Steven Avery
Administrator
September 1, 2024
FAKE JOURNALISM
Elm Mott, Texas—Homestead Heritage, a faith-based community visited by a quarter of a million people a year and known for its commitment to agrarian living, Christian values, and fostering a supportive environment for wholesome family life, is compelled to respond to the recent article published by Taste of Country titled “Rory Feek’s Daughters Are Pursuing Legal Action Against Him–Here’s Why” on August 29, 2024. The article contains multiple defamatory statements that grossly misrepresent our community and the values we uphold.
“Hamas says Israel is guilty of war crimes!” “Ex-wife describes husband as cruel and mean!” “Head of national teachers union, Randi Weingarten, says homeschooling is abusive to children.” “MSNBC says Fox News is full of lies.” “Gay rights activist demonstrates evidence of Christianity’s abusive and evil beliefs.” “Pharisees describe Jesus as maniacal charlatan.”
Who, we could ask, would be so gullible as to believe such imaginary headlines would accurately represent the truth of the issues and circumstances being reported? Yet the writer of this article apparently fails to understand that when one party has hostility towards the other, it is not responsible journalism to give only one side of the story. Hostility tends to warp perspective.
In a sad breach of journalistic ethics, Taste of Country made no effort whatsoever to contact our community for information regarding the many egregious claims in the article. Therefore we believe it is essential to set the record straight in whatever form we can, and discredit the false and misleading claims made in the article. We believe these false claims are defamatory and injurious to Rory and Rebecca Feek, to his daughter, and to the Homestead Heritage community. If there’s any “newsworthy” threat of abuse involved here, we fear it will be the damaging effects of irresponsible journalism that, for a few clicks, has decided to drag Rory’s precious daughter into this septic sensationalism paraded as “news.”
MISREPRESENTATION OF FACTS
The article’s claim that our community has a “lengthy track record of sexual and domestic abuse allegations” is simply false. Here are the facts: In its 52-year history, only one member of Homestead has ever been convicted of abuse of any kind. This man was never a leader, and was reported to authorities by church leadership. This incident occurred nearly twenty years ago. In a few other isolated cases over the years, individuals secondarily related to the community (one of whom was a former member) were also reported to legal authorities by the leadership of Homestead Heritage upon discovery of their crimes.
McLennan County Sheriff’s Department spokesperson Lieutenant Clay Perry stated in 2012, “When these incidents were reported, people from within Homestead Heritage either instructed or escorted the individuals to come to us and brought them to us.”
McLennan County District Attorney Abel Reyna unequivocally stated on live TV in 2012 that these cases were “independent, isolated cases” and did “not indicate an epidemic of something going on at Homestead Heritage.”
Furthermore, in a 2012 interview regarding the incident involving a former member, McLennan County prosecutor Michelle Voirin told the Waco Tribune Herald that “the folks at Homestead Heritage were cooperative and did what they were supposed to do in this situation.”
“The folks at Homestead Heritage were cooperative and did what they were supposed to do in this situation,” Voirin said. Dan Lancaster, a minister at Homestead Heritage, said Thursday that while the case is unfortunate, he is glad (Richard) Santa Maria confessed so the church community could properly deal with the situation.
BIASED REPORTING AND SELECTIVE OMISSION
The Taste of Country article’s reliance on discredited sources, such as the 2012 Texas Observer “investigation,” further undermines its credibility. This “investigation,” along with the related reporting by WFAA, occurred over twelve years ago and was immediately and thoroughly debunked at that time. As said, credible news outlets, such as KCEN HD News and the Waco Tribune Herald, contacted local law enforcement (which both the Observer and WFAA had failed to do) who all clearly testified that Homestead Heritage’s leadership was instrumental in bringing the perpetrators to justice.
