I prefer to not comment on legal strategy.
silentlambs
JoinedPosts by silentlambs
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DEAR SILENT LAMBS
by crawdad2 ini highly respect your organization.. i would like to know if you have a class action law suit in the works.. i am referring abuse victims to you, for the support they will recieve, but i would like to know if they have the opportunity to be compensated for abuse they suffered at the hands of the watchtower bible and tract society's policys.. the the 2 main reasons i am asking this, is because they deserve to be compensated, and taking money away from the gov body is one of the best ways to stop further abuse of children and rape victims.. i have seen a post (yesterday) on this site(plmcrzy, friends, ok fine, butts and boobs) requesting victims to post pictures, names and details, on their web site, with no attorney to represent them, and i don't find that appropriate.. please let me know what your position is on this.. i realize things like this take time, but i want to know about these matters, so i can be accurate when i direct victims to your site.. thank you, ..........crawdad
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Anderson Appeal Ltrs -Adversarial WT
by silentlambs inmay 23, 2002. mrs. barbara anderson.
c/o jerre michael hood .
37396. dear mrs. anderson,.
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silentlambs
Anderson's attorney requested an extension. Brother Matthews stated they preferred to only deal with sister Anderson. To which the attorney replied, "I am authorized by Mrs. Anderson to deal with you, we are requesting an extension. I have a busy day Saturday and I need an answer this evening." Matthews replied, "I need to make a phone call."
About thirty minutes later Matthews calls back and says, "OK we can allow an extension but we will have to consult to see if we approve the future date. We will have to get back with you next week."
That ended the conversation.
ANDERSON IS STILL STANDING! No hearing this weekend.
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Is this policy in writing anywhere?
by Mulan inmy mother and i have been continually discussing the pedophile issue, and the dateline show.
she insists that there is no official policy of going to the elders first, when this situation occurs in a family.
she said she feels it is a family matter, and she personally, would go to the police first, and let them handle it.
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silentlambs
Please review my website on the "press" page uner "WT articles" review Why report what is bad?
The article plainly states all wrongdoing must be reported to the elders even in the case of crime. Not one word is mentioned about going to he police. A strange vacume that seems to exist in anything written by WT on this topic.
Come on Marilyn get out your CD and do a little research. Punch in "wrongdoing" and see how many articles come up. You should have everything you need to adjust your mother spiritually.
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A Brother Speaks Out!
by silentlambs inthe following letter was sent to me today, it seems the congregation letter of 5-24-02 did not make everyone happy.. silentlambs .
june 7, 2002. .
watchtower.
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silentlambs
The following letter was sent to me today, it seems the Congregation Letter of 5-24-02 did not make everyone happy.
silentlambs
June 7, 2002
Watchtower
25 Columbia Heights
Brooklyn Ny. 11201Dear Brothers,
I am writing with regard to the recent problems that you have with pedophiles within the organization. The Bible mentions that we must “Speak consolingly to the depressed souls”, and support the weak {1 Thessalonians 5:14}so why are you focusing your attention on disfellowshiping people who are just trying to make sure that this wickedness is stopped. In past years the Watchtower Society has had to change their views on certain issues because the brothers were enlightened as to a new perspective on Bible scriptures. So why can’t this pedophile issue be treated with the same care. All of the preaching about how different the Jehovah’s Witnesses organization is from other churches and realistically is that true. You will not even recognize that you have a legitimate problem among the Elders. Man is corrupt and I think God is making sure that all things are being brought to the light at one time or another. That letter that was read last week was saddening. How could the Watchtower Society let everyone go on thinking that the people who spoke up about the true errors of elders are apostates. I THINK IT IS SICK!!
