Tidbits about Jehovah's Witnesses

TIDBITS

B S

(Investigator 88, 2003 January)

TIDBITS is an American publication with news items about fringe religions particularly Jehovah's Witnesses.

The November/December 2002 edition of TIDBITS included the following items which are here summarized:

Psychology Today (December 2002): Has a review of the book Awakening of a Jehovah's Witness, Escape from the Watchtower Society by Diane Wilson.

Stars & Stripes (no date): Had a half page about Barbara and Joe Anderson and their findings concerning paedophilia cover up in the Watchtower organization.

South Florida Sun-Sentinel (November 2, 2002): Report about Raymond Knowles, a JW elder, who defrauded fellow sect members of $millions! The elder persuaded members to invest in promissory notes at about 9% annual return and used later investors to pay the earlier ones. Meanwhile he enjoyed luxury cars and trips abroad.

No reference: A Riverside (California) JW mother, Donna Knight, drowned her baby in the toilet. She did this to conceal her pregnancy from her church where she faced excommunication for sex out of wedlock.

No reference: One of the American anthrax hoaxers was Fred Forcellina, 71, who had been a JW since childhood and was a speaker at JW conventions. He was sentenced to two months jail followed by two years probation.

Anderson Independent (October 4, 2002): Tonya Parker left her 11-month old girl by the bath-tub to talk to some JW visitors who knocked on her door. The baby drowned and the mother is charged with involuntary manslaughter.

No reference (October 18, 2002): Panama City, Florida. A zookeeper, Mr Koll, was interviewed by Awake! magazine reporters. He entered the cage of an African lion for a photo but stumbled and fell and got mauled.

No reference: The trial of Christian Longo, a JW who killed his wife and three children, is set for February 3. His reason for killing his family was, "I sent them to a better place."

The Daily Telegraph (October 18, 2002): A JW mother, stressed over a custody battle, intended to kill her two children, aged 7 months and 5 years, in two stages, poisoned chocolate followed by fire or gas. After stage one she changed her mind and called emergency help. The judge gave her a two-year suspended sentence.

No reference: Seven Philippine marines were killed trying to rescue JWs taken hostage. Two JW hostages were beheaded.

No reference: 125 JW sexual abuse victims from 22 states protested outside the Watchtower headquarters on September 27 with newspaper reporters and TV-crews present.

Times Herald Record (September 10, 2002): A fire destroyed a large part of a new JW assembly hall under construction.

No reference (November 7, 2002): Norma Kissoon, a JW, died of internal bleeding in the Leicester Royal Infirmary (UK) after rejecting a blood transfusion. An inquest by four doctors and the surgical team said she could have been saved.

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