Moreover, the Observer article failed to acknowledge that more than 90 former members of Homestead Heritage, who no longer subscribed to its beliefs or lifestyle, signed a public petition in 2012 categorically repudiating the absurd claim that our community hides or harbors sex offenders. The selective omission of these critical facts exemplifies biased reporting and a clear unwillingness to present a balanced narrative.
The distortions now repeated from the Texas Observer article do not merely represent a difference of opinion between us and the reporter; they reveal an irreconcilable conflict between, on the one hand, law enforcement testimony and court data, and, on the other hand, an unscrupulous smear job by an individual who never visited us, included no testimony from law enforcement or local authorities, and based his libelous narrative solely on the reports of a handful of anonymous, disgruntled former Homestead members with an ax to grind.
OVERBLOWN AND UNRELATED ALLEGATIONS
Back to the release this week from Taste Of Country: their article sensationally states that Rory’s daughter Indiana “was terribly injured” while at Homestead. In fact, Indiana was enjoying a ride in a pony cart when the pony bolted, and in the jostling that ensued, her leg received a bad rubber burn from the cart’s tire. She was immediately treated by the community’s licensed physician and recovered. Those involved in the incident felt terrible about this accidental mishap. But as anyone who has been around farm animals knows, it is not an uncommon risk on a farm. Yet, to somehow use this incident as an anecdote to illustrate the alleged systemic, community-wide child abuse at Homestead is the height of absurdity and irresponsibility. It appears as a shameless attempt to defame the community with an incident that could happen on any farm with live animals.
IRRESPONSIBLE AND INACCURATE CLAIMS
The Taste of Country article also makes other false and irresponsible claims, such as the assertion that Peter Sellers was a member of Homestead Heritage when his teenage daughter tragically committed suicide. In reality, Peter Sellers had not been a member of our community for years prior to that event. Similarly, the claim that Timothy Vidaurreta is a current member of Homestead Heritage is patently false, as he has not been part of our community for years.
These inaccuracies are not mere errors. Because these incidents are presented as representative of the alleged horrors of life at Homestead Heritage, these inaccuracies regarding community membership constitute reckless misstatements that demonstrate a complete disregard for the truth.
WHY THE SLANDER?
Why do the news media so often target a community like ours with such unscrupulous tactics? Unfortunately, the less mainstream you are, the more vulnerable you become—misunderstood and singled out by those who exploit fear of the unknown to defame and marginalize anyone who appears different. We sometimes feel like the “different” kid in the schoolyard, with bullies eager to prove their toughness. Yet, we trust that discerning individuals will see beyond the sensationalism and recognize that fewer than a handful of cases in a community of 1,200 over 50 years—cases involving individuals from troubled backgrounds whom we sought to help—hardly constitute evidence of systemic failure on our part. To be clear, no one in our leadership has ever committed or abetted such crimes. When you reach out to prisoners, addicts and the broken in our society, as we do at Homestead, you inevitably encounter atrocities—atrocities we have brought to light in these reports.
Media sensationalists would try to smear us with the very crimes we—the ministry team of this community—brought to light and reported to the authorities. These kinds of human problems and abuses are found in every sphere of society—every church, social group, school and organization. Only if we were exclusively serving the “perfected” could we guarantee protection against such things. Our duty is, and has always been, to do our best to eliminate even the hint of abusive behavior from our community, and, in the rare unfortunate event that such behavior is discovered, to offer the victims hope, support, defense and protection—and that is what we have consistently done.
CONCLUSION: UPHOLDING TRUTH AND INTEGRITY
At Homestead Heritage, we are committed to transparency, truth and the well-being of our members. We take these baseless accusations seriously and will continue to uphold the values that define our community. We call on Taste of Country to retract the defamatory statements in their article and to issue a public apology to Rory Feek and to our community. It is our hope that responsible journalism will prevail and that the truth will be upheld.
