The M. K. "flap"

[#59]

Attached is the text of what Loren Coleman recently had to say about Mr. Davis' recent revelations:



Bigfoot =

[#59]

M.K.'s response as posted on the GCBRO site;


My grandfather was 1/2 Choctaw. I was very careful of what I meant when I said what I said. I stated that I was not referring to the derrogotory meaning that has been labeled upon various tribes in more recent times. I was referring to the term applied in earlier times to a people who sustained themselves by digging for roots and grubs with what is called a "digging stick". I went looking for this information after I found that the Patterson subject was carrying such a stick. Here is a quote from Theodora Kroeber's book on Ishi the last member of the Southern Yahi/Yana tribe of California.

"What then of the Digger Indians who are supposed to have been the aborigines of California, to have spoken a gutteral language, and to manage barely to maintain a miserable existance by eating the roots that they dug from the unfriendly land with that most generic of tools, the wooden digging stick?
Alas the diggers are a frontier legend."

Dr. Kroeber was obviously referring to a group of people that were different than other tribes, as she was referring to them, after discussing the possible asian origins of Ishi, who had an unusual bow relelase that was found only in Mongolia. The term "Digger" only became a derrogotory term applied much later to various tribes. It is the earlier people that I'm interested in and referred to by the only name that they were ever called. They dug with the digging stick and were thus called Diggers. No racism was meant or implied. If you listen to the archived show, you will see that I am careful to distinguish the two terms and that I was referrring to the former.'

I sincerely hope that you understand that I meant nothing towards anyone regarding my use of the term. Do you think that Mr. Coleman really believes that I'm a racist? Maybe, perhaps he has something to lose? At any rate, if I am right, it really has to be one of those strange twists of fate, that a man that accuses me of racism, by using such an innocent term, has himself called a fellow human being a gorilla. I hope that you all understand. M.K.

[#59]

My personal experience with this man consisted of our FTF interactions on the Louisiana hunt back in 2003.

He went into the bush (with D. G., Woodswatcher & me) that evening after the "shot" to help track the wounded "animal".  He was totally unarmed.  His actions during that event as well as before and afterwards left me with the distinct impression this was a man of great integrity and conviction.  I have nothing but respect and admiration for his work and all that he stands for in this endeavour.

[#59]

More info about Mr. Coleman

Copied from the GCBRO forum:




Must read...coleman...a common thief...
by Monster Hunter

LOREN COLEMAN STEALS PHOTOS (20)
FROM PETER BYRNE, SELLS THEM. THEN
SELLS THEM AGAIN, FOR RERUN!
Source: "The Track Record" ,pg 16. Jan. 2002 Ray Crowe,Ed.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note: to save us a 1.5 MB download, we copied the newsletter page, word-for-word, in text. If anyone has to see the
actual newsletter, contact us and this can be arranged. This text is verbatim.
" Message posted by Peter Byrne:

In recent days and in regard to his rather unpleasant spreading of the word that yours truly had gone to the Happy Hunting Grounds, not a few people have emailed me to ask me why Mr. Loren Coleman of Portland,Maine, seems to "have it in for me",
and why he would do something as unpleasant as this, and what his problem is. It seems to me that you, and they, should know
what is behind his deplorable behavior. As follows...

Some years ago Coleman called me and said that he was doing a book on Tom Slick, and could he come and visit me in Oregon
and look at my records and pictures from my Himalayan Yeti expeditions. I said yes, and he duly arrived. He seemed like a nice sort of chap (although my ex of those days did not like or trust him for some reason) so I let him in and he spent two whole days
at my place, as my guest, going though my somewhat voluminous files and albums of slides and B&W pictures from the old Nepal and Sikkim Yeti expeditions. When he was ready to leave I let him have some B&W pictures for his book; he was to copy these for the book, use them in the book with a credit to me and return them; this he did in due course.

But when he left my house he pocketed, without my knowledge or consent, about twenty of my slides. I have about 3000 slides, too many to check, too many to count and so did not miss them.

About two years ago, I was at Larry Lund's house and he asked me if I had ever seen the Unsolved Mysteries show, "The Mystery of the Yeti" . I said no, so together we watched a tape of it that Larry had.

The show opened with the usual stuff and then brought up a B&W still of mine., from one of my Yeti expeditions. Then another. Then another. To where I suddenly realized that altough I was in the show, (which U.M. shot with me at Mammoth Lakes in CA),
I had never given the U.M. people any of those pictures. I told Larry to run the tape back and he did and then we counted....the show contained seventeen pictures of mine altogether. I was very surprised and at the same time almost certain that I had not given those particular pictures.

