Sounds familiar new boy!! I arrived there in 1974 and it wasn't much different. I was just lucky I got to work in the Pressroom and later as an floor overseer. We made our own fun, which I am documenting starting in the current issue of the Free Minds Journal, and later probably a book. When I became floor overseer on 3-6 in the factory, we developed an elitest attitude (just to have fun with the others who were so straight) and anyone from the other pressroom floors that crossed the bridge was subject to random hazing by 6 or 7 press operators. We printed the Bibles so that meant we had a lot of "make-ready" time on our hands with the presses being down, so we were ornery. But I came to really love a lot of the brothers there, as I felt bad for many of them, so far away from home and without girlfriends, etc. My best friend Lewis Williamson from Kentucky and I worked in the pressroom, and we once took a trip cross country to Calif. and stayed at his house in a hooler in Kentucky, then on to Arches National Park in Utah, and finally camping out and backpacking in Yosemite National Park.
Yes, there was racial fights and name-calling, swearing, smoking and evn homosexual activity going on (somehow I missed noticing that). That changed when they went from 4 years to 1 and Knorr died, the awful old fart he was! Freddy was a nut job, as well as Klein and a couple of others, not to mention the overseers. Wheelock was a pain in the butt (he later committed suicide) as were many other overseers. I have some interesting Bethel Pages at: http://www.freeminds.org/bethel/bethel.htm and you can find our secret apostate scrap book at:
http://www.freeminds.org/bethel/toons/cabeen.htm
There is Quak's Caricatures at: http://www.freeminds.org/bethel/toons/quak.htm and was done by the nephew of Colin Quackenbush, once the editor of Awake! magazine until Knorr and others got jealous of his popularity. You can see a view from my penthouse 10tth floor room facing the Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan with twin towers at: http://www.freeminds.org/bethel/viewbethel.jpg
Lots of stuff there. I actually liked Bethel for the first seven years, but the eighth year was the Franz incident and it got really Fascist then, had to leave after documenting as much as I could. It changed Bethel for good after that, really strict. Too bad.
Randy Watters
Net Soup! http://www.freeminds.org
PS Good to hear from you on this board! We might have emailed before.
