nov cu uu Uuru8a Mesquite Companies Lic 4808393907 November 19, 2000 Richard Howe Eric Owens Elders of | Miller Valley Baptist Church 815 Whipple St Prescott, Arizona 86301 Dear Rich and Erie, am writing this letter in response to telephone conversations I have had with you, Rich, and my wife following phone conversations she had with Tom Chantry and Bob Selph. | ‘This letter is to be distributed to Bob Selph and Walt Chantry at minimum. You ‘have my permission to forward ito any others, as you see fit. [also expect it to find its vay to Tom Chantry. | find it necessary to write this letter because of some disturbing things [have hheard over the last few weeks. I am putting the inibrmation in writing, as I understand for all nterested parties to read, including my son@l®, so I can be corrected ifmy | understanding is incorrect. I hope that by reading this, others might not make the same| mistakes I have concerning Tom Chantry. ‘My relationship with Tom began with his coming to Miller Valley Baptist Church in Prescott, Arizona to serve as interim pastor. My family and I immediately welcomed | ‘Tom into our funily, and as fumilies usually 20, there were some good times and some Dot 20 good times, but we all seemed to be good friends through tall. will now attempt to get to the point of the bad times. It is hard it is for me to put in writing anything negative about a friend especially one who has been p bat | here goes. Fist there’s the fourth of Fuly of 1995 when Tom hit my son, QB (who was 12 at the time) in the jaw and knocked him to the ground and later denied recollection of it even though it was witnessed by at least one adult and attested to by @ There ‘many mitigating cixcurastances so Rich and I, as the elders at Miller Valley at the time, prayerfully decided t commend Tom tothe congregation asi pastor aayway. | Sometime before Tom's ordination the following January, Tom approached me| ‘with a proposal to tutor my youngest son, @MB, who was ten at the time. It seemed like|a 00d plan tecanse i would challenge Qin is lenning. which west ceallyhereoniee at his regular school. Not long afterward Tom approached me again with the request that he be allowed to spank @P if he dido’t pay proper attention or apply himself in class.nev cu vu verusa mesquite Companies LLC 4eossa3907 Looking back, I should have known better because @ had never been any kind off ‘problem in class and had always made excellent grades, which is stil the case. | Unfortunately, as time went on, as we later found out, the spankings became| ‘regular part ofthe classes. Tom would regulary threaten QJ with spankings and actually spank him if his work wasn’t perfect, evento the point of having him do his| catechisms over Tom’s knee with a swat at the end for each mistake without what the mistakes were and then repeating the process. The private classes ended (GBB spent the night with Tom as « favor to us. During the night said. ‘Tom spanked him bare bottomed (with his underpants pulled down) for what Qi sai was no reason at all. The aforementioned events came to light after @liand I found out, bout the bare bottomed spanking. Again, looking back there had been complaints by (8B IEEE who sat outside Tom’s office during the class and heard iD cry duting the spankings in class, which should have alarmed me sooner. Therefore | take fall responsibility for much of what happened. After hearing of the bare bottomed spanking, Rich Howe and I talked to@, heard is story and talked to Tom. Tom admitted to the spankings in class, but denied the bare bottomed spanking at his home: Partially due to the fact that it was wel known thst ‘Tom experienced outbursts during sleep and it was Tom’s word against we fet ve i’'t have enough actual proof to risk serious damage Tom's career and the cuch. ‘Therefore with Tom’s apologies and assurance that nothing like this would happen again, Rich and I decided to let that incident end without any discipline or the knowledge off others in the church or elsewhere. | In February of 1997, our family moved to Mesa, Arizona and this issue seemed to £0 away. However, recently @ had begun to express some strong feelings. He | perceived that I had put his bos interest aside to protect Tomas it related tothe | ously described incident. @HIB mae clear his strong dislike, even hate, for Tom. | "believed that Tom should have been severely punished, even at the expense of | ‘Tom's career because of what be had suffered. QM and 1 were ying to deal with this issue. We were even considering having a meeting with Tom, @ and us in an attempt to resolve the issue. The recent revelation of very similar events between chikdren at | Miller Valley and Tom Chantry came out before that happened. | Before we were aware of the current situation, QI. Tom and I went to lunch in Prescott on October 28. Tom told us ofa serious issue that he and Eric Owens were | dealing with in the church. Tom said he had offended some charch members and had | used up all of his grace with the members at Miller Valley, | Tom called the day Ber he resgned his patra at Miler Vally an si eka resigned, be gave little or no explanation at that time. Tom said he was goingto | ‘Washington to visit friends until he figured out what to do next. | Rich Howe called the next night and tok QIN and T about the incidents that have ‘occurred recently in Prescott, that are teribly similar to those we are still dealing with in | | | | vanMesquite Companies LLC 4806232807 ‘our own lives. A few days later Tom seat us an e-mail that QD immediately forwarded to Rich in which Tom said individuals at Miller Valley were saying things about him that ‘were not true, believe that this recap of our past experience with Tom, his recent serious shading of the trath by saying he had offended someone, when he had actually abused one or more children in the church, will hed additional fight on this situation for those, ‘who are trying to sort this matter out. It is also important to me because these events must ‘not happen again. If Tom has repeated what @ says happened to him, Tom must not be allowed to be ina position of authority over children, or pastor a church again, unless ‘confession, serious repentance, and whatever further measures are deomed necessary by the Elders at Miller Valley Baptist Church ate taken. Even then, [ am not sure Tom should ever be allowed to have such authority again. It appears that not only has Tom sinned against these children, he bas and lied and is attempting to cover up his sin by discrediting Mille Valley Baptist Church and its clders. This must not be allowed to happen. The reputation of God’s church and the safety of other unsuspecting children and families are at stake, | | ‘We are also sending a letter that i) has written outining her feelings on this, ‘matter | started to read it and then decided we should each write our own. I spologize!in advance for what [ know will be some repetition. QHD recollection of his experienceg relating to this matter will also be included. | This has been a difficult process, if there are any small inaccuracies I apologize. 1 beliove the information given here is overall true and accurate, though I have not attempted to outline every detail of every event. If any interested party has further questions concerning this matter, please feel free to contact me by either means shown, below. | One additional thought, tbe morang after T wrote the words above. The morning after QED wrote the leter you are about to read. QED letter contains some information 1 have not been aware of before today, Iam not sure why. What I do know though, is that ‘we should have listened to @™l much more carefully, questioned Tom much more carefully and trusted Tom much less. It certainly appears that I have been deceived for years by a very convincing liar. After whal I have learned this morning {strongly recommend that if tis possible, you should have the children involved inthis put their recollections and feelings in writing. Had I done this atthe time the events occurred that are deseribed in QD tete, much diferent action would bave been taken atthe time. Jnov cu uu usruya mesquite Companies LLC 4908333907 can't et this ps. Idi’ aw a lear understanding of whit al eke pee hope @D can forgive me for letting this happen. He has not to this point. Tn the end we want the best for God’s church, Tom and all wi are involved. 1 ‘pray to that end.