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SAN NARCISO, Calif. (Bennington Vale Evening Transcript) -- Emerging from the long shadow cast by countless accusations of sexual misconduct in recent months, John Travolta made positive news this week for using Scientology techniques to heal a man who was injured in a traffic accident. Travolta told the Church of Scientology's Celebrity Magazine that he performed a procedure called an "assist" to help the man find relief from the chronic pain he had been suffering since breaking his ankle in a car crash. The Scientology handbook defines an "assist" as the process of helping "the individual to heal himself or be healed by another agency by removing his reasons for precipitating and prolonging his condition and lessening his predisposition to further injure himself or remain in an intolerable condition." Spiritual leaders from various faiths -- long opponents of Scientology, which they label a cult -- responded to Travolta's story as "a bunch of voodoo and hogwash." But eyewitnesses at the encounter, many of whom discount Scientology as a serious religion, said the assist did produce noticeable results, with the injured party telling Travolta, "I feel better," before pulling his pants back on, scurrying away in tears and demanding to speak with security.

SAN NARCISO, Calif. (Bennington Vale Evening Transcript) -- One of the two male massage therapists who alleged in a $2 million lawsuit that actor John Travolta exposed himself during a session and then made inappropriate physical advances has dropped his case according to Gloria Allred, the attorney representing the claimant referred to only as John Doe No. 1. Travolta's lawyers initially argued that although their client may have seemingly groped the alleged victim's penis and attempted to touch his anus, those actions were undertaken according to well-intentioned rituals of Scientology, Travolta's religion. "The point of the interaction was not to arouse sexual reciprocation but to help an obviously troubled person clear himself of engrams, which are unwanted emotions or painful traumas not readily available to the conscious mind," Travolta's counsel told reporters on May 8. In response to the allegations that Travolta was propositioning the masseur for gay sex, attorneys for the defense attacked the accusations as "baseless, ridiculous, and opportunistic." John Doe No. 1's withdrawal of his complaint, Travolta's representatives say, vindicates the actor and Scientology.

SAN NARCISO, Calif. (Bennington Vale Evening Transcript) -- Actor John Travolta has been accused in a federal lawsuit of assault and sexual battery on two male massage therapists, with the plaintiffs providing lurid details about the unwanted advances. The first incident chronicles Travolta's alleged groping of a masseur in a Beverly Hills bungalow, ending with Travolta masturbating himself. The second victim purports that he faced similar molestation while attending to Travolta in Atlanta. The suit seeks $2 million in damages. Travolta's representatives called the suit "a complete fiction and fabrication" in a statement released Tuesday. Surprisingly, however, the defense says it will fight the accusations by citing Travolta's right to freely exercise his religious beliefs as a Scientologist. The 58-year-old star of "White Man's Burden," "Battlefield Earth," "Wild Hogs," "Michael" and the "Look Who's Talking" franchise also plans to countersue for malicious prosecution.