Jst2laws,
As usual you are kind. But The thanks should go to ..
Gerard and not me.
I just wanted this as a separate post because of the article's importance.
Posts by hawkaw
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33New San Francisco Chronicle Article on JW Child Abuse, July 31/03 - Huge!
by hawkaw ingerard, forgive me as you already posted this but i want this as a new post.
this is big news because this newspaper is northern california's largest newspaper.
page a15.
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33
New San Francisco Chronicle Article on JW Child Abuse, July 31/03 - Huge!
by hawkaw ingerard, forgive me as you already posted this but i want this as a new post.
this is big news because this newspaper is northern california's largest newspaper.
page a15.
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hawkaw
After the explusion and shunning of Barb Anderson and the other advocates/survivors, some may have a difficult time with why the WTS lawyer takes exception to a certain word used at the end of the article.
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33
New San Francisco Chronicle Article on JW Child Abuse, July 31/03 - Huge!
by hawkaw ingerard, forgive me as you already posted this but i want this as a new post.
this is big news because this newspaper is northern california's largest newspaper.
page a15.
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hawkaw
Gerard, forgive me as you already posted this but I want this as a new post. This is big news because this newspaper is northern California's largest newspaper. Page A15
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/07/31/BA38148.DTL
Jehovah's Witnesses hit with rash of sex-abuse suits Don Lattin, Chronicle Religion Writer
Eight former members of the Jehovah's Witnesses have filed lawsuits in three Northern California counties alleging that they were sexually molested as children and that their church covered up the crimes.
The lawsuits against the church and its congregations in Yolo, Napa and Tehama counties seek unspecified damages against two individuals and several organizations affiliated with the religious group.
The Jehovah's Witnesses, famous for promoting its "Watchtower" religious tracts on city streets and door-to-door, is a Christian millenarian sect that arose in the wake of the "Great Disappointment" of the 1840s, when several predictions about the end of the world failed to come to pass.
Members hold views different from those most Christian churches preach, most notably their denial of the Trinity and their belief that only 144,000 true believers will achieve full sainthood when the world does end.
The allegations against the Jehovah's Witnesses are similar to those leveled against the Roman Catholic Church in numerous lawsuits filed in California and across the country in recent years.
The legal assault -- coordinated and filed last week by the Sacramento law firm of Nolen Saul
Brelsford -- is the latest action under a new state law that temporarily abolishes the statute of limitations on lawsuits dealing with child abuse cases, making it easier to collect money from churches, schools and other organizations with a history of sexual abuse.
Because they deal with civil law, the lawsuits against Jehovah's Witnesses are not bound by last month's U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down a California law used to prosecute priests and other alleged child molesters accused of decades-old abuse.
In Yolo County, the lawsuit was brought by Daniel West, 26; Shane Pence, 18;
and Amber Pence, 23.
All three plaintiffs say they were molested by Timothy Silva, who led "adolescent book studies" at the Jehovah's Witnesses congregation in Woodland.
"This sexual predator used his appointed position of leadership and authority over children to gain access to and abuse those children," the lawsuit states.
Paul Polidoro, the associate general counsel for the Jehovah's Witnesses, said the staff at the church headquarters in New York had not yet seen the lawsuit and had no comment on the specific allegations.
"The majority of these lawsuits are parishioner-on-parishioner incidents," Polidoro said.
Silva, who, according to plaintiffs' attorney William Brelsford, was convicted in 1995 of lewd and lascivious behavior with a minor, could not be reached for comment.
"Our local congregations and national organization take child abuse quite seriously," Polidoro said. "Child abuse allegations are reported to (the) authorities if they occur."
Not so, the lawsuit charges.
It alleges that church leaders were told that West had been molested from 1991, when he was 13 years old, through 1993.
"Watchtower defendants did not notify authorities nor take any steps to hold (Silva) accountable," the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit goes on to charge that the church exacerbated the trauma to West by accusing him "of participating in homosexual activity."
The complaint also alleges that one of the other plaintiffs, Shane Pence, was 7 years old when Silva "committed continued and repeated sexual battery" on the boy for five years, until 1997.
"His mother reported the abuse to the Watchtower defendants," the suit states, and was told not to contact the police herself, that the church would take care of the problem.
"Watchtower defendants did not report the abuse to authorities and took no steps to address it," the lawsuit charges.
The only other named, living perpetrator in the four lawsuits filed last week is convicted child molester James Henderson of Red Bluff, who, Brelsford said, is alleged to have molested then-15-year-old plaintiff "Tim W." in 1994.
Daniel Hall, who left the Jehovah's Witnesses in 1992 and now runs a "counter-cult" ministry in Sacramento, said the tightly controlled nature of the sect made it even harder for children and adults to speak out against sexual abuse.
"These children have been living in fear and are just coming out," said Hall.
Hall is working with another former Jehovah's Witness, William Bowen, who has an extensive Web site (www.silentlambs.org) devoted to the abuse problem in the sect.
Bowen's Web site, which includes a SilentLambs store selling coffee mugs and T-shirts with the group's logo, reports that "inside sources" at the headquarters of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York have revealed secret files with the names of 23,720 accused child molesters.
Hall and Bowen will be among the speakers Aug. 8-10 at a weekend conference about cults and sects being held at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary in Marin County.
Hall described the conference as a "gathering of people who have come out of these groups and become Christians."
Polidoro said he was insulted by Hall's ministry and Bowen's allegations.
"We are a well-established religion that has been in this country for a century," he said. "It's somewhat offensive when someone uses the word 'cult' to describe your religion."
