| | I wrote, "I was also informed by some people who attended the Libertarian State Convention in Northern California in the mid 1980's that Peron approached their table for a donation to NAMBLA and had NAMBLA literature that he wanted to give them."
Jim Peron replied, "Dwyer is already being caught changing his story. He said he was informed by “some people” that I raised funds for this group. When I asked who he says he won’t tell us. So how do we know anyone told him anything? We don’t. Also the “some people” (plural) he now says was someone (singular) who won’t reveal who they are. Of course claiming that several people said it is more impressive than admitting only one person, who refuses to be identified, said it."
I wasn't going to list the names, because the information was not posted to a public list, but after going back and checking, I see that the source, Lynn Atherton, didn't say it was confidential, so I've decided to include it. When I said "some people," I was referring both to Lynn Atherton and Roger Bloxham, who was the original source. When I said "someone," I was referring to Lynn, the person who sent the email. Here is what she wrote,
"Roger [Bloxham] was at a Libertarian State Convention in Northern California in the mid 1980's with at that time Objectivist, not yet libertarian lady friend, Ann Kanzler, his brother Ted Bloxham and his wife. Peron approached their table for a donation to the[NAMBLA] organization and had literature he wanted to give them. Roger, who usually is very open about Gay, Drug etc., hard core libertarian issues, did not want the other people engaged in conversation with him as he thinks that is a very different issue from being Gay. ...Also, my South African friends at an ISIL conference made a comment regarding him as though it is common knowledge.... Some (most) libertarians have some oddity according to current standards, but we all just laugh and realize we also have our own peculiarities. But where do we go with Peron? This has been of great sorrow to me, as I see child pedophilia as predatory and not a consenting act between adults."
As for the book which I myself have tried to locate, I can only assume it was self-published and not widely circulated. I don't remember the title, as this was 15 years ago, but I do remember Peron's comments, because I was surprised -- indeed, shocked -- that he would say something so personal in a book that he was offering for sale to the public.
Peron accuses me of changing my story, when I had previously denied doing so. He says that I had initially said he was arrested for under-age sex and then retracted it. Yes, that part of it I did change, because of his denials and because I had no source to back up what I had heard. But I had already acknowledged this in my initial reply, so I thought he was referring to the rest of my story, which remains the same.
He says that I didn't talk to him about the bookstore's being closed, which is false. I did indeed discuss it with him. He didn't know me personally at the time, which is probably why he doesn't remember the conversation. He said that the reason the store was closed was because of his involvement with an "under-age" sex incident. I took him to be referring to himself (thinking that he'd been arrested and then released), when he was referring indirectly to an employee of his, who was arrested.
This was a simple misunderstanding, and I apologized for drawing the wrong conclusion. Also, I never said that Jim had been "convicted" of child molestation or that he'd molested anyone.
But it is no surprise that the employee of a store selling NAMBLA literature and hosting NAMBLA meetings would be arrested for sex with a minor. As a libertarian bookstore, Jim's business probably did more to harm the cause of libertarianism than to help it.
-- Bill Dwyer
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