Four Months Today

Phil Groom writes:

Thanks to David Keen, who sent the following message to all members of the ‘We Support Dave Walker’ facebook group this morning. I’ve added some [footnotes] linked to the relevant posts and listed below.

Dear everyone,

It’s 4 months ago – 22 July – that Dave Walker received his legal threat from Mark Brewer and was forced to take down his SPCK posts [1]. If you have a blog, you might want to mention that today.

As you may know, Mark Brewer has been fined by the US courts for bringing a time-wasting court action for bankruptcy [2], and we now hear that his company is being investigated by the Charity Commissioners [3]. These are all matters Dave would have reported if he had not been bullied and threatened. 

If you’d like to do something supportive, you can sign a petition to Durham Cathedral to ask them to intervene over the SSG bookshop they host: http://spckssg.wordpress.com/petition/ [4]

Latest developments are online at http://spckssg.wordpress.com/, very interesting leaked email gone up in the last few days [5]. 

And finally, still no reply from Mark Brewer to the letter I sent (twice) on our behalf [6]. Very disappointing. He expects Dave to respond within a few hours, and yet doesn’t even bother to answer us within a month. Disgraceful.

Thank you for your ongoing support of Dave. Truth and justice will win, it’s just taking longer than we’d hoped! 

David Keen

1. ‘Cease and desist’ demand from Mark Brewer
2. Transcription of Court Documents: Order for Motion to Compromise Controversy and Final Decree
3. Charity Commission Replies: Formal Inquiry In Progress
4. Rescuing Britain’s Christian Heritage: Durham Cathedral Bookshop
5. Durham Cathedral Bookshop: A Case Study in Dealing with Debt – Philip Brewer Style
6. A Letter to Mark Brewer

We Support Dave Walker - 500 Members, 19 Oct 2008

SPCK/SSG Roundups: Christian Marketplace and DMK

Phil Groom writes:

October’s Christian Marketplace, out now, and David Keen (DMK) both offer good roundups of recent developments on the SPCK/SSG front.

Christian Marketplace‘s Industry News section, p.6, opens with “SSG Bankruptcy filed ‘in bad faith’”:

Attempts by the owners of UK bookshop chain SSG (formerly SPCK) to enjoy the protection of Chapter 7 bankruptcy have been thrown out by a US court. In a further setback Randy W Williams, the Trustee in Bankruptcy appointed by the Bankruptcy Court, submitted a Motion for Sanctions against SSG Chairman, J Mark Brewer, seeking a number of sanctions including, ‘reimbursement of the time and expenses spent by the Trustee’ and that ‘Mr Brewer be required to complete 20 hours of continuing legal education in the area of legal ethics over the next year’.

The article goes on to note Brewer’s apology to the court but continues:

Whilst Brewer has apologized to the Court he has not offered any apology to former employees or other creditors of the failed business. 

This, I think, is one of the points that has irked those commenting here — myself included — leading to David closing his round up with this observation:

Since the attempt to get SSG declared bankrupt in the US was thrown out, comments on these various threads seem to be getting a bit bolder/harsher depending on how you look at it. There is a lot of anger and distress, which is understandable, but I hope there can be some room left for repentance and change.

Let’s hope so: repentance and change. At the moment all we have from Brewer are fine sounding words addressed to those who are in a position to do him some serious damage, the US courts. But to those whom he has trampled underfoot he continues to show nothing but contempt. 

So once again, a personal note for J Mark Brewer — apologies would be a step in the right direction, Mark, but actions speak louder than words. If you’d like to see some less harsh reporting and comments, if you’d like me to ‘Cease and Desist’, please:

• Pay your workers — Lindsey Stokes in particular
• Pay your suppliers
• Withdraw your threats of legal action against Dave Walker, Sam Norton, myself and the others you have similarly threatened