The Continual Misinformation of David Webb

So David decides to give us his front page treatment at his blog the rare reporter. We are a pit of vipers and spew a bunch of hate speech according to David. He is actually forthcoming in several aspects of his coverage with Joey which I appreciate, but he flat out lies about several of his claims. His first lie is that he continues to blame this blog for rumors that his coverage of Joey was because both of them were gay. Thats absolutely not true, neither myself or any other commenter on here made that claim before he came on here attacking us.

Then he makes this statement: "Then the author of the blog I referenced earlier as a snake pit contacted me, saying he understood that I had some kind of special connection with Dauben, who remained jailed at the time. He asked me if I would agree to be an anonymous source for his blog so he could write updates about Dauben's situation. I declined, saying that I really had no special inside track, nor would I do something like that in connection with any story, even if I did have an exclusive source. The truth is that Dauben probably would have communicated with anyone who would have reported about his situation, even this enemy who started the blog for the specific reason of attacking Dauben."

The first part of this is a straight up lie, I never said he had some kind of special connection, and the second part is a mischaracterization of my words.

So here you go, our entire email conversations unedited and unspun. You can reach your own conclusions:

Hey David,

I have been following your stories on the Joey Dauben situation. I have been a longtime critic of Joey, not because of his current charges or what he said his causes were, but of the way he did things. He was sloppy, wreckless and arrogant, and I knew sooner or later it would get him. Anyway, I have been running a blog about Joey for a while now http://joeyisalittlekid.wordpress.com/

and I was wondering if there is any real information you had that we could update everyone with? I'm not sure all the Judge ended up ruling on you, or if you can or can not continue your blog, but if there is some actual information such as when and where the trail date is, or any message Joey is trying to get through with, I could post it on my blog and leave you completely out of it. I'm not trying to get Joey convicted, but then again I'm certainly not on his side either as I despise the way he goes about things.

Hi:

The judge's ruling had no potential of affecting me in anyway. I was called to testify in the gag order hearing by the prosecutors who wanted the judge to order Dauben, his attorney and prosecutors not to speak to the media. The prosecutors wanted me, as a member of the professional media covering the case, to testify to the court about the amount of media coverage that has occurred, which is routine in gag order motions and in change of venue motions.

The judge denied the gag order motion, but Dauben's attorneys have advised him not to talk to the media about his case. That's the reason I haven't written anything else. There hasn't been anything to say.

I am not advocating anything other than that the public be kept informed, which has been my role as a professional journalist for more than three decades. I would hope that everyone believes as I do that Dauben is entitled to a fair trial, regardless of how many people he has angered over the years with his reporting, which admittedly has sometimes not conformed to accepted standards of professional journalism.

You can read the last story I wrote about Dauben at http://www.cedarcreeklake.com/blog_article.php?baid=210&src=myacc

I don't anticipate writing anything else until the trial, unless something unexpected comes up. The date of the trial is available to anyone because it is public information. You should contact the court for that information as I'm not certain when it is scheduled. Trial dates often get reset multiple times before one actually takes place.

I have no idea what Dauben is currently thinking about his legal problems. The last time I talked to him, which was after the gag order hearing, he told me that he planned to follow his lawyers' advice to the letter.

Hope this answers all of your questions. Thanks for reading my work.

David Webb

 

justin thompson<>
to David

Yeah I hope he gets a fair trial and frankly I hope he gets off on these charges (he can't entertain me in prison). I have seen one of these papers of his, but it looks like there are more. Do you know how many he has out there and where you can go to get them?

thanks for you answers

 

