DATE: WEDNESDAY September 2, 1992 PAGE: D5 EDITION: 2 STAR SECTION: METRO LENGTH: SHORT SOURCE: BY DAVID KNOX, Akron Beacon Journal staff writer DATE-LINE: CANTON DENTAL ASSISTANTS SAY FIRING RESULT OF THEIR REJECTION OF*SCIENTOLOGY* Two former assistants of a Canton dentist -- one a Catholic, the other a Protestant -- charge they were wrongfully fired because of their religious beliefs. The complaint was filed Monday in Stark County Common Pleas Court by Janet E. Nieschwitz, 23, of Canton and Tamara M. Milhoan, 23, of Brewster. Named as defendants are Dr. Lyn V. Bates; the Streetsboro affiliate of the California-based Church of*Scientology;*and Dave Nagoda, an official of the Sterling Management Division of the Church of*Scientology*in Streetsboro. Bates could not be reached to comment. Both women worked as orthodontic assistants at Bates' Cleveland Street office until they were fired in August 1990, along with a third employee, Philesia A. Weiner, 25, a receptionist. The suit identified Nieschwitz as a Roman Catholic, Milhoan as a Baptist and Weiner as a Jew. The suit charges that the three women 'were continually, against their will, subjected to religious recruitment, proselytizing and brainwashing by defendants in fervent attempts to convert them to the*Scientology*cult. ' The defendants also 'repeatedly disparaged and interfered with the free exercise of the religious beliefs' of the women and 'failed or refused to make reasonable accommodations for such religious beliefs and faiths,' according to the suit. The suit asks for unspecified damages for lost pay and benefits and compensatory damages for emotional anguish and damage to reputation. The suit also requests punitive damages, charging the actions against the women were a deliberate deprivation of their rights under Ohio's civil rights statutes. The Church of*Scientology*was founded in the United States in 1954 by author L. Ron Hubbard. The case was assigned to Judge John G. Haas. njs KEYWORDS: JOB DISCRIMINATION / DAMAGE ACTION / CHURCH OF*SCIENTOLOGY* / BIOGRAPHY / DR. LYN V BATES / DAVE NAGODA