In case you are wondering what congregation I am in, I am in the C congregation in Florida. By the way I want a personal response from you. Don’t send the Elders to my doorstep. E-mail is a lot faster these days.Sincerely,
W R
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DEAR SILENT LAMBS
by crawdad2 ini highly respect your organization.. i would like to know if you have a class action law suit in the works.. i am referring abuse victims to you, for the support they will recieve, but i would like to know if they have the opportunity to be compensated for abuse they suffered at the hands of the watchtower bible and tract society's policys.. the the 2 main reasons i am asking this, is because they deserve to be compensated, and taking money away from the gov body is one of the best ways to stop further abuse of children and rape victims.. i have seen a post (yesterday) on this site(plmcrzy, friends, ok fine, butts and boobs) requesting victims to post pictures, names and details, on their web site, with no attorney to represent them, and i don't find that appropriate.. please let me know what your position is on this.. i realize things like this take time, but i want to know about these matters, so i can be accurate when i direct victims to your site.. thank you, ..........crawdad
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silentlambs
If you wish to pursue legal action I suggest you contact silentlambs as we have attorneys to direct you to. The simplest way is 877-wtabuse and we can go from there.
Regarding the posting of names of individual molesters we do not encourage that type of action, nor does silentlambs purposely put up that type of information. Occasionally on the Guestbook a name may slip by but we try to keep that information off. Why? To error on the side of fairness. At one time I envisioned that silentlambs would post the names and then invite the molester to offer explanation for their actions if they wanted. When you start going that direction it all becomes very complicated. After consulting with attorneys we evolved into the format we now use. Anonymous posting of all stories, and if a person wants to give details they use the pedophle survey which details all info. We compare for matches with other victims and encourage the reporting of all not yet reported molesters. As I write this several are in the process of being reported.
When you make accusations of people on the internet, especially in the case of child molestation I believe it is important to be fair to both sides of the issue. The real issue is what hapened and what is happening in the Jehovah's Witness community. In my opinion that is the larger picture. If you want to accuse a person directly we support you in that endeavor but reporting it to the police. The website helps survivors know they are not alone and encourages them to take the first steps in the direction of no longer being silent. When the silence is broken, then before long the molester gets turned in as further courage is gathered by being believed and supported.
Some may choose a different direction, but on silentlambs the only people we really want to challenge is those who continue WT Policy and allow it to hurt children. I personally look forward to the day when that Policy changes and then we can focus solely on supporting the survivors.
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MSNBC Schedule
by silentlambs inthe projected showtimes for the dateline program on msnbc "weekend magazine" is as follows, i modified the listings according to latest information.. .
stone phillips presents highlights from the weeks reports, investigative features and newsmaker profiles.
saturday, june 8 - 5:00 am et .
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silentlambs
The projected showtimes for the Dateline program on MSNBC "weekend magazine" is as follows, I modified the listings according to latest information.
Stone Phillips presents highlights from the week’s reports, investigative features and newsmaker profiles.
SATURDAY, JUNE 8 - 5:00 AM ET
Long Island DocMONDAY, JUNE 10 - 3:00 AM ET
Long Island DocThe program is not mentioned but included with the "long island doc" show according to my source.
silentlambs
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Anderson Appeal Ltrs -Adversarial WT
by silentlambs inmay 23, 2002. mrs. barbara anderson.
c/o jerre michael hood .
37396. dear mrs. anderson,.
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silentlambs
May 23, 2002
Mrs. Barbara Anderson
c/o Jerre Michael Hood
Attorney at law
124 First Avenue N. W.
Winchester TN. 37396Dear Mrs. Anderson,
In harmony with Our conversation on May 17, 2002, the continuation of your judicial hearing was held n Sunday May 19, 2002.
The decision rendered by the judicial committee was to disfellowship from the congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses on the charge of causing division.
If you wish to appeal the decision you may submit a written letter of appeal to L. Seely within seven days. You should state clearly your, reason (s) for requesting an appeal.
