Posts by new boy

20

How many visitors do we get ?

by Simon in

jw
friends

someone was asking me in the chatroom about the number of hits the site gets.

here is a brief summary (of what we currently get per week):.

21,000 visitors.

new boy

Great job Simon. I hope it's become everything you hoped it to be.

6

My Bethel Experienxce Part 10

by new boy in

there were guys at bethel, who had great jobs........like don brouex.....he was the receptionist at the 124 desk.

his job was checking in and "checking out" all the bethel tours and "hot" sisters on their way through the bethel home.

that my friend, is not a real bethel job.

new boy

There were guys at Bethel, who had GREAT jobs........Like Don Brouex.....he was the receptionist at the 124 Desk. His job was checking in and "checking out" all the bethel tours and "hot" sisters on their way through the bethel Home. That my friend, is NOT a real bethel JOB. I told Don that years later, that he never did “really” work at bethel and he laughed. Funny thing is he was the CO that took my bethel application in September 1969. God I so wanted to be like him!

There were guys at bethel that had great congregations with maybe only 2-4 bethelities in their halls. One Hall, Midtown had over 80 bethelites in it and there was Murryhill which was just as bad all bethelites plus 3 old ladies 4 kids and a dog. Odds of getting a home cook meal on Sunday 0%. Roy Baty said he got cheese and crackers at some old sister house after he was there for a year and 4 months. A good hall could make all the difference, on how long you could "gut it out" there, especially if you had a girlfriend there.

There were guys at Bethel that, for them, money was NO problem, parents sent them tons of cash every month, rain or shine.

There were guys, that had all three, they were called "Golden Boys".........Guys that for some reason, God was smiling down on them. They could fall into a bucket of shit and come up with a rose in their teeth. They had good bethel jobs, great KHs, money, a car, and more often than not a good looking "sister" on their arm. It was great just being around them. You thought that there could be a God after all.

There were the guys who struck out on all there. Guys like my roommate Roy Baty. He was in Murray Hill KM with 80 Bethelites, He worked in the Bindery (thanks to Eugene Alcorn) and he had no money sent to him. I give him credit he made his four years and he had a girlfriend before he went to bethel! Only one out of a hundred could do that.

That brings me to my next topic. Cars at Bethel.

A car at bethel was total freedom!

Why? For me the first two years there, it was Bethel and your KH, Bethel and your KH.........unless you knew someone with a car to get out of the city there was no leaving New York, you were stuck there months on end.

Your only free time was Saturday afternoon & evening. So on Saturday you would take the train down to times square and walk around looking for a good movie to go to, or walk all the way down to Flatbush Blvd. in Brooklyn. It wasn't unusual to not find one and walk all the way back home. Sunday was service in the morning, meeting in the afternoon and if you were lucky, dinner with a family in the hall that night.

A car could help change some of that. Some guys there had some nice cars too. Jim Pipkorn first had a 65 ford mustang rag top. Then a 67 GTO. Dave Borga (Mr. G Job king) had a 69 MACH 1, There was a 1968 396 rag top SS Camaro, that some guy on the waiter crew had.........anyway they all spelled...... FREEDOM.

They did have their problems......one was parking, there was NONE back then for the bethelities. Oh, the society had plenty of places for us to park after they bought the Squibb property but why make it easy on the brothers? Many years later they finally decided to give the bethelites free parking.

Anyway, you would have to drive around "the heights" looking for a spot......If you got back late....that could take up to an hour driving up and down every street up to a mile from your room. At one in the morning you would get so piss off and frustrated trying to find a parking spot. I bet Knorr never had to drive around and look for a parking spot. At that time night after you did find a parking space a mile away, the walk home was very exciting. Sometimes you have to run all the way if there were people following you. I love New York.

The other thing you could do was park illegally. You just didn’t have a choice. Many guys did......sometimes you got lucky....If not it was 10 dollars fine and 25 dollars for a fire hydrant. The Kennedy boys (Jim and Gary) had a 65 T-Bird and NEVER parked legal! They had Georgia plates.......and said the hell with it.