E-mail Don Lattin at [email protected]
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31
Still waiting ... since 1975 !
by Amazing inwhat have i done with my life since 1975?
became a jw in the late 1960s ... looked forward to 1975 as early as 1968 ... so, out of a sense of duty and spirit inspired organizational hounding ... when 1974 arrived, i sold the house, sold the car, sold the wife and kids ... then moved to where the great are needed ... 1975 came and went ... .
so did ... 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992 walk away from the organization ... 1993, 1994 then it was 80 years of a special mighty generation since 1914 ... finally, 20 years later it was 1995 when i was forcibly disassociated by wts legal department ... 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 ... yikes!
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hawkaw
This essay deals with the age of the earth but it helps a little more especially for those still into the bible (caution I am not).
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"Library Card" Defense refuted
by hooberus inwatchtower 1976 10/15 632-6. .
the "mark" of the beast would identify the one having it as belonging to that "wild beast," giving it full support.
ellicott's bible commentary notes that the mark 'surely means the acquiescence to the principals of this tyrannical world-power.'.
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hawkaw
Hi lurk,
I kinda know a little about the subject and the politics of of the Department of Public Information at the UN.
I was provided with letters from Mr. Hoeffel and Mr. Hoeffel's boss. They refuse to locate or give me the original application blank forms.
They also, based on their own privacy information, refuse to hand over anything from the Watchtower's file at DPI.
Unfortunately, unlike my Province where I can request government information through the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privcay Act, the UN has no statute and thus they can do whatever they please.
It is so bad with that DPI office that I remember just after I got Hoeffel to send me that October 11, 2001 letter (that is now all over the net), that Hoeffel started directing all calls to his office on the WTS subject directly to me. I literally had hundreds of JWs and nonJWs phoning my office and asking me about this "partnership" (UN's actual wording) between the Watchtower (acting as am "Associated" Non Governmental Organization) and the United Nations Department of Inofrmation. I had to phone Hoeffel back up and literally scream at the guy until he agreed NOT to direct these phone calls (that the UN should have been dealing with) directly to me. My parting words were "... why the hell do countries give money to the UN, if its staff are directing information requests to other people who aren't part of the UN and are not getting paid to answer the phone on their time?
I am actually still on it - believe it or not and one of these days I hope I or someone else will get a hold of the orginal documents.
Remember though - in order to become an "associated" NGO with the UN's DPI, they, the WTS, had to voluntarily ask the DPI to associate with the UN and then agree to supporting the UN charter.
hawk
hawk
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31
Still waiting ... since 1975 !
by Amazing inwhat have i done with my life since 1975?
became a jw in the late 1960s ... looked forward to 1975 as early as 1968 ... so, out of a sense of duty and spirit inspired organizational hounding ... when 1974 arrived, i sold the house, sold the car, sold the wife and kids ... then moved to where the great are needed ... 1975 came and went ... .
so did ... 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992 walk away from the organization ... 1993, 1994 then it was 80 years of a special mighty generation since 1914 ... finally, 20 years later it was 1995 when i was forcibly disassociated by wts legal department ... 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 ... yikes!
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hawkaw
Unfortunately factual independent scientific evidence - glaciers, bristlecone pines, clay varves etc. - confirms that there was no flood, just like the earth wasn't flat but actually a sphere, and just like leprosy was not something evil but a regular bacteriological disease that today is called Hansen's disease.
hawk
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W.T. Beset By Sexual Abuse Lawsuits
by Kenneson inthis story comes out of red bluff, ca.
and is entitled "three sue red bluff jehovah's witnesses and others.
plaintiff's law firm plans meeting today.".
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hawkaw
I like the child abuse is "one of out top priorities" comment.
NOT
I think the elder should have said ".. trying to keep our image clean" is our top priority.
hawk
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30
I AM MAD AS HELL ... I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE !!!
by Amazing inthis has to stop !
... it took 15 minutes just to log on ... yes, the pop-up ads are getting so numberous i can't function, or make posts easily ...there are several pop-ups for a bigger penis - add 3" or more ... yeah, right, size matters.get bigger breasts ... like i need that at age 52 ... male ... mmmm use viagra ... right ... and with a 17" penis, it will go places that no man has gone before.buy insurance ... sure ... for what?
i am uninsurable.
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hawkaw
Jim, you might be mad as hell but hawk is glad you are still alive!
hawk (who could use the 3")
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124
Jehovah's Witnesses asking woman to pay legal costs in sexual abuse lawsuit
by ignored_one inhttp://canadaeast.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?aid=/20030723/cpn/20587021&cachetime=15 .
jehovah's witnesses asking woman to pay legal costs in sexual abuse lawsuit.
toronto (cp) - a woman who received $5,000 in damages after accusing the canadian wing of the jehovah's witnesses of negligence over their handling of allegations of sexual abuse is being asked to pay for part of the religious group's legal costs in the case.
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hawkaw
Impartial,
Thanks for everything but now it's time to stop.
Vicki has been provided a lot of legal advice by Canadian legal counsels on the issue and must take her lawyer's advice on certain issues right now that even I don't know about.
Just like you I am not privy to all information in the case until it comes out publically because this case is still before the court.
Again I for one can't thank you enough for your suggestions. But its time to sit back and watch what happens with the Court.
hawk
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56
Lawsuits allege cover-up of sexual abuse by Jehovah's Witnesses-CNN.com
by ashitaka indon't know if anyone has covered this article yet.
sorry if this is a repost.
ashlawsuits allege cover-up of sexual abuse by jehovah's witnesses.
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hawkaw
Comments from SL and request for apology.
http://www.silentlambs.org/newsletter/NewsLetterItem.cfm?SendoutID=124