Home in Henderson received the following letter leveling a charge of libel against this Web site.
Mr. Jason Feingold, Registered Agent
Home in Henderson, Inc.
P.O. Box 3037
Henderson, NC 27536
Re: False and Libelous Statements published by Home in Henderson, Inc.
My Client: George Templeton Blackburn, II
Our File Number: 07-MS-621
Dear Jason:
This firm represents Mr. George Templeton Blackburn, II (hereinafter “Mr. Blackburn”) with respect to the matters set forth in this letter. You are hereby notified that statements regarding Mr. Blackburn published by your website identified as The Tummy Turns October 5, 2007 @ 8:22 a.m. and as Rupert October 5,2007 @11:36 a.m. are false and libelous.
You are advised of the following information regarding these statements: One check in the amount of $70,000.00 payable to Mr. Blackburn was delivered on behalf of the City of Henderson on February 6, 2001 in consideration of the conveyance by Rose’s Stores, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Variety Wholesalers, Inc., to the City of Henderson for property located on Wyche Street consisting of land and the building and improvements located thereon. Mr. Blackburn made no request to anyone for the check to be made payable to him. He served as attorney for the Grantor in the transaction and endorsed the check to Rose’s Stores, Inc. on February 6, 2001, and delivered the check on February 6, 2001 to Variety Wholesalers, Inc. The deed of conveyance was recorded in Book 907, Page 397, Vance County Register of Deeds on February 7, 2001 at 10:46 a.m. bearing real estate excise tax stamps in the amount of $140.00, which was the amount of tax payable on a conveyance for $70,000.00. Mr. Blackburn has received no other check(s) from the City of Henderson payable to him with respect to property of Variety Wholesalers, Inc., or its subsidiaries or affiliates, or with respect to the conveyance or transfer of property to the City of Henderson, or to Embassy Square Foundation or their affiliates. Mr. Blackburn is Senior Vice President, General Counsel of Variety Wholesalers, Inc. and acted in the above matter in such capacity, with full disclosure of his status and capacity to both Grantor and Grantee.
This notice is given to you in demand that you remove the libelous statements from further publication and to afford you the opportunity to take such further action as you deem advisable to mitigate damages. You are further required by this letter to preserve all evidence relating to this matter, including but not specifically limited to electronic files and data showing the particulars of the subject publications and the number of hits or accesses to the website from the time of original publication of libel through the time and date of your removal of the libelous statement from publication and/or retraction thereof.
Thank you for your immediate attention to this lawful demand.
Sincerely,
STAINBACK & SATTERWHITE
Michael E. Satterwhite
MES/atm
Cc: George Templeton Blackburn, II
CERTIFIED MAIL
That charge is false.
After carefully reviewing the letter from attorney Michael Satterwhite and the posts in question and after consultation with the The Electronic Frontiers Foundation, the editor believes that nothing intentionally false or defamatory regarding Tem Blackburn was posted on this site. We have nothing but respect for Mr. Blackburn and his devotion to Henderson.
Further, 47 U.S.C. sec. 230 says that online service providers are not publishers of content posted by their users. Section 230 gives most Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and message board hosts the discretion to keep postings or delete them, whichever they prefer, in response to claims by others that a posting is defamatory or libelous.
It has been the policy of Home in Henderson to be responsive to such claims in the past even though US code clearly indemnifies us.
As for the two posts cited by Mr. Satterwhite, we have chosen to remove one, not because it was libelous, but because it was phrased awkwardly enough to create potential confusion. Mr. Satterwhite does a good enough job of explaining the details of the $70,000 land transaction in his letter to make the post from The Tummy Turns unnecessary.
Home in Henderson is dedicated to a free exchange of ideas based on a foundation of facts.