Dungbeetle and Brymichmom delivered a stuffed lamb to the Downey, CA Kingdom Hall at 12116 Woodruff Avenue today. Present were a reporter and a photographer from the Downey Patriot Newspaper.
While we were placing the lamb at the front door, an elder approached us and asked us why we were there. The reporter asked the elder if he wanted to make a statement. This elder when told about Bill Bowen proceeded to become VERY angry and agitated. He called Bill Bowen an "apostate" and said that he had seen Dateline and hopes he never has to see Bill's face ever again! He said he couldn't stand the sight of Bill's face and said the word "apostate" with much disdain! This was all done with Dungbeetle's recorder running!
Dungbeetle and I then confronted the elder about the 23,720 molesters on file at Bethel. He then asked where we got that information from. He said that nobody at Bethel would ever reveal that information because it's so confidential. This elder also told us that every case of molestation is reported to the police and they always allow the police to handle such matters. He said, "If it was your organization that had done something wrong, would you go telling everyone like that? No, you would keep it a secret, wouldn't you?" This elder said that child molestation is a "societal" problem and that it's going on everywhere. Dungbeetle asked him about the 5000 child molestation survivors who have come forward with their stories. He said that he didn't believe it and that those cases are always handed over to the police. Dungbeetle asked him if those 5000 people and the Bethelites who reported this, "are they all liars"? You should have seen the reporter, he couldn't write everything down fast enough!
Hopefully, this will all appear in the newspaper for this Friday's edition. We left the tape with the reporter. This sure was fun!
Cynthia
Edited by - Brymichmom on 17 September 2002 10:49:48