(I spoke with my friend in northwest Arkansas on September 14 who was the source of the donations to the Christmas fund for PIFFS I was accused of stealing last December. This marked sixteen days after I wrote the original version of this column. She informed me of some things I had forgotten, didn't know or had been confused about and clarified the situation that has led to the baseless allegations against me.
My friend contacted me on December 10, 2020 about the toy drive we were doing and asked how we were doing on funds. At that point, we were "caught up" and had 11 or 12 new names on the standby list/. . She said she had some friends in her inner circle and had discussed our situation with them and had obtained $300 in pledges at that point.
I asked her to keep me informed.
I mentioned the pledge to Ms. Lackey by phone on Friday, December 11. She started badgering me immediately about getting the money, saying she needed it to pay other bills (and buy bananas) and we could replace the money in the Christmas fund on December 18 when an angel donor from Texas was going to be bringing us $1000.
She also told me at that time that "once someone gives Pay it Forward money, it's mine to use as I want!"
I called my friend on Monday, December 14. She told me at that time she had collected $125 of the pledges and was waiting to hear back from two others who had pledged the balance. I mentioned that I had told Ms. Lackey she could use the donation to pay bills and buy food, and my friend freaked on me.
She is the director of a nonprofit in northwest Arkansas and she said using donations specified for a specific program on anything but that program was a "comingling of funds" but she trusted me and would send the money later in the week.
My friend (who I have been close to for more than ten years) was upset with me. She was appalled that I didn't realize that Ms. Lackey was doing exactly what she had been accused of that caused the initial embezzlement investigation in late 2019. She was also appalled that I had let Ms. Lackey play me the way she had for so long.
I had also sent Ms. Lackey a text earlier saying my friend would "never know the difference on how the money was spent" based on the assurance of it being replaced and the fact I was ignorant that we couldn't rob Peter to pay Paul. I even mentioned "nannners" in that text because Ms. Lackey was insistent that we buy bananas that day.
There WAS some discussion at that time about my friend sending the money directly to me because she didn't trust Ms. Lackey. That discussion played a big part in the confusion I had about the situation.
On December 17 (the day it all came to a head and I finally really resigned) my friend sent the $125 she had collected directly to the PIFFS PayPal. Unknown to me at the time, he other pledges had backed out after hearing of all the controversy. That occurred almost simultaneously with me telling Ms. Lackey what she could do with her jake-leg non-profit.
When my friend told me she had "sent the money" I was under the assumption that she had sent the entire $300 we discussed. So, despite my comments earlier to the contrary, none of the money in this transaction ever came to me or my PayPal account.
Here is my friends transaction list for December of 2020:
My friend even requested a refund of the $125 after the fact when I told her I had left PIFFS. Ms. lackey agreed to refund the money then started calling the donors on the list my friend had provided (and her boss at her non-profit) complaining about how she was trying to cheat PIFFS and demanding the rest of "her money". She never refunded the $125.
None of the donated money ever came to me or my PayPal account. I was confused and thought the total was $300 and based on the discussion we had about my friend not trusting Ms. Lackey , I thought (months later) she had sent me the money and I forwarded it to PIFFS. There is no record of me receiving, sending or forwarding money to PIFFS in my December transaction report. And the total was never $300 in the first place. That figure was based on my confusion and faulty memory about the situation.
Once again, had I stolen money from PIFFS I'm sure Ms. Lackey would have mentioned
it specifically to the police one of the dozen times she has called them out and made other false reports about me.
I haven't been arrested yet. And she still won't take a polygraph.)
Let me start this off with an apology.
This is going to be a long and tedious read.
Secondly, I will speak of regrets often in this non-fiction novel. Some are self-imposed, others are hypothetical and many of them are for the friends, families and readers who have had to endure all of this foolishness.
Finally, my publication and I never wanted or deserved any of this. Anticipated (maybe) given the behaviors I observed in the past, but no person deserves having to endure non-stop attacks on their integrity because your truth uncovers their lies.
So here we go...
In the late summer of 2019, I had never heard of Darla Lackey or Pay it F0rward. My first communication with the organization was when I was approached about running event notifications and pleas for donation for this fledgling non-profit.
i did, which led to more communication when Ms. Lackey launched her Nancy Drew investigation into chasing down the person responsible for hitting two vehicles in her front yard on May Avenue. We followed the story and wrote updates, mainly because she was alleging police malfeasance and that no one would "help her" in her quest for justice.
