Angry residents' calls jam Elks switchboard in Chicago

From Sun reports
Clearwater Sun - January 28, 1983

The switchboard at the Elks national headquarters in Chicago Thursday lit up like a Christmas tree - two hours before the office opened for business.

Residents of Metropolitan Clearwater, voicing strong opposition to the pending sale of the local Elks lodge to the Church of Scientology, took it upon themselves to let their feelings be known.

Opposition to the sale came from so many residents that the Chicago Sun-Times picked up on the story and reported it in today's editions.

The Sun-Times learned of the situation from Elks Grand Secretary Stanley Kocur.

Sun-Times reporter Barry Cronin, formerly with the St. Petersburg Times, Thursday night said:

"When I learned from the grand secretary of the Elks that he had received dozens of calls opposing the sale, that was good enough reason to do the story."

Cronin said Kocur told him that the calls "started coming at 7 a.m. - and we don't open until 9!"

The calls were prompted in part by the Clearwater Sun's Thursday editorial urging residents to protest to the Elks national headquarters. The editorial listed the office's address and telephone number.

To be finalized, the sale must be approved by a panel of Elks Grand Trustees.

The controversial church, an international organization with headquarters in Clearwater's former Fort Harrison Hotel, has a Scientology Center in Chicago at 6100 N. Lincoln Ave.