GREETINGS! Sorry for the delay in posting, but it wouldn't let me submit this New Topic because I did two new topics last night! I've learned my lesson so next time will be more careful the night before a Big SilentLambs Event!
After only 3 hours sleep last night, then pumping myself full of caffeine this morning, I drove 60 miles to Orlando, and squealed into the KHall parking lot just in the knick of time! (I couldn't believe I got there, and actually FOUND the K.Hall, in about 50 minutes!!! WhoooWeeeee! I NEVER go to Orlando, so this was my Big Day Out of the Apt.!)
THE TIMING OF EVERYTHING WAS SOOOOO PERFECT! It HAD to be Jehovah's BLESSING ON IT!!!
The WEATHER was perfect! Nice and cloudy this morning, which made it COOLER for driving (my car's A/C doesn't work). I was HAPPY for the CLOUDS! But it NEVER RAINED like was predicted (70% chance, they said, Tropical Depression Eduoard). PERFECT! NO RAIN! And it got hotter than Hades outside when the sun came out. I know what Jesika means about the HEAT in Texas! Ditto here in FLA! (BooHiss on Humidity!)
OK. I first spoke with the Orlando rep for SL, Bro W in Orlando, Wed. night on the phone. He had said he was going to be there by himself doing the press conference (with possibly his wife and daughter), NO MATTER WHAT, he WAS going to be there! I admired his determination, so I just HAD TO GO! He is SO BRAVE, because he is STILL a JW, but hasn't been to meetings in several months. He said when he saw Dateline, it blew him away, and he immediately went into "Rigtheous Indignation Mode" and jumped on the SilentLambs bandwagon ever since. (He says he did write a letter to the elders addressed to one of his elders c/o his K.Hall's address about 4-5 months ago, but he has never heard a word from them at all! We both thought that was odd, especially the way the Dick Tracy Squads are out in full force these days hunting down opposing JWs!) Anyway...
So I pull into the parking lot about 10:20 AM, and there were two lawn men cutting the grass. I was a bit nervous because I didn't know if they were dubs or not, but they ignored us. (Whew! wiping brow). I didn't even know what Bro W looked like, so when I saw this young man dressed in white shirt and tie and slacks, I wasn't even sure if that was him, or if it was a "real dub" hanging out at the K.Hall (there were several cars there). So I was a wee bit nervous. But I got out and it WAS Bro W, with his wife (who has never been a JW, and she says, lovingly, that she thinks her hubbie is "crazy" for what he is doing/taking a stand on this! LOL!). They had their cute-as-pie little 20 month old daughter with them. So we briefly chatted, barely had a chance to discuss what Bro. W intended to do, when here come THREE CARS all in a row, like a caravan, pulling into the parking lot. I thought, UH OH! Dubs-Are-A-Comin'! But, no, it was the reporters! YAHOO!!!!!
There was a reporter with his videocamera from the LOCAL FOX 35 TV STATION. And there was a reporter from the local newspaper, THE ORLANDO SENTINEL, with his photographer (3 newspeople total).
We were set up just on the other side of the "drive-thru" at the front of the K.Hall. This K.Hall is in a quiet residential neighborhood.
Bro. W also had brought his own video-recorder with a big hand-held microphone attached to it, so he was recording into that as things progressed. Then his wife took over and used their camcorder to record the reporters interviewing her husband. Their little girl was perfectly quiet the entire time, sitting happily in her little stroller!
And, stupid me! I brought my 35mm camera with me, and left it in the car and totally FORGOT ALL ABOUT IT, like a total ditz! I even had a new camera battery put into it yesteday just to take today. I could KICK MYSELF! Things were so hectic there at the beginning that I just completely forgot. (We took pictures later at Bro W's apartment, though!)