So I called U.M. in Los Angeles and asked them where they got the pictures they used in their Yeti show. They said ......talk to Production. I did this. U.M. Production told me they got them from one Loren Coleman, Portland,Maine.

I called Coleman next day and asked him if he ever given any of my pictures to Unsolved Mysteries. He said no, absolutely not,ever. I asked him if he was sure, and he said yes, very sure.

The following day he called me back and said, "well maybe just a couple of the pictures, the ones I had loaned him for his book."
I asked him, "A couple?" H said, "well, yes, just one or two...I was meaning to tell you about it but I forgot."

I asked him if he was paid anything by U.M. for the pictures. He said "No, absolutely not,not a penny."

I called U.M. and asked them if they had paid Coleman for the use of the pictures he gave them. They said "talk to Accounts". I talked to U.M. Accounts and they told me, "Yes, $1,700.00" (Note - $100 per photo -- ed)

I called Coleman again, and asked him again if he had been paid anything by U.M. for the use of the (my) pictures,that he gave
them. He said,"Well, maybe a few dollars.Not much. In fact, I've been meaning to split it with you and send it to you."

I said, " How about $1,700 ?" He said "No,never, not that much. A few dollars maybe. But not anything like $1,700."

So I called U.M. again to verify and asked them, the possibility of a lawsuit by me, to immediatgely fax me all the documentation
in the matter of the contract with Coleman, plus records of their payments to him. They did this.

The documedntation they sent me (which I kept on file) verified that he had been paid $1,700 and included a letter from him, containing a statement, signed by him, to the effect that of the slides and pictures he sold to them were his personal property
and as such, his to sell as he wished.

So, another call to Mr. C. and this time as more suited to the occasion, a certain brevity. A check for $1,700, plus all of my pictures that he stole and illegally sold, in the mail, Fed X, within twelve hours or a lawsuit.



Guess what came in the mail next day? Right. With the check


(and the pictures) came what fiction writers call a sad and plaintive little letter saying that he was truly sorry about what had happened but that truly, he had been meaning to send the money to me, (it is now note, three years since he pocketed the slides and two since he sold them to U.M.) But that, (Ready for this?) truly, it had slipped his mind.

Since then Mr Coleman has told several people that "I treated him very badly" in this matter and that by threatening him with a
lawsuit " I was really being quite nasty" because by mentioning me in the book he had given me a lot of publicity and that as far as he was concerned this was ample compensation for ' Er, illegally selling my property for gain !

Ain't human psychology wonderful ? I think the moral of this story is when you have guests in your house that you really don't know very well, just remember to count the silver before they leave.

Onward, onward, Peter Byrne "

[#59]

It would appear even the "experts" cannot agree on exactly what a "racist" consists of;



When racism, a belief, is applied in practice, it takes forms such as prejudice, discrimination, segregation or subordination. Racism can more narrowly refer to a system of oppression, such as institutional racism.

Historian Barbara Field argued in "Slavery, Race and Ideology in the United States of America" that racism is a "historical phenomenon" which does not explain racial ideology.[citation needed] She suggests that investigators should consider the term to be an American rhetorical device, with a historical explanation. She suggests that using race as a word with real meaning is a common error akin to superstition. Other scholars, however, say that races do exist, and the concept has significant meaning.

Organizations and institutions that put racism into action discriminate against, and marginalize, a class of people who share a common racial designation. The term racism is usually applied to the dominant group in a society, because it is that group that has the means to oppress others. The term can also apply to any individual or group, regardless of social status or dominance.

Racism can be both overt and covert. Individual racism sometimes consists of overt acts by individuals, which can result in violence or the destruction of property. Institutional racism is often more covert and subtle. It often appears within the operation of established and respected forces in the society, and frequently receives less public condemnation than the overt type.

W.E.B. DuBois argued that racialism is the belief that differences between the races exist, be they biological, social, psychological, or in the realm of the soul. He argued that racism is using this belief to promote the belief that one's particular race is superior to the others.

According to Jared Diamond in his work Guns, Germs and Steel, race is essentially a social and historical construction. It has no real basis in science, nor can it be used to explain why Europe gained the upper hand in world conquests.

On occasion, individualism has been denounced as a form of racism; for instance, in 2006, Seattle Public Schools issued a definition of racism on its Web site which stated that favoring individualism over collectivism, and having a "future time orientation", were examples of racism because they favored "white culture" over viewpoints indigenous to other groups. After much criticism, they removed these statements from their site.[2] On the other hand, a 1963 essay by Ayn Rand denounced racism as a crude form of collectivism.