Scientology lawyers want autopsy photos suppressed

Times staff writers

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 18, 2000

LARGO -- Photographs taken during the 1995 autopsy on Scientologist Lisa McPherson should not be made public, the Church of Scientology argued in a motion filed Thursday.

The photos would "aggravate the hostile publicity which the church has already received" from being charged in McPherson's death, Scientology lawyers argued. The photos almost certainly would be widely published.

The church's worldwide headquarters in Clearwater is charged in Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Court with abuse of a disabled adult and illegally practicing medicine on McPherson, a longtime Scientologist who died in the care of Scientology staff members.

Teen unresponsive after fall from roof of condominium

SEMINOLE -- Jack "J.P." Palmer has been climbing around roofs since he was 9 or 10, tagging along with his stepfather as he repairs air conditioners. The 14-year-old Osceola High freshman was with his stepfather, Randy Becker, and his sister's fiance, Joey Costner, Wednesday night as they worked on an air conditioner atop the Open Water condominium in Treasure Island.

J.P. fell from the three-story roof and hit his head on the concrete, fracturing his skull. He was in critical condition Thursday at Bayfront Medical Center, where he was taken by helicopter after the accident.

His mother, Kathy Becker, described him as unresponsive.

Dredging of Anclote called inadequate

TARPON SPRINGS -- People who use the Anclote River to get from this city's docks to the Gulf of Mexico pleaded for years for the river to be dredged, but nothing happened.

Now, after the intervention of Congress, the dredging is done.

A crew suctioned thousands of cubic yards of silt out of the river's navigational channel, making it at least 9 feet deep at low tide. The city and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers may be satisfied with the work, but some of the business people who pleaded the most urgently for the project are not applauding. "They really didn't do a whole lot," said Julie Russell, owner of Pelican Point Seafood.

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.