Sincerely,
Larry Seely
PO box 275
Tullahoma TN, 37388_______________________________________________
Barbara J. Anderson
May 30, 2002
To: Manchester Congregation Judicial Committee
Dear Brothers,
I Barbara Anderson, wish to appeal the disfellowshipping decision of 5-19-02, which I received notification of on May 28, 2002. I wish to appeal for the following reasons:
1. There has been no disfellowshipping offense committed by me.
2. I deny committing any wrongdoing worthy of disfellowshipment from Jehovah's Witnesses.3. I firmly contend that speaking out to media in order to protect children of Jehovah's Witnesses from Watchtower policy is not causing divisions or apostasy, thus it is not a disfellowshipping offense,
4. I have never spoken about the problem of sexual child abuse within the organization of Jehovah's Witnesses to anyone before I spoke to the media, hence no witnesses could be produced that said I had, thus I have never caused divisions among Jehovah's Witnesses. I spoke to the media only to protect myself due to the lies spread about me by J, R, Brown, spokesman for the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society, when he said the congregation was investigating me, Bill Bowen and Pandelos for committing "spiritual violations" and "sins" and not for speaking out to Dateline. He also said that headquarters didn't know I was going to appear on Dateline and that is a lie in that headquarters sent a personal e-mail to the Manchester Congregation some eight months ago where I said in it that I had spoke to Dateline,
I further request that all communication be conducted with my attorney, The telephone call to me from Larry Seely did not honor previous demands for all communications to go through my attorney only.
Very truly yours,
Barbara J. Anderson
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June 5, 2002
Dear Sister Anderson;
Thank you for your letter dated May 30, 2002, that was delivered to us by Brother Anderson, As per your written request, an appeal committee is ready to meet with you regarding your appeal of the judicial committee decision. The meeting has been set for Saturday, June 8, 2002, at 2:00 P.M. at the Manchester Kingdom Hall located at the intersection of Bowling Alley Road and Highway 55, Manchester, TN. If you are unable to meet at that time, you should personally contact the chairman of the committee.
We note that you letter said that you prefer to communicate with the committee through your attorney. We fail to see why this is necessary or even needed. Your status as one of Jehovah's Witnesses is an internal matter, not involving Caesar's purview. What is more, your meeting with the appeal committee is not adversarial. Your meeting with the appeal committee is for the spiritual purpose of deciding whether a serious error in judgment was made by the judicial committee that met with you earlier.
You state in your appeal that you did not commit any offense for which you should be disfellowshipped. This is a spiritual, rather than secular, question which the appeal committee will examine. If the appeal committee determines that the judicial committee did not make a serious error in judgment in this regard, the spiritual question of whether or not you were repentant will also have to considered.
We trust this explains why the involvement of an attorney is unnecessary and why we are communicating with you directly rather than through an attorney. Of course, Brother Anderson, as your husband, is welcome to be at this meeting with you.
Your Brother,
R. E. Matthews
Chairman, appeal committeeP.S. As a courtesy we are providing Mr. Hood with a copy of this letter,
cc Jerre Michael Hood, esq,
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Letter For Judicial Hearing 6-6-02
by silentlambs inattorney at law.
6-6-02. draffenville congregation of jehovahs witnesses.
attn: george bandarra .
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silentlambs
for your viewing pleasure all judicial summons to date.
silentlambs
Draffenville Kentucky Congregation
of Jehovah's Witnesses
PO Box 788 Benton KY 42025April 29,2002
CONFIDENTIAL AND PERSONAL
William H. Bowen
Calvert City, KY 42029Dear Brother Bowen:
The body of elders has appointed a judicial committee to meet with you concerning allegations that you have been causing divisions within the congregation and organization of Jehovah's Witnesses The judicial committee invites you to meet with them on May 10, 2002 at 7:00 pm at the Kingdom Hall located at 86 Foust-Sledd Road, Benton, Kentucky. Feel free to call me at 270-xxx-xxxx if these arrangements are not convenient for you As a reminder, attorneys are not permitted at congregation judicial meetings
Lee Stockwell
Chairman of the judicial committee
DRAFFENVILLE CONGREGATION
of JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES
PO Box 789, Draffenville, KY 42025May 16, 2002
CONFIDENTIAL AND PERSONAL
William H Bowen
PO Box 311
Calvert City KY 42029Dear Brother Bowen:
The body of elders has appointed a judicial committee to meet with you concerning allegations that you have been causing divisions within the congregation and organization of Jehovah's Witnesses. The judicial committee invites you to meet with them on May 24, 2002 at 7:30 p.m. at the Kingdom Hall located at 86 Foust-Sledd Road Benton, Kentucky. Feel free to call me at 270-xx-xxxx if these arrangements are not convenient for you. As a reminder, attorneys are not permitted at congregation judicial meetings.
