Dear Abby--Religious knocking on my door...

by orbison11 27 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  blondie

  Hey vitty, I posted this URL above

  Jehovah's Witnesses knocked on door once too often

  CLEONA (AP) — A Lebanon County woman who said she repeatedly told Jehovah's Witnesses to stay off her property won a $632 judgment against one of them who showed up at her door and woke her up anyway. Jennie Basiago was awarded the money by a local district justice after filing a civil trespassing complaint in Cleona, a community near Lebanon, against Bernadine DiStefano, a member of the Palmyra Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses. Basiago said followers of the religion came to her home every few months for 12 years and she called two Kingdom Halls in October and threatened legal action if the visits continued. But two Jehovah's Witnesses awakened the late-shift worker in February after driving down a 300-foot lane past eight no-trespassing signs and three dog-warning signs, Basiago said. "I just reached my limit," Basiago said. DiStefano said the visit was an accident. Basiago was on a list of homeowners who had requested no visits, but officials in East Hanover Township assigned new addresses in the area and the list was not updated. The defendant told District Justice Michael Smith she was driving and did not see the no-trespassing signs until Basiago pointed them out. She said Basiago was "enraged" at her and a woman accompanying her, and cursed at them. DiStefano said she and other Jehovah's Witnesses go door-to-door to discuss the Bible with people and "give them hope for the future." "That is our purpose — not to harass her," DiStefano said. Basiago had sought $8,000 in damages, but Smith awarded her $40 for each of the two days she spent researching DiStefano's identity and a day for lost sleep, then added that to the $395 penalty for trespass under criminal statutes, plus court costs.
• 

  Celia

  ... a young man from a religious sect....

  it doesn't say he was a JW... may have been a Mormon... although both JWs and Mormons go door-to-door by two....
• 

  bull01lay

  When witnessing by telephone, what should we do if a person requests that Jehovah’s Witnesses not call again?

  WTF????

  JW's are cold calling on the phones now too ????

  Bull!
• 

  blondie

  Cold calling, sort of. Where areas are security locked or private, gated, military bases, the congregations make up a territory using info from the phone company. Many JWs use it as a party time, 4 or 5 pioneers get together and using one phone to call people.
• 

  vitty

  I used to telephone witness

  Its great, you can pretend to have a brill conversation even though theve hung up !!!!!!!
• 

  katiekitten

  I always used to take heed of the signs because even though I could argue them away in my mind, I knew realistically that I was on a hiding to nothing because the householder would be steaming mad.

  My mum couldnt get rid of JWs at her old aunties door, even though she was telling them 'I am a Jehovahs Witness' (which she was at the time).
• 

  VM44

  I am sure that The Watchtower gladly paid the $632 judgment. After all, she was out in field service working to place their literature.

  HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

  --VM44 (of the likes a good laugh in the morning class )
• 

  Finally-Free

  So far I haven't been called on in the 2 years I've lived here, probably because the local congregation knows I'm an apostate. In case I move and it becomes necessary I'll probably put up a lawn sign saying:

  FREE JEHOVAH'S WITNESS DEPROGRAMMING

  Inquire within.

  APOSTATES-R-US
• 

  bull01lay

  Many JWs use it as a party time, 4 or 5 pioneers get together and using one phone to call people

  I'm sooooo glad my phone is ex-directory !!!

  I wonder if that would be strictly legal, if you checked out the phone company terms and conditions.... Not that it would bother the dubs, cos they get their orders froma Higher source !

  Bull!
• 

  rocketman

  Basiago had sought $8,000 in damages, but Smith awarded her $40 for each of the two days she spent researching DiStefano's identity and a day for lost sleep, then added that to the $395 penalty for trespass under criminal statutes, plus court costs.

  Blondie, shortly after this case made the papers (the incident occured not far from where I live), an elder informed me that the JW woman involved may have sought help from the WTS to pay the fine. Accoring to the elder, the reply was that the woman was "on her own".

  I must emphasize that this was simply related to me in conversation by an elder, who presented no evidence to back it up. Whether the woman was merely thinking of contacting the Society, or if she actually did so, I don't know. I don't know how the elder got that information - perhaps the Society wrote to local elders and informed them that if the woman were to seek help from the congregation her costs should not be paid.

  All I can relate is that an elder did tell me that she was "on her own", which, if true, I would not find very surprising.