Residents forced to move from their homes so the Church of Scientology can expand its golf course



Residents at a long-established trailer park have been forced to leave in order to make way for an expanded Scientology-owned golf course, it has emerged.

The Sleepy Hollow Trailer Park, in San Jacinto, California, sits next to one of the Church of Scientology's headquarters and has been providing affordable housing for more than 30 years.

Now all but one of its 21 residents have gone after Business Management Services, which buys properties for the Church of Scientology, bought the land from an investment company.

End of the link: Residents of the Sleepy Hollow Trailer Park, circled, have been forced out by a planned extension of the nine-hole Golden Era golf course

The park property will be used for an expansion of the nine-hole golf course, which is run by Golden Era Productions - the Scientology centre that makes videos and training materials for the religion.

Catherine Fraser, director of public affairs for Golden Era, said in a statement that the residents' rent 'was waived in order to assist them in their move'.

She also wrote that Golden Era Productions lets local non-profit and charity organisations use the course for fundraisers and has helped more than 100 groups raise a total of $200,000 in the past year.

Putting up a fight: Candice Savage, one of the last to be evicted from the site, said she could not afford removal costs of her mobile home

The last two remaining tenants, Candice Savage and Joseph Neely, had fought to stay at the park sighting a state law that requires trailer park residents to be given a one-year notice to leave.

But they have since been evicted after Superior Court Commissioner, Kathleen Jacobs, found the mobile home residency law did not apply.



Attorney Joseph Wojcik, whose firm was retained for the eviction cases, told The Press Enterprise the pair had not paid rent or bills since at least last June.

Not happy: Joseph Neely, who has since moved in with his girlfriend, said he was worried about relocation coasts and what would happen to his pet dogs

The new owner offered to wave the rent 'not because they were obligated to, but they felt it was a way to facilitate the move, to make it a little easier for them,' he said.

Neely, 55, a six-year Air Force veteran with college degrees, who paid $335 a month in rent, had been worried about how he would afford the move and what would become of his two beloved collie dogs.

He is disabled after a suffering a head injury in a car accident that killed his five-and-a-half-year-old daughter.



Purchase: Business Management Services, which buys properties for the Church of Scientology, bought the seven-acre land from an investment company

A spokesman for the Church of Scientology confirmed that Neely has since moved from the seven-acre park and in with his girlfriend.



Savage, who paid $275 a month in rent, is yet to move.



'I can't afford to lose my RV,' Savage, 43, she told the PE. 'I need help monetarily to move it.'



She had been offered $800 but that was withdrawn, she said. She then received a 60-day notice to move and later the eviction notice.

The Church of Scientology spokesman added they were helping Savage to move however.