Posts by William Penwell

19

Bo or Carrie?

by TresHappy in

William Penwell

Who the He!! are these people or should I ask who really cares... Will

52

WTS Bills US JWs $8.4 million for Traveling Overseers

by ezekiel3 in

being announced at service meetings this week at all us congregations:.

a letter read during the announcements states that due to increased costs of health insurance and vehicles provided for traveling overseers (circuit and district overseers) the watchtower bible and tract society has determined the need to ask for a specific "contribution" for the "traveling overseer assistance arrangement".. .

until this date expenses of this sort were paid from the worldwide work or general fund of contributions.. .

William Penwell

Another money grab for the WT disguised as contributions. It would be a cold day in hell before I would give a penny to those freeloaders. It would be nice if they would get a real job like the rest of us.

Will

20

I Voted!

by the_classicist in

jw
friends

i voted for the first time in today's british columbia provincial election.

what an honour and what a priviledge to elect one's own representitive in the legislative assembly.

here's how i voted: raj chouhan, new democratic party.

William Penwell

The person I voted for got in. Too bad we couldn't have voted out that stupid drunk they call our premier. Looks like the Green party played a part in some ridings, helping the Liberals get in. It will be an interesting next 4 years. Will

20

I Voted!

by the_classicist in

jw
friends

i voted for the first time in today's british columbia provincial election.

what an honour and what a priviledge to elect one's own representitive in the legislative assembly.

here's how i voted: raj chouhan, new democratic party.

William Penwell

I will be voting the same thing after work today, NDP and Yes for BC-STV

There is no way will I vote for someone that wants to get rid of my job.

I hear that the BC-STV won't pass because that is too bad. I think it would give us better representation.

Will

15

Reformation Movement

by SWALKER in

has anyone received this e-mail and what do you think about it?.

http://www.jwreform.org/index.html.

swalker

William Penwell

Further, it is well-written and would appeal to reasonable Witnesses.

That is the key here but as soon as the "apostate" flags go up in the average Jdub brains, they will not read it.

Will

15

Reformation Movement

by SWALKER in

has anyone received this e-mail and what do you think about it?.

http://www.jwreform.org/index.html.

swalker

William Penwell

Never seen it and good luck trying to reform the organization. The Jdubs are a close knit cult and if they get any wind that certain ones within the organization are trying to reform it, they will be DF'd to. It is all to do with control and those ones that are in higher positions want to hang on to that control and will do anything to keep it.

Will

8

Fight over finger found in custard

by William Penwell in

another cnn news item.

i originally felt sorry for the fellow that bought the custard, only to find the remnants of a finger tip in it.

i think any sympathy he had at first, he lost it by not giving the finger tip back to the poor worker that lost it so he could get it reattached.

William Penwell

This is in my hometown by the way.... And I have never eaten at Kohl's nor will I ever now that this is the SECOND time someone has lost a fingertip.

Makes me wonder why the place was not shut down the first time. Even though they were found not negligent the first time it is obvious that there is some problem with their safety standards there. I am sure this will be the end for that place. Will

8

Fight over finger found in custard

by William Penwell in

another cnn news item.

i originally felt sorry for the fellow that bought the custard, only to find the remnants of a finger tip in it.

i think any sympathy he had at first, he lost it by not giving the finger tip back to the poor worker that lost it so he could get it reattached.

William Penwell

I ask the same question to but according to the original story, the fellow lost his finger and it fell into the custard. Some other overzealous employee immediately after this happened (maybe or maybe not knowing what happened) scooped up some of the custard, put it into the container and sold it to the unsuspecting customer. Sane reasoning would be for the place to be automatically shut down for hygienic reasons till the place was cleaned up and an investigation for compensation took place. Having said this I don't think it was right that the fellow refuse to give the worker back his finger. It wasn't as if he deliberately cut his finger off and put it into the custard so some unsuspecting customer would bite into it. It comes down to a person having empathy for another human being and not thinking about how to get even with someone else. He could have gotten even with the company not the worker by other means.

Will

8

Fight over finger found in custard

by William Penwell in

another cnn news item.

i originally felt sorry for the fellow that bought the custard, only to find the remnants of a finger tip in it.

i think any sympathy he had at first, he lost it by not giving the finger tip back to the poor worker that lost it so he could get it reattached.

