Scott Lloyd v. Smac-Ultimate Buffoon of the Universe Contest

[_Fence Sitter]

A poster at MAD contacted Peggy Stack about the story and made this comment regarding why the story was published.

I contacted Peggy Stack @ the SL Tribune this afternoon. She was kind enough to reply almost immediately. Based on her response, I think she broke this story--not the Deseret News. The Deseret News story is based completely on the LDS Church's statements that were in fact the result of her inquiries. I copy her e-mail response below:

"I got a tip and investigated for three weeks, then asked the church for comment. After my story appeared, the church gave the same answers to the DNews and the AP."

See here

[_Analytics]

A poster at MAD contacted Peggy Stack about the story and made this comment regarding why the story was published.

I contacted Peggy Stack @ the SL Tribune this afternoon. She was kind enough to reply almost immediately. Based on her response, I think she broke this story--not the Deseret News. The Deseret News story is based completely on the LDS Church's statements that were in fact the result of her inquiries. I copy her e-mail response below:

"I got a tip and investigated for three weeks, then asked the church for comment. After my story appeared, the church gave the same answers to the DNews and the AP."

See here

The Church seems quite proud with how it handled the Smartt case. I originally thought the Church released the story on its own as a defense in the court of public opinion regarding the Bishop case--this story depicts the church as not being evil in how it handles these presumably rare situations. Now we know the story came up because of Peggy Stack--or more correctly, the anonymous person that gave her the tip. That raises the question--if the Church is the one that benefits the most from this story, are they the anonymous source?

Ultimately I don't think the Church did leak the story--it's hard imagining them being that shrewd.

[_consiglieri]

A poster at MAD contacted Peggy Stack about the story and made this comment regarding why the story was published.

I contacted Peggy Stack @ the SL Tribune this afternoon. She was kind enough to reply almost immediately. Based on her response, I think she broke this story--not the Deseret News. The Deseret News story is based completely on the LDS Church's statements that were in fact the result of her inquiries. I copy her e-mail response below:

"I got a tip and investigated for three weeks, then asked the church for comment. After my story appeared, the church gave the same answers to the DNews and the AP."

See here

Thanks, Fence Sitter!

Up to this point, I had been thinking the church issued the statement first because it was quoted in the SLT article.

But I guess if I had thought about it a bit more, it would have been obvious this must have been in the works at the SLT for a while (in this case three weeks) and that Peggy would have contacted the church to get their statement.

It sounds like the church's response was an official statement that they must have burned the midnight oil on in order to get it to come out the same day as the SLT article.

So this does put things in a very different light than what I had been thinking.

I think this puts the whole SLT article in a different light for me. Reading the church response now looks like an arm-waving, hand-wringing effort at damage control.

The LDS Church did NOT voluntarily release this story as a way of obliquely addressing the Joseph Bishop black-eye.

Instead, the LDS Church did NOT voluntarily release this story AT ALL!

This is another instance of the church getting caught covering up a sex abuse scandal of huge proportions.

Mission President sexually abuses multiple sister missionaries and nobody is the wiser . . . until four years later . . . and not because of any church announcement . . . but because a sister missionary called her stake president stateside and blew the whistle.

This gives the fact the church still had Philander's photo and resume up at lds.org a whole new twist.

Man, they really didn't want anybody to know about this!

And except for an anonymous tip to Peggy Fletcher-Stack, this story would have languished in obscurity.

I expect the tip may have come as a result of the notoriety of the Joseph Bishop case, though. And so in this way, if no other, the two stories may yet be linked.

[_Dr Exiled]

It does change things. It looks like the puerto rico case was just another cover up. I wonder why those mods at the other board thought they needed to ban me when they could prove me wrong? It wasn't an effort to show the church doing something correct when yet another church perv predator goes to work, it was just another cover up of yet another church perv. I wonder how many other pervs are out there? How many other cover ups are there?

[_Dr Exiled]

Hey Scott, I was wrong about this. It wasn't the church acting strategically by releasing a story of how this kind of case should be handled but yet another cover up. I wonder if the sister missionaries were told how noble and great they would be if they remained silent about the seductive puerto rico mission president? Just let the "inspired" leaders, cough, cough, take care of it and please don't go to the real authorities. The cover up must have worked as no criminal charges were filed and no one heard about it, until now.

[_moksha]

And except for an anonymous tip to Peggy Fletcher-Stack, this story would have languished in obscurity.

After the intensive search by the Special Apologetics and Excuses Committee to find a case where the Church took some action and only instituted a small coverup (such as having Philo's photo and resume still venerated at the LDS.org website), the SAEC needed some way to get this information out to the media.

Apparently, the SAEC was able to contact Peggy Stack three weeks before they were able to release a statement. The committee members celebrated with a glass of milk and a plate of cookies. Afterward, they had a prayer and then adjourned for a nap due to senior status considerations.

[_Dr. Shades]

I am thinking about doing a podcast on the Philander Smartt case and its connection to Joseph Bishop . . .

. . . and quoting Scott Lloyd on the subject for good measure.

So, any bets that Sister Smartt never had Multiple Sclerosis at all?

[_Doctor CamNC4Me]

I am thinking about doing a podcast on the Philander Smartt case and its connection to Joseph Bishop . . .

. . . and quoting Scott Lloyd on the subject for good measure.

So, any bets that Sister Smartt never had Multiple Sclerosis at all?

I would love to pick the brains of the missionaries who were told that lie, and get a take on what they think about the cover up.

- Doc

[_Madison54]

I would love to pick the brains of the missionaries who were told that lie, and get a take on what they think about the cover up.

- Doc

Yes. And I'd also love to hear from the sister missionaries who were abused or sexually harassed by him. How was the church able to silence all of them?

Maybe at least one of them will speak out now.

[_candygal]

I am thinking about doing a podcast on the Philander Smartt case and its connection to Joseph Bishop . . .

. . . and quoting Scott Lloyd on the subject for good measure.

If there is a connection...I know YOU will find it...thank you.