In early spring of 1994, after having published Gentle Spirit Magazine for five years, I experienced a crisis in my marriage which resulted eventually in its dissolution. My ex-husband had moved to another state, and I had met the man who is now my husband, Rick Seelhoff. At the time, I was a member of Calvary Chapel of Tacoma. I asked to meet privately with my then-pastor and his wife, Joe and Irene Williams, in April of 1994, for confession and spiritual counsel. The pastor and his wife assured me they would keep my family situation confidential. After I met with them, I stopped attending their church and never attended their church again.
Months after I last attended church services at Calvary Chapel of Tacoma, in the days shortly before and just after my last public speaking engagement at the CHEO convention in Ohio, Pastor Williams and his wife received phone calls from several leaders in the national conservative Christian homeschooling community, asking for detailed, intimate information about my personal life. Pastor Williams and his wife provided that information. Among the leaders who called requesting personal information about me were Gregg Harris, Sue Welch, and the then-chair of CHEO, Michael Boutot. I knew these homeschooling leaders only very casually, in some cases, or not at all.
None was my mentor in publishing or had been involved with the publication of my magazine. I had no idea any of these leaders had been made aware of my family circumstances or that they were conducting any kind of investigation of me. None of these leaders attended any Calvary Chapel church, let alone my own church. Gentle Spirit was not a nonprofit, religious organization, but a for-profit, private, family business concern.
After the Williams spoke with these leaders, calls were placed to other prominent persons in the Christian homeschooling community. A decision was made among some of these leaders that I be presented with a list of ultimatums, which they called, "proofs of repentance," or have intimate details of my personal life disclosed nationally and publicly. The "proofs of repentance" I was to perform included not answering my telephone, turning over the contents of my business and personal bank accounts to others, not having a post office box, never going anywhere alone, stepping down from my position as Editor and Publisher of Gentle Spirit, agreeing not to speak publicly, agreeing not to defend myself, firing my attorneys, withdrawing restraining orders I had obtained to protect my family and business, and replacing Gentle Spirit with Teaching Home Magazine. At the time, I was the sole support of my family of 11 people, and Gentle Spirit Magazine provided all of our family's income.
When I failed to comply with the "proofs of repentance," the Williams drafted a "letter of discipline." They discussed the contents of the letter of discipline with Sue Welch and Michael Farris of HSLDA. The letter stated, among other things, that I was guilty of unrepentant adultery with lying, because I said I was repentant although I continued my relationship with Rick, whom I married in 1995. They read this letter of discipline publicly, against my will, at a Sunday morning church service months after I had last attended the church. The pastor's wife, Irene Williams, read the letter of discipline over the telephone to Sue Welch, Editor of Teaching Home Magazine, who audiotaped the reading of the letter. Ms. Welch then asked the Williams to write a letter to her requesting her help in disseminating the contents of the letter of church discipline to leaders in the homeschooling community. Ms Welch also offered to the Williams the services of her attorney, Michael Farris, who spoke with the Williams several times by phone. The Williams provided the letter Sue Welch requested, along with a copy of the letter of discipline, and Sue Welch then faxed and otherwise circulated the letter of discipline to the chairpersons of more than 43 state homeschooling organizations as well as many other leaders, publishers, business persons, and others in the homeschooling marketplace. The information was circulated over a number of months by facsimile, regular mail, telephone, and via the internet. In early 1995, an "update" was provided in a newsletter sent out by Teaching Home staff to all state homeschooling leaders. Another magazine publisher, Mary Pride, whom I had never personally met and with whom I had never done business, also paid a member of her staff to investigate my situation. This staff member contacted the Williams, Sue Welch, and others and asked intimate questions about my personal life. Gregg Harris also participated in the early investigation of my family's crisis, discussing my personal life with my ex-husband, the Williams, and Sue Welch. I did not become aware of Ms. Welch's , Mr. Farris's, Mr. Harris's, Mary Pride's, Michael Farris's, or other leaders' actions, in some instances, until years after the fact.
In the wake of the circulation of this information, I began receiving letters from subscribers, columnists and advertisers who canceled their subscriptions, resigned as columnists or canceled their advertisements. Some of these people demanded refunds. Several different homeschooling publications ran articles disclosing the contents of the Williams' letter of discipline and other facts, some true, some untrue. Ms Welch reimbursed the pastor and his wife for the costs of the many telephone calls they received which resulted from the circulation of this letter. As the mother of nine and sole provider for my family via Gentle Spirit, these actions were devastating to me.
I subsequently attempted to do what I could to fulfill my obligations to subscribers. I mailed refunds, sent out back issues, at one point attempted to publish Gentle Spirit in an e-mail loop, and finally I established a website. At each turn I was met with intense opposition, as long as three years after the fact, so that I could not continue.
Finally I despaired of ever being able to fulfill my obligations to subscribers or to lead a normal life absent legal action. At that point I filed suit in Federal Court for the Western District of Washington against several defendants: Calvary Chapel of Tacoma, Joe and Irene Williams, Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa, The Teaching Home and Sue Welch, Gregg Harris, Christian Home Educators of Ohio and its then-chairperson, and Bill and Mary Pride, alleging a number of causes of action, among them defamation, slander, outrage, interference with commerce, and violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act of the United States. We settled our claims with Gregg Harris, Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa, CHEO, and the Prides before trial for amounts which we agreed to keep confidential. We did go to trial with Sue Welch, and after eight days of trial, a unanimous jury found that Sue Welch and the Williams had entered into an illegal conspiracy to restrain trade in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. The jury found that I had been damaged in the amount of $435,000. Because damages awards in antitrust actions are automatically trebled, I was entitled to receive in excess of 1.3 million dollars from Sue Welch. In addition, I was entitled to recover my attorneys' fees and costs.
Subsequent to the jury verdict, we settled our claims with Sue Welch for an amount which we have agreed not to disclose.
We then proceeded to trial in one remaining cause of action, interference with commerce. The sole defendants by this time were the Williams and Calvary Chapel of Tacoma. Prior to trial, we settled with these remaining defendants as well, so that all of our claims against all of the defendants have now been resolved.
This information and the lawsuit are a matter of public record in Pierce County Superior Court at Tacoma and in the US District Court for the Western District of Washington at Tacoma.

End