On Wednesday,
Erin Hodges Plumb wrote up her visit to the
San Jacinto City Council, which briefly considered the notion of closing
Gilman Springs Road before approving a motion never to bring the subject up again.
Closing the road has long been a dream of the Church of Scientology, whose secretive 500-acre "
Int Base" management compound is split in two by the highway. But we were surprised that Scientology might still be trying to make that happen for one simple reason: Int Base is becoming an afterthought.
Once, the Southern
California base housed some 800
Sea Org workers, and was the primary home of Scientology leader
David Miscavige. It was also the location of Miscavige's notorious prison for his top lieutenants, known as "
The Hole." But after the conditions in The Hole were made public in
2009, Miscavige has lessened the compound's importance. The population at the base has fallen to around 250, a new set of studios was opened in
Hollywood so the base's "
Golden Era" studios have less reason to exist, and recent defectors claim that Miscavige himself hasn't been at the base in four years.