Well, one day they looked for their car but it was gone. The city had towed it. They went to the impound to get it. The guy said $656.00 please, they said "KEEP IT"

The other problem was break-ins.......If you had a rag top you would NEVER lock your car. The reason was if they wanted in, they would just take a knife to your roof, so you WOULD leave the door unlocked and let them get in.......But you would put a chain around the steering wheel and brake pedal. So if they hotwired the car and drive away there would be NO brakes. Some guys would put a kill switch in. You would always chain your hood and truck down. Another thing you would do is always leave your glove box OPEN, to show them there was nothing of value in your car. If you didn't your side mirror would be broken by the next morning.

We would see new cars parked on the street, in "the Heights" in 6 months they looked terrible. The reason is, mostly....... New Yorkers like to park by SOUND.......... they back in, until they hear.... a CRUCH ......then they move forward until they hear.....another.....CRUCH.......and then they back up and hear the final...............CRUCH.......now you’re parked.

After two years there, things got a little better, I had a fair job on the east freight elevator.........and I bought a car for ONE DALLOR. .....that’s right, one buck! My roommate’s girl friend's car, 1968 Fairlane, got totaled in a crash. The insurance payed her off and gave her the car. She gave it to me, for a buck. The car looked like something out of "Mad Max"......it was a complete wreck! Every quarter panel was trashed.......It had been rear ended at about 40 mph. the trunk that WAS 5 ft. long was now 3 ft. long. It looked like shit....... but she ran great........Believe it or not the 2 years I had it "They" (the worldly people) try to steal it 3 times, but she was my baby and she was my freedom.

I took Guys to the airport for $5........good money. I drove guys in my K H to the meetings, Instead of the hour plus train ride we could do it in 20 mins. They gave me their subway money......5 times .70 cents per trip good money........and last but not least she could get me..............far............ far away..........."From the wonderful House of God." On the weekends. Things were looking up!

49

Slightly different approach - JW my tradition

by closed in

hello everybody :) i have been visiting this forum for some time.

i noticed that many can't really free from the past in the org despite many years outside of jw.

i was awaken with a bang.

new boy

I was in for 52 years. For most people it is tough to realize they have invested in a thought system that was faulty from the beginning. Many people stick with it for that reason only that's their life and were all their friends are at. They are there for the people. Of course combat soldiers with tell you the same thing. The cause isn't that important it's the guys standing next to you is why you are fighting. I like you said I would never want to be an elder after I left bethel, were I saw abuse of power on a massive scale.

6

My Bethel Experience Part 9

by new boy in

the worst thing, someone could call you at bethel, was a "jack.

" as in "that guy is a real jack, he doesn't work at all".

the other term not used very much anymore, was "pot licker" used basically the same way.

new boy

The worst thing, someone could call you at bethel, was a "Jack." As in "that guy is a real Jack, he doesn't work at all". The other term not used very much anymore, was "Pot Licker" used basically the same way. There has been some bad things done at bethel. You name it, someone has done it. But the absolute worst possible thing, a bethelite could do is be a THEFT and rob from a fellow bethelite! Hey, people having sex with each other it happens every day, thats normal. But stealing from some poor bethelite making .73 cents a day. That should be a STONING offence. We had three of them, in the 4 years I was there. They would wait until we got paid (we got paid in cash) and go into your locker when you were working and ripe you off. It never happen to me but I had friends who had to borrow money to buy subway tokens because of this "brother."

One of these guys was one of the most self-righteous assholes you ever saw. He would walk around the factory with an "Aid to bible understand book" under his arm. He gave a text comment one time and said "I have walked the floors of the 124 at night and I have heard Rock n Roll music coming out of the brothers rooms." This guy was trying to out righteous even the GB. Sure enough 6 months later it was announced at breakfast "Brother LeRoy Righteous has DFed for stealing" Isn't that always the way it is, it’s always the more righteous ones you need to watch. Just like in the KHs.

When some guy got kicked out of Bethel, Knorr would "Have him/her for breakfast." Meaning a half hour to 45 min. lecture on whatever their sins were. Sometimes he would go into a rant and you would think he have a heart attack, he would get so worked up. It was getting so bad that once or twice a week this would happen, it was a real downer. It was very discouraging and it would have been nice to have had a hot meal sometimes. It was only him, leading the morning worship for the past 30 years.

So guess what? In 1973, when Knorr took one of his many trips to the south pacific islands. He and his bride always went in the winter time, for some odd reason. So while he was gone, the GB voted him off the text table! Boy was he pissed when he got back! The next week at the Gilead graduation he said "We are starting a new arrangement for the text comments the GB will now rotate, so that all members of the GB, will have a turn at leading the text comments (And I quote). "I DECIDED TO LET THEM HAVE IT!".......nice of him. Power is a tough thing to give up. The days of one guy call all the shots were coming to and end.