The FOX News reporter interviewed Bro W the longest, video-recording the entire time. He was asking him lots of questions, and I was SO IMPRESSED with this young brother (30 years old). I gotta tell ya, that TMS training really PAYS OFF! He was SOOO Professional and well-spoken! I really admire this young man! HE DID FANTASTIC!!!! I was sitting off to the side because I didn't think I was supposed to say anything. I was thinking Bro W was in charge as the rep for silentlambs. Later Bro W told me back at his place: "You could have piped in and spoken up or said a few words..." :-( I'M SO SORRY BRO W!!!!! I was thinking I was not supposed to! I actually WOULD have if the reporters had come over to me to ask me anything, but they didn't approach me. NEXT TIME I'LL KNOW BETTER!
Bro W and I hadn't planned any sort of strategy. I wasn't even sure I was going to make it this morning, but I KNEW I darn sure wanted to be there. And I am SO GLAD I WENT! It was ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY EXHILARATING! IT WAS LIKE A "REFRESHING DEW UPON MT. HERMON" (sp?) It was DOWNRIGHT EUPHORIC! I haven't felt THIS GOOD regarding anything to do with JWs since the day I got baptized back in '80!!!! LOL!!!
Next, the Fox News reporter backs off and walks out to the street and is recording from there, while the Orlando Sentinel reporter takes his turn and began chatting with and asking Bro W. questions, this reporter using his little notepad to take notes, and his photographer was standing further behind taking pictures and walking around the parking lot taking pictures from different angles. All three of the news men stayed the entire time.
I had brought with me the printout from the Florida Dept. of Law Enforcement's Sex Offender Website the photo and sex-offender info of a MS that I was really good friend's with and in the same cong all thru the 1980s up to '90 when I was DF'd. I had read in '94 in the local paper that this brother had been arrested for molesting a minor. I was FREAKED OUT, and cried my guts out. After I learned about Silent Lambs last fall (and then REALLY cried a bucket of tears), I went to the FDLE website to see if this brother was listed, and sure enough, he was, with his PICTURE, too! So last night I printed that out and made xerox copies of it. Then I typed out a sheet which I xeroxed onto the BACKSIDE of the FDLE Sex Offender info. At the top of that I typed in big letters: WHO IS THIS MAN???? (next line) HE WAS MY JEHOVAH'S WITNESS FRIEND FOR 10 YEARS!!! Then in the body of the text I typed what I knew about this Sex Offender personally, had been friends with him and his wife, that he was a MS, what he did for a living (telephone man), etc. Then I listed a bunch of questions I would like investigated, such as: Was he DF'd? Did he turn himself into the police? Did the victim turn him in? (Whether his victim, a minor, was a JW or not did not matter to me). What mattered was: What did my former cong elders do about this man? Is he still member of the cong? Was he reproved in front of the congregation? Was he DF'd? Do the other congregation members know of his crime? Is he going door to door in my neighborhood? (They still live in the same house down the highway a little bit from me.) Then I wrote why I was there at the press conference: As a stand-in for whoever the minor victim was of this man; as a supporter of ALL silentlambs in or out of the JW congregations; and as a person who would like to see the GB make an apology to the lambs AND change their policies which harbor/coverup the molesters yet abuse and DF the lambs, etc. I also included the 9-27-02 March info, I think. Then I put my name and email address and phone. Then I put all of the silentlambs info/website/phone, etc. Then I put at the bottom: SILENCE IS NOT GOLDEN!