Very Truly Yours,
George Bandarra
Chairman of the judicial committeeDRAFFENVILLE CONGREGATION
of JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES
PO Box 788, Draffenville, KY 42025May 29, 2002
L. Rush Hunt
39 south Main Street
Madisonville KY 42431RE: William Bowen
Dear Mr. Hunt:
We are writing in view of Mr. William Bowen's request in his letter of October 31, 2001 to the Draffenville body of elders. We are sending a sealed envelope with a confidential letter from our body of elders to Mr, Bowen. We request that you deliver this sealed envelope to Mr. Bowen by no later than. May 30, 2002. Thank you.
Sincerely,
George Bandarra, Chairman
For the body of eldersEnclosure
DRAFFENVILLE CONGREGATION
of JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES
PO Box 789, Draffenville, KY 42025May 29, 2002
CONFIDENTIAL AND PERSONAL
William H Bowen
PO Box 311
Calvert City, KY 42029Dear Brother Bowen:
The body of elders has appointed a judicial committee to meet with you concerning allegations that you have been causing divisions within the congregation and organization of Jehovah's Witnesses. The judicial committee invites you to meet with them on May 31, 2002 at 7:00 p.m. at the Kingdom Hall located at 86 Foust-Sledd road Benton, Kentucky. Feel free to call me at 270-xxx-xxxx if these arrangements are not convenient for you. As a reminder, attorneys are not permitted at congregation judicial meetings.
Sincerely,
George Bandarra, Chairman For the body of elders
EnclosureDRAFFENVILLE CONGREGATION
of JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES
PO Box 789, Draffenville, KY 42025June 01, 2002
William H. Bowen
PO Box 311
Calvert City, KY 42029Dear Brother Bowen,
We have received your attorney's letter of May 30, 2002 in which you request a postponement of the judicial committee hearing which was to have taken place on the 31st of May. We are pleased to see from Mr. Hunt's letter that you do not intend to be disfellowshippcd or disassociate yourself. Be assured that our meeting with you is, just an extension of our shepherding work. We desire to render spiritual aid in Christian love. (Galatians 6:1) Since this is a congregational matter we will be handling it following congregation procedures, and so we appreciate, our relationship is not adversarial, but as brothers, - Matthew 23:8.
You suggest meeting with us on the 28th of June after 6:00 p.m. We would like to meet as soon as possible rather than postpone this matter until June 28. With this in mind, we would like to meet with you on Wednesday, June 12, 2002, at 6:00 p.m. If this is unavailable to you please contact me.
Your brother,
George Bandana
Chairman Judicial CommitteeP.S. As a courtesy, we are providing Mr. Hunt with a copy of this letter.
C: L. Rush Hunt, Esq.
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Letter For Judicial Hearing 6-6-02
by silentlambs inattorney at law.
6-6-02. draffenville congregation of jehovahs witnesses.
attn: george bandarra .
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silentlambs
ATTORNEY AT LAW
6-6-02
Draffenville Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses
ATTN: George Bandarra
PO Box 788,
Benton, KY 42025
Re: William H. Bowen
Dear Sirs:
I am in receipt of your letter of June 01, 2002 in which you are requesting a meeting that is “an extension of your shepherding work” and has as its purpose to “render spiritual aid in Christian love” along with not being in an “adversarial relationship” to try and help my client Mr. Bowen. After consulting with my client regarding your letter he expressed that if all you need is to “shepherd” Mr. Bowen that he would be glad to meet with one elder at a public place and accept any spiritual assistance the elder wanted to offer. On the other hand, if you wish to continue to press for a judicial hearing on allegations my client absolutely denies then it certainly would appear to make your stated intentions disingenuous with regard to your actions. As you have been previously instructed in writing my client has an engagement in matters beyond his control therefore your requested date will not work as my client will be traveling out of town. Bear in mind your actions to date have lead my client to have reason to doubt that you will follow through with what you put in writing.
