You Know Where

Unfortunately we have some very bad news to tell you.

As most of you already know we have been working on trying to secure a new location for the club and we finally had a club that was in a great location with over 6250 square feet, paved fenced in parking, and more. On December 15 I went to a hearing for one of the permits that I needed and to my surprise the meeting room was standing room only and every seat filled. When I was asked to speak on behalf of my permit I went to the podium and was asked to give my name and address, at that time before I could say anything else the head council member asked the head planning department guy to hand me three pieces of paper. I then quickly looked at each paper and immediately felt that I had been betrayed. I don't know who gave them this information but they knew everything about YKW. They had information on the old club in Erwin and even a post from a swinger's web site. Up until about 4 days ago they said that they did not have this information about YKW and said that it was brought to their attention by someone.

I did try to explain that this is a social club and nothing we do would be considered illegal according to the law, they just did not want to hear it. As they basically condemned me and treated me as though I was the lowest scum on earth, they were also condemning everyone in the lifestyle. One person at the hearing that was in opposition said that he was a local business owner and that he had 19 female employees and that he feared for their safety by allowing a lifestyle club in his community, while others complained about their personal safety of women and children along with vandalism, and trash. They all, including the council members talked about people in the lifestyle as though we were rapists', child molesters, and thieves.
As I told the truth and did not deny the fact that I did own the web site that they spoke of and had parties, they did not hear me as I explained to them that people in the lifestyle were not the demons that they made us out to be. I then explained that what we would do at this location would all be legal and that we would obey all local and federal laws, unfortunately they still could not see past their own moral judgment and continued to call me and everyone in the lifestyle community a liar and did not believe that we would ever obey any law.

After they voted to deny my permit, dismissed the meeting, and people in the room started to clap and cheer, I held my head high and walked out of the room and down the long hallway that was lined with people on both sides. I did not look down but instead looked everyone in the eye and I could just see and feel the hate they had towards me and the lifestyle. Just about all of them made some kind of rude comment towards me as I walked by them and I even had one person following me all the way out to my car taking pictures of me the whole way. I did not say anything back because I did not want to give them the satisfaction to think that they were right and that people in the lifestyle are just no good animals and should be treated as such. As much as I wanted to argue and say the things that were on my mind to these people I did not.

None of this bothered me and all though I did want to say something back. I wanted to tell them that the lifestyle community is a large community. I wanted to tell them that their own friends, family and neighbors have been to a lifestyle party. I wanted to tell them that in the four years that I operated the club in Erwin that I had preachers, Sunday school teachers, doctors, nurses, lawyers, police officers, firemen, city councilmen, military officers, enlisted men/women, and every kind of job that people respect and look up to attend as a member of our club. Because I know the truth about people in the lifestyle and that the people in the lifestyle are the nicest, friendliest, kindest people that I have every meet. The people in the lifestyle will go out of their way to make others feel welcomed; people in the lifestyle do not judge other people or make moral judgments. In my opinion the people in the lifestyle are a lot friendlier, excepting, and tolerant of others that are different than most churches that I have been to.

This has taken a huge financial toll on Annette and I as this is our third legal battle that we have been through. To be honest we are broke and anything else that we do from this point on will be done with our personal credit cards. We are not giving up as we still believe in our rights as American citizens to have the freedom to do the things that every American has the right to do and will continue to look for another building or piece of land to build a club, we just need to find a place that is 1000 feet away from any church, school, residence, or daycare so if you know of any let us know.

It may take us a lot longer than what we hoped but we do consider all of you as family and we want to see you again.

We want to thank you for your friendship and support.

Your friends,

YouKnowWhereNC@aol.com