While the reporters were talking to Bro. W, I walked around to the others and gave them each a personal copy of the above flyer, and explained a little about it, that I would like to have answers to these questions, etc. (BTW, the FOX News reporter looks just like Officer Sweet on the old TV show, "In the Heat of the Night"!) :-)
These reporters hung around for quite a while. After the Fox reporter had video'd and interviewed Bro W, then the Orlando Sentinel reporter interviewed him, and THEN Bro. W read the Press Release which Bill had provided, with the reporters taking notes and taping, etc. Bro. W had brought some flyers that he had printed off of the SL website, so he went to the front door of the KHall to tape the flyers to the door, and the reporters were videotaping and photographing him as he did that (THAT PART WAS SO COOL!) I also asked, "Do you want to put one of these up there?" (A copy of the picture and printout from the FDLE website of the MS mentioned above). And Bro W said yes, so he taped it right across the crack where the two side-by-side doors meet each other, which I thought was funny because I got a vision of the JWs having to take that one flyer off before they could even open the doors, with the picture of this sex offender staring them in the face. You gotta KNOW they will read it before throwing it away! :-)
(I stopped typing this in order to call a girlfriend to ask her to tape Fox News tonight at 10, and we ended up talking like two hours. She said they had an xJW woman give a talk at her church awhile back, but she never told me because she thought it would upset me, the things this xJW woman was telling this church group. I told my friend, "Oh, I know all about that stuff now." She said she is glad to hear that I know about it.)
After Bro. W taped the flyers to the KHall door (we didn't have any lambs to leave), the reporters are taking their last photos of him in front of the door, and Bro W says something like, "I'd like our friend from Daytona Beach to come on over here and get in the picture..." I was a little shy about it, but I went over and we stood together looking at the reporters. (Geeez, I hope I was smiling! I really don't remember, 'cuz I was a little nervous.) Then the reporters asked me for my name (and I can't remember if they asked for my phone number or not. But I had given them my email addy with the FDLE flyer).
So now the reporters are leaving and we are all saying Thank You For Coming, etc. etc. Then Bro W and his wife and I are standing and chatting and Bro W wants to take more video of me saying Hi to Bill, so I am holding the big microphone while Bro W is trying to get his videocamera to work, when IN DRIVES THE DUBS. We were not sure WHO they were because they were in a white mini-van, two middle-aged women, and they pulled around next to us but did not roll down their windows or anything. They just stopped and were looking at us (me with the microphine in my hand, and Bro W shooting his camcorder in my direction). We kept looking back and forth at these ladies but they weren't doing anything. I think they drove out and came back around again.
I was getting a little nervous, so we decided to go ahead and pack up the car and go to Bro W's apartment together. While we were over near my car rearranging things, the female driver of the mini-van had gotten out. She was casually dressed (not in "going out in service clothes.") She was on her cell phone talking to somebody, and she wasn't looking too happy. She never said a word to us. She went to the front door and took down the three flyers we had just put there a short while beforehand, all the while she is talking on her cell phone. We wondered what possessed her to show up at the KHall in the first place? Did a neighbor call her? Did they get wind from HQ that things were happening in a few KHalls around the country? Was there an xJW ALERT issued from Crooklyn?
We all packed in my car and left, and I don't even remember what the Dub-ladies did from there. We were SOOO ECSTATIC driving away, we were on CLOUD NINE! like a HAPPY HIGH! Because it had gone SO WELL! And the TIMING of the dubs showing up was PERFECT, because we were all DONE, the reporters had already GONE, so the dubs never had a clue that reporters were ever there in the first place!!! And they won't know unless and until the film coverage is shown on Fox News or until the Orlando Sentinel publishes an article!
I have nothing but admiration and praise for Bro W!!!! He handled the entire situation like a PRO! And as far as COURAGE, I would have to give him the title of a "Mini-Me" -- more specifically -- A Mini-BB!! 'Cuz Bro W has moxie just like BB!
Then we went to Bro W's apartment and chatted and Hoop'd & Hollered & Cheered! while cooling off in the A/C. Bro W's wife put their wee toddler down for a nap. Then we took some still photos of each other, watched a little of the video on his camcorder, etc. After awhile we went back out to the postal store so Bro W could fax a copy of the SilentLambs press statement to the Fox reporter since he had given his one copy to the Orlando Sentinel reporter.
Both Bro W and I had wished we had had more time to get prepared and figure things out, but considering my last minute decision to make sure I would be there, and all the work that Bro W had already done contacting media, etc., I'd say it went E-X-T-R-E-M-E-L-Y WELL. Not a problem at all! No hassles from any dubs. No thunderous rains. The reporters were very nice! Bro. W said later he actually had gotten a little nervous and felt he was stumbling over his words while being interviewed, but I said, NO WAY! YOU WERE G-R-R-R-R-E-E-E-E-A-A-A-T-T-T!!!!!