In my letter to you dated 5-30-02 my client and I made three specific requests of which you only partially answered one with a suggested new date for a hearing/shepherding call. Your latest letter seems to confuse what Mr. Bowen is being summoned for. I ask that you clarify what kind of meeting you wish to have with my client.
It is also noted that on Friday, May 24, 2002 you contacted my client by telephone, to which you were verbally informed to only contact his attorney for any type of communication. Mr. Bowen has clearly made his request known in a letter written on October 31, 2001, where he stated:
If I were to try and think further I am sure there are many other items that could be brought forward, but I believe the above should be sufficient to show the disingenuous actions of the Watchtower representatives acting at the guidance of the Watchtower home office. The above evidence clearly shows you cannot trust any word that comes out of the mouth of anyone who represents the Watchtower organization. Your actions force me to request the following stipulations:1. Any further communication must be in writing and sent to my attorney. His address is:
Attorney
Main Street
Madisonville, KY 424312. Any verbal communication from this point forward will be considered harassment as you have repeatedly disregarded my request for answers in writing.
3. I am formally requesting that no Jehovah’s Witness elder or member trespass on my property at anytime. Unless they are willing to undergo a complete background check for child molestation history and submit this to my attorney.
4. I request that all questions submitted in previous letters be answered in writing to my attorney instead of being sent to me personally.It grieves me greatly to have to take this action to protect myself against brothers I at one time trusted so completely. Your actions have proved you to be otherwise. In order to be “cautious as serpents” it forces me to deal with you as the snakes you are.
This request was made after two elders had come to Mr. Bowen’s home for a confrontation instead of answering in writing five certified letters requesting assistance on slanderous remarks and actions directed by headquarters against my client. My client again referred to this request in his letter to you of May 6, 2002 in which he stated: “Please continue to honor my previous request of all correspondence going to my attorney for the reasons stated in previous letters.”
My client has been the subject of harassing automobile drive bys, theft of property, telephone calls, emails, postal mail, which have included death threats, all from Jehovah’s Witnesses. Therefore he has reason to suspect the intentions of anyone coming to his property who represent themselves to be Jehovah’s Witnesses. Instead of respecting his request you have continued to harass my client. In February of 2002 two Jehovah’s Witnesses were sent to my client’s home. My client respectfully asked them to leave. Then on another occasion George Bandarra who is well familiar with all correspondence as chairman of the judicial committee chose to ignore my client’s request by calling him over the telephone on 5-24-02. My client instructed Mr. Bandarra very clearly all communication must go through his attorney. Yet again, Mr. Bandarra and Jeff Stein ignored my client’s request by trespassing on his property June 01, 2002. Mr. Bandarra and Mr. Stein approached the property in a covert fashion coming to the back door and pounding quite loudly, thus frightening children in the home. My client again informed Mr. Bandara and Mr. Stein of his request of all communication going through his attorney and shut the door, at which Mr. Bandarra again disregarded my client’s request by throwing a letter on a chair in my client’s back yard. This now makes three occasions Jehovah’s Witnesses have chosen to disregard clear and explicit instructions to not trespass and harass my client. Any further infractions will result in criminal charges being leveled at your lack of respect for my client’s wishes.
As was clearly explained in my letter of May 30, 2002, Mr. Bowen has been scheduled to be out of State for a speaking engagement along with a business trip. The nearest time available in his schedule will be on June 28, after 6 P. M. Mr. Bowen is sad to have to wait this long but as you gentlemen failed to appear with no notice at the last scheduled meeting I am sure you can understand that he had no idea there would be arrangements for future meetings that would conflict with his long arranged schedule. In addition, as mentioned in my client’s letter of 5-24-02, several witnesses had traveled from great distance to appear in his behalf, your failure to appear without notice caused them to lose considerable time and expense. In your correspondence of 5-29-02 you failed to answer Mr. Bowen’s request to compensate these victims of abuse so that they might be able to reappear to offer valuable testimony to help Mr. Bowen have a fair and impartial hearing. In my letter to you I specifically requested, are you willing to pay expenses for Mr. Bowen’s witnesses that you have inconvenienced? To date you have ignored my question, therefore it puts forth the appearance you do not want to offer “an extension of your shepherding work” and “render spiritual aid in Christian love” along with not being in an “adversarial relationship” if you deny my client an opportunity to offer witnesses in his behalf. How can my client have a fair and impartial hearing if you do not allow his witnesses to testify? Will you ignore this question also?
