Purported ‘Guenther’ References Arons’ Young Daughter
UPDATED 12:44 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) A person purporting to be “Bob Guenther” referenced the 6-year-old daughter of Jack Arons in a post at the ASD-Biz Forum yesterday. The reference was beyond the pale and easily could become yet another matter sprouting from the AdSurfDaily case for law enforcement to investigate.
The language from the posting is reproduced verbatim below. We took a screen shot and reduced its size to fit into the border of this column.
“Rookie,” the poster wrote in a message directed at Arons. “Look around you, the Fat Ladies have been singing all day,, See you in court dude, and how old ios that adopted daughter, Texas Court my friend, welcome to the real world…”
Here is the screen shot:
A poster purporting to be Guenther has a history of making menacing comments, including threats to visit people at their homes.
In an odd twist yesterday, a self-described, purported “30 something female” began to post under the “Bob Guenther” account at the ASD-Biz forum. The purported female appeared to champion “Bob Guenther.”
Like “Bob Guenther,” though, the purported female couldn’t resist including a passive-aggressive rant, saying the female posters at the forum needed to watch their diets, start working out “and find a man…. You obviously don’t get out much and need a lot more than a computer can provide…”
Owing to what we view as an implicit threat against the family of Jack Arons and others, we have made the decision to publish an IP address we have associated with a poster who identified himself as Bob Guenther in January. The comment to this Blog was submitted and published on Jan. 16.
Here is the IP address: 72.165.15.198. It resolves to Dana Park Office Center in Tucson, Arizona. Over the weekend, the person at the ASD-Biz forum purporting to be Guenther suggested he was near Mexico and planned to travel there. The geographic location to which the IP resolves is near Mexico.
Meanwhile, this Blog received an email — as distinguished from a comment left on the Blog — from a person who identified himself as “the ‘infamous’ Bob Guenther” yesterday. Given recent developments and a pattern that suggests Bob Guenther routinely engages in menacing behavior, we have made the decision not to respond to the email.
ASD-Biz members reacted with anger at the post referencing Arons’ daughter. Dallas attorney Larry Friedman sued Arons last week, asserting libel and slander for comments Arons allegedly had made on the Internet.
The person purporting to be Guenther in the forum announced the Friedman lawsuit in two threads and provided links to PDFs of the documents.
Friedman is an attorney for the ASD Members Business Association (ASDMBA) Trust. Bob Guenther is the de facto head of the Trust. Posters at ASD-Biz viewed the lawsuit as an attempt to chill speech. Prior to the lawsuit, some ASDMBA members said they had filed complaints against Friedman with the Texas Bar and Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott.
The lawsuit against Arons followed. Posters at the ASD-Biz forum say Guenther appears to be trying to spread the chill. Forum posters said they would not be silenced by threats.
Some posters said they intended to file complaints today.
After threatening additional lawsuits at the ASD-Biz forum — and after an editorial that ran on this Blog appeared over the weekend — the poster purporting to be Guenther at the ASD-Biz forum then appeared at least briefly to switch courses.
Instead of threatening lawsuits, the person purporting to be Guenther appeared actually to encourage members to file complaints with authorities.
In one post, the person purporting to be Guenther provided a link to Abbott’s office, the office of Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum and the Internet Crime Complaint Center. At the same time, in an apparent jibe, the poster also provided a link to PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
The poster then provided a link to the office of Sen. John Cornyn, and then implied he had inside connections in Abbott’s office.
“By the way if you want to call Greg Abbott, I have his direct line and that of his assistant, would you like that too,” the purported Guenther wrote.
Some people don’t know when their 15 minutes of fame is up. I think one way to deal with these posts of Bob G., or whomever is posting them because I don’t believe all are his, would be to completely ignore them. No-one reply to any of them. It is obvious that the person or persons who are doing this is wanting attention, and trying to stir things up even more. If they truly are all from Bob G., the man needs professional help.
But if you do feel the need to respond just remember: Do not take a knive to a gun fight. Take an Uzi.
Hi Lynn,
This Blog views the Friedman/Arons lawsuit as something of high news value to members of AdSurfDaily and ASDMBA, which have members in common.