William Penwell

Another CNN news item. I originally felt sorry for the fellow that bought the custard, only to find the remnants of a finger tip in it. I think any sympathy he had at first, he lost it by not giving the finger tip back to the poor worker that lost it so he could get it reattached. He didn't need to keep the finger to build a libel case but could have with a small DNA sample, pictures and an affidavit from the surgeon, then given the finger tip back to the guy. I think this guys blew it.
Fight over finger found in custard

Friday, May 6, 2005 Posted: 0959 GMT (1759 HKT)

RALEIGH, North Carolina (AP) -- To a dessert shop customer, the severed fingertip found in a pint of frozen custard could be worth big dollars in a potential lawsuit. To the shop worker who lost it, the value is far more than monetary.

But Clarence Stowers still has the digit, refusing to return the evidence so it could be reattached. And now it's too late for doctors to do anything for 23-year-old Brandon Fizer.

"I'm not saying who has it, but somebody has it," Stowers said this week in a telephone interview, refusing to let on where the fingertip is now.

Soon after Stowers found the finger in a mouthful of chocolate soft-serve he bought Sunday at Kohl's Frozen Custard in Wilmington, he put it in his freezer at home, taking it out only occasionally to show to television cameras.

He refused to give it to the shop's owner, and refused to give it to a doctor who was treating Fizer, who accidentally stuck his hand in a mixing machine and had his right index finger lopped off at the first knuckle.

Medical experts say an attempt to reattach a severed finger can generally be made within six hours.

But according to the shop's management, Stowers wouldn't give it back when he was in the store 30 minutes after the accident.

"The general manager attempted to retrieve it and rush it to the hospital," reads a statement posted Thursday on Kohl's Web site. "Unfortunately, the customer refused to give it to her and declared that he would be calling the TV stations and an attorney as he exited the store."

Officials at Cape Fear Hospital said their efforts to retrieve the finger also failed.

Dr. James Larson, director of emergency medicine for UNC Hospitals, who was not involved in the case, said once Stowers took the finger home and froze it, it was too late to even try for reattachment.

"You can't freeze it. It kills the cells," Larson said.

The doctor said the best way to preserve a severed limb is to wrap it in saline-soaked gauze, place it in a plastic bag and store that in ice water.

Stowers' attorney, Lee Andrews of Greensboro, wouldn't say if a lawsuit against Kohl's is planned, saying he needed "to get some more facts."

But Andrews said his client is concerned about possible disease in the fingertip and kept it because he wanted someone to test it for "all the diseases that are out here now."

"He's upset to the point that he's been debilitated to some degree," Andrews said. "Emotionally, it's been very upsetting to him."

Even if Stowers decides to sue, an expert in medical law said the fingertip could easily have been returned while preserving the evidence.

"The man who lost the finger has the superior claim," said Paul Lombardo, who teaches at the University of Virginia's law school. "It's his finger and he might be able to use it."

Lombardo said Stowers could have photographed the fingertip, taken a bit of flesh for DNA analysis or gotten an affidavit from the surgeon who would have reattached the digit.

"There is nothing that would prevent preserving the chain of evidence," Lombardo said.

Fizer is dealing with his loss in private. The Carolina Beach resident's mother, Sheri Fizer, said the family had been instructed by an attorney not to talk about the case.

Public opinion seemed to be running against Stowers.

"It's a mystery how that customer can live with himself after he refused to return the finger so that doctors might try to reattach it," said an editorial Thursday by the Star-News of Wilmington.

"Unless he offers a better explanation for that decision, people will assume that customer Clarence Stowers cared less about another person's loss of a body part than about his chance to squeeze some bucks out of the custard stand."

The case came not long after a Las Vegas woman made headlines with a claim that she found a finger tip in a bowl of chili at a Wendy's restaurant in San Jose, Calif. Investigators have called her claim a hoax and charged her in connection with millions of dollars in losses to Wendy's in northern California. The woman denies it was a hoax.

For Kohl's, Sunday's fingertip amputation was the second time in less than a year that a worker lost a finger on the same frozen custard machine. The worker was found by investigators to have been negligent in the July 2004 incident, and the state Labor Department cleared the company of wrongdoing.

