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Nova Scotia's South Coast
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He said, he said... again

Yellow rhinos, bogeymen and drowned puppies

Readers...

As with any publication, SCT gets letters from readers. Here, in an attempt at transparency and some sort of journalistic democracy, we publish almost every letter we receive.  We also have it as policy to make any factual corrections and to review any claims of prejudicial coverage and make changes which we feel result in unfair or biased stories.

The nature of this news site is that we regularly ruffle feathers... sometime we just piss people off! That seems to be the case with Charles Leary and Vaughn Perret, owners and managers of the prestigious Trout Point Lodge on the banks of the Tusket River abutting the Tobeatic Wilderness. The pair, and corporate entity behind the lodge, have been engaged in a very public battle regarding assertions that have made that blogs sites, news papers and TV stations have inappropriately connected them to a crooked New Orleans politician under indictment for dozens of charges of corruption, fraud, etc. You can read more about that on this site and on the official Trout Point Lodge blog.

Much of the notoriety in this case has come as a result of the several law suits filed by Trout Point, one of which just resulted in a major damage award.

Leary and Perret have taken great offense at some of my stories and, in an accommodating gesture, I have removed several of them. But they seem to want me not to publish anything about them, especially regarding the law suits they have initiated and the details contained in the court files relating to those law suits. As you may know, these and other public records the life's blood for reporters. Without them, and depending solely on the comments  - or spin, in some cases - provided by story subjects it's often hard  to sort out the bull from the blather.

Again, so my readers can make their own assessment, I've printed the latest letter from Leary and company (at bottom) and my reply (just below this. Please let me know at [email protected] if you think I have printed anything unfair or incorrect about trout Point Lodge or the lawsuits or the New Orleans Scandal - or the dead puppy.

best,

Timothy Gillespie
Editor


LETTER TO TROUT POINT LODGE

February 2, 2012

Charles Leary
Vaughn Perret
Trout Point Lodge, Ltd. .

First, congratulations on the outcome from Justice Hood. It does seem,
though, an awfully steep price to pay for a ticket into the U.S. court
system, but, you have probably done the cost-benefit thing and have the
solid backing of investors required for such an undertaking.

Although your letter seems to come from "Trout Point Lodge",  I see that it
is personalized, so imagine that one or both of you actually wrote it.

 Some comments about your assertions:

1.) Of course, all of my publications are made in my name and freely
available on the internet and archiving can be such a rewarding hobby.

2.) I have never posted with a "moniker" on Slabbed or any news blog - ever.
All of my comments on that site - and all of the others to which I may have
posted over the years - have my full and true name attached. I am sensing a
"glass houses" scenario here, as I strongly sense that is not the case with
either of you. I think in your obviously agitated state, you are imagining
bogeymen under every bed, but please do not count me among them.

3.) I have no idea what you mean by "chosen" and 'destiny". Maybe you are
referring to another posting under another "moniker"

4.) Again, if there are factual errors in any of my stories, I welcome any
correction (always have, always will).

5.) As for libelous innuendo, that would be for a court to decide.

5.a..) As for your slanderous utterings against me, those are also archived.
You know what they are and repeating them here would be pointless. The last
time I looked, reckless disregard for the truth applied to all Canadian
citizens or visitors.

6.) As for copyrighted images, I do not recall hosting any copyrighted
images on any of my sites, but, when time allows, I will review the sites
and remove any hyper-links there to any copyrighted images residing on other
servers.

7.) I have never "maliciously" passed on emails to Slabbed or anyone else.
In fact, I cannot recall doing anything bordering on malicious since I
drowned my brother's little puppy in 1956 in the old well behind grandpa's
farm in rural Manitoba. He cried for days, but never abused me again.

8.) As for your assertion that you "simply" asked for my private emails to Doug 
Handshoe, that is "simply" laughable on its face.

9.) As for my attendance - or not - at any public court hearings in your - or
any other - case, that is "simply", as Justice Hood so ably reminded you,
none of your beeswax.

10.) As for me - or anyone else - reviewing or copying court files - yours
or anyone elses - that again (see transcript from Justice Hood) is none of
your beeswax and your hysterical assertions about my motives would make a
cynical person question your balanced viewpoint on the matter.

