Ian:
Pickle and Joy have allegedly gathered the info and the facts, but have they taken them to the police or the Prosecutor? Have they encouraged the "alleged" victims to proceed with any kind of action?
Gailon Joy:
Joy and Pickle are journalists...
Ian:
Only if you each keep a diary or a journal, for you certainly don't write for any magazines or newspapers...
Gailon Joy:
not criminal investigators...
Ian:
hmmm...
You are aware that your partner Pickle admitted to doing a interview with Adventist Today regarding these very allegations and that they published that, and then you also published the following on your website?
Adventist Investigators
Much of the pressure that Tommy Shelton now faces has come from the efforts of a small, informal network of Seventh-day Adventist individuals. Many in the group categorize themselves as conservative Adventists, a constituency 3ABN has long relied on for key support. For the past five months, this unpaid volunteer group has investigated a number of allegations against Danny Shelton and 3ABN. Some they have found to be true, while others have proved to be false. Doing their work primarily via telephone and e-mail, the group has interviewed dozens of people who have had connections with 3ABN and the Shelton family over the last 20 years.
Two members of the network—Gailon Arthur Joy, a loan officer trainer from Sterling, Massachusetts, and Bob Pickle, a webmaster and Adventist apologist from Halstad, Minnesota—have posted the findings of their investigation on the Internet.... Joy has registered a website at www.save3abn.com that contains documents and statements from various sources involved in the group's investigation of Tommy Shelton. As of press time, the site had received more than 1,900 hits.
Gailon Joy:
nor were we directors of 3ABN...nor were we officers of 3ABN...these are the people responsible to oversee what went on at 3ABN and miserably failed...and it is out responsibility to report findings, findings you clearly do not like but must face sooner or later
Ian:
No these are claims you must face and prove in court Gailon...
Ian:
Truth is Tommy Shelton is a member of the Church of God, the allegations were brought up there, and investigated there and by the police over 20 years ago. As far as I know regarding any new allegations goes (and I don't count old accusations being brought back up as new allegations like Pickle does) , well last I heard Dryden, the one who brought all this up, and Pastor of the Church of God, (who would have the right to act in this matter,) still hadn't even told his Church board who any victims even were.. so even they could not act, and nor could TS explain or defend himself with any specifics. And last I heard the DA knew about all this junk and said there was nothing to act on...
Gailon Joy:
The legal authorities did receive a complaint... And by the way, we are told that it was Danny's direct intercession with his friends in the Sheriff and police departments that is reportedly a big reason no chargs were filed....
Ian:
That says it all again, You were told...
Reminds me of that old song "Heard it from a friend, who heard it from a friend..."
Who was Danny back then that he could influence a whole Sheriff's and Police department to void their conscience and do wrong? He was a carpenter, Gailon.
Has it ever occured to you that your constant reliance on suspicions, surmisings, and questionable hearsay, and your constant claims that any time, and actually everytime, anyone , (no matter who they are, whether that be conference officials, publishers, other ministries, board members, ASI, 3abn employees, police, etc. etc etc..) supports or backs up anything 3ABN says in contradiction of that hearsay/slander or your opinions and judgments based on such, that they are liars, crooked or have some thing wrong with them, and only you have the real facts and truth (despite not being a witness, or involved, and not having the information that they have) are a bit hard for rational thinking people to accept?
Gailon Joy:
And by the way...the pastor did identify to his directorate some of the victims in Virginia and we had to advise them of at least one other (yes, Ian, we have a written ststement regarding incidents in Virginia).
Ian:
I do hope that's not a written statement from Pastor Glenn Dryden of the Church of God.
Duane Clem:
"Your "informant", Glenn Dryden, is not a credible source of information. He also made some hideous accusations against me a few years back. They were for the same reason as the ones he is leveling against Tommy Shelton: JEALOUSY. Glenn Dryden is a spiteful, vindictive backstabber when someone crosses him. He has done this with numerous people over the past several years, and took the Ezra Church of God down nearly to the point of closure. I had to threaten him with legal action myself to get him to shut his mouth."
