The Following is based on the Personal Experience of the Writer.
Summer of 2014 was the last time we saw, or heard from my husband's daughter. Bear in mind, I had been her fifth-grade teacher, knowing her, even before my husband.
She stayed with us for a couple of weeks while working as a hostess at a local restaurant; the Concho Pearl Icehouse. By the time she left our house, she had changed her Facebook status to reflect the upcoming move, as well as her plans to attend Howard College.
During one of our conversations during her stay , she expressed that she wanted us all to meet together to resolve the situation between us and the Smith's; she was obviously confused, since she was hearing two different stories. We were eager to do so. August 6th 2014, I emailed Watermark to try and get a meeting set up per the child's request.
I requested the meeting to be held "A.S.A.P." due to my health, wanting to put this behind us as quickly as possible since my stress-induced hypertension was not yet under control. I even told Watermark "I can't physically or emotionally go past August." So what did Watermark Church do? They scheduled the meeting for the last weekend of August 2014, which happened to be Labor Day weekend. Meeting was scheduled for a Saturday at the Eastland, Texas La Quinta Conference Center.
I'm sure Todd Wagner was going to attend the meeting (ssshyeah) because Watermark Church dictatorially told us it was a "non-negotiable", that we have our pastor accompany us. They even demanded his phone number so they could confirm things. Since the meeting was scheduled for a holiday weekend, our pastor already had plans, so I contacted a church in Eastland, Texas (documentation) to secure a "substitute" for us.
By this point, we had been "handed-off" to John McGee and Bobby Crotty as Kyle Kaigler needed to "take his twin girls off to college." I knew from my friend, (another victim) that Crotty was an attorney. We requested a stenographer for the meeting, as well as a private room so that I could rest and monitor my blood pressure. Watermark Church would have none of it, however, they were going to finance a "peace officer" to protect themselves from the likes of a sick school-teacher and (non-service related) disabled Marine.
Below find email conversations between Lonnie Mac Smith's boss Kyle Kaigler and myself before we were handed off to Crotty and McGee. The "questions" we were asking for were the questions we had given to the Smith's in January of 2014, that remained unanswered eight months later. January 2014 email to Lonnie is below texts to Kaigler.
Questions again. (email subject)
Leslie Brown <lbrown34@angelo.edu> Wed, Aug 6, 2014 at 9:00 AM To: Kyle Kaigler <kkaigler@watermark.org>, pastoraloffice
<pastoraloffice@watermark.org> Kyle, Again let me know what you need to clear this up. Perhaps you can see why we are mad since I tried THREE times before I got sick to set up a meeting by Biblical protocol to no avail. This mess started last August and will go no further than this August. Leslie Ann Brown Leslie Brown <lbrown34@angelo.edu>
Wed, Aug 6, 2014 at 9:06 AM To: Kyle Kaigler <kkaigler@watermark.org>, pastoraloffice <pastoraloffice@watermark.org> Kyle, Please let us hear something from you today re: status of the meeting, it is relevant I can assure you. Thank you. LB [Quoted text hidden]
Kyle Kaigler <kkaigler@watermark.org> Wed, Aug 6, 2014 at 9:50 AM To: Leslie Brown <lbrown34@angelo.edu> Leslie...working on trying to make it work in august. I am launching 2 daughters.to college in the next.3.weeks and.starting a new.church as well so August will be.extremely difficult for me....working on others who can mediate.the.conflict This month. Kk Sent via the Samsung GALAXY S®4, an AT&T 4G LTE smartphone [Quoted text hidden] Leslie Brown <lbrown34@angelo.edu>
Wed, Aug 6, 2014 at 10:19 AM To: Kyle Kaigler <kkaigler@watermark.org> Thank you ever so much. My bp is giving me issues again. This is genetic, not weight (115 lb) or lack of exercise related. My grampa was dead in his 50's over this from renal failure. I will be happy to send hospital records if you like. Cannot go past August mentally or physically. I'm already on two meds and have a third for emergencies which I am having more and more of. We have no insurance. This could have been taken care of a long time ago, but no one seems to care. LB [Quoted text hidden]
Email sent to Lonnie Smith 1/2014
Not mad, just asking relevant questions:
If Anita's goal was to "forgive" some arrearage, why would the A.G. need to be contacted at all? Rusty and Anita were not going through the A.G. Why? Because he was both the employer and employee at the time with his own business. Who would he garnish? One year Rusty paid 76% of his income to child-support, another 25%.(documented) (20% is standard)
Is it from Anita's mouth that she wants to "forgive" arrearage? May we have that in writing by her? It was mentioned to us in an email by you. We have never ONCE asked that the (real) arrearage be dropped.
Why did we not get a "heads-up" this A.G. stuff was coming before garnishment of $825 a month. No apology? Nothing? We were on one income at the time. Is that right? It's like "meh".
Supposing phone conversation was not comfortable, how bout a letter ASKING for the missing dates? $16,000 is no small amount.
Why was initial letter from A.G. sent to Rusty's mother when we had been mailing child support from our new home address for 13 years?
Why did we not get a reply after texting Anita re: Christmas four times giving her a choice? To me that indicates petulance or bitterness.
Why no insurance statement for 10 years (which is in the decree)?
Why detailed records from 13 years ago and missing records from 4 years ago?
Why was XXXX told we "didn't try to contact her (Anita) at all" re: Christmas break?
Why was child support amount acceptable until six months before XXXX's birthday?
Why did Anita continue to email me after I told her to "leave me alone"? (documented)
Is any of this appropriate behavior for one in Divorce Care ministry?
I applaud your efforts, but this is not your mess. Still haven't heard what we have done to warrant this; and there's more.
We will not be there Thursday. It is no cheaper for us to go than to pay a lawyer once we factor in time off, gas, meals and hotel. As I was unemployed at the time, I did all of
the "discovery" in this case which made an atty. "reasonable considering we have done nothing to warrant one, or all the bank fees for copies.
When all of these relevant issues are addressed we can continue with the goal of privacy. Our goal is no court and privacy (biblical). Thursday is but a negotiation.
Bear in mind that after this, Watermark Church began a charitable clinic...oh the irony.(to be continued)
Leave a Reply
Thank you for your response.
Please verify that you are not a robot.