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Driver takes aims, smashes into buildings By THOMAS C. TOBIN and JANE MEINHARDT © St. Petersburg Times, published July 8, 1998 LEARWATER -- A 33-year-old member of Calvary Baptist Church rammed a pickup truck into the church's educational building early Tuesday, then turned a corner and drove through the main entrance of the Church of Scientology's local headquarters. Curtis P. Oie, 33, of 1987 Sandra Drive in Clearwater, was charged with two counts of felony criminal mischief. He was being held Tuesday at Pinellas County Jail in lieu of $10,000 bail. Oie told officers he rammed the buildings because he disagreed with the teachings of both churches, police spokesman Wayne Shelor said. The Rev. Bill Anderson, pastor of Calvary Baptist, said Oie has been a member of the church for about two years. He said Oie was a quiet man who attended services occasionally. "He's never given us any problem at all," Anderson said. The church intends to help Oie "as soon as they'll let us see him. We will definitely get to him and find out what the pressure, what the stress factor, is," the pastor said. Police estimated the total damage to both buildings at $7,000. The incident began about 3 a.m. Tuesday, when a green Toyota pickup slammed into the front of the Calvary's educational building, 301 Pierce St. Anderson said the driver rammed one set of glass doors, backed up and rammed another set. The truck went 15 feet inside the building. The driver then backed out of the building, drove east to S Fort Harrison Avenue and turned right, police said. Brian Anderson, spokesman for the Church of Scientology, said the driver ran over a bank of newspaper vending boxes in front of the Fort Harrison Hotel, the church's landmark retreat at 210 S Fort Harrison Ave. He said the driver backed up and steered his truck into two large wooden doors leading to the lobby. The driver got out of the truck, picked up a newspaper vending rack, threw it in the back of the pickup and drove away. Officers stopped the truck a few minutes later in the 400 block of Court Street and arrested the driver, who was identified as Oie, Shelor said. Business | Citrus | Commentary | Entertainment Hernando | Floridian | Obituaries | Pasco | Sports State | Tampa Bay | World & Nation © Copyright 1998 St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.