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/US/05/06/finger.fight.ap/index.html

Mothers deny Jackson molested sons

by William Penwell in

i cut and pasted the below from cnn on the mj trial.

i have some difficulty in believing the children's parents.

i think they were bought off.

William Penwell

I cut and pasted the below from CNN on the MJ trial. I have some difficulty in believing the children's parents. I think they were bought off. Why 10 years ago they sued MJ and now are saying nothing happened? Also they admitted that MJ let boys sleep in his bed. I have a problem with this also because if it the average 40 year old man did that, they would put them in jail and throw away the key. Further I think it is opening up a dangerous precedence that any pedophile out there can use for a defence. What do the rest of you think?

Will

Mothers deny Jackson molested sons

One tells jury that singer 'has a very pure love for children'

Friday, May 6, 2005 Posted: 2224 GMT (0624 HKT)

SANTA MARIA, California (CNN) -- Mothers of two young men who prosecutors claim were molested by Michael Jackson during the 1990s when they were adolescents testified Friday that the pop star never behaved inappropriately around their children.

The women, mothers of men who testified Thursday, acknowledged, however, that both boys slept in the singer's bed numerous times.

"Unless you know [Jackson], it's hard to understand," one woman said. "He's not the boy next door. ... He has a very pure love for children."

The mother underscored her opinion during cross-examination, when prosecutor Tom Sneddon asked the woman if she was concerned about her son staying in Jackson's bedroom, essentially locked in the singer's suite with chimes that sounded if someone approached.

"There is a certain trust we developed immediately," she said. "Nothing ever crossed my mind there would be a problem there."

The second woman, asked if she allowed her son to sleep in Jackson's bed, responded, "Why not?"

The testimony came a day after two men, now in their 20s, took the stand to deny ever being molested by Jackson. (Thursday's testimony)

The two men were among five whom prosecutors allege Jackson sexually molested in the 1990s. None of those cases resulted in criminal charges.

Actor Macaulay Culkin, another one of the five, is also set to testify in Jackson's defense next week. Culkin has publicly denied any improper conduct on Jackson's part.

A grand jury indicted the 46-year-old pop star last year on charges of molesting a boy, then 13, giving him alcohol and conspiring to hold him and his family captive in 2003.

Jackson has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Financial help from Jackson

During Friday's testimony, the first woman was asked to describe Neverland, Jackson's sprawling ranch.

"I would have once said the happiest place on Earth," she said.

On family visits there, they watched movies and played in a water fort, she said. The woman testified that she particularly enjoyed playing with the chimpanzees.

However, she testified that in all of her visits to Neverland during the 14 years she has known Jackson, the entertainer was at Neverland only four times.

Sneddon attempted to suggest that the first woman believed Jackson would further the performing arts career of her son, now a choreographer with ties to the film industry.

"That was not my motive," she told Sneddon. When the Santa Barbara district attorney denied putting words in her mouth, she replied, "Yes, you are. You're trying to make me say that was the basis for our friendship, and that's not true."

The woman did testify, however, that Jackson helped her financially and sponsored the family's move from Australia to the United States. And, she said, her son signed a business deal with MJJ Productions -- under which he would receive $30,000 -- when he was 10 years old. He also appeared in three music videos and two commercials, jobs Jackson had a role in getting him, she said.

Trips to Las Vegas

Both women testified their families had traveled to Las Vegas, Nevada, with Jackson. The second woman, who said her family frequently visited him and accompanied him on tour, recalled that Jackson had bought them gifts, but said she did not remember at what point.

On most of the trips, she said, her son -- who was then about 9 -- would sleep with Jackson, who was then in his mid-30s. She and her husband didn't mind, she said, and their only discussions about the matter was about their concern regarding an imposition on Jackson.

"I love him very much," she said of Jackson.

Prosecutors showed her a letter she wrote to Jackson in 1992 in which she apologized for causing him grief about a matter that arose at a show and said one of Jackson's bodyguards told her that her family was responsible for making Jackson ill.

"That made me want to kill myself," she wrote, telling Jackson she loves him as much as she loves her family.

Between the women's testimony, the sister of one of the boys testified she considered Jackson a "family friend." She testified she slept in Jackson's bed four times, each time along with her brother, but recalled nothing inappropriate taking place.

She said she did not believe her brother had been molested, saying, "He would have told me."

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/LAW/05/06/jackson.trial/index.html