For further information or to arrange an interview, please contact:
Homestead Heritage
info@homesteadheritage.com
(254) 716-1013
new gutted text is at
https://blog.homesteadheritage.com/taste-of-country-rory-feek/
FAKE JOURNALISM
Elm Mott, Texas—Homestead Heritage, a faith-based community visited by a quarter of a million people a year and known for its commitment to agrarian living, Christian values, and fostering a supportive environment for wholesome family life, is compelled to respond to the recent article published by Taste of Country titled “Rory Feek’s Daughters Are Pursuing Legal Action Against Him–Here’s Why” on August 29, 2024. The article contains multiple defamatory statements that grossly misrepresent our community and the values we uphold.
“Hamas says Israel is guilty of war crimes!” “Ex-wife describes husband as cruel and mean!” “Head of national teachers union, Randi Weingarten, says homeschooling is abusive to children.” “MSNBC says Fox News is full of lies.” “Gay rights activist demonstrates evidence of Christianity’s abusive and evil beliefs.” “Pharisees describe Jesus as maniacal charlatan.”
Who, we could ask, would be so gullible as to believe such imaginary headlines would accurately represent the truth of the issues and circumstances being reported? Yet the writer of this article apparently fails to understand that when one party has hostility towards the other, it is not responsible journalism to give only one side of the story. Hostility tends to warp perspective.
In a sad breach of journalistic ethics, Taste of Country made no effort whatsoever to contact our community for information regarding the many egregious claims in the article. Therefore we believe it is essential to set the record straight in whatever form we can, and discredit the false and misleading claims made in the article. We believe these false claims are defamatory and injurious to Rory and Rebecca Feek, to his daughter, and to the Homestead Heritage community. If there’s any “newsworthy” threat of abuse involved here, we fear it will be the damaging effects of irresponsible journalism that, for a few clicks, has decided to drag Rory’s precious daughter into this septic sensationalism paraded as “news.”
MISREPRESENTATION OF FACTS
The article’s claim that our community has a “lengthy track record of sexual and domestic abuse allegations” is simply false. Here are the facts: In its 52-year history, only one member of Homestead has ever been convicted of abuse of any kind. This man was never a leader, and was reported to authorities by church leadership. This incident occurred nearly twenty years ago. In a few other isolated cases over the years, individuals secondarily related to the community (one of whom was a former member) were also reported to legal authorities by the leadership of Homestead Heritage upon discovery of their crimes.
McLennan County Sheriff’s Department spokesperson Lieutenant Clay Perry stated in 2012, “When these incidents were reported, people from within Homestead Heritage either instructed or escorted the individuals to come to us and brought them to us.”
McLennan County District Attorney Abel Reyna unequivocally stated on live TV in 2012 that these cases were “independent, isolated cases” and did “not indicate an epidemic of something going on at Homestead Heritage.”
Furthermore, in a 2012 interview regarding the incident involving a former member, McLennan County prosecutor Michelle Voirin told the Waco Tribune Herald that “the folks at Homestead Heritage were cooperative and did what they were supposed to do in this situation.”
“The folks at Homestead Heritage were cooperative and did what they were supposed to do in this situation,” Voirin said. Dan Lancaster, a minister at Homestead Heritage, said Thursday that while the case is unfortunate, he is glad (Richard) Santa Maria confessed so the church community could properly deal with the situation.
BIASED REPORTING AND SELECTIVE OMISSION
The Taste of Country article’s reliance on discredited sources, such as the 2012 Texas Observer “investigation,” further undermines its credibility. This “investigation,” along with the related reporting by WFAA, occurred over twelve years ago and was immediately and thoroughly debunked at that time. As said, credible news outlets, such as KCEN HD News and the Waco Tribune Herald, contacted local law enforcement (which both the Observer and WFAA had failed to do) who all clearly testified that Homestead Heritage’s leadership was instrumental in bringing the perpetrators to justice.
Moreover, the Observer article failed to acknowledge that more than 90 former members of Homestead Heritage, who no longer subscribed to its beliefs or lifestyle, signed a public petition in 2012 categorically repudiating the absurd claim that our community hides or harbors sex offenders. The selective omission of these critical facts exemplifies biased reporting and a clear unwillingness to present a balanced narrative.