Old Bethel Story.

Phone rings in 5th floor bindery, new boy picks it up and says "This is Jack's mule barn......which Jack ASS do you want?" On the other end of the phone. "DO YOU KNOW WHO THIS IS?" new boy "NO"...................other end "THIS IS MAX LARSON FACTORY OVERSEER!" New boy says. "Well, do you know this is?" Max Larson says "NO" new boy says "GOOD" and hangs up. True Story.

I learned about fear of man at bethel I never had it before.

My roommate Steve H. move out of the room. I guess I wasn't friendly enough .I guess he found a roommate who was more NPG friendly. I got to keep the room, that’s how it works there. I got a new roommate in T-211 towers my old buddy Jack Sutton, one of the X Laundry guys. He was from Phoenix AZ and I was from California. So we decided decorate our room in a western motif. We had some old western posters on the wall. One of the posters was of a bull fighter. The house keepers loved our room and had many of their coffee breaks there.

Anyway one night about 8:00 p.m. we get this knock on the door. It’s is Curtis Johnson (newly appointed) home servant to the Towers. This Guy looked and talks just like the Nazis guy in the movie "Raiders of the lost Ark." the one with thick glasses and smiling all the time. He was Bald headed 5 ft. 2” a real tweeb, We said "come on in" he said "NO thanks...........brothers, I'm here to talk about your room decorations"......."OK what about them?"......."We don't like them." "Who is we?" "Well the bethel office." "really?"..............."REALLY" he said........."Like, look at that Bull fighting poster on the wall, of yours...............a tour might think we like killing animals."....."Brother Johnson, NO tours come through the towers Hotel and we never looked at that poster that anyway." "Never mind about that, we want it down".........."Alright".....we said " We ‘ll take it down"

We never said when we would take it down. So when we moved out a year later we took it down.

Yes, the sisters cleaning your room had instructions to search for anything that was wasn’t appropriate. You know rock in roll records, posters, books and magazines and report them to the home servant.

I'm afraid we haven't seen the last of our dear "brother" Johnson.

8

My Bethel Experience Part 8

by new boy in

well it is 4:00 a.m. in the morning and i can't sleep, so might has well write..

everything at bethel is seniority........"how long have you been here?

you really wanted to be the man with no name a.k.a.thx-1138.

new boy

Well it is 4:00 a.m. in the morning and I can't sleep, so might has well write.

Everything at bethel is seniority........"How long have you been here?" If you wanted a better room you need some seniority, rooms would go up on a bid system. If you had more time in, then another guy, and a room went up for bid, you got it. If you were a new boy, and all your friends were new boys, it could be a year or two before you got a decent room and 10 years to get a room with its own bathroom, pre towers days. There were 2 man rooms, 3 man rooms, 4 man rooms, and 7 man rooms.........everything from a 7 man room in the ghetto, the 129 building, to a luxury apartment in its own building (like the good Doctor Dickson got). I don't have a problem with a system like that, a system that rewards seniority and education.

Oooppps, did I say education......Yes, I guess I said it..........Remember at the time......"higher education" was HIGHLY DISAPROVED of (you can tell from my spelling in these threads) and after high school, there was only ONE thing to do and that was to pioneer. We only had a few years left before 1975 and Armageddon and we didn't need NO stinking education, we needed to save as many people as possible! A couple of people I knew, when to college and got so much guilt and SHIT for it, you wouldn't believe it. Of course now the society will say they never discouraged higher education….bull shit!

The society made it hard on people, because "the society" knows the DEATH of any religion is education and knowledge! So that is why most of the JWs today, in their 50's and 60's and 70’s are blue collar workers. No need for a good job Armageddon is coming.

You were a real rebel if you went to college, back then. Greg Chase was my press operator on "HOE 10" after bethel he went to college to be a chiropractic physician. He told me years later, that when he was going to college, they hated him in his local KM, how dare he try and make something of himself. Why can’t you be happy like us in a janitorial business? However after he got out of school, different story, "The Brothers" called him DR. Chase..........they loved him....they wanted him to go back to bethel to be their in house chiropractor. They flew him and his wife back to New York and wined and dined them both. They offered him a very nice "comp package" and luxury apartment if he would just come back. He said "NOPE".