The referencing of Jack Arons’ daughter in a post at ASD-Biz escalated the exchanges to a whole new level over there, regardless of the identity of the poster.
No such posting should be taken lightly, especially given the threatening nature of some of the other posts. Forum banter, as you know, often includes a lot of push-shove, rantings, ravings, etc.
But a young child was referenced in the post, and that demands attention.
Patrick
Bob stepped over the line.
Indeed. I’ve seen several emails of his posted where he mentions military friends, and seems to hint at threats. The mention of the child was completely off-topic and could be read as a veiled threat of some kind. I expect he is expecting, even wanting some sort of retaliation so he can use it as ammunition in the future.
It has been astounding to watch the verbiage escalate over the last few months,..and all for what? What is Jack Arons really even being sued for right now?
One thing, and one thing only – because Bob G does not want to answer 2 questions:
1) The detailed breakdown of the ASDMBA Expenses, specifically the “Contract Labor”.
2) The detailed Breakdown of the Legal expenses charged by F & F that add up to more than $70,000.
The comment about Jacks daughter this morning,..has made me sit back and re-evaluate things.
One thing that Lynn is absolutely right about is the person “Bob Guenther’ is in serious need of professional help. And I do worry about things getting taken “too far”. I don’t want “too far” to end up being tomorrows headlines. And the fact that Jacks daughter and family got mentioned is a real red flag. And like you said Patrick,..it needs to be taken seriously and it demands attention.
Hello Kath,
I noticed a document today in which Arons has been given notice to appear in Dallas March 12 — three days from now — to give a deposition to F&F.
So, the lawsuit was filed on March 5, Arons was served on March 7, and now is told to appear in Dallas from Florida on March 12.
This is just beyond the pale, especially when the purported “Bob Guenther” made the lawsuit announcement in your forum — in two separate threads, before Arons was served, and then issued warnings for others to be careful.
One would think the head of a Trust — especially this Trust, which was formed through the contributions of ASD members — would be eager to maximize his credibility among contributors, not minimize it.
Matters in which children are referenced always should be taken seriously, especially when one of the backdrops is ever-escalating threats.
And it is truly odd that two people claim now to be posting from the “Bob Guenther” account on your forum. Whether it’s one person or two people doesn’t really matter. The noise is coming from a single account. If two people are posting these kinds of things, it makes the situation doubly troubling.
And it it’s only one person, it is equally troubling.
Patrick
Just wondering if any authorities have been alerted to that post. I think this has to be taken very seriously. Someone with this much out of control and erratic behavior is one step away from acting upon it. Yesterday, just a few miles from me, a young man walked into a church and shot the pastor in front of 1,000 people. He snapped and BG could too.
I didn’t mean to imply that the mentioning of Jack’s daugher was not serious in my previous response. I totally agree the mentioning of Jack’s daughter has gone way too far, and since Bob is in Texas, Jack is in Florida, I think it is time to alert the FBI since this crosses state lines. Also I am sure that Jack has notified his local law enforcement agency of this “veiled” threat, as well as the esculations of the rhetoric in the past few days. Maybe a visit from the FBI might wake-up Bob and Larry.
Since Jack has requested this case be dismissed for a variety of reasons, all valid, it is interesting they are trying to push for the deposition before the judge can even rule on Jack’s motion. Maybe a visit from the FBI might delay this demand?
Besides, Jack can do a deposition over the phone if they are in an all fire hurry to have one. They even have to provide a court reporter to transcribe it at Jack’s home.
I think it is time to turn the heat up on Larry and Bob with a friendly visit from the FBI, don’t you?
Hi Lynn,
I wish I’d added a line in my comment above that I agree with your general sentiment about putting people on ignore if they show no ability to engage others in a rational way.
Of course, that’s easier said then done for some folks in the context of ASD. Some people had ASD to worry about, and then found they had a new set of worries with ASDMBA.
Jack Arons, as he noted above, is concerned about the reference to his daughter. And like Tony said above, “The mention of the child was completely off-topic.”
Regards,
Patrick
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