11.) Regarding "residual and actual effects",  here I am referencing matters
relating to the eventual arrival of the Handshoe matter (according to your
most recent news release) in the U.S. courts as a SPEECH Act case. There is
no actual or intended insinuation. Google it.

11.) As for rhinos - yellow or otherwise - I haven't got the faintest clue
what you are talking about. But I am intrigued and half suspect that it is a
veiled threat of some sort. Like when mom and dad are finished tucking you
in, then say... "Did you hear that noise in the closet? Oh, never mind".
Then they turn off the light and shut the door and you lie awake in sheer
terror, knowing that there is no one scary in the closet, but also knowing
that there is and, if you fall asleep, he will come out, creep over to your
bed and do horrible things to you and you won't be able to scream and if you
could your parents couldn't;t hear you because they have Barry White turned up
so loud it makes your ears want to bleed. Other than that, I have to admit
that yellow rhino doesn't mean anything to me, but you got me hooked here
and I'll probably spend countless hours today trying to figure it all out.

Wait... maybe this is a game and I'm supposed to ask you something. OK...
does River Birch mean anything to you?

As always, it is a genuine pleasure to hear from you. I enjoy our little
correspondence tet-a-tet so much and look forward to a continued friendship.

Best regards

Timothy Gillespie
Editor/Publisher
South Coast Today

Please be advised that it is my practice and policy for years to freely
publish ANY AND ALL correspondence received from readers, among which, I
consider you both some of the most attentive.

BTW, I am presuming that by Mr. Gillespy, you really meant me. If I am in
error, as Emily Latella would say, "Never mind".

P.S.: A confession: When I saw the subject "correction", I really thought it
was a note apologizing, or "correcting" your recent and repeated defamatory
remarks against me.  Boy, was I wrong, eh?

 


LETTER FROM TROUT POINT LODGE

Mr. Gillespy(sic),

We have all of your publications relevant to Trout Point Lodge saved
in all versions since 2011. We also have copies of all comments for
all of your monikers appearing on the slabbed(sic) blog.

This includes comments made the day before the damages hearing against
Doug Handshoe before the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia.

The above includes the comment whereby you expressed and I paraphrase,
that you accept being the chosen one by Slabbed and that you could not
deny your destiny.

In the recent past we have asked that you be responsible in your
representations of facts and events . Yet you continue to misrepresent
facts and spread libelous innuendo. We have supplied you with details
of your factual failures in the past. We will no longer perform your
due diligence for you.

Correct your misrepresentations of facts and your libelous innuendo,
and cease and desist from using Trout Point Lodge copyrighted images,
or we will have no choice but to pursue all legal remedies available
to us.

Trout Point Lodge and its principals deny having published anything
about you remotely approaching being defamatory.

On the other hand, you also appear to have defamed us recently in the
Slabbed blog. You accused us of spreading "misinformation, lies and
innuendo." You also aided the slabbed blog in its campaign of
defamation. You have, according to court officials, copied court
documents of the Louisiana Media litigation file. You later passed
these same documents onto Slabbed for the purpose of extending the
Slabbed defamation. "I have never operated as an “informant” for
Slabbed or any other person".

You maliciously passed on emails sent to you from us regarding the
correction of defamatory publications to the Slabbed website to
assist in the defamation of Trout Point Lodge and its principals. This
illustrates express malice. It is noteworthy that you do not care
about the true coverage of a judicial proceeding. You showed up for
the hearing which you misrepresented to the world, but did not show up
for the judge's decision.

"I have never intentionally printed false or misleading or defamatory
material about the Lodge ". One this isn't t (sic) true; two, your

intentions don´t matter when you act in reckless disregard for the
truth. No one has ever intimidated you. We simply requested that you
provide copies of the emails exchanged between you and members of the
Slabbed Nation, of which you appear to be a member.

"One of the residual – or, in some cases, primary – effects of this
serial defamatory action by Leary, Perret and Trout Point Lodge, and
perhaps part of their strategy, is to dissuade further coverage of
their actions and notoriety." Once again you are publishing more
defamatory innuendo. Consider the context.

Finally, do you know anything about a yellow rhino?

Please immediately correct or remove your publications.

Sincerely,

Trout Point Lodge 

 

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