Sooooooooo........at bethel you were REWARDED for not listening to them about getting a "higher" education.........they treated you better and gave you more respect. You got a better room, and a better job! They actually treated you like a real person. Guys would come to bethel with a degree, (they went to school while I was pioneering) do you think they put them in the bindery? Nope, they got a great office job, no machines for them.

The light came on for me. The first glue of the "double standard" in the Lord's house and there are many! The say one thing but do something different deal. Those wonderful "unwritten rules and laws." As they say if it looks like shit and smells like shit, and taste like shit, it COULD possibly just be.......

Sorry, I got side tracked again. Back to the Bethel rooms. Working in the Laundry I got to see into all the rooms there, except Knorr's, you had to be Jesus to enter there. There are some really nice ones too, most of the rooms in the 107 and 124 buildings were dormitory style, with one women's and one man's bathroom on each floor. That’s why it took so much seniority to get a room with a bath there wasn't many of them back then. Plus they watched you like a hawk in the 124, 107 and 119. It seemed like that most of the tight asses lived in the 124 and 107, though there was plenty of cool guys mixed in too.

Then the society bought the Towers Hotel. They opened up 3 floors for bid. GREAT rooms all with their own bathrooms. If you had a year or more, you could get in. You would have thought everyone would have wanted them, but since the hotel was full of worldly people, most of the tight asses stayed were they were. I was one, of the first people in the Towers, room T 211. I didn't have the seniority to get a room, but a guy on my table did, Steve H, and he wanted a new roommate.....which brings me to my next subject, ROOM MATES.

Hey! There are all types..........and God bless them all. But some of them could make your life a living hell. It wasn't unusual for a newer guy there to bunk with and old timer, but most of the time it was someone you knew, you either worked with, or went to the same KH with. When you were new you didn't have a choice and you could get anyone.

My old pioneer partner Roy Baty come to bethel about 6 months after me. When he got there he was so self-righteous, he made me sick, he reminded me of ME when I first got there. I told him "I don't want to be around you, now Roy, come back and we'll talk again in 6 months"

Poor Roy got off to a bad start, they put him in a room in the 124 with Eugene Alcorn, a black "brother" from Detroit, with a real attitude. ROY hadn't even been there a couple of weeks and got a taste of "bethel Justice".......It seems he and his roommate Eugene got into a fight over the radio one night. Roy wanted if off at 11:00 p.m. and turn it off................. Eugene got up and turn it on...........Roy got up and turn it off............Eugene turned it on.......you get the idea. Words were said and in the brawl, that followed, the sink in the room got busted. Now most guys would cover for each other. Instead, Eugene went to the bethel office the next morning and told "the brothers" that, his white roommate didn’t like black people and wouldn't let him listen to his radio and beat him up, that is why the sink was busted. I never did like Eugene.

They hauled Roy in to the Bethel office. How it works at bethel is whoever gets there FIRST with the story, usually wins...Pretty much like the KH. The reasoning is, only the righteous one would naturally report the behavior of the unrighteous one. So by the time Roy got there, the decision was already made. Welcome to the Bindery Roy.

You really didn’t want "the Brothers" to know your name at bethel. Once your name got out there for any reason, once you got a "REP" you were screwed. "OH yes.....I've seem to have heard or your name, before brother ’Trouble maker’. We have a machine just for you.” You really wanted to be the man with no name a.k.a.THX-1138. Just do your time and get the hell out of there.

I don't know what to say about Steve H.........my first roommate in a 2 man room, except he kind of creeped me out. I wanted out of my 7 man room badly and he was my ticket out. He had all the mannerisms of an NPG (non practicing gay).....and there were plenty of those there too and there were a few that were practicing too. There were guys who loved the fact that there were 1300 19-23 year olds guys and few women at the Lord's house. Don't get me wrong! I love gays NOW, but I 'm speaking from my mind set of 1972. This guy had way too much clinginess for me and way too much famine mannerisms for me. He would say "So what are WE doing today?"........."I don't know....what ARE we doing today?"....sorry Charlie.

If you weren't Gay or and NPG at bethel, you were a homophobia...........I knew some bethelities who beat the shit out of some gay guys in "the Heights" one night just for the hell of it. AH the love.

