by lostinthought 16 Replies latest jw friends
Forgive me if this has been posted already but this was in my local paper today.
http://m.recordonline.com/article/20150307/NEWS/150309486/0/wap&template=wapart
If you have time to read, this is an interesting article talking about watchtowers property in ulster and Orange County ny and how much the properties are worth. It also goes on to show how the tax exempt stays is hurting the communities.
Very interesting article. Thanks for the link!
It does not say how much the properties are worth but does mention school and other taxes Watchtower Farms voluntarily pays.
rebel8 said it best.
Living in that area must be like living in a dystopian nightmare.
The poor, hardworking average Joes pay for everything and the big, powerful entities take advantage of everyone and everything.
" Devine, the Watchtower spokesman, suggested it would be wrong to judge Watchtower by the property taxes it doesn't pay. The group makes huge contributions to the communities where its members live by helping the local economy, he said.
Jehovah’s Witnesses helped the hospitality industry by renting hundreds of hotel rooms to house volunteer construction workers building the world headquarters, Devine said. Those people purchase food and consume local goods.
The construction actactivitycreated 200 to 300 jobs, he said, and the group was hiring buses to transport workers, and buying stone, concrete and steel for the building.
Once the headquarters is complete by the end of 2016, thousands of tourists will come every year and patronize local businesses, he said.
“We have a very large impact on the well-being of the community,” Devine said. “That’s a very tangible way people are being assisted.”
Towns like Warwick and Shawangunk prefer to look at the positive contributions by Watchtower rather than dwell on lost tax revenue.
Warwick Supervisor Mike Sweeton praised Watchtower for helping build two ball fields in the town. He estimated the town saved about $100,000.
Shawangunk Supervisor John Valk said Jehovah’s Witnesses helped the town by building a football field at Galeville Park, a softball field, and two soccer fields. They also did about $100,000 worth of work on the rail trail.
Town Hall’s furniture was donated by Watchtower, and its workers helped demolish Shawangunk’s previous town hall in 2009, Valk said. They wash the new building’s windows and wax the community room floor."
They ...... built a football field, a softball field and two soccer fields....did $100,000 worth of work on a trail...gave the Town Hall furniture...helped demo the previous Town Hall in 2009.... they wash the new Town Hall's windows......they wax the community room floor....??????????????????????????????
I'm sure all those congregations sending their bank accounts to WT will be happy to hear how the money is being used for the worldwide work.
For a group that discourages participation in sports...seriously, they built sports facilities??? They would be better off offering to assist with maintaining the roads in those communities or assisting with emergency services...I'm sure they have fire trucks and ems services...that would definitely help offset the costs to the community in a very long lasting way. Oh...why not provide "free" books to the schools...they could print them up...LOL!! And how are they benefitting the local businesses? They don't pay the "workers" enough to spare any money to go spend any money in the community. Granted, once the sheeple start visiting the facilities that may benefit the local economy somewhat...but what do you bet the open their own hotels and restaurants? And those will all be tax exempt too! You know, the more I learn...just learned about the NGO/DPI at the UN, and just started reading Crisis of Conscience the more and more pi$$3d off I get. I never considered myself anti JW, just didn't want to be one anymore...didn't want to live that life any longer...but now...and the worst part is, I don't know what to do with all these pent up emotions...it feels like I should be taking some action, but what??? Other than living a happy life, free of WT Land, I don't know what else I could/should do!
Gone and forgotten, as a never been JW , married to a man who was raised JW but inactive until suddenly wanting to be active and baptised three+ years ago, I was quite oblivious to the insidiousness of the WT. Until my husband "put on a new personality" which was horrid, did I really learn, and like you when I began really learning. I got more and more angry. At first I did all the wrong things with that anger. I read here others tend to impulsively do that as well. It is natural to want to tell everyone and act immediately.
I then pushed my husband deeper into the WTBTS by wanting to tell him everything, show him all I was learning. He blamed me reading apostate lies and basically closed his ears. ( and I do mean literally, with his fingers in his ears like a child would do) I was floored.
Keeping my mouth shut and continue learning, getting my anger out some other way, maybe go to the gym or write it out or ANYTHING other than try to convince the people you care about that are under the JW spell what the WTBTS really is . It seems counter-intuitive, but it is SO necessary to wait until your anger has been calmed enough to control. Then so many people here have great advice on how to handle people in so many different good and calm ways. How to help plant seeds of doubt without triggering the persecution complex that shuts their minds down and creates a very difficult barrier.
Thanks Nonjwspouse...this emotion is just catching me by surprise. I haven't turned in field service time in nearly 10 years...I haven't been regularly associated with a congregation in about that same amount of time. Due to an extremely dysfunctional marriage, that I attempted to get help from the elders for...to no avail...I just ended up drifting away. I finally made the decision 4 years ago that I didn't want to go back...every time we tried, my life just got worse and worse, not necessarily due to the congregation or WTS, but due to my crazy ex's extremes, and I just couldn't take it anymore. Until recently, I never really looked any deeper into things...but now that I am stuck at home most of the time due to an illness that I am recovering from, I have the time to delve into things I haven't in the past...Over the past year, I have really been taking my life back, but due to my JW indoctrination, have been conflicted and had to make decisions based on what I wanted...and with great feelings of guilt and dread, went against JW teachings/beliefs...then I happened across this website and it has been a lifesaver for me. I am starting to "wake up" to who I really am...completely throwing off the JW personality...and now I am happy again. I didn't realize how much of my personality was lost...and am really disappointed in how my life has turned out due to my decision to become a JW. I also didn't really know how tightly my eyes were closed to the hypocrisy of the WTS. If I had been confronted about the child abuse issues...I would have vehemently denied them. Same with NGO issue among others...I always felt uncomfortable with how superior (not sure if that's the right word) JW's make themselves to others...while claiming to be the most humble of people.
I currently don't have any close contact with any JW...I was the only one in my family, and only my ex's aunt is in. She is the only one that is currently privy to my current lifestyle and as a result she has shunned me...although I am not DF'd or DA'd. But that's ok...it's better that way...it keeps my ex that much further from my life...but honestly, she's one of the most hypocritical JW that I know.
There are so many good people stuck in the organization...so blinded and brainwashed...and I feel so helpless to do anything about it. I know the best thing for me to do is to life my life HAPPY and FREE! It's a little late for me to start doing some of the things I dreamed of 30 years ago when this infection entered my life...but not all of them! And the best revenge I can get is by living well!
thousands of tourists will come every year and patronize local businesses
. . . and then patronize the residents.
Having served at the Farm, I can tell you that the local residents resent the Watchtower for this! That is people's biggest gripe.
