Scientology taking over CA 79 in Riverside County

Ron Newman

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Jun 1, 1998, 3:00:00 AM6/1/98

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The following article appeared in the Riverside (California) Press-Enterprise
on Friday, May 29, 1998.

Why should California allow a private organization to take over
part of a state highway?

-----------------------

Church asks to take over stretch of Hwy. 79

Scientologists at Gilman Hot Springs want to be able to
alter the roadway to cut traffic noise in the area of its film complex.

By Susan Thurston

GILMAN HOT SPRINGS

The Church of Scientology is working with the state and the county
on a plan to take over a strip of Highway 79 that runs through the
church's film production complex.

Golden Era Productions wants to plant trees and shrubs along the
state highway and create landscaped center medians to cut down on
noise from passing vehicles that disrupts recording. The project
would cost between $500,000 and $600,000.

Golden Era Manager Ken Hoden said the highway landscaping project is
the last planned for the multi-million dollar complex in Gilman Hot
Springs north of San Jacinto. The church bought the property from
the Gilman family in a bankruptcy sale in 1978 and has spent the
last decade renovating the buildings.

Several projects are under construction: a $7 million,
74,000-square-foot film studio that looks like a Scottish castle; a
nine-hole addition to the Golden Era Golf Course; a hillside
mansion to house artifacts of the church's founder, L. Ron Hubbard;
and apartments for Golden Era employees.

The Riverside County Board of Supervisors earlier this month passed
a resolution asking Caltrans and the state Transportation Commission
to start the process of relinquishing two miles of the highway.
Golden Era has agreed to assume its maintenance and liability.

John Armas, deputy director of Riverside County's Transportation
Department, said the request is on hold because it requires special
legislation in Sacramento. Law prevents the state from giving up
control of a highway that is not being replaced.

Armas said changing the law would be the fastest way to get
approval, even though local, county and state officials are working
on a new route for Highway 79 to provide easier access to Interstate
10 to the north and the Domenigoni Valley reservoir and Interstate
15 to the south. Realignment of the highway, which now winds through
residential and commercial areas in two cities, is several years
away.

Should the state Legislature approve the provision, any improvements
would have to be OK'd by the county.

"The church isn't just going to get carte blanche to do whatever
they want because it eventually will be a county road," he said.

In the meantime, Golden Era has received the go-ahead from the state
to tear out a 12-foot-wide segment of the shoulder where the
four-lane highway merges into two lanes on the eastern edge of the
complex, Hoden said.

The shoulder, which is not needed for traffic in that location, will
be replaced with ground cover to serve as a noise buffer, he said.
Work is expected to start in about two weeks.

Elaine Johnson, assistant to 3rd District Supervisor Jim Venable,
said his office has been working with Golden Era for several months
to try to resolve the sound problem. They hope planting trees in the
right-of-way and installing medians will force motorists to slow
down, thus reducing the noise.

"The idea is to encourage people to use Sanderson Avenue," she said.

In January, Golden Era officials approached the San Jacinto City
Council to ask that the city continue to divert Highway 79 traffic
onto Sanderson and the Ramona Expressway.

Tom Klemesrud

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Jun 1, 1998, 3:00:00 AM6/1/98

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Ron Newman wrote:
>
> The following article appeared in the Riverside (California) Press-Enterprise
> on Friday, May 29, 1998.
>
> Why should California allow a private organization to take over
> part of a state highway?
>
> -----------------------
>
> Church asks to take over stretch of Hwy. 79
>
> Scientologists at Gilman Hot Springs want to be able to
> alter the roadway to cut traffic noise in the area of its film complex.
>
> By Susan Thurston
>
> GILMAN HOT SPRINGS
>
> The Church of Scientology is working with the state and the county
> on a plan to take over a strip of Highway 79 that runs through the
> church's film production complex.
>
> Golden Era Productions wants to plant trees and shrubs along the
> state highway and create landscaped center medians to cut down on
> noise from passing vehicles that disrupts recording. The project
> would cost between $500,000 and $600,000.