We never ran the name of the person she alleged hit her vehicles. For one, I was told after the third article I wrote that she had paid an employee of a local parts store for information off a customer database. She then used that information to decide this person was the one responsible for the damages. She even went so far as to file a long dormant lawsuit in January 2020 (that was actually dismissed this past week for non-action).
The entire thing smelled a little shady.
I later learned there had also been a previous automobile tort lawsuit against another individual that was dismissed after nearly two years of sitting dormant on the court docket.
Keep that information in mind.
Here comes the first regret. Fast forward to the fall of 2019.
I became aware of a situation in which Ms. Lackey had been accused of embezzlement by sitting Board of Director members.
The crux of that story is simple. Ms. Lackey had secured some funding for PIFFS and approached the board about using some of the money to move since she was being evicted from her home. The allegations were the board turned her down and she used the money anyway.
Before there was a police investigation (and after I had written stories vilifying her detractors the money was put back into the PIFFS account.
I wrote the stories for one reason. The woman had me snookered. Some friends of mine had vouched for her and I fell for her "aw-shucks" tactics hook, line, and sinker to the point of not doing all the research I should have done at the time.
I was basically told at the time of by an investigator that the money "wasn't missing" from the account and the whole thing was being chalked up to "no harm, no foul". The case, which was in the hands of the Arkansas Attorney General's Office at the time, was dropped because of the FSPD conclusion
Along about this same time, Ms. Lackey started asking me to serve on the board. I refused a number of times saying I could not align my name and the reputation of TIFS with an organization that was under investigation. When the police finally stated the allegations were "unfounded" I finally agreed to become involved on a limited basis in early 2020
That first regret I mentioned? That I was too blinded by what I thought was the greater good to not do the due diligence I normally prided myself for.
Within weeks I had been appointed vice-president by acclimation from Ms. Lackey. In retrospect I now feel she felt having me onboard and actively promoting PIFFS lent a modicum of respectability to the show. And I got involved. To the point of neglecting my own business--and sadly--my own family at times.
There's another one of those regrets.
There were things that should have been a warning sign. Early on, I was convinced, for the greater good, that I needed to "work with" a person whom I had utter disdain for.
A few weeks later--at the first and only board meeting called during my tenure--we were presented with two "new" board members, one of which had cheated one of my former employers out of a decent sum of money.
A few short months later, those people were off the board after being accused of stealing some product they had been sent to pick up. There was some product that went missing from point "A" to point "B"...their contention was that it was "payment for their time and gas" Ms. Lackey had agreed on in lieu of gas money for them making the trip to northwest Arkansas. When the invoice didn't match the chickens in the pot, the accusation from Ms. Lackey was theft.
I was torn between "I told you so" and "what really happened to that missing chicken?". I didn't like the guys, so it didn't take much to be convinced of the alleged larceny. Looking back....who knows? But there stands another regret.
By three full months in, I knew I was embroiled in a clown show. No one had access to the financials, board members were being changed like Depends adult diapers, and board meetings were being called and cancelled at the last minute. I think in the roughly ten months I was involved we had four different treasurers named and I don't think any of them ever really saw any financial records.
The one bank statement I saw had withdrawals that went to pay for "online gaming". When I asked about the charges, I was blown off.
There were four different grant writers "hired" with the caveat they would receive 10% of all the grants they wrote, paid for by the money obtained by the grants. I know now, but didn't know then, that type of transaction is totally illegal depending on the particular grant and stated purpose of the granted monies.
All the grant writers were dismissed within weeks of being "hired" because they weren't working fast enough for the boss lady.
Now at this point you are probably thinking "Holy crap, Dennis...you're smarter than that!" Apparently, you underestimate my gullibility. This was. however, the first time I tendered my resignation.
Because of the intervention of some other volunteers and tearful pledges that were made to me, I decided to stay the course. The bulk of the argument was that with my guidance, Ms. Lackey could learn to do things the right way and, "hey, we're all working to feed the hungry!"
Man. Was I a dumb ass or what?
The promises lasted about two weeks. By then, we had miraculously been approved by the USDA Go Fresh program and started getting trucks filled with meat items, fresh produce, milk and other staples. And we were slinging them out of the back of those damn trucks as fast as we could, to the point I had a mini-heart attack halfway through one day, took a baby aspirin and finished the truck.
