I know, made my own thread from the discouraged C.O. / but I saw it needed some editing.
Little Circuit Overseer Bennett! -
I am not sure but this may be a guy that I crossed swords with in about 1980 or 1981 when I left. I saw that Balsam, VirgoChik, No Apologies, and Pistoff all mention him with details that I remember except I can't recall him being British.
Lets see if it is possible: I think he was C.O. or maybe about to be brand new D.O. in 1980 in Oklahoma City. Little short shrimp of a guy. Kind of effeminate if might say, but very bossy. Made a big deal about being a vegetarian. He would have been late 30's or so back then.
If it is not the same guy, I apologize - but my C.O. guy (and he really was named Bennett) did the following in just one visit-
1. This was the idiot that made the statement that God's purpose for the Dinosaurs was to produce the oil reserves. I called him out on it in the elders meeting afterward and he defended his position by pointing out that Sinclair Oil had a big green Dinosaur on their company logo. No Joke!!! He really thought oil was squished down Dinosaur goo. Not to my knowledge society stuff, he just made it up. In the same talk he also went way off the deep end about hypoglycemia for kids (no sugarbars or drinks!) and advocated all of us to follow his lead as a vegan! WTF? Asked him about that too, and he just said he felt very strongly about those issues and needed to say so for our own good.
2. Same Visit - Some of the early twenties (jkw) kids got caught by him and the D.O. in the bar in a Steak and Ale during the visit. The elders got a royal upbraiding about how they were partying in there and having drinks.! So, being the young cool elder with a sports car, I got the young guys off to the side for a little heads up before they were to get their butts chewed upon. Question came up, how did they find you in the bar? Well, turns out that the D.O. and wifey + C.O. Bennett and wifey as a foursome were also in that bar having drinkies!!. Now, an interesting legality was that in Oklahoma at the time we did not technically have liquor by the drink. (but it was usually ignored by the authorities) So all of them, including D.O. and C.O, were kind of breaking the law. Dear Brother Bennet, the health freak, cleared HIMSELF of it by claiming that D.O. + wife, plus his own wife were in fact drinkiing alcohol but did not know there was a law. He, of the super-health movement, only had Tomatoe Juice that just looked like a bloody mary. Needless to say, the kids skated on this and he had to apologise to none other than Marion Dunlap and the other city elders!
3. Same Visit - Bennett knows that young elder Mr. Woods has about had it with the WT Society and with him. Just sensed it, I guess. I got a little personal counseling session over the way I had conducted the previous memorial. (more on that next month) He wanted to know what was wrong with my attitude. I made the the statement that I had come to recognize the society as being quite "monolithic"...exact word. Bennett did not know what monolithic meant. I kid you not. I am getting the "near apostocy" lecture and had to define this word for him. I resigned as an elder on the spot. Needless to say, this was the last circuit overseer visit that I put myself through during the vanishing.
I really kind of think this was your same Bennett, ladies and gentlemen!
James - who got into that sports car the day after and took a road trip up into Colorado.