BANNER Apologizes for Errors

The most recent online edition of the BANNER carries a letter to the editor from me and an apology for its own errors here.

Yesterday I received a letter from the seminary board president, Sid Jansma, Jr., stating he did not tell Gayla Postma that I was awarded back wages. I wrote to Gayla today, in reference to Sid: "Did he say the following, as it was reported?"

"When allegations were made that discrimination was happening, it didn't take the board officers 10 seconds to get a group together to find out, because if there was, we would put an end to it right there," said Sid Jansma Jr., president of the board. "We made a point that this was not swept under the rug, that this was aired in front of everyone."

The reason I enquired is because it is false in both its parts. Gayla wrote back: "I stand behind my story as written, with the exception of the correction we have already printed."

So some of the falsehoods are still on the books.

BANNER Covers for Sid

There has been a retraction in the BANNER. It turns out that Sid Jansma, Jr. did not really tell Gayla Postma that I was “awarded back wages.” So what did he tell her? Why did she get the information so boggled? How do you screw up “awarded back wages”? Perhaps it was just a simple error. Maybe he said:

appealed for back wages
awaited back wages
Or, we evaded back wages
couldn’t afford back wages

Or, perhaps he was revealing the heretofore unspecified dark secret about me to which he has previously alluded. He leaned over with a hushed whisper in her ear. (You know how that goes.) She hears “awarded back wages” when he actually whispered:

extorted cash payoff
aborted bastard baby
snorted crack cocaine

Ah, the mysteries continue.

"Let Your Women Keep Silence."

I was reminded of the above passage from 1 Cor. 14:34 (KJV) when I came across a quote from Elie Wiesel: "Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the oppressed. Silence comforts the tormenter, never the tormented." The women in the Christian Reformed Church are keeping their silence regarding my situation at the seminary. Not so in relation to the matter of women in office. Helen Sterk and others are planning a demonstration at the CRC Synod this June 9-16 at Calvin College. There have been no demonstrations against what happened to me. Why don't these women even have the curiousity to ask questions? Is it because they don't want to know the answers? Is it because I'm considered an "outsider"? If you have any thoughts email me at tuckerworst@comcast.net.