It was about the same time when Ms. Lackey approached me about having one of my daughters, who lives in Leflore County, swing by and pick up some boxes to take and distribute to "spread the wealth". On the first day she came by to pick up a load, I took her from the back of the pantry to the office at the front of the building to introduce her to Ms. Lackey.
About the time we walked into the office, there was a mishap involving Ms. lackey, the office manager and a clothing rack. Ms. Lackey verbally berated the office manager to the point it was scary to witness. She then exchanged pleasantries with my daughter, then went right back into her tirade at the office manager. She never missed a beat.
My daughter was appalled and left vowing to never return. This marked the third time I tried to resign, this time at the urging of my family.
Again, the feeling that I was making a difference in the community outweighed my common sense.
Hello, regrets.
This was also about the time I was approached by some well respected (and well- heeled) citizens in what I considered was a discussion about a "coup" to take over the organization. I adamantly refused with the statement it was "her non-profit" and she deserved better but I was convinced to sent her a copy of my refusal "by accident" that she might "see the error of her ways".
The was another time when the guy I referenced early on that I said I had an extreme dislike for got dressed down and treated like a dog by Ms. Lackey over a misunderstanding. I didn't (and don't like the guy) but to his credit, he busted his ass to try and help get food out to hungry and needy people.
Because Ms. Lackey was AWOL a lot at this time, the guy had come to me the day before we got a Go Fresh truck with a request for "X" number of boxes for deliveries the next day. Because we never knew what was coming on a particular truck, he requested mostly produce and asked to not be saddled with cases of milk.
Because I was being told all the time that my decisions in day-to-day operations were on the "same level" as Ms. Lackey's I agreed to his request "IF" we had enough product to make it work. When I finally saw Ms. lackey later that day and told her about the conversation, she went absolutely ballistic.
"That ******* ********** isn't going to come in here tomorrow and steal all MY ************ produce and take it to his ******** friends and try to impress people with what a ******* wonderful person he is at my expense."
Out of the blue. But once again, we had all started getting used to the ebbs and flows.
The next morning, Ms. Lackey called and said the truck was going to arrive early and asked since I lived closer, could I hurry down and meet the driver? I did, and shortly after the volunteer I mentioned showed up with his trailer. I took an inventory and determined we had more than enough produce boxes to fill his request and complete the giveaway with room to spare.
Ms. Lackey arrived about halfway through us getting his trailer loaded, demanded to know how many ******* boxes of HER produce I intended to let him "take " (not even knowing how many boxes we had of what) and berated me and the volunteer in front of at least two dozen people.
I said the only cross words I ever said to that woman until the day I finally resigned for good in December. I told her to shut the hell up and get in the office and let the people that actually did the work do the work.
When we finally got the truck unloaded, the volunteer who had made the deliveries came back and was sitting under one of the pop-up tents. He had come back to tell Ms. Lackey he was through with her and PIFFS. I told him to go home, calm down and to come see her tomorrow.
I still don't like the guy. But he deserved better. And, for whatever reason, he keeps supporting her today.
I then went into the office, took my key off my keyring and told her she had made me look like a buffoon for the last time.
Sadly, a volunteer called me that night and begged for me to come in the next day so we could all sit down and have a roundtable. The contention of this other volunteer was she could not hold the ship together without my help and support.
I knew this time going in tha--regardless of what was said--I was fooling myself if I thought things were ever going to get any better. I foolishly stayed. And they didn't get better.
There was other stuff. Lots of it. Ask me sometime about the homeless guy who was going to sleep in the warehouse for a "couple of nights" and ended up staying six weeks. With his two sixty-pound dogs crapping all over the floor. Before I finally put my foot down.
There were several personal discussions by Ms. Lackey about her domestic situation. There were times when there were volatile exchanges with her partner at the building in front of volunteers and clients.
There was constant and ongoing two-faced statements made about volunteers and clients, only for everything to turn rosy during face-to-face encounters.
There were weeks when we might see her at the building for one or two hours total for the entire week.
Projects and work that took hours to complete would be completely dismissed and destroyed within hours of her return. It was like hell without all the warmth.
I could go on and on. But you get the point.
Which leads us to the fall of 2020. Still caught up in the illusion of "doing good". I held on. We made it through Halloween, because that is Ms. Lackey's favorite holiday and she fancies herself a "character".
Once the accolades and performance was done for Halloween, she lost interest again.
