[aron]

Originally Posted by Sons to Glory!

Old thread, but I just saw this reference to Doug Krieger via something recently posted by Aron on another thread.

I hit Ba-zerkly in 1974 as an 18 year old hippie/believer (hitch-hiked there from Ohio - a real God story for another time). I don't know much about Santa Cruz except that there were a few in Berkeley who had come from SC. I enjoyed reading Doug's account of Berkeley (see below in Aron's first couple of posts on this thread) in 1974 as it filled in certain details I'd wondered about for over 40 years!

I was one of those bros living in a communal type house Doug spoke of (Waring House - named for Waring Street) with scores of other brothers in it. I worked in a landscaping business the house operated, in which about eight of us would pile into a panel van with "Waring Brothers" painted on the side. We would all go out and gang-attack jobs - homeowners were amazed how fast we would get jobs done. Many of us had hair way down our backs (or Afros). We enjoyed gathering in "CJ's Old Garage" as Doug discussed (I didn't know it was already called "CJ's" before the LC occupied it!).

I also read about the other Doug he mentions - Doug Shearer. I had forgotten his name, although I now remember "the two Dougs." I didn't have a lot of interaction with either of them. Waring House was a very busy place and we were all pretty much either coming or going.

So for my part, it was educational hearing about the background of why all of the communal houses and Doug's work got broken up in Berkeley and why they went to the LC in Sacramento. Many of us were devastated that our communal brothers way of life was going away - HUGE disappointment for me at the time. We were told that it just wasn't normal and healthy by LC people.

For me there were no red flags concerning what Doug said regarding that time in Berkeley, that is, no glaring errors. But I was just a young, dumb hippie brother at the time and barely knew what anything was about! (If Dave Matteson were still in Scottsdale I might ask him . . .)

Since this information was posted in 2015, are their any updates or further discussion regarding Doug?

Good to hear the confirmation from someone who was there. The part bolded especially - how many people got their dreams crushed by "leadership" of this movement? Turns out "normal" in WN's Normal Christian Church Life meant normal to him. For the rest, too bad if your dreams got thrown away.