Monday, May 23, 2011

Slander or Harassment ?

I think I have mentioned before that my wife is the President of a Pool Board for a local pool (actually it's near the home where she grew up ... that her parents still live in).  This is a challenging responsibility for her, but one that she has benefitted from greatly.  She has grown in leaps and bounds in terms of her comfort zone and ability to handle a variety of leadership tasks.  She never ceases to amaze me with the way she is committed to the success of this local pool, where she once roamed the patio as a lifeguard in her younger days.

My blog title is in reference to the former president of the board, who, after some questionable decisions and arguably poor leadership, simply resigned from the pool board.  Since that time, this person (note that I am being VERY careful not to say he or she so as to keep things as objective as possible) has been sending e-mails to my wife and complaining about all sorts of mostly ridiculous things.  This person and their spouse attended the general pool membership meeting and both attempted to raise all sorts of ruckus.  Karen put them both in their place, but in a respectful way.

Last week, after several more rude and disrespectful e-mails, this person finally went off the deep end (like the pool reference?!  Genius, I know!) and made statements in an e-mail that were rude, inaccurate, and included threats of suing the pool, the board, and even Karen.

So I'm asking any readers out there who can help me out on this ... is that sort of behavior "Slander" or "Harassment" ?  Or ... is it something else altogether?  I am just wondering so that should this person choose to send another e-mail again, I will know what to say to them when I call them at their work or home number.  Karen and I (mostly "I" because Karen was nice and let me type) sent a strongly worded, but truthful and respectful e-mail to him/her last Monday evening.  In it, we spelled out that Karen will not be responding to ANY other e-mails from this person regarding their issue which they created for themselves and could resolve for themselves but are being too petty to do so.  If you're interested in the "rest of the story" just give me a shout and I'll gladly fill you in ... should only take 5-10 minutes.  :)

I've never felt the need to defend my beautiful wife (she is more than capable of handling her own defense and doesn't really need me to stand up for her) ... but in this case I am getting more angry the more this person refuses to take responsibility for their own actions.  I don't want to take anything away from Karen, but I can see that these words and false accusations and threats hurt her to the core ... and THAT gets me riled up more than anything!  I'll stand behind or directly in front of Karen on this or any other issue and just want her and everyone that ever reads this blog to know that.
Do NOT slander or harass my wife !!!

And to finish on an upbeat note, here's another of my Progressive shirts ...
This is another shirt I got from my
"little" brother (who is taller than me).
I've ironed and even dry cleaned it
but those wrinkles are still there between
those top buttons.  Oh well ... :)
...

3 comments:

  1. Ooooh!! Now I'm all mad at him/her!!! >:( If you need some help in this matter... let me know... I'd stand behind or directly in front of Karen too... or even just be here supporting from the sidelines!

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  2. Oh, and I'm guessing it is more harassment than slander... I think slander is more if they are stating falsehoods to other sources or maybe that's libel. I really have no clue. :P

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  3. I think it's called "cyberbullying", and you definitely could inform the police about this. I know someone who did that, and they were fined for using the internet for malicious intent! I think I know whom you are referring to, and don't let friendship or relations interfere! Stand strong, Karen! We love you!

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