She was MIA for most of November and and Tammy Benton (another volunteer) and myself worked our asses off to gather food to distribute for Thanksgiving. She had NO clue what was going on when she suddenly declared there would be "no Thanksgiving blessing bags" out of fear she might actually have to do something.
When we explained to her we had already obtained the food and our plan was to feed ninety families on an appointment basis we got a "no". Her plan was just to announce the week of Thanksgiving that we had blessing bags and would give them away on a first come, first served basis on the Monday before Thanksgiving.
Anticipating the cluster, Tammy and I BOTH told her to kick rocks. And we did Thanksgiving the way we planned, with thirty families a day scheduled in to to get their bags on three consecutive days. On the first day Ms. Lackey showed up out of the blue and informed us she was only there to see how bad we had "***** things up".
I was livid. How dare this small-minded petty woman, who obviously didn't care if families went without food on Thanksgiving because the way the giveaway was handled wasn't HER idea, even show her disgraceful face in the building at that point?
But you know what? I didn't offer to resign. We (meaning Tammy and I) had already started working on gathering toys and donations for the Christmas giveaway and I told Ms. Benton behind closed doors I would stick with her through that event and I was done. I made that pledge to myself right around November 21.
Ms. Lackey chose to go dark again for the next several weeks, showing up a few times to drop off dollar store type donations she had been able to procure. Tammy and I had first set our goal at 250 kids to receive gifts and we were increasing that number by fifty individuals at a time in order to not over promise and under deliver.
To do this in an orderly fashion, we had to take names, Ms. Lackey was vehemently opposed to this plan, harkening back to her Thanksgiving desire to just announce the event and let people show up at random and create a cluster of immense proportions.
Tammy and I maintained our original plan, much to the dismay of Ms. Lackey. Looking back, I think her intentions were two-fold. She loved using "spectacles" to draw attention to PIFFS (and herself), then also used any negative comments or complaints that came out the other side to fuel her "me against the world" mantra.
The weekend before the giveaway. I got a call from a dear friend of mine in northwest Arkansas that contacted me about raising some funds to top off the toy drive. She had some people who were willing to donate but at the time we were approaching 400 names on the list and other than a few odds and ends, I thought we were good to go.
My friend called me back over the weekend and said she had received $300 in pledges for thee toy drive. There was some discussion about sending the to my personal PayPal because she had been one of the "board members" that removed herself after Ms. Lackey refused to call a board meeting for three consecutive months. In all of the machinations of the incident,
At that point, according to Ms. Lackey, our rent was past due and the utilities were about to be shut off. Ms. Lackey claimed we had an "angel donor" from Texas that was bringing us $1000 at the end of the week. This all happened within the context of me finally getting my fill of her nonsense
After much talk and a few texts, and on the flawed insistence of Ms. lackey that "anything donated to the non-profit was hers to use as she saw fit", I agreed to allow her to use the funds to pay other bills.
The plan was IF we needed to buy any more toys, I would somehow obtain the toys and if I had to use any more of my money, I would accept reimbursement when the "angel donor" came through. Plus, Tammy and I had put in some of our personal funds and I had used some barter/trade credit I had with a local store, so we had already done our part.
I contacted my friend the day I agreed to the plan and she was immediately taken back when I told her the money was being used for expenses other than toys. She informed me that using monies donated for a specific cause for other expenditures was illegal, as it constituted "co-mingling of funds".
Two days later Ms. Lackey showed up and demanded to see the list we had compiled of the families we had already contacted about being part of the Christmas giveaway. She took the list, red-penciled two names and insisted they not be given gifts for their children because "those bitches said something bad about me on Facebook one time and I won't be giving their damn kids a thing!"
I lost what little bit of willpower I had left. I pretty much went over everything verbally I have written to this point with Ms. Lackey and told her not so politely which part of my anatomy she could kiss. I also told Ms. Lackey that despite my misgivings about the way she ran the non-profit and my suspicions of misuse of donations, I would walk away, never say a word, and she could tell everyone my term on the board expired December 31.
My only request that she "keep my name out of her mouth"
She left in a huff and I told Ms. Benton my resignation was effective immediately.
I was scheduled to broadcast some basketball tournament games that night in Talihina and had to leave, and my key to the building was at my house and I did not have time to get it before I left town. After broadcasting the games I immediately texted (and then called) Ms. Lackey and asked her when we could meet when I got back to Fort Smith so I could give her the key.
