About two years ago, I posted a link to a transcript of a meeting held with Bob Jones III where a woman asks him some questions about his support of Chuck Phelps and his actions in not pursuing justice for Tina Anderson after her rape by Ernie Willis.
The audio from that meeting has now been released. Suffice it to say that BJIII does himself no favors by either the tone and content of his responses.
Justice has finally found rapist Ernie Willis.
The AP story says in part:
A New Hampshire man convicted of raping and impregnating a 15-year-old church member more than a decade ago was sentenced Tuesday to 15 to 30 years in prison.
Ernest Willis of Gilford, 52, robbed the girl of her childhood, the judge said in sentencing Willis, who had admitted to having sex with the teenager in 1997, who also babysat his children, but he claimed it was consensual.
…
Tuesday, the now-29-year-old victim listened to the sentencing via telephone from her Arizona home. During the proceeding, he read a statement apologizing to her, his family and the church.
Unfortunately, it appears that justice for Chuck Phelps and others at Trinity Baptist may be delayed yet a little while longer.
This letter is reposted from the I Support Tina Anderson blog.
Ken,
I’ve been trying to understand why you have taken this so personal. You’ve latched your teeth into Tina and I wish I knew why. You commented on the I Support Tina Anderson blog and yes, I read your comments even though we did not publish them. You said some hurtful things but I won’t take that personal. If you believe that Tina is lying, that is your choice. You may post that wherever someone will let you. I fought for our country so that you might have that freedom. I have contemplated for days if I should or would respond to you. Well, I decided that I would address a few things.
First, please read http://www.scribd.com/doc/44495191/Tina-Anderson-s-Statement-to-the-Concord-Police. This is a copy of what Tina wrote to the police when they called us on my birthday about a year and a half ago and asked her to give a statement of what happened. We stand by what she wrote and what she swore under oath that her statement to the police was truthful.
Second, there were a couple things that the newspapers got wrong. Where it came from, I don’t know but someone said that Ernie was a deacon. You’ll notice in the police report that Tina never called him a deacon and never said that in the couple of interviews that she gave. That issue was quickly addressed and corrected in future articles.
Third, you say Tina lied when she agreed with Elizabeth Vargas on 20/20 that she “lost” her job. You are correct that Tina was not fired from being a teacher. We never said that she had been fired. I understand how you and others could understand it that way. There was no willful intent to deceive. The word lost was used in the context of “no longer in the possession, care, or control of someone or something” (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/lost) but it was not “lost” in the sense that it was taken away.
On purpose, we did not go into the details of why Tina put in her resignation. There were a lot of things that happened that made us realize that we could not continue at this church and school. This is the church that I grew up in since I was five years old. This is the place where I attended the Christian academy from kindergarten to 12th grade. This is the college that I achieved one of my bachelor’s degrees and almost completed my master’s degree (I’d have to complete three more classes). This is where I devoted over 20 years of my life. We chose to walk away. Although it’s been brought out by others, I don’t bring up the names of these organizations because I don’t want to drag them through the mud but it’s part of our life and it’s kind of hard to hide where you’ve spent about half of your life. I have deep feelings for that place. When I say I’ve “lost” friends, it means that us and them have chosen to part ways. It means that people I’ve known all my life and all the people that Tina got to know while she was there, don’t fellowship with us. Will some of those friendships be renewed? I don’t know, maybe. I still hold out hope. There are a couple families that we do see occasionally but six people out of hundreds is not very many.
Fourth, you’re concerned about The Tina Anderson Foundation and where does the money go and how much does Tina and I receive. There might be other concerns but I’ll address the one I know about. Tina and I do not receive any money from the foundation. Now, in the interest of full disclosure, during Christmas time, we were given gas money and our hotel room paid so that we could take a week’s vacation to spend time with friends out of state. The foundation also gave us some Christmas gifts that my kids still enjoy playing with. The purpose of the foundation is stated on the website. If people want to donate to help others, that is great! If people are not comfortable with donating to this foundation, don’t. This was set up to try and make a difference in people’s lives and to give a chance for others to help. I trust and support the people and their families who run the foundation. In fact, I love them like family. All of them have meant so much to me, my wife and my kids.
Finally, Ken. I know this will not answer all your questions and you may dismiss what I have to say. That is fine. I pray that God’s peace come upon you and that you have joy in your life. God has greatly blessed me and I pray that God will also bless you also.
Sincerely,
Tim Anderson
P.S. Darrell, I know a couple of people have asked that you remove Ken Smith from SFL. You do not have to remove him on mine or my wife’s account. Ken says that he’s standing up for what he thinks is right. As long as you are willing to allow him to post, it will not bother me.
The mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small.
After a decade of justice delayed for Tina Anderson, her rapist, Ernie Willis, has been found guilty on all four counts of rape brought against him. Finally, there is not only vindication for Tina and her supporters but also encouragement for other victims who have suffered under the hands of abusers who have taken a cowardly refuge behind a corrupt religious system. Bravo, Tina. Bravo.
I’m sure that we’ll hear much in the coming days from fundamentalists who seek to spin this story and question the facts. They’ll either be forced to do so or left to admit that their own system harbored a rapist for years and did not help his victim to find justice. Prepare yourselves to see character assassination and mudslinging on an epic scale.
But whatever they do to malign and tear down this verdict, they cannot change the facts. They cannot change the truth not matter what tales their cowardice compels them to concoct.
My heartfelt thanks goes out to Tina Anderson for being willing to face down her attacker and those who defended him. Thank you, Tina, from the bottom of my heart. This world is a better place with brave people like you in it.
Here’s an interesting tidbit from the ABC 7 News about the ongoing trial of Ernie Willis for the rape of Tina Anderson.
Smukler [the judge in the Willis case] has yet to rule on whether Phelps must testify about admissions Willis made to him about the alleged assaults. Willis’ lawyers claim that they are privileged. Coull argued that Phelps had a lawyer present during the conversations and that undermines any privilege between a member of the clergy and a congregant
This is interesting on a couple of levels.
1. It means that Willis did talk to Phelps about his crimes AND had his lawyer present while he did so.
2. It means that Phelps is not voluntarily forthcoming about this conversation and the lawyers are trying to keep him from having to testify about what Willis told him.
3. The lawyers are invoking a religious privilege that is normally reserved for confessions made in the Roman Catholic church. So is Phelps tacitly agreeing that Willis was making a Roman-style confession to him…with his lawyer present?
The longer this case goes the more Phelps appears to not only be ignorant and impotent as a pastor but also to be plain evil. If you want the truth to come out, why not just take the stand, Chuck? Why not just tell the prosecution that you’ll make a clean breast of it and that there’s no such thing as a clergy/congregant privilege in an Independent Fundamental Baptist Church?
Someone needs to be asking these questions…