Welcome to the Witnesses!

Jehovah’s witnesses enjoyed warm welcomes in their world-wide series of district assemblies held during the past year. In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, when parking was a problem the witnesses were granted the right to park without time limit in all nonmeter two-hour-limit time zones. They merely had to put up something in their car to identify it as belonging to one who was attending the assembly. Businessmen of Dunfermline, Scotland, freely loaned lumber, tables, food and equipment and even donated some of it to the assembly. In El Paso, Texas, the witnesses discovered that rental rates for cafeteria equipment were exorbitant. So they appealed to the commanding general at Fort Bliss, who kindly loaned equipment to the brothers. The officers that the assembly’s officials dealt with appeared to be more than glad to accommodate them, due to the nature of the witnesses’ work and the purpose of the assembly. Then, after the newspapers had reported on the assemblies, the following letter was written to and published in the Charleston, South Carolina, News and Courier:

“In a day and age where it is near impossible to find fair and unprejudiced reporting, it is refreshing to find a newspaper so inclined. I refer specifically to The News and Courier of July 29 and subsequent editions covering the regional convention in Charleston of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Your editorial of July 29 entitled ‘Jehovah’s Witnesses’ and your subsequent coverage of that event shows that not only are you fair and unbiased, but that you are not afraid to print the facts even though such facts may not be pleasing to majority groups.

“Today with the world on the brink of a disaster, second to none in all recorded history, it may very well be that some minority group such as Jehovah’s Witnesses will give us the key to circumventing that disaster. The majority groups appear to be unable to do so. I commend you and your entire editorial and reporting staff for your unbiased, frank, and outspoken approach to news coverage.

W. L. Poindexter

(Commander, U.S. Navy)

USS Shannon, Charleston Naval Shipyard.”