She refused to meet me, saying I could "bring the ******* key to the building and face her like a man" the next morning. She had recently moved into a bigger house with a swimming pool after yet another eviction and she refused to give me the address because "I don't want you ******* knowing where I ******* live, you sorry ******* bastard."
I told her I would drop the key off at Ms. Benton's house and I Immediately called her to make sure she would be awake when I dropped by. I had seen this movie before and knew if I kept that key for a minute longer than I had to that I would be accused of everything under the sun.
I was later told by a volunteer with the program that the next day--and in the following days--when people asked why I was no longer with the organization, Ms. Lackey's reply was I had been dismissed because I had "stolen from the non-profit". She even posted something to that effect on the PIFFS Facebook page on Friday of that week.
I was once again enraged and replied on my Facebook page, simply telling the story of why I had finally came to my senses and resigned for good. Of course, that challenged her narrative and because she was incapable of doing so, she didn't think I would follow through on my promise to not be a whistleblower.
Because she can't keep her foot out of mouth, she thinks no one can, and she was firing a "first strike" against anything she thought I might say.
In the weeks following, I did a lot of research behind the scenes and learned a lot about Ms. Lackey and her boyfriend Mr. Wootton. I also kept my word and never spoke with anyone about anything they were scared to death I was going to reveal. Although in retrospect that's another regret because I should have spoken up then the way I am now.
Everything I have posted can be verified by at least one other person and/or screenshots and phone records. When this makes it to court, there will be depositions and subpoenas to testify.
Also, in March of this year I was approached by a group of individuals offering me $10,000 in "start-up" funding if I would start a non-profit food pantry. I got bone spurs running from that offer because they didn't really care about feeding the hungry.
They were just trying to make a point. And I didn't need the added hassle.
On three or four occasions in the interim I have posted "filler" stories about scams, scammers, mental health issues and other things that Ms. Lackey reasoned was targeting her. It got so ridiculous at one point I couldn't fart without her smelling it and complaining about it.
I also got targeted after posting a "Sex Offender in Your Neighborhood" story in late spring. Because I was aware there were sex offenders living in the area of the residential motel in the 600 block of North 11th Street, I used online mapping to draw a one-mile radius around the property. There was one offender just outside the western edge of the radius and I recalculated the circle to include him in the mix.
That caused the center address to default to the address of the Pay it Forward building at North Tenth and North G. It was not on purpose and had I noticed it, I would have never posted the map showing that address. Not because it was illegal to do so, but because I would have been well aware of the shitstorm it would have caused. I was notified the address was on the map within ninety minutes of posting and immediately took the post down, removed the address and reposted the link
But not before Ms. lackey had spotted it and called in the flying monkeys to go on full attack. Had she not called attention to it, I doubt seriously anyone would have noticed. I even posted an explanation and apology after the fact, but that just fueled the mania even more.
It wasn't the first time we had done that feature, and it won't be the last. This was the first time, however, the threats about "revealing my past" over a 14-year-old misdemeanor plea deal conviction surfaced. While embarrassing, it was already pretty much general knowledge and I had already addressed the situation before when someone mad over a mugshot we posted tried the same blackmail.
This over the top reaction to an innocent mistake was the last straw. And I knew at that time someday, when I had all my ducks in a row, it would come to this moment. And I really started doing research.
In late July, I finally got notification that the defamation lawsuit filed by Ms. Lackey against another woman had been dismissed with prejudice in late June. Ironically, the only way I found out about the Agreed Order was someone sent me a screenshot of a post by Ms. Lackey in which she claimed victory but cut and pasted the court order to reflect the other party had been the only person sanctioned to stop the online and personal attacks.
Here are three files...The verified amended complaint, the Agreed Order and Ms. Lackey's Facebook post that tipped me the case had even been to court.
You people are smart. Read the three documents above and tell me how any sane person could somehow construed what actually happened in court was a "win"? Ms. Lackey had to pay the $215 in court fees and her own lawyer. the other party had to pay her lawyer. Both parties were sanctioned to not speak ill of the other on social media under the threat of contempt, and Ms. Lackey broke the agreement with the above post.
This also a copy of a police report filed by Ms. Lackey three days after we published our story: (which was merely the calm before the storm.)
If you would like to see other police reports taken from Ms. Lackey from her last three addresses, I have them. A lot of them. Even a bunch that aren't about me but some that make for some entertaining reading, nonetheless.