This is strange. Most of the nation's rock recording studios in
North Hollywood and Burbank, as well as Warner and Disney Studios,
are in the takeoff and landing path of Burbank Airport, and the studio
sound proofing seems to keep out the noise.

How much noise can Keith Henson's care make?

Tom Klemesrud SP6
KoX

Reverend Tweek

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Jun 1, 1998, 3:00:00 AM6/1/98

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Ron Newman <rne...@thecia.net> shows us a Riverside (California)
Press-Enterprise article of Friday, May 29, 1998.

>
>John Armas, deputy director of Riverside County's Transportation
>Department, said the request is on hold because it requires special
>legislation in Sacramento. Law prevents the state from giving up
>control of a highway that is not being replaced.
>
>Armas said changing the law would be the fastest way to get
>approval,

So we're to expect the State of California to pass a law which is
intended to benefit a single religion in a single case? Can this
law apply to other cases as well? Can this law be abused in other
cases? Can this new law be used in NIMBY situations to shut down
otherwise reasonable rights-of-way?

>even though local, county and state officials are working
>on a new route for Highway 79 to provide easier access to Interstate
>10 to the north and the Domenigoni Valley reservoir and Interstate
>15 to the south. Realignment of the highway, which now winds through
>residential and commercial areas in two cities, is several years
>away.

Is the realignment going to wind through these commercial and residential
areas as well? Will the old 79 still exist as an alternate route, or
will the <cough> religious entity try to make the old route into a private
road? Will section 892 of the California Streets and Highways code or some
other similar section fall into play? [Rights-of-way [...] shall not be
abandoned unless the governing body determines that the right of way is
not usefull for non-motorized transportation.] If the re-alignment will
cause a non-motorized vehicle to follow an unreasonable detour to get
from location A to B, or if the realligned portion is built as a freeway,
then it appears to me that there is absolutely no way that State should be
allowed to give up the right of way.

>Should the state Legislature approve the provision, any improvements
>would have to be OK'd by the county.
>
>"The church isn't just going to get carte blanche to do whatever
>they want because it eventually will be a county road," he said.

Hmmm, sec 892(b) S&HC would require that it be considered for local
transportation use... but what is this proposed law they want the
legislature to vote on?

>In the meantime, Golden Era has received the go-ahead from the state
>to tear out a 12-foot-wide segment of the shoulder where the
>four-lane highway merges into two lanes on the eastern edge of the
>complex, Hoden said.
>
>The shoulder, which is not needed for traffic in that location, will
>be replaced with ground cover to serve as a noise buffer, he said.
>Work is expected to start in about two weeks.

Wasn't Rev Barton's (or was it Holden?) concern when Keith was
protesting there, that the road was already too narrow? Now they're
ripping out the saftey shoulder?

>In January, Golden Era officials approached the San Jacinto City
>Council to ask that the city continue to divert Highway 79 traffic
>onto Sanderson and the Ramona Expressway.

And a cyclist travelling from San Jacinto to an area north of Soboba Hot
Springs would be required to add five miles onto a two mile ride in order
to take this detour?

Colin R. Leech

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Jun 2, 1998, 3:00:00 AM6/2/98

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If noise were all they were concerned about, an easy solution would be to
allow them to do the landscaping that they desire, but with the government
still retaining ownership of the road. From some of the other responses,
it seems that they want to control protesters near their site, and
cyclists may be the ones to suffer if the road is closed in favour of a
freeway-grade CA 79 realignment that doesn't allow bicycles.