We also stopped at Walgreen's so he could pick up some blank VCR tapes. His entire family of relatives are all JWs, most of them in other cities, and he says they will have a fit if they hear about this, so he wants to send them tapes in advance himself (rather than them hearing about it from other sources). Bro. W plans to attend the NY March, already has his plane ticket, etc. (wanna go wanna go wanna go!)
Then we stopped to pick up some food to take back to Bro W's wife, and I got another coffee to keep the buzz going. Back at their place, we took more pictures, this time using Bro W's digicam. He showed me his computer area, too. I told him I have a fax machine at home which if he ever needs to fax stuff to reporters, etc., just email it to me and then I can fax it instead of him having to go out somewhere to do it. -- Hey, Bro W! I forgot to mention that I also have a desktop-size xerox machine! Keep that in mind for future reference!
While we were at 7/11 and I went in to perform the fine art of mixing several flavored coffees, Bro W waited in the car and called Bill to let him know how things went! :-) Seems BB had several reporters and a few supporters, so he was not alone afterall! (Seems Bill also had some competition in Louisville today: George Bush was in Louisville today compaigning and hogging up all the news channels with his speeches).
It was about 1:30 or so when I finally left Bro W and his wife, to head back home. What a GREAT DAY!!! THANK YOU BRO W! You're my Central Florida HERO for what you did today! You deserve ALL the credit, because it would not have taken place if you had not had the courage to initiate it. And I am SO GLAD I went not only to stand there in support of SilentLambs, but also to get to meet you and your nice family! This is my FIRST TIME meeting another JW-rebble-rouser! :-) AND THE PLEASURE WAS ALL MINE!
Also, I guess this experience today means I have OFFICIALLY been indoctrinated into the "Apostate Class"! Welcome me to the APOSTO CLUB! (Even though I have been DF'd for 12 years, I was still a JW-in-mind until most recently. Of course, the JWs have likely considered me an apostate all along from the DFing date, but I thought of myself merely as a sinner, and most definitely NOT an apostate. Well, the Tide Has Turned! I will ALWAYS be on the SIDE OF THE LAMBS!!!)
We didn't have large posters for planting in the ground (great idea Dallas Dynamos!!! Never even thought of that!). And there really was no traffic that I noticed on the street where the KHall was (but I was so preoccupied on what the reporters were saying/doing that I didn't notice if there were).... but ALL IN ALL, for our FIRST TIME EVER conducting/being at a SilentLambs PRESS CONFERENCE, I would say for Amateurs we DID SUPERB!!! And, again, MY HAT IS OFF TO BRO. W! You deserve the BLUE RIBBON for being a SilentLambs CHAMP!!!
Let me get this posted or everyone will be gone to bed! It's finally after 11:21 pm so I can post a new topic!!!
Oh HAPPY DAY! What a GREAT DAY IT WAS!
ADVERTISE! ADVERTISE! ADVERTISE! SILENTLAMBS!
Thanks for reading everyone. Yaaa, I'm a tad long-winded... ;-)
Grits
PS: I got to thinking about the dubs and their cell phones. I betcha word got out in one location, and then the WTS notified dubs in all cities telling them to ride by their KHalls to see whaaaas up! Whattaya think?
BUMMER! FOX News had an HOUR news broadcast at 10 pm, but they did NOT show the coverage on the ORLANDO press conference! BooHooBooHoo :-(..... I wonder if they will show it another night??? -- Well, even if they do not, we still have the video Bro W and his wife took of the event, THANK GOODNESS!!! Anyone out there who would like to offer their expertise to put the VCR taped coverage into online VIDEO? Thanks!
Edited by - Grits on 5 September 2002 23:46:6
Edited again because I keep finding typos even a day later!
Edited by - Grits on 6 September 2002 15:34:36