*** km 8/71 pp. 3-4 Defending and Legally Establishing the Good News ***
4 Should you ignore “No Solicitors” signs? It should be remembered that our work is not commercial. Accordingly we conclude that the sign just does not have any application to our gospel preaching. We do not solicit funds. We leave with people life-giving information for which they may make free-will contributions.
5 You may be refused entrance into an apartment building or trailer court. This is not at all unusual. Often there may be a doorman or an elevator operator blocking your entrance. If there is no way at all to make personal calls, you may be able to make a list of the tenants and apartment numbers and write to the occupants. If there is no one on duty, then go ahead with the work in the usual way. If, while you are in a place, the superintendent or manager asks you to leave, identify yourself and explain tactfully and kindly that you are in the ministry and doing good for the tenants. If he insists that you leave, comply with his request without making a ‘scene’ and try to return from time to time until the place is covered completely. There are some apartment building owners who have incorporated in their leases stipulation that allows them to determine who shall or shall not call on the tenants. If the tenants are willing to let their landlords make such important decisions for them, they place themselves under the “community responsibility” rule and we shall not insist on making calls on them; in fact, we are legally barred from doing so. Some may be contacted when we engage in street magazine activity.
6 The courts have held that laws allowing door-to-door and street preaching by Jehovah’s witnesses, only upon permit from some official, are unconstitutional. There are still many communities, however, that insist that we comply with registration and permit ordinances. In each instance we could insist on our right and force the matter into the courts. Present world conditions being as they are, where the police are hard pressed to provide protection to citizens, we could conceivably lose such a court case. So we will agree to comply when town authorities request that we comply with such ordinances but only if there is no fee involved. However, this does not mean that we will voluntarily offer to comply with permit ordinances, because most officials agree it is not required that we do so.
7 Occasionally the so-called “Green River” ordinance is encountered. This ordinance is designed to prevent commercial salesmen from making calls at homes of people without a previous invitation. It has no application to our work. When request is made that you comply with such an ordinance, as above indicated, write to the Watchtower Society all the details, sending a copy of the ordinance and names and addresses of the police chief and city attorney.
Bangalore
