August 25, 1997

Mr. James J. Lippard
c/o GlobalCenter
1224 E. Washington St.
Phoenix, AZ 85034

Dear Mr. Lippard,

Over the last several years, you have made false and damaging statements about me concerning "Lucy," frequently to large audiences in publications, on the internet, and elsewhere. Others, after reading your false statements, have repeated them in other large forums. An example was in your latest email of August 22, 1997 (your words are preceded by a ">").

>the false claim which Brown and others have made that Lucy's
>knee joint was found 2 km from the rest of the skeleton.

This is not true. My statement in Creation/Evolution [Fall 1989, p. 44] was:

"Donald Johanson, Lucy's discoverer, apparently made quite an admission at the University of Missouri in Kansas City on November 20, 1986. When asked during the question-and-answer session, 'How far away from Lucy did you find the knee?' Johanson's reported answer was, 'Sixty to seventy meters lower in the strata and two to three kilometers away' (Willis, 1987)! Johanson needs to clarify or deny this in writing. None of his published writings do."

Read it carefully, Mr. Lippard. I said that Johanson had not responded to Willis' "reported" description of Johanson's "apparent" statement. He should do so--either "to clarify or deny" it.

None of my other writings ever brought up the subject.

>If he [Brown] uses my financial inability to come up with up-front
>costs to go to arbitration as an argument against my claims, then
>it will only serve as further evidence of his character.  There is
>up-front cost for both parties in the proposal you have made.  I've
>told you of my financial situation, and there is not presently
>anything I can do about it unless someone offers to assist.

I will be happy to lend you the up-front costs for the arbitration. If the arbitrator concludes that you have done nothing wrong, then all arbitration costs will fall on me.

>I don't wish to speak to him [Brown] on the telephone in person,
>I prefer a more permanent record of his communications.

Our arbitration will be taped. You will have a detailed and permanent record.

Do you wish to nominate three arbitrators to me, or would you like for me to submit the names of three suitable arbitrators to you?

I look forward to hearing from you. By the way, since you are unwilling to speak to me personally, you have my permission to tape our phone calls--or if you wish, I will tape them and mail you a copy.

Sincerely,

Walt Brown

Lippard's Response

Date: Tue, 26 Aug 1997 20:07:11 -0700 (MST)
From: "James J. Lippard"
To: walt@creationscience.com
Cc: "James J. Lippard"
Subject: your letter of August 25, 1997

Dear Walt Brown:

Arbitration is a process that is entered into when negotiations have broken down. Since negotiations have not even begun--you have not previously raised any complaint about being misinterpreted or misquoted--arbitration is rather premature.

Based on your letter, I am quite willing to revise the knee joint FAQ so that your position is represented. Revised wording has already been put in place on the web site; I welcome any suggestions you may have for further changes in the wording. If I can't be persuaded to change my wording to wording that you feel is not "false and damaging," then it would be appropriate to go to arbitration.

At the same time, however, there are other issues which have been neglected, issues which are also quite relevant to my public statements about your character. If Mr. Anderson has not given you copies of the public postings I have made to your mailing list about your published remarks pertaining to the Shrinking Sun and Moon Dust arguments for a young earth, your commentary on the quotation attributed to you in a monograph by Barry Setterfield, and various Noah's Ark sightings, I would be happy to send them to you again. I have attempted to provoke a response from you on these issues by raising them in a forum which you sponsor, but you have not even attempted a commentary. If you still think the arbitration idea is a good one, I would be happy to have these issues put before an arbitrator. Specifically, regarding the current version of your book, as it is online, these are my suggestions:

(1) Does Walter Brown's description of the Shrinking Sun argument in his book (and on his web site)accurately and fairly represent the current evidence of science? Does it accurately and fairly represent the current consensus of creationist scientists who publish in creationist journals such as CRSQ and ENTJ? Does it accurately and fairly represent the evidence known to be in Walter Brown's possession at the time of publication?

(2) Does Walter Brown's description of the Moon Dust argument in his book (and on his web site) accurately and fairly represent the current evidence of science? Does it accurately and fairly represent the current consensus of creationist scientists who publish in creationist journals such as CRSQ and ENTJ? Does it accurately and fairly represent the evidence known to be in Walter Brown's possession at the time of publication?

(3) Does Walter Brown's summary of witnesses of Noah's Ark in his book (and on his web site) represent only the most credible evidence? Does it accurately and fairly represent the evidence for and against the sightings listed? Does it accurately and fairly represent the evidence known to be in Walter Brown's possession at the time of publication?

I challenge you to choose one of these three numbered (sets of) questions to submit to an arbitrator, and I will happily accept your offer of a loan for this purpose. But as it turns out, a loan may not be necessary--we can turn this over to the Virtual Magistrate project at Villanova University, which is specifically designed to "offer arbitration for rapid, interim resolution of disputes involving (1) users of on-line systems, (2) those who claim to be harmed by wrongful messages, and (3) system operators (to the extent that complaints or demands for remedies are directed at the sysop)." The Virtual Magistrate project has a mere $10 filing fee, as it is a pilot project with outside funding, or at least this was the case last year.

Jim Lippard lippard@(primenet.com ediacara.org skeptic.com)
Phoenix, Arizona http://www.primenet.com/~lippard/
PGP Fingerprint: B130 7BE1 18C1 AA4C 4D51 388F 6E6D 2C7A 36D3 CB4F

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