--
#### |\^/| Colin R. Leech ag414 or crl...@freenet.carleton.ca
#### _|\| |/|_ Civil engineer by training, transport planner by choice.
#### > < Opinions are my own. You may consider them shareware.
#### >_./|\._< "If you can't return a favour, pass it on." - A.L. Brown

toy....@mailexcite.com

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Jun 2, 1998, 3:00:00 AM6/2/98

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In article <6kvrm9$7...@freenet-news.carleton.ca>,

ag...@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Colin R. Leech) wrote:
>
>
> If noise were all they were concerned about, an easy solution would be to
> allow them to do the landscaping that they desire, but with the government
> still retaining ownership of the road. From some of the other responses,
> it seems that they want to control protesters near their site, and
> cyclists may be the ones to suffer if the road is closed in favour of a
> freeway-grade CA 79 realignment that doesn't allow bicycles.
>

Critical Scientology Links:

http://www.lermanet.com
http://www.xenu.net/
http://www.primenet.com/~cultxpt/lisa.htm
http://www.factnet.org
Boston Herald - Series on Scientology; March 1998 (link may expire soon):
http://www.bostonherald.com/scientology/
http://www.csj.org

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Geoff Burling

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Jun 6, 1998, 3:00:00 AM6/6/98

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On Mon, 01 Jun 1998 11:57:59 -0400, rne...@thecia.net (Ron Newman)
saith:

>The following article appeared in the Riverside (California) Press-Enterprise
>on Friday, May 29, 1998.
>
>Why should California allow a private organization to take over
>part of a state highway?
>

The whole issue of Riverside county or the state of California
abandoning a stretch of highway is simply bizzare.

I walked along this public thoroughfare earlier this year, & can
attest that it is regularly used. I'd say, on average, one or two cars
every minute passes thru the stretch that the CoS wants to possess. As
far as noise goes, it's not an insurmountable problem: a little
soundproofing would deaden any traffic noise.

However, I wonder about the small town of Gilman Springs, & how it
would prosper without an important road into it. I understand that
towns can survive without highways into them -- one can look to West
Virginia for examples -- but I doubt any community wants to be
dependent on the whims of a criminal organization.

Geoff
Olympic-Class Bore

Note that my return address has been munged to foil spambots.
Want to try Hubbard's ``Tech"? Go to http://www.fza.org/pilot/
& do it for free!!!

David Gerard

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Jun 6, 1998, 3:00:00 AM6/6/98

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On Tue, 02 Jun 1998 21:14:09 GMT, toy....@mailexcite.com wrote:

:Critical Scientology Links:
:Boston Herald - Series on Scientology; March 1998 (link may expire soon):
:http://www.bostonherald.com/scientology/

Has anyone mirrored this yet?

--
http://thingy.apana.org.au/~fun/ AGSF Unit 0|4 http://suburbia.net/~fun/
Stop JUNK EMAIL Boycott AMAZON.COM http://mickc.home.mindspring.com/index1.htm
"Well, if that's really the way you feel," he sighed, lying back again, "then
there's nothing worse I can wish on you than to be exactly the fuckhead you so
obviously are." Iain M. Banks, 'Use Of Weapons'

S.D. Rhodes

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Jun 8, 1998, 3:00:00 AM6/8/98

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> >John Armas, deputy director of Riverside County's Transportation
> >Department, said the request is on hold because it requires special
> >legislation in Sacramento. Law prevents the state from giving up
> >control of a highway that is not being replaced.
> >
> >Armas said changing the law would be the fastest way to get
> >approval,
>
> So we're to expect the State of California to pass a law which is
> intended to benefit a single religion in a single case?

Sounds to me like such a law would be challenged in court almost
immediately, and would stand a good chance of being struck down.

ShadowROM

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Jun 8, 1998, 3:00:00 AM6/8/98

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If they don't like it, they can move their alien worshipping asses away from
the road.
(Not that there is anything wrong with worshipping aliens, but their little
uniforms are faggoty too (no offense to faggots). They moved in there to
begin with, didn't they?
Bunch of weirdfux, they are, and what the hell kind of films are they
making, anyway? I am sure no one is going to watch them except themselves.

~(Offtopic) Have you ever tried to read 'Scientology'? I love books, I
treasure them. This is the only
book I threw directly into a trashcan after reading the first 'enlightening'
bit of bullshit. L. Ron Hubbard
couldn't even write good science fiction.

____________________________________________________
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