Minutes 07/12/1949 - Laserfiche WebLink

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In order to give you some idea of what the City and citizens of Ports- mouth, England are like, I have collected a few facts and observations which I would like to pass on to you. King Richard the Lior~hearted was responsible for the beginning of this fine City and soen thereafter it became one of the most important medieval ports of cs~.l.~ Today, Portsmouth, E~gland'is n6t very important as a commercial port~. Southhampton, whzcn is very close by, handles most of the commercial shipping of the area, The City of Portsmouth, England, is much like ou~ o~n~ city. The simi- larity between these two cities ~ great as -,s so to be worthy of special connnent~ In size, Portsmouth England and Portsmouth, Virginia are approximately the sams with their City having the edge inpopulation, which is about ~18,000 today. Both cities are on the seacoast with fine natural deep water harbors. Still i~rther alike both ci ~es possess large Naval shipyards and the sight of a Naval uniform ~here is a~ frequent as the sight of one in ou~ City. The complete shopping district of Portsmouth, England and about forty per cent of the civilian homes were completely demolished during t~ bombings by the Germans° Du~ing ou~ stay we were very impressed by tbe!r rousing welcome and friendliness toward ~ although many of the homes were shambles. They we~t out of t~eir way to make our stay there very pleasant. ~There were many invitations by the citiz~ens of Portsmouth, England, i~iting g~oups of us into their homes for ~ea, parties and sometimes, dir~ue~, The latter was very difficult for them to do as they are on very stri~ct rationing, far more thanwewere du~i~g the height of the past war. The one thing that impressed me mos t was the high sense of h~mor there even in spite of the severe hardships every English citizen is living under. I will al- ways remember their city as the city of many smiling faces and rousing good times. I am currently embarked on. the USSShea, a de.s~oyer .m~nela.yer, f~or the midshipman pract~_ce cruzs~. The motto of th~s cruise is ~'~earn by doing". This cruzse g~ves the midshipman a chmuce to put into practice many of the things he lear~ned from books during the past year of sturdy and to learn many things by actual p tactics. ~e have also had a number of tactical exercises with other forces, such as submarines and carrier ai~ groups, which have given us an insight into future Naval warfare. I find that on a small ~hip like mine, one live~ very close to both the officers and the crew. This is .very good, because we get a definite viewpoint from them which soon may benefit us. On a small ship like this, I am given a cer- tain amount of responsibility which I would not be given on a larger ship. There being fewer personnel means that each man will be doing more and will be observed much more elosel~. This affords many opport~ani-ties for a good man ~o get ahead. In closing, I would like to say that I am happy to know that I can send you a little info,etlon on the presentation of yourgl~ts, and something about ~he Rpit- ish people and cum I~idshipman Cruise. Very t~ly yours, J. A. ~adigan, Nidshipman, Third Class.~ In regard to the question of furnishing water to South Norfolk, the Chairman appointed the following committee: Mess~s. Fox, Duke, Henderson, Murden, Pa~ker, ~ergeron, Barclay and A_uc ell The following letter was read: ~We, the undersigned, Paul H. B{eber and J.N. Nountford, a committee representing the Wkt~htower Society of Brooklyn, N.Y., with local headquarters at ~ S. 6th ~Ave., Portsmouth, ¥irginia, t~ve requested this day July 1E, 1949 of you the permission t o use the facilities of the City Park to hold Bible lectures for~the public du~ing the month of Au - gust, 1949. In the event these four Sundays are not available between 3 ~ud 4 P.M., ~other schedule can be made. You deferred a decision and ~eferred us to the City Council. We there - fore are submitting this statement through you to ~he City Council. We are asking.for the same privilege.as any other religious organi- zation would have and does have. We meszre t~e use of the portmon~ the par~ with the benches and ~peakingplatform. The ~ubJec.t to be discussed are a s follows: "Humanity at the ~OaGs , Victor~y over Death , Palestine in P~op~ec~ , ~ne Two Great Commandments of Life · You, no doubt~ recall ~naanuary, 19~9, an assembly of Jehova~h's Witnesses was held here ~n the City of ~ortsmouth ~t the Banquet Hall on County Street. You ha~e observed the order and conduct of this assembly; the ones to be held in City Pa~k will be conducted similarly. These meetings a~e all free- no eollections. We a~e willing to p ay any reasonable amo~unt of fee customarily r squired for the use of the park. ~nese Bible talks ~elate to an e~lolanation of Bible prophecy and mhow the cause ~or the suffering of mankind and ~he remedy therefore and they a~e designed to p rove that Almighty God will set up a Kingdom of righteousness over t~he earth that will stand forever and bring peace, prosperity, happiness ~nd everlasting life to all men of good-will toward J~nov~h God. These talks also show we a~e now living in the last days and that the time of the end of the present old world approaches the Armageddon which will fully and completely obliterate all opposers to the established Kingdom of Almighty God fn~e earth which will bring these and additional blessings. Oincerely Paul ~. Bieber J ~ Mountford.~ The Nanager stated that he h~d refused this and other organizations the use of the City Park for this purpose. ~otion that the action of the l~anager be concurred in, ~as adopted. The following petition was remd and referred to the Electoral Board: