As poz says, take 1% truth and bullshit your way from there...
Originally, the brothers tried to get either the Safeco Field (where the major league baseball team plays) or Century Link (where the football team plays) but neither place would schedule out as far as we needed (since they started this process a couple years ago).
Maybe true, but both have teams playing through the summer so they don't want the Mariners or the soccer team to have to work around a cult convention. More likely, they are being cheap, as usual. Much cheaper to rent an old college stadium compared to a new pro stadium.
They were promptly told they do NOT rent their stadium out to anyone! EVER!
Calling bull on that one. Why wouldn't they? Its cash money, and its a public university, if you meet the requirements and have the $$$, you can rent it. Looked it up and apparently the stadium is under renovation.
http://www.gohuskies.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=208228762
Maybe the only weekend offered was the fourth, as workers may be off, anyway maybe someone who attends can report back on if it was still being worked on or if its done by the fourth of July.
However, there was only ONE weekend all summer long that we could have it - the 4th of July weekend! It turns out - that was the one weekend the branch WANTED us to have it!!!
Uh huh, sure. More likely it was dirt cheap that weekend because large venues have a hard time renting out facilites because people are doing other things. I always thought how ridiculous it was that elder schools would be held over Xmas or Thanksgiving weekends in hotels because the hotel ain't gonna rent it out to anyone else at all, as nobody wants the venue over a holiday. More proof? GO to jw.org and look at how many conventions are being held over 4th of July this year, because the 4th lands on a Friday. Poor sap JWs are having that weekend completely destroyed this year!
Next, the brothers had to find lodging at hotels that were used to getting $300/night and they were offering $140.! The hotels all said "NO WAY! We have gigantic cruise ships coming in here that are full of people who are willing to pay the $300.
This doesn't make any sense on any level. Maybe someone who lives in the Pacific Northwest can tell us the story if cruise ships drop off tons of people in Seattle, but all of the cruises I've been on include a room!
Also JWs generally rent out 2 to 3 1/2 star hotels, which never go for $300 bucks. $140 for those kind of rooms seems on the high side as it is, but over a busier holiday weekend that wouldn't be completely unreasonable.
Just more JW propoganda clogging up the e-mail boxes.
