have strong opinions, even if the subject is apparently innocuous. The different controversies such as the following the business --- which attracts impassioned feelings from people and non-people alike, themselves submerged in their own individual dramas --- are frequently intertwined. So the confirming of the on the face straightforward story concerning the church's huge property portfolio in Hollywood, where it's a major stakeholder and is the owner of qualities valued at $400 million, results in bizarre interviews such as the one with Rathbun, which might be just part from the collateral when confirming on Scientology.