There was this one new boy that got jumped walking to the squib building from the 124, by 2 thugs. It guess he was a black belt before coming into the borg. He kick their asses one guy was dragging the other guy back to their car and begging him to stop the beating. He went to George Couch Bethel home overseer, the next day to turn himself in, George said don't worry about it. He was our hero, we loved him.

65

Introducing...ME

by Heartsafire in

jw
friends

long time lurker here.

i'm a fifth gen born-in baptized jw.

to say i've been struggling with doubts is an understatement.

new boy

You will know the truth and the truth will set you free. Your road will not be and easy one, but the good news is you no longer have to live in dread. I hope your husband makes his way towards the light. For me it was my children that helped me out. Kids today can spot bull shit so much quicker than my generation. It took me 52 years to get completely out.

good luck

Keith

8

My Bethel Experience Part 7

by new boy in

besides the about 48 hours you worked there a week, you would have other duties too.

there was dish duties.

then you had the night watchmen duties.........once every 2-3 years in the home, you pulled an all night watchman duty.

new boy

People would ask me "how long do you plan on staying at bethel" I would say "forever!.....or 4 years whichever comes first"

Besides the about 48 hours you worked there a week, you would have other duties too. There was dish duties. Since the waiters worked about from about 6 in the morning to about 4 in the afternoon, they needed someone to do the supper dishes. About once a month the bethel family got that privilege........Funny thing is you NEVER saw the heavies go them. They we fun especially in the summer time. The worst job was working the dish washing machine "HOT END" there was 2 brothers loading the front end and 2 guys taking the 140 degree dishes off the back end. Your hands were on fire. That is where I first meet Dave Borga. He was Jim Pipkorn best friend and roommate. He was the waiter that was in charge that night...........He put me on the HOT END......by myself.....he just set up on a counter laughing.......It was like that "I LOVE LUCY" show where she is in the factory with a conveyor belt, any way that was the last dish duty for me.

Then you had the night watchmen duties.........Once every 2-3 years in the home, you pulled an all night watchman duty. It started about 9 p.m. The Watchman would get a day off and you would fill in. It was very creepy. It was dark and you had to walk through all 3 buildings 119, 117 and 124 (not the 129) and their basements too. You did this loop three times and punch the time clock you had with you.

At about 3:00 a.m. in this dark basement of the 124 all of a sudden this guy jumps in front of me and SCREAMS. I thought I saw ghost of Charles Russel, I could have died. Guess who it was? It was Peter R......the real night watchmen, he said "he couldn't sleep.......and wanted to have some FUN with me!" What a JERK. About 2 years later, he was asked to leave (kicked out) bethel........It seemed he liked to sneak into the sisters bathrooms in the 117 building at night (they only had one bathroom per floor, Knorrs Idea on how to save money) He would lock the toilet door and do some free PEEPING, as the sisters were taking showers. I guess all those long nights by himself finally got to him. Good news…..he is an Elder in Salem Oregon now.

There was another guy, while I was there, who could beat that one. He would sneak into a married couples rooms (in the middle of the night) and lay on the floor next to the wife ....and copped a feel. Now you know why Knorr hated bethelities.

Anyway we got side tracked.......back to dish duties. Why do a dish duty? When you could get someone else to do them for you. So we would trade them or sell them. There was this one guy Allen Richards who would do your 2 hour dish duty for .89 cents, that was the price a 1/2 gallon of "Canadian Ace" beer.........the worst beer ever made. I bet he felt great the next day! So if you could get some poor schmuck to do it for .89 cents and you could get some side job for $1.75 an hour? Do the math!

Which brings us to the next subject of "G" jobs. NO ONE really knows were the name came from. But it is, any job you did to make more money....outside of the 22 dollars a month bethel gave you. You spent anywhere from $12 to $14 a month just on subway tokens.

They were many different types. Some guys in the press room ran "the paper route" it started at 3:00 a.m. on Sunday mornings. I did it once......not for me........Some guys did cratering jobs at weddings, great tips plus you could keep all the half-drunk wine bottles, when it was over. There was a waiting list, to work there. Some guys painted apartments. My friend Jim Pipkorn.....worked a funeral home in "the village"...........The stories I could tell you about that place. That would be a whole 2 page thread in itself. Dave Borga, turned into the King of all "G jobbers".....They still talk about him to this day in the "new boy talks"..............He had a FULL TIME job working the night shift at toy factory in Jersey. That’s right almost 90 hours a week of work! Needless to say he didn’t last long, at that pace, with only 3 to 4 hours sleep a night.