David Webb <>	May 31
to me

I actually have not seen any of the newspapers. I interviewed him via telephone text messaging for that story about publishing the papers. He said something about someone scheduling a protest, and that they planned to distribute them during it. I think that was supposed to be before primary election day. To tell the truth, I've put Dauben on the back burner until the trial and haven't given the case much thought. I just looked at your blog. Your information is more current than mine. I didn't know anything about books being written or the radio talk shows. Humorous. justin thompson <> May 31 to David I have the link to this one http://imageshack.us/g/23/eco1o.jpg/ like a 13 year old wrote it.   David Webb <davidwaynewebb@yahoo.com> Jun 6 to me Justin: I read your recent blog post. I actually know very little about Dauben and his history. I met him about a year ago when I wrote a short story for cedarcreeklake.com about his relocating his office to the area. The stories in the Dallas media about him sparked my interest so I invited him to lunch at a local restaurant to interview him. Then, I resumed contact with him via mail, and later phone, after he was jailed to write about his legal problems. I've actually only seen him in person twice, once at lunch and then at the gag order hearing. I noticed your references to his family and in particular his father. Has Joey followed in his father's footsteps somehow? This is just for background. I'd just like to have a better understanding of how Joey was brought up and what has led him to be a religious, political crusader. I'm not actually planning on writing anything else at this time, other than a final wrap-up after the trial. DW   justin thompson <> Jun 6 to David Hey David, Yeah he is very similar in his dad's beliefs, but differs in application of those beliefs. His dad is very conservative/traditional, he has said things (this is coming through Joey) that could even be considered somewhat racist as well as regionalist (he hates the yankees), and Christian although I would say its more of part of the puzzle piece for their world view than would I say he is a devout Christian. The big kicker though is he is deeply conspiratorial. You know, we didn't really land on the moon type. Joey adopted this worldview, everything that happens has some sort of deep mastermind presence behind it that is evil at its core yet those that are orchestrating it have all the power so there isnt anything you can do about it. This is the part where Joey and his dad differ, his dad told him keep it quiet or they will get you, Joey said no I'm going to make it my mission in life to expose this for what it is. And thus a very interesting career is born. Yeah I have known Joey since about 2006. I'm kinda like you in that we may have lunch together once a year or so but most of the correspondence would be through email. Joey in real life and what he writes online are two completely different people. He is very friendly and somewhat meek in person, when he gets behind his keyboard its a different Joey. When he was first starting out, just out of high school, he had a ton of potential but he always gravitated towards people that shared his dad's worldview. Do both of the DA's want to silence him for good? Of course, but the problem is he fell right into their lap by doing stupid things.   David Webb <> Jun 6 to me What type of work does his father do? Was his father public in his views, such as at city council or other types of public meetings? Are his parents still married? Do you think his father is a white supremacist or one of their sympathizers? What you described is very similar to the anti-government views of white supremacists. Thanks for your input on this. I thought Joey was very personable, and I honestly didn't get any gay vibes from him at all. I was shocked when he was arrested. Did other people think Joey was gay? I've heard rumors that the person he is accused of sexually assaulting (and I know absolutely nothing about him at all) is gay. DW   justin thompson <> Jun 6 to David Joey admitted on his blog way back when he first started it to having a homosexual affair, but said he "repented" and that part of him was gone. I would say he is bi at the least, I know he was after younger girls as well. I dont know Joey's dad just what Joey has said about him and what he has posted online. They are still married and I think still live in Ovilla. He was very much not outspoken as Joey was, his dad would never voice his opinions in an open forum such as Joey did. I doubt he was an open racist just more of your typical blue collar guy who is extremely libertarian and has this us vs. them mentality about most things.   David Webb <> Jun 6 to me Wow. Thanks for the insight. We will see what happens. I understand the trial and jury selection is supposed to start June 18, unless something changes. I have a long-planned cruise scheduled for late June so I may miss the trial. I'm actually retired, but I'm having a little trouble letting go of continuing to write the news. The sense I'm getting at this point is that if something happened it was consensual, but the guy was obviously underage. The law is the law, and there is just no way of getting around that. Thanks again for answering my questions. DW   justin thompson > Jun 6 to David yeah I dont think it was aggravated and I certainly dont think it ruined anyone's life or such, but this is exactly why you dont spend you life slandering and going after public officials like this because when you get caught in the cross hairs like this what do you think they are going to do? They will apply the law as its written.   David Webb > Jun 6 to me You aren't Susie's son are you? I had a friend whose son's name was Justin. Sent from my iPhone   justin thompson > Jun 6 to David nope   David Webb > Jun 6 to me Thanks that would have been weird Sent from my iPhone