Letters to the Editor
This letter was sent to the Lake Geneva Regional News and published last week with giant headlines. The writer of the letter indicated that the GSR could not be trusted to publish such a letter without editing.
Here it is without editing, in the GSR.
Pastor Mark Moller-Gunderson preached on a Sunday many years ago about speaking out against injustice and bigotry and lies. It is the obligation of a compassionate and civilized society. We will do so now. The Geneva Shore Report, self-acclaimed as “The most dangerous newspaper in America,” has written a series of stories about Pastors Mark and Mary Ann Moeller-Gunderson that are complete fiction and hurtful. Mr. Strauss, it is time to stop your bullying and lying. Characterizing your information as rumors may allow you to wiggle out of a lawsuit, but publishing them is intentionally misleading and damaging. Since you began writing your report, we have noted your misinformation, innuendos, and lies in silence. But our silence has let the lies stand. No more. It may seem ironic that we write an editor of the Lake Geneva Regional News about a series of articles that appear in the Geneva Shore Report.
We trust that the LGRN will print this letter accurately. We don’t trust the GSR to do the same. Pastors Mark and Mary Ann Moeller-Gunderson have served Lake Geneva and its citizens without regard to their religion. They have preached and practiced kindness and inclusion since they arrived at Immanuel Lutheran. Many of you reading this will have experienced their unconditional love and generosity. Impugning their character is repugnant and must not be allowed to stand. And they are not the only injured ones. They are just Mr. Strauss’ most recent. We have spoken with Mr. Strauss directly about the bigotry and lies he prints. Calling a Korean-American Bok Choy is a recent example.
His response: “I don’t write it all. I have a staff bigger than the Lake Geneva Regional News and cannot account for everything they write.” That is pure cowardice. To scrub the dirt from each issue of the GSR would be a full time job and we don’t need another. However, just to identify an easily verifiable lie as an example, we quote Mr. Strauss, “The property was sold to the church for a buck and there will never be a dime of local, state or federal taxes paid on the property, or any money that pours into it.” The simple fact is the property was purchased by Immanuel Lutheran Church form the combined school districts – Lake Geneva Jt. 1 and Lake Geneva-Genoa City UHS District for $675,000. By our math, that makes Mr. Strauss 675,000% wrong. That is one lie among many.
Pastors Mark and Mary Ann Moeller-Gunderson have long planned to retire two years after the new church was built. This day has come. Please celebrate their acts of kindness and compassion and courage on behalf of those in need. They are too graceful to accept our thanks, but they deserve them instead. Sincerely, Tom and Lori Hartz, Lake Geneva
There’s the letter. How much fact is really in it?
Since Alderperson Hartz was a key player in the sale of the church property nobody is ever really going to know. Mr. Strauss apologized to Mr. Hartz about the Bok Choy comment, he did not defend or shy away from it. Mark and Mary Ann Moeller-Gunderson are no doubt good people with a long history of care and compassion. The church accounting of Immanuel’s money will also, no doubt, remain as quiet and secretive as most church money taken in, a subject that the GSR used rumors in the community to illustrate. It is of note, however, that the Lake Geneva Regional News did write last week: “While they plan to remain in the area, they will no longer be members of the congregation. They will be friends of the congregation members…” Quite possibly the LGRN didn’t notice that that quote might be a little strange and call for further investigation.
~ Editor Geneva Shore Report
