Roof collapse on eve of JW convention

by candidlynuts 5 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  candidlynuts

  Roof collapses at Foster City hotel

  By Liz Harrelson

  Palo Alto Daily News

  A slow-moving avalanche of rotten wood and drywall brought down a portion of the Crowne Plaza Hotel's roof in Foster City on Thursday, prompting a partial evacuation and the shuttering of at least 60 hotel rooms on the eve of a massive Jehovah's Witness convention.

  No one was injured.

  ``Thank God no one was under that, that no one was hurt,'' said Foster City Mayor Linda Koelling as she viewed the damage.

  At least 100 people and possibly as many as 120 were evacuated from the hotel after a manager standing in the entrance and beneath the unstable roof heard creaking and witnessed the roof fall about two feet, said San Mateo Fire Department battalion Chief Mike Borean.

  ``Apparently water had been collecting in there for quite some time and rotted out the structural beams,'' said Borean.

  Around 5:45 p.m. the beams fell another 12 feet, though by that time the entire northern side of the 350-room hotel had been evacuated and the immediate area cordoned-off, said Borean.

  ``It's kind of scary, kind of crazy,'' said Kelly Branson, a resident of Plymouth, Calif., who is staying at the hotel and attending a three-day Jehovah's Witness convention at the Cow Palace, in Brisbane, which draws an estimated 10,000 worshippers.

  Foster City Fire Department Battalion Chief Stan Maupin said wood weakened by dry rot caused the roof to fall.

  ``In general dry rot is caused by moisture getting into the wood and over a long period of time degrading the wood to a point where it will no longer hold it's own weight,'' said Maupin.

  About 60 rooms were shut down Thursday night and will be inspected by a building official today before they are reopened, said Maupin.
• 

  Swan

  "Thank God no one was under that, that no one was hurt,'' said Foster City Mayor Linda Koelling

  Notice she said God, not Jehovah.

  When I was small we went to an assembly in Medford, OR in 1968. Some people in our congregation were riding down in a carpool together when there was a sudden blowout on the freeway. Their car ended up upside-down and one of our overseers (as elders were known back then) was killed, his head crushed like a mellon.

  I wondered, why Jehovah wouldn't ensure our safety traveling to and attending his assemblies if he was truly directing things? At the end of every assembly the District Overseer's final wrap-up talk told about all the blessings Jehovah had caused to happen to have this assembly come about. Some official in charge of the stadium would push through a permit that was holding things up, or some hotel manager who was very curt with the rooming committee before was now complimenting the brothers for the nice well behaved families and asking "Will you be back next year?" These experiences were interspersed with "See how Jehovah directs things?" and "What a fine example of Jehovah's direction!" followed by lots of applause.

  And then we went home and had a funeral.

  The following year, a tired sister was killed crossing a roller-coaster track on her way home. It was after one of the eight long days at the Empire Stadium in Vancouver, BC in 1969. On the last day we had the final wrap-up talk relating wonderful experiences with police, hotel managers, stadium employees, and others as proof of Jehovah's blessing and direction. I'm sure after that several other people went home and had a funeral.

  After that, I tried to keep rationalizing it, but the experiences in the yearbook of JWs in Africa who had soldiers invading and shooting up their homes while they were safe at the KH no longer seemed credible to me.

  Tammy
• 

  sspo

  http://whydoesgodhateamputees.com/
• 

  VM44

  ...some hotel manager who was very curt with the rooming committee before was now complimenting the brothers for the nice well behaved families and asking "Will you be back next year?"

  This is NOT because of Jehovah's blessing...the hotel manager is asking if they will be back next year because he is interesting in the INCOME from renting the rooms to these people!!!

  When the convention or assembly speaker tries to show that Jehovah has blessed the assembly by giving some anecdotal stories (which are usually vague and lack specific details and _cannot_ be verified easily) it is a simple attempt to give a false impression to the attendees.

  Remember that it is likely that the only things the people will remember from the assembly are the last things said, so leave the impression that Jehovah God himself has blessed the whole assembly.

  Simply an example of Mind Control, or Thought Influencing, on the part of the Watchtower speakers.

  --VM44
• 

  Swan

  This is NOT because of Jehovah's blessing...the hotel manager is asking if they will be back next year because he is interesting in the INCOME from renting the rooms to these people!!!

  When the convention or assembly speaker tries to show that Jehovah has blessed the assembly by giving some anecdotal stories (which are usually vague and lack specific details and _cannot_ be verified easily) it is a simple attempt to give a false impression to the attendees.

  Remember that it is likely that the only things the people will remember from the assembly are the last things said, so leave the impression that Jehovah God himself has blessed the whole assembly.

  Exactly! But it took that 10-year-old child another 25 to figure it out completely and walk away. You might have doubts, but other factors, such as emotional dependence on your family, conspire to keep you from acting upon them.

  In 1986 I was at work and some co-workers were talking about their first jobs. One cleaned the dorms in Corvallis after the JW convention, and he did not have anything good to say about the condition the rooms were left in, contrary to the many glowing remarks quoted from the janitorial staff by the district overseer at that convention's wrap-up talk.

  By then I had pretty well figured out it was all BS, and knew that I could die from an accident at the assembly just as well as anywhere else. There was no Jehovah directing the convention and keeping us safe. But it took a long time for me to get from the point of the logical questioning of a ten-year-old to the total disbelief of a JW pretender.

  Tammy

  Tammy
• 

  sass_my_frass

  "Hooray, earthquakes! The end is close!!"