In addition, Mr. Bowen’s previous letter of 5-20-02 remains unanswered as to the request for written apologies for slanderous remarks made by Watchtower spokesman to the media. My letter went on to address this issue and request a specific answer. Again you ignored my request in the interests of my client. To request my client to appear for a hearing, before which you make more than one attempt at harassing my client and his family, then go on to ignore his many letters in which he asked for spiritual assistance and healing, and finally to attempt to deny his witnesses their right to testify certainly gives the appearance of subterfuge along with devious intent.
As you continue to offer no answer to the clear and concise questions of my client it therefore requires me to take the following action. I request answers to the following questions:
1. Will you make an immediate public apology and letter of vindication to Mr. Bowen and the other victims cited in his letter?(We expect that to be published in all AP affiliate newspapers)
2. Are you agreeable to pay expenses for the witnesses on behalf of Mr. Bowen that were inconvenienced due to your actions?
3. Are you willing to communicate to me the written confirmation of the new judicial hearing date on June 28, 2002 after 6 P. M.?
My client has requested an answer by June 10, 2002. If you choose to ignore any one of the three questions above it will be accepted as a refusal to meet with my client and a no answer to all three questions. My client is more than happy to meet and defend himself against false allegations, but there is an appearance you wish to create a kangaroo court in which he is at a disadvantage with no witnesses in his behalf, no apology for slanderous remarks and actions made locally and nationally, no attempt to set an agreeable judicial hearing date with my clients schedule, this certainly is not the way of Christian love and creates an adversarial meeting.
It is interesting to note in J. R. Brown’s letter to Richard Greenberg dated February 7, 2002 regarding the appearance on the Dateline program with Watchtower Officials, he made this statement:
“..you have related to us that your participants are primarily individuals who view themselves as Jehovah’s Witnesses. We therefore do not view them as adversaries, but as individuals whose views and opinions should be heard within the framework of the congregation, or church, and not in front of a nationwide television audience…’ Our Governing Body is willing to resolve differences of opinion within the framework of the congregation and according to Scriptural principles.”
My client has to wonder how charging him with a disfellowshipping offense and establishing a judicial hearing in which it appears you are denying witnesses in his behalf could be considered, resolving “differences of opinion within the framework of the congregation and according to Scriptural principles.” It seems only one opinion is being considered and anyone with any other opinion is being excommunicated. Would that not be considered an adversarial meeting?
By copy of this letter to the elders I am advising them of Mr. Bowen’s position in this matter and while I chose not to attend the judicial committee meeting out of courtesy to Mr. Bowen and to the elders, I will not stand idly by while Mr. Bowen’s personal rights are violated and he is ostracized for following the dictates of God and the requirements of state and federal law. It is our hope by your actions you will offer an “extension of your shepherding work” that has as its purpose to “render spiritual aid in Christian love” along with not being in an “adversarial relationship,” to date, you have failed miserably in that regard. Perhaps by proper actions you can redeem my client’s confidence in your intentions.
I will await your usual, prompt and courteous response to this letter and hope that you will immediately and publicly vindicate Mr. Bowen who has been a good and loyal supporter of the church for many, many years.
Sincerely yours,Attorney
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Dateline to RE-AIR on MSNBC!!!!!!
by silentlambs ini have just received word the dateline program will re-air this weekend on msnbc.
msnbc is a news program along the format of cnn, dateline has a contract through nbc and when they have an exceptional program msnbc runs it again.
the program will is called dateline weekend edition which airs 2-3 times over the weekend.
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silentlambs
bup