by Corney 33 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse
How can someone 10-16 years old be assigned those jobs at Bethel?
Easy, everybody works, for the most part. I roomed with a son of a draftsman in Brooklyn when he was 15 or 16 for a few weeks. He worked on the Masonry crew. This was back in the 70's.
The first time I read this story I thought it was nonsense.
This time round, with the subsequent confirmation of Briggs’ importance as a film maker, it sounds all too credible. Unfortunately I can imagine Jack Barr saying those things due to an abundance of naiveté and absolute trust in the organisation.
The detail about Lösch is odd because the timing is off. But everything else makes sense. There was another German speaker in bethel on the GB at this time called Martin Poetzinger. Maybe she mixed them up? If she’s wrong about that detail, but otherwise telling the truth, it could undermine the whole story. Perhaps, in telling her story, she said she went to a German brother on the GB and another person supplied the information that it must have been Lösch.
Can the serious allegations be proven? Did she confide in anyone at the time who would be willing to say so? There may be corroborating evidence if Briggs did this to others. Of course, if the Governing Body did discuss it, we can assume that any evidence has long since been destroyed.
As a former Bethelite who knew Jack Barr and sat with him at the Governing Body table for meals every day, I don't see this young woman's account being far fetched at all especially back then. The GB were out and about and you'd see them especially if your work was in the offices rather than in the factory. If her father was so valued for his services in the video production that they actually allowed her as a young girl to live at Bethel as well, it could also mean that she had an unusual amount of access to the "higher ups" in the organization.
Jack Barr was a seemingly harmless kindly old guy who wore vintage 1940's suits and had been in that religious institution since the very early and hard core days of its existence . He was very out of touch with what life was like in the real world and with women and especially with young girls. I can easily see this matter being too big of a dose of reality for these idealistic old men to fully grasp the enormity of or to wrap their minds around. I could absolutely see the "cognitive dissonance" kicking in and he and the others dismissing this "emotional" young girls claims and putting the "organization" first by minimizing the events she reported. They would be all about keeping this exciting and expensive new venture into videos they'd stuck their necks out for, from being sullied or slowed down somehow.
The old guard were unbelievably out of touch and hard core religious fanatics especially when real life and their beloved organization, crossed paths. They are the same bunch that expected their members to go to prison, forego marriage, children and education for Jehovah. They expected their members to let themselves and or their children die over the directives they made in the name of Jehovah regarding blood and other medical matters, and expected that they'd view it as a privilege to do so. Their world was/is literally the center of the universe to them and there would be no way an emotional young girls tale of woe would be believed over a highly valued older male who denied or minimized the wrongdoing done to her.
If the governing body dismissed her claims, it would be easy for her local elders to follow suit.
10-4 Pete Z
it was in the late 1990's when the District Overseer Robert Hendricks ?, told me "that is the will of God to suffer falsely and unjustly for the sake of the Wetchtower for a period of 15 years [he said per length to decide circumcision issue] and it should be viewed as an honor and privilege".
Well it has been 30 years.
there would be no way an emotional young girls tale of woe would be believed over a highly valued older male who denied or minimized the wrongdoing done to her.
Good lord, this is the ethos of the organization summed up about as perfectly as possible.
This complaint was filed along with 28 other complaints on the same day. It was the last day allowed to file a CSA claim without the statute of limitations being in force. It's reasonable to expect an amended complaint or complaints that are better written and more considered.
What makes this case so potentially devastating is that the setting is Bethel as opposed to a local congregation. Can the current GB be held liable for the acts or omissions of a past GB?
I know, how about overlapping governing bodies???
Plaintiff then reported her abuse to Mr. Underwood, an Elder at Bethel and the Overseer of all international construction at Bethel. Mr. Underwood did nothing in response. Briggs’ sexual abuse of Hines continued at Bethel after Hines’ report to Mr. Underwood.
'Don Underwood, overseer of Watchtower Construction... 'With every lift I always get a knot in my stomach until it is safely completed.”
https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/101983448
Don on the left, speaks at 45:22
The case has been settled on undisclosed terms.
I hope she’s now a multimillionaire!
Loesch was being groomed for GB, and he was Jacracz's enforcer. He spent a lot of time in the US at headquarters prior to his appointment to the GB. He had a way of just showing up whenever a serious abuse case bubbled up like a boil on the back of a super model. Give him credit for being a hard worker during those desperate times - he was Johnny on the Spot and he got rewarded. S U P A S T A A A A A A A !!!!!!!!!!!! (That's ghetto for Superstar)
