i have a few which still either anger me, make me sad or just make me grateful that i am no longer one of them.
1 - "well, everyone is going to die anyway, so if it at armageddon then ce la vie" 2 - "the disater today at the world trade centre is sad, but exciting" 3 - (an elder) "when armageddon happens, i want to be at a window, watching it all".
sick, sick, sick!
When I told my congregation elders I was leaving Bethel because I didn't like living in New York City, they called me into a meeting to get me to confess to secret sins because only a secret sinner could be unhappy at Bethel.
If you don't come back to meetings your daughter will be destroyed at Armageddon.
Don't you want to see your dead mother again..you'll be destroyed at Armageddon and never get to see her again.
Threats and guilt are how they keep most of in for so long.
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Dogpatch,
I worked on every Harris press, 1 through 8, from 1987-1989. I primarily operated Harris 4, the Bible press, but got a little time in all of them. I worked on the newer Hantscho presses that they installed on the 7th floor, but they were up and running only for a short time before I left. They were REALLY nice, hi-tech presses, all the guys loved working on them. I heard horror stories about the letter presses while I was there, so I chuckle a little every time I hear you guys talk about these presses.
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I guess I'm the only one to say good things about Harris presses. I worked on them for three years and never had any problems. i guess you guys got all the bugs out by the time i got there.
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Hey randy,
I knew the second guy from the right in the photo of the press erectors...don becker..he was my floor overseer. always liked Don, had a great sense of humor.
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Tom or Randy,
Did either of you know Bob Mattson? He was the overseer when i worked in the pressroom in the late 80s? I heard he worked in the pressroom much earlier(1950s maybe?), left Bethel and came back to be the overseer after raising a family in Jersey. Later his son ..mark..returned to work there in the late 80s, but he also had been at Bethel in the early 70s I believe. They were both really nice men and I thought you might have known them from their earlier Bethel years.
Thanks,
Jim
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I guess I also am mystifed by the anger by our two posters. Even the Treblinka survivors enjoy talking about the time spent together in the camps. It's cathartic, that's all. We escaped from the evil empire and now we enjoy discussing our shared experiences and contacts amongst ourselves. I think the anger is misplaced and misdirected personally.
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gymbob,
i think i might know you. don't want to shout out your last name if you're not comfortable with that. did you trade me your skis for a pistol in Glasgow, Kentucky in 1986?
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Why is it that Sydlik was such a prick? Everyone, including me, seems to have had a bad run in with this guy. Is he naturally an A-Hole or did he just get a power trip being a GB member?
Also, a confession...I never did a dish duty my entire three years at Bethel. Started working night shift in the pressroom and when I got back to days, nobody in the pressroom ever informed dish duty assigners. I was so lucky.
Best looking sister...There was a family there, the Albrechts, came there from Alaska, I think the Dad was an engineer, he had two daughters, one of them..I think named Wendy, worked in Factory Electric and used to make the night shift pressmen breakfast in the factory kitchen...i had a thing for her...nice girl, nice body...used to see her on the factory roof getting a suntan occassionally.....woowwwwww...I was such an idiot never to have asked her out on a date...but the mindset was to just treat her as a sister....dohhhhhhhhhhhh!
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Never heard the porn video story..but how bout this one...happened in '87...I know it's true because the guy was my roommate's first roommate (before me). The guy..whose name shall be withheld..arrived from Oregon riddled with guilt for engaging in some oral olympics with a comely sister at his Bethel going away party. He confessed to my roommate who urged him to talk to the elders..needless to say..he possibly had one of the shortest Bethel careers of all time..back on a plane the next day to Oregon..talk about embarrassment.
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This is my first post, so bear with me. I wanted to comment on the Kline comment about the Mongoloid baby. I too remember everyone being upset about the comment and how amazed I was that he actually apologized for it later. I've been out for a couple years now and have been shunned by the "theocratic" side of my family, while my dad, brother, and most of the other "hangers-on" continue to talk with me.
Some random assorted memories from Bethel:
1)my friend from Florida, Dave Hausen, gettting drunk at a party i hosted, climbing out my window in the Bossert (I had an old..huge..sprawling apartment..one of the units before it was renovated) he climbed out onto the scaffolding and up a few stories...I had only been at Bethel a few weeks and can't believe that I never heard anything from anyone about that fiasco.
2)that same friend, Dave Hausen, upon leaving Bethel, stuck a knife into a letter to his roommate which he had placed on his desk. The note (paraphrased said) "Ed, take this knife and continue the wanton murder and mayhem that I have engaged in at Bethel". As you might have guessed by now, Dave was a complete nut, but not a murderer though. A housekeeper found the letter..and knife..turned him in..and to make a ridiculously long story short..George Couch gave a thirty minute lecture a few days later warning us boys on how rock music (Dave confessed to being a Led Zeppelin fan) can twist us into knife wielding maniacs.
3)does anyone remember the whole Bethel family marching over the Brooklyn Bridge, down to City hall in 1987-1988 to make our voices known regarding the city's decision to vote on the proposed apartment high-rise on Columbia? I was working night shift and remember being dragged out of my bed by my roommate to engage in the march on city hall.
4) Getting drunk in our rooms before some special lunch. Was it the Gilead Grad lunch? everyone got out of work early and went to some private party or another to consume mass quantities of alcohol. I always had plenty of booze and liked to invite new boys over to see them stagger down to lunch. One boy fell down several flights of stairs in the Bossert on one occassion. I know...i am evil.
5) Having my music collection analyzed by the Bethel police. While I was in the Bossert..which was like living in another country during the remodel, i never had any problems with Bethel spies. Then I moved to 124 Columbia and all hell broke loose with my music collection. I was summoned on multiple occassions to meet with some dick or another to discuss my music. I'll never forget some ass, can't remember his name, but I believe he was George Couch's number two boy...asking me about my Pink Floyd The Wall album..as a fan you may recall some disturbing images from the cover. It didn't matter to them when I told them I didn't listen to my albums because my turntable hadn't had a needle for over a year...the fact that they might demonize someone was the issue:) They insisted that it was up to me on whether I got rid of them, but made it clear that the shite would hit the fan when I didn't. I hid them somewhere and told them I threw them out..which caused my roommate a nervous breakdown, he was sure he would be implicated. Later they met with me to find out my reasons for throwing out the albums. Since "because you F'ing told me to" didn't sound very good, I lied and told them that the spirit had moved me.
6)The best of all. I was a servant in a South Bronx KH. When I put in my notice to leave, my PO , Bob Jones, who was also a heavy in the Service Dept, had a meeting with me and told me I would not be re-appointed to be a ministerial servant because I had made it known that I was not happy at Bethel. He actually told me that I must be committing secret sins which were grieving the holy spirit, since no one could serve at Bethel and not be happy..I swear to God he told me this. I told him, I wasn't sinning...nothing big anyway..I just hated NY city and the Bethel lifestyle. Sure enough, they sent a letter back to my cong. stating that I could not be recommended to serve as a MS since I had left under bad circumstances.....the next week I got a letter from the WT thanking me for my loyal service..geeszzzzzhhh!
I'll post more later if anyone finds this crap interesting.
later.
Jim Abbott
