Letter of “Complaint”

After a district convention of Jehovah’s Witnesses, held at Glens Falls, New York, the following letter to the editor was published in the Glens Falls Post-Star:

“Last week, Jehovah’s Witnesses came from all over to Glens Falls for a convention. I just don’t know how much longer we can tolerate such revolting behavior.

“Nobody smoking pot. Nobody under the influence of drugs or alcohol. No head-splitting, ear-deafening music. No immoral songs. No illicit sex. No ticket scalping. No yelling and screaming. No pushing. No shoving. No fighting to get in or to get out. No one swearing or cursing. Nobody yelling obscenities. No obscene gestures. No dirty jokes or foul language. No police necessary for rowdy behavior. No arrests for disorderly conduct. No one telling the police where to go. Instead, they let the police give directions. No smoke-filled Civic Center; the air was breathable.

“Women wearing dresses and looking like women. Men with neat looking haircuts, wearing suits and ties and looking respectable. Husbands arm and arm with their own wives. Parents and children together as families. Children obeying their parents, and not being disrespectful or destructive. People carrying Bibles, instead of knives or switchblades. No stealing or shop-lifting.

“No one throwing beer or soda cans on Glens Falls lawns. No one smashing beer or soda bottles on Glens Falls streets.

“It was really unusual. I mean, what in God’s name was going on? Would it be so awful if more of us would act like that? Makes one wonder, doesn’t it?”​—S. N. G., Whitehall, N.Y.