The original story we posted was not an attack. It was simply a story saying the lawsuit had been dismissed and that no one "won" the lawsuit.
We also pointed out the non-profit was NOT in compliance with the Secretary of State regulations at the time. . That was fixed several days later, but that was the status from at least June 30 until August 11 of this year. Miraculously when they did get in compliance in August the document from the state was backdated to say they were good until June 30, 2022
We reported the fact they had gotten back in compliance. and even congratulated them. Inside the original story we mentioned that the original actions that started the dismissed lawsuit were found to be "unfounded" after the original investigation.
I thought we were extremely fair. She didn't because, you know, the truth is a bitter pill to swallow at times.
So now you're caught up as to why the outrageous claims by Ms. Lackey and her minions have been constant and incessant for the past three weeks.
I learned earlier this year that Ms. Lackey had felony convictions from 2001 for which she served three years in the Kansas Department of Corrections. I also learned Mr. Wootton had a long rap sheet out of Texas from several years back.
Do I believe that past behavior always predicts future outcomes in all people? Not really. But I look at the rate of people going back to prison for the same crimes time-after -time, and I believe everyone should know who the person they are giving their money over to really is, especially when it is pertinent to the overall picture.
Here is Ms. lackey's prison records from her 2001 arrest and convictions that sent her to prison until 2004:
Ms. Lackey was convicted of seven counts of felony forgery, two counts of felony drug possession, and one count of felony drug paraphernalia possession. She was also convicted of three counts of misdemeanor theft. That's ten felonies, people, seven of which involved forgery.
Here is Mr. Wootton's background check including his rap sheet out of Texas. His arrest records start on page 10 and go though page 16.
I count 24 separate charges dating back to 1999-2007. The arrests were for Assault on a Family Member, Assault with Bodily Injuries, Theft, Theft of Property, Possession of Marijuana and two traffic violations. Mr. Wooten also has had an arrest in Fort Smith for Assault on a Family Member but those charges were later dropped by the assaulted party. And there is a misdemeanor warrant in Oklahoma for him for failure to appear on traffic charges.
Is any of this relevant today? I don't know, but many of the things Ms. Lackey went to prison for parallel my concerns about her behavior in the year I was at the non-profit. And maybe I should have taken Mr. Wootton's threats a little more seriously given his proclivity to commit assault.
These are my detractors. These are the people who claim I have committed major crimes when I have two misdemeanor arrests and some traffic tickets on my record.
Felons, who have been convicted of dishonest behavior in the past, trying to convince you I am harassing and stalking them.
These are the people who, through fake accounts or through representatives, made death threats to my wife and sent messages referencing the death of one of our grandchildren eight-and-a-half years ago. Claiming the death of that precious light was our karma for the way we were treating some shady woman running a non-profit.
This is a woman that took a picture of a vehicle similar to ours that belongs to a resident of an apartment complex near her current home and tried to claim that she saw me peeking over the fence and my wife driving the getaway car. Forget the fact that we were "stalking her at 9:20 pm" and the picture of the vehicle, which wasn't even the same year model, was taken in broad daylight.
I sat on all this for almost nine months, during which time I was contacted by their family members and other people who had been victim to the crimes and actions of both parties.
I never once sought information from these people, and I would never publish a lot of what they say because 80% of it is hearsay, And I'm about the truth and am unwilling to put myself out there for anything else that can be twisted in the wind to suit my detractors story of the moment.
The claim I contacted Ms. Lackey's elderly parents or grandparents is just ludicrous, but now I am curious as to what they might have to say.
There is more. Much more. All backed up with documentation and all verifiable. I have deliberately left out some unseemly details that even my desire for justice won't permit me to print in this format.
I have made this offer before and I do it again. If Ms. lackey will take a polygraph exam I will as well and we will let an expert decide who is telling the truth. If she is found to be truthful, I will make a donation to her organization and publish a public apology to her and PIFFS right in this spot.
Her other option is to take me to court. I invite a defamation suit and very well may be filing one myself. It's not like you haven't filed lawsuits and dropped them before or had them dismissed.
There are things going on behind the scenes that may make this all a moot point in the very near future. Even as I write this I am taking calls from people offering support and encouraging me to finally stand my ground against the lies and hatred.
I know all of this will just be twisted into another raging inferno of denial and more lies.
But that's okay. Of all the regrets I have about this ordeal, this column isn't one of them. It's time to hoist this banner.
It can't get much worse, but it can always get better.
