Ian Lind and Andy Parx Defends My Post About My Zipline Experience

I mentioned the other day that a Texas attorney was going to attempt to sue me for a blog posting I made on the Umauma Ziplines and the cancellation of my trip that I had planned due to safety concerns.

I’ve gotten a lot of support in the comments on that post as well as email comments from others supporting me.

I had to laugh at Kauai Blogger Andy Parx email to me suggesting I tell him the following:

I’d tell him to go f**k himself and take it up with the people who said it. All you did was quote them. These kinds of letters are bluffs. They don’t want a lawsuit- all that would do is put the guy’s quote in the mainstream media.

Tell him to f**k off and that you “welcome a lawsuit where we can air the issue of the safety of their ziplines before the community and in the mainstream press”.  That’ll scare ’em off.

I was even more stoked when former Honolulu Star-Bulletin Investigative Reporter Ian Lind posted the following blog on his site today “Big Island blogger faces legal pressure to withdraw reporting on zipline safety concerns” where Ian was able to find out some other things about the attorney’s client C.L. Carlile Enterprises, L.P.  that is attempting to in essence… censor me.

“…And just who is this Carlile Enterprises?

It’s involved in real estate, oil and gas back in Texas, and is owned by Cleo Carlile, who splits time between the big TX and Hawaii. Carlile Enterprises also owns several pieces of former sugar land along the Hamakua Coast of the Big Island, and is the landowner offering the “Umauma Experience”, as well as owner of the zipline facilities there, including platforms, cables, rain shelters, and a new building for a kitchen and gift shop…”

Ian continues on about what the safety and certification process that may or may not happen with the zipline industry here in Hawaii and then goes on to say:

…Mr. Carlile and his company may have a beef with his former business partners, but it seems to me that his Texas attorney is off-base for this ill-considered attack on a local blogger.

Damon reported the dispute over safety issues in a straightforward and responsible manner. This was not a story that he was reporting, but a direct consumer experience he shared via his blog. And it happens to involve matters of public health and safety, and should have alerted the mainstream media to potential safety and regulatory issues in this relatively new recreational sport. There are obviously more sides to the story which need to be covered, but Damon deserves credit for flagging the issues and sharing them…

I’d like to thank Ian and Andy as well as the others that are supporting me in my effort to blog about my daily experiences. I hate it when folks take things so seriously that they go out of their way to actually stop me from doing something on my own personal blog!

I’m sorry if their business has been affected by what I wrote but that’s not my fault! I should be allowed and entitled to write freely about the experiences I have without being threatened by big money attorneys and their clients that don’t act responsibly!