Group protests Jehovah's Witnesses
by Jeff St. John
Herald staff writer
Several protesters picketed the Jehovah's Witnesses district convention Friday at the Tri-Cities Coliseum, calling attention to an Othello child rape and molestation case they say taints the church. Protesters with the Silent Lambs organization said the case of odriguez, who was raped as a child by Manuel Beliz, a Jehovah's Witnesses elder in her Othello congregations, points to the church's cover-ups of sexual abuse. "This is in support of odriguez," said protester Richard Rawe, of . "It's to inform parents and children about what they can do when they're attacked."
Jehovah's Witnesses representatives at the Zealous Kingdom Proclaimers convention, which will draw an estimated 5,600 people each wee d for five wee ds in July and August, declined to respond to the protesters' allegations directly. "Ou esponse is to direct the public's attention to the Web page, www.jw-media.org, where the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society have addressed these issues in great detail," said Eddie Rubbs, news representative. Manuel Beliz was sentenced to 11 years in prison last September on child rape and molestation charges involving Rodriguez when she was a child. In January, Rodriguez brought a civil lawsuit against the Othello Jehovah's Witnesses, Beliz and the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, the , N.Y.-based umbrella organization of the church, alleging a cover-up of the sexual abuse. Rawe and his wife have been protesting the church since 1977, when they were banned from the church.