From: Duane Clem
To: Glenn Dryden
Date: Sat, 30 Dec 2006 06:44:54 +0000
Let this serve as a warning. If you mention my name in any of the letters and emails you're sending to anyone in your latest attack on Tommy Shelton, you WILL regret it.
Duane Clem
Ian:
In light of Joy's new claims here, I'm writing to the church of God in Dunn Loring, Virginia again, and will get back to this forum when and if I hear anything. Ian:
When it was brought to the attention of the 3ABN board, their Chairman investigated and found nothing to act on, and told Pickle that, but that wasn't good enough for Pickle...
Gailon Joy:
Wrong again...the Chairman DID NOT INVESTIGATE...
Ian:
YES, he most certainly did.
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: Possible way to win 3ABN critics.
Date: Mon, 27 Nov 2006 09:04:53 -0600
From: Walt Thompson
Dear Bob,
Thank you for you attempt to understand my sensitivity and that of 3abn administratin and board. We believe we have acted responsibly and wisely, appropriate to the circumstances. While one can always be criticized after the fact and without all of the evidence then available for consideration, often those same critics would have made similar judgments had they been there.
As I recall the events of 2003, I received a call from Brad Thorp from the General Conference telling me of Pastor Dryden's accusations. Brad appropriately told me that it was not his concern, and that it was ours to handle. As I recall, I contacted pastor Dryden and heard his side of the story following which I received the letter that is circulating. I was at 3abn at the time and spoke at length with Danny about the matter. He shared with me the details as he understood them. Whether or not I was aware of what generated the letter at that time, I do not remember. Based upon my understanding that Dryden had had a long standing feud with Tommy over factors unrelated to the above accusations, it did not seem indicated to approach the boys in question directly, having been informed that no case had ever been filed with the courts or legal disposition made. We then discussed the situation with the full board. Given the alleged events had occured many years before, attempts had been made to make things right, and no legal action had been taken, we did not see any reason to pursue the issue further nor to follow through with his recommendations. In my reply to pastor Dryden I merely thanked him for fulfilling his obligation to us. (I will make this one further comment. Whereas there are many accusations on the Internet alledging that Danny cannot be trusted, I disagree. I have known Danny now since the beginning of the ministry. Now more than 23 years. I have been fully appraised of many of the difficulties that he has faced during that time. While Danny sees things from his perspective, as we all do, he is honest and trustworthy. I have found no reason to distrust his reports to me. Yes, there are occasions when after having spoken with both sides of an issue it has been a matter of he said vs she said, but in all situations where I could know the facts, Danny has proven true.)
Subsequently, after this issue has been brought back to the forefront (I think there is only one person who could have known about this and brought it to world wide attentionm, and that person was then on the board and voted with the concensus) I contacted the only person from the Chruch of God that I could find that knew about the situation, and who had been present and witness to the events. (Accept for pastor Dryden's personal accounts, there are apparently no other records of the allegations) The picture that was painted by that leader of the Church was exactly as portrayed earlier by Danny. Dryden was jealous of Tommy and was out to get him - a jealousy that has continued to the present. I was again informed that the DA knew about the allegations and not finding a basis, refused to act against Tommy. I have been informed that the Church of God is a congregational type or organization with different jurisdictions in different states and that there was no higher authority that I could speak with to resolve the issue further. It was not entirely clear to me how that worked. I was also told that one leader pestered Tommy over and over again until Tommy voluntarily gave up his ministerial license. These are the facts as I have been able to sort them out.
I will not comment regarding ****** except to say that good people sometimes see things from differing perspectives. We ******. We continue to have communication with ****** and consider ****** a friend of 3ABN.
Since you have not described the other allegations against Danny, I am unable to know what you are referring and therefore unable to comment on them.
I hope this is helpful to you.
I would like to request that you not circulate this letter, but that you merely summarize and varify its contents.
Sincerely,
Walt
And even Duane Clem backed him up:
I will say that I agree with what the unnamed individual from the Church of God reportedly told Dr. Thompson, but it was NOT me, and I can honestly say I have no idea who it was. That's one issue you can finally put to rest.