The distortions now repeated from the Texas Observer article do not merely represent a difference of opinion between us and the reporter; they reveal an irreconcilable conflict between, on the one hand, law enforcement testimony and court data, and, on the other hand, an unscrupulous smear job by an individual who never visited us, included no testimony from law enforcement or local authorities, and based his libelous narrative solely on the reports of a handful of anonymous, disgruntled former Homestead members with an ax to grind.
OVERBLOWN AND UNRELATED ALLEGATIONS
Back to the release this week from Taste Of Country: their article sensationally states that Rory’s daughter Indiana “was terribly injured” while at Homestead. In fact, Indiana was enjoying a ride in a pony cart when the pony bolted, and in the jostling that ensued, her leg received a bad rubber burn from the cart’s tire. She was immediately treated by the community’s licensed physician and recovered. Those involved in the incident felt terrible about this accidental mishap. But as anyone who has been around farm animals knows, it is not an uncommon risk on a farm. Yet, to somehow use this incident as an anecdote to illustrate the alleged systemic, community-wide child abuse at Homestead is the height of absurdity and irresponsibility. It appears as a shameless attempt to defame the community with an incident that could happen on any farm with live animals.
IRRESPONSIBLE AND INACCURATE CLAIMS
The Taste of Country article also makes other false and irresponsible claims, such as the assertion that Peter Sellers was a member of Homestead Heritage when his teenage daughter tragically committed suicide. In reality, Peter Sellers had not been a member of our community for years prior to that event. Similarly, the claim that Timothy Vidaurreta is a current member of Homestead Heritage is patently false, as he has not been part of our community for years.
These inaccuracies are not mere errors. Because these incidents are presented as representative of the alleged horrors of life at Homestead Heritage, these inaccuracies regarding community membership constitute reckless misstatements that demonstrate a complete disregard for the truth.
WHY THE SLANDER?
Why do the news media so often target a community like ours with such unscrupulous tactics? Unfortunately, the less mainstream you are, the more vulnerable you become—misunderstood and singled out by those who exploit fear of the unknown to defame and marginalize anyone who appears different. We sometimes feel like the “different” kid in the schoolyard, with bullies eager to prove their toughness. Yet, we trust that discerning individuals will see beyond the sensationalism and recognize that fewer than a handful of cases in a community of 1,200 over 50 years—cases involving individuals from troubled backgrounds whom we sought to help—hardly constitute evidence of systemic failure on our part. To be clear, no one in our leadership has ever committed or abetted such crimes. When you reach out to prisoners, addicts and the broken in our society, as we do at Homestead, you inevitably encounter atrocities—atrocities we have brought to light in these reports.
Media sensationalists would try to smear us with the very crimes we—the ministry team of this community—brought to light and reported to the authorities. These kinds of human problems and abuses are found in every sphere of society—every church, social group, school and organization. Only if we were exclusively serving the “perfected” could we guarantee protection against such things. Our duty is, and has always been, to do our best to eliminate even the hint of abusive behavior from our community, and, in the rare unfortunate event that such behavior is discovered, to offer the victims hope, support, defense and protection—and that is what we have consistently done.
CONCLUSION: UPHOLDING TRUTH AND INTEGRITY
At Homestead Heritage, we are committed to transparency, truth and the well-being of our members. We take these baseless accusations seriously and will continue to uphold the values that define our community. We call on Taste of Country to retract the defamatory statements in their article and to issue a public apology to Rory Feek and to our community. It is our hope that responsible journalism will prevail and that the truth will be upheld.
For further information or to arrange an interview, please contact:
Homestead Heritage
info@homesteadheritage.com
(254) 716-1013
new gutted text is at
https://blog.homesteadheritage.com/taste-of-country-rory-feek/
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