I was a dish washer I washed pots and pans in and high end restaurant 3 blocks from bethel in "the Heights"....To this day, I will not order turkey and dressing in a restaurant. They would serve these little loafs of bread in there and people would eat half of them.....they would put out their cigarettes butts in what was left of the bread......the waiters would bring them back to the kitchen and throw them in a box, on the floor, next week it was? You guessed it! Turkey and bread dressing day.

I also so worked in two liqueur stores one in "Inwood" and one in "The Heights" ........Hey $1.75 an hour is GOOD money. I was making only .08 cents an hour, working for Jehovah.I guess Jehovah doesn't believe in minimum wage. The extra 10-20 bucks a week made a BIG difference, in making your life a little more comfortable there. So even if the sisters forgot your dinner at the KH. Once or twice a week, you could get a "Hero and a Quart of beer" down at Pioneer deli. If you were really rolling, you would buy a chuck steak and frozen French fries and cook it up in your room, on your electric skillet.....THAT MY FRIEND WAS LIVING!

One day at lunch on Doctor Dixon's table the whole upper dining room was pretty quiet. One table was really loud, it was the tour table............he keep looking over and giving them a look like "how dare they disturb my eating......I said "You tell they are NOT bethelities".....he knew what I meant.......and said "I think you have a bad attitude about bethel"............I said "I have a bad attitude about New York City." He said "Are you kidding, look at all the great things you can do here, you have the plays and the fine dining!"

I said "Brother Dixon, I don't know your New York City. Our New York City is a hero sandwich and a quart of beer once a week, if we are lucky."

I knew a guy who was mugged in New York.......The guy put a gun to his head and said "give me your money or I'm going to blow your BRAINS out!" The man said "YOU better shoot........because I know one thing about New York, you can live here without brains....but you GOT to have MONEY!"

P.S.......that is the only story, I have told that is NOT true.

12

My Bethel Experience Part 6 with new info.

by new boy in

i 'm sorry all of this is not in order.

i'm writing as all this comes back to me.. .

my first room assignment was room 33 in the 129 building.

new boy

to Joe134cd

I journal

To ShirleyW I looked up ok so help me out.

Shuckin' and jivin' (or shucking and jiving) is a slang term for the behavior of joking and acting evasively. More generally, the term can also refer to the speech and behavioral mechanisms adopted in the presence of an authoritative figure.[1] Shuckin' and jivin' usually involves clever lies and impromptu storytelling, used to one-up an opponent or avoid punishment

12

My Bethel Experience Part 6 with new info.

by new boy in

i 'm sorry all of this is not in order.

i'm writing as all this comes back to me.. .

my first room assignment was room 33 in the 129 building.

new boy

I 'm sorry all of this is not in order. I'm writing as all this comes back to me.

My first room assignment was room 33 in the 129 building. It was and old building, built around the turn of the century, The society owned it but it had worldly people living in to. I'm not sure why but maybe there was a law that prevented them from being kicked out or something. It was a 2 bedroom, 1 bath apartment (about 1000 sq. ft.) There were 7 of us in there, all new boys (less than one year there). There was 2 guys in each of the bedrooms and 3 guys in the living room. I got the back bedroom with some righteous Spanish kid from Texas (forgot his name). The bedroom was about 10x10, there were 2 beds, 2 desks and 2 dressers in there. It was so small, you had to go outside to change your mind, LOL.

Some of the fun things we would do there is have roach races. Lots of cockroaches there. We would catch these roaches, put them in glass jar, draw a circle on the kitchen floor, put the glass jar in the middle and let them go, the first roach that got to the circle.....WON!.........the prize was getting squashed.

There was a 5 inch hole in our bathroom floor, (some repair job that never got fixed) next to the toilet. You could look down and see some guy sitting there on the toilet. So one day when this guy was sitting on his toilet, we got a glass of water and then flashed our toilet, (which he could hear) and through the water down the hole on this "brothers" head. You should have seen the look on his face.

Work is over at 5:40, so on Thursdays (my meeting night) we had to run home, change and jump on a subway train, about an hour ride (no time to eat) to make it on time to the ministry school. My congregation was Inwood, the last congregation on the island of Manhattan. It was about 80% black and Spanish..........God I love the Black KHs.......they are the nicest people you would ever meet. The best hall I have ever been in! You had to be down to earth and be able to "shuck and jive" with them..........They (like most people) hated "uppity" people. I was lucky, there were only six betheliets in my K hall. Two tight ass company men, Daryl Christianson and Larry Fisher both elders and 4 new boys, me, Dennis Miller, Dave Poroit, and Mike Adams who I later heard had a mental break down at the WT farm. I heard he tried to kill himself.........I wonder why?

Anyway if we were lucky, the sisters (at the hall) would give you some food in a brown paper bag at the end of the meeting, to take home with you. We would eat it on the train. You would have to wait until someone else was ready to leave before you could go. The reason was at the time, we were supposed to travel in "pairs"........to prevent getting "mugged" and just about everyone who was at bethel (in 4 years) got mugged at least once. They told us to have at least couple of bucks on us at all times. The reason was if you did get mugged and you didn't have any money on you, they (the muggers) would beat the shit out of you, thinking you had it hidden on you somewhere and you just didn't want to give it up. You, just don't want to piss off those crack heads! It was hard at times to have even 2 bucks on you. One friend of mine ended up in the hospital after they took a lead pipe to his head. The reason he was a "white boy" in Harlem with no money.

You would see the strangest stuff on the subway train.

You would be there eating your brown bag dinner and all of a sudden, some tramp at the other end of the car would be there and start, "jacking off" right in front of you. Or the door open and some 400 lb. black guy would get on the train wearing a pink "tutu" and you know he wasn't doing to a costume party.THE LAST THING you would ever do, is stare at someone. Don Broux (and xbethel & XCO)......happened to catch a guy's eyes for 2 SECONDS as the train was stopping. The guy jumped up, went over to Don and slugged him in the nose.....and said "WHAT THE F....K ARE YOU LOOKING AT?" It was Don's last week at bethel he got married 4 days later with a broken nose. Another friend of mine was just sitting on the train and this black guy walks up to him, with his 3 year old kid and points to my friend and says "DO YOU SEE THIS BOY?...........pointing to my friend, "THIS IS WHITETY!.......YOU HATE WHITETY!........YOU KILL WHITETY!..........then just walked off.

Those New Yorkers love to have fun with you.

On one of those hot summer nights in the summer of 1970. One of nights that it was still 90% humidity at 11:00 pm. One of those nights there was no brown paper bag with dinner in it, from the sisters, after the meeting. Sister Ierizery had forgot it was her turn to make us dinner that night. I got off the subway train with book bag in hand, suit and loosen tie around my neck clothes drenched with sweat. Most of the trains in the early seventies still didn’t have AC in them. Me and some other Bethelites who congregations were over an hour away climbed up the stairs from the subway. At the top of the stairs we got a blast of cooler air. God did that feel good. Another day was over. Only three years left.

A block away was the “Pioneer market” (yes that was the real name). The brothers with money could go there and get a hero sandwich for $2 bucks. It was the end of the month so there was no money for food. There was just enough money for subway tokens to get to and from the meetings. I walked back to the 129 building, got to my room and just started crying for no reason. I went to the kitchen open the refrigerator door to see a bottle of "cold duck" I had bought a week earlier. I have no idea why I bought something as stupid as that. I guess it sounded interesting ...... I grabbed it and drank the whole thing in 3 mins.......The room started to spin, I laid down on my bed and after a few mins. Through up all over the bed and myself. I just laid there crying. I was the first time I had ever got drunk in my life.

"Are you O.K."...my roommate asked.........."I'm sick" I said.......and I was....sick of heart.

I thought, It really was true............"They really didn't give a shit about us."

9

My Bethel Experience Part 5

by new boy in

the machines conquer all!.

after our meeting with knorr and the heavies, some of the boys and me got a job changes.

i was sent to bindery 5th floor, building 3, bindery line 5..

new boy

The Machines conquer all!

After our meeting with Knorr and the “Heavies,” some of the boys and me got a job changes.

I was sent to Bindery 5th floor, Building 3, bindery line 5.

Welcome to hell. Abandoned hope all who enter here.

Standing in the same spot, 8 hours and 40 mins a day. You would take a book out of one machine, the “rounder” and shoved it into another machine the “back liner.” You would do this same motion 16,000 to 17,000 times in one day.

You would get the "1000 yard stare." The same one you would see in the war movies, the same stare that guys would get after they have seen too much.

To fight off the boredom you would play mental games with yourself. The first week there I thought about everyone I ever meet. The next week you would think about every movie you ever saw. The next week, about every place you would like to travel to. The next week you would, think about every mistake you ever made. And then there was the girls, lots of thinking about girls. Then it all stopped and next week, someone would walk up and ask you "What are you thinking about?"

"NOTHING" you would say, you were brain dead. There was just the groaning sound of the machines. Days drifted into weeks, weeks into years.

There is eternality! Some hours in that factory feel like it. There were days you looked at the clock and it would say 2:13. You would look again and it would say 2:26! There is a hell.

A good friend of mine, Jim Pipkorn, who also stood up at the Black September meeting. He worked with me in the laundry. He got shafted to the bindery too, to the "end sheet gluer." In the bindery he got so depressed that for months, he would come back to his room at night and make himself some dinner. Then he would go to bed, at about 7:00 p.m.

I asked him why he was doing that, he said "It makes the days go by quicker"

We were counting our time. It was just like Viet Nam. You would ask a guy how long he had left. He would say "3 years 2 months to go" We would say "You Poor bastard......that is after 1975, so you will never have any sex." You should have seen the look on his face.

Of course there is no racial prejudice in the Lords house.

Yet about 20% of the Bethelites were black but about 60% of the guys in the bindery were black. It seemed odd to me so, I asked Calvin Chiych (assistant factory overseer at the time) why that was, he said it was "Because the black 'brothers' have a NATURAL rhythm which works well with the machines.”

So they got some of the shitist jobs in the factory because of their “natural rhythm.”

I was dying every day. I prayed "Please God get me out of here."

I found this picture of this old guy with grey hair, he was praying with a bible and a loaf of bread on a table, hands folded, maybe you have seen it? I hung it up in my locker. One day my floor overseer Phill Gouckinbil saw it and said "What is this brother Casarona? This guy is not a witness! Because that is not a new world translation bible on the table" I said "I thought he was! That he was one of the anointed ones, behind the iron curtain and that was the only bible he could get!".........."Mmmmm" he said as he walked away. I had nothing to lose I was alright at one of the worst jobs in the factory.

Well, It must have worked........I got a job change 2 weeks later to the east freight elevator building one. I thought I died and went to haven. I could walk around and even go to the bathroom anytime I wanted. I was my own boss......WOW I was in heaven.

That is where I meet the press room animals, Great guys.

Just below the press room is the 5th floor ink room. These guys were "The Mash unit" of the factory..........these guys got away with murder. ........they had coffee breaks. They even had a place they could hide and one of them could take a nap, as the others were on look out. Their overseer was Norm Brecky. I really cool guy I thought, until Jimmy Olsen killed himself. Anyway he would go to bat, for his boys “The Inkies” which he did so more than once.

One day, down by glue room, I was standing there with Mike Stillman and 2 other guys. Mike had this big wooden paddle about six ft. long. He was beating the harden glue with it. It made a sound like a whip hitting flesh. He would yell out "FEED THE ROUNDER (a cruel bindery machine)........SLAP..........FEED THE ROUNDER ..........SLAP! ”Please don't beat me, brother overseer..............FEED THE ROUNDER............SLAP!"........We were all laughing. Just then walking up from behind us was none other than "Liver lips Linderman".....The head bindery overseer! He stood there for a minute quaking and finally said "Just WHAT do think, would have happened if it was a TOUR that came over that bridge instead of ME!"

Mike Just stood there, with his paddle over his shoulder and said..........."Well, I guess they would think we normal, like everyone else!"

Oh MY GOD, we are so screwed, I thought! One thing you would never do at bethel is defend yourself.

Linderman stood there with smoke coming out of his ears and with a hateful smile. He didn’t know what to say. How dare us stand up to him. He finally said "YOU...........HAVE DONE A VERY BAD THING" and walked off. We are totally screwed.

That was it, I thought, bindery here we come…. back to hell!

But no, Norm came through again. He saved us.

That is, what is so nice about Bethel, it’s the love! ..............and of course there is NO fear of man.

Monday part 6