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John,
After reading Horne’s blog and your response (published earlier), and your letter explaining who he is & why he is doing this, I am happy to address it.

To our Readers,
I remember an episode of Seinfeld where Jerry’s dentist becomes Jewish and Jerry has a problem with it because he thinks the dentist is doing it for the jokes. Jerry says he isn’t offended by the dentist’s jokes as a Jewish Person, he is offended as a comedian.

I am not offended by Horne’s blog as someone giving an opinion or as some one wanting to report on things. I am offended as someone who deals with facts & data all day.

Please join me as I point out everything that is not quite right about his blog entry – that is if you have enough time.



Horne writes –

Imagine no more. John Tyson, a poet, art collector and the former director of telemarketing for the Channel 10 Friends has been in prison since his April guilty plea to one count of using a “computer to facilitate a child sex act,” Wis. Stats. 948.075(1), a Class D Felony.



Why only mention 1 job of his? He has had several. Trying to give an outstanding organization like MPTV Friends a bad name? John hasn’t worked there in over a year.
All his troubles happened after his employment there.
Good thing Horne linked to the CCAP and the WI Statue sites. At least something in the blog was 100% correct.



In a posting from late July, we read of a rape of a young prisoner drugged into unconsciousness by an older prisoner, and learn that Tyson has autographed copies of his books under the nose of guards, signing them with his identification number, which he feels appropriate for a laureate in his current estate.



Tyson never stated the guilty party was an older person. Read the blog and you will see for yourself.

Tyson never autographed books. They were broadsides. (John already addressed this). The broadsides went through the proper channels at the prison. Do you really think so little of our prison personnel that they know nothing of what is going on under their watch?


He doesn’t talk much about whatever it is that brought him to prison for 30 months confinement, but the offense occurred August 21st, 2006. Apparently it involved a sting operation in which he used a computer to solicit sex from a person he believed to be under the age of 16. He says he thought he was arranging for a burger and a beer with a 26-year old.



In Horne’s original post he says he is trying to find out the sex of the “imaginary child”.
My question is – does it really matter? Interesting that Horne really wants to know. Seems important to him. Wonder why?

He, in his updated version, changed this paragraph to “He says he thought he was arranging for a burger and a beer with a 26-year old.”

Horne, again is confused. This is a totally separate incident. Read the blog yourself.

This incident didn’t occur until February 7th, 2007. (and just a minor correction – it was for chili and a beer, not a burger. Petty I know, but just another example of inaccuracy).

Next he quotes:

“Sometimes we need good friends … & hugs. And inmates almost always associate hugs with homosexuality. I do not have a problem with homosexuality; it’s just that I’m not. And I don’t like being labeled as something I am not.”

Did he even read the blog entry? George wrote it – not Tyson. George signed it. How could that have been missed?

Okay – so in the updated blog entry Horne writes -



[Update -- August 14th, 2007 -- Since this posting I have spoken with three sources who have further information about Tyson. He frequently had young black males hanging out with him at his apartment in Chalet on the River, although a neighbor said they did not seem to be underage. His protestations of not being gay seem almost laughable with considerable evidence to the contrary. Tyson also seemed to get weirder and weirder lately, borrowing money from friends of friends, making bizarre accusations about neighbors, promising to purchase artwork for which he had no money, and skipping out on his rent. (He owes about $9,000.) He may have suffered some strain with the apparent drug overdose death of his son Evan, last year.--Ed.]



Oh my GOD!!!! Is this guy a racist? Who cares if John has friends who are African American? WOW!!
I’ve been to the apartment countless times. So have an endless list of writers, artists, poets, musicians, family and friends – even a well known Milwaukee Magazine contributor. Male, female, young, old, straight, gay, married, divorced. Oh, I am so sorry John has a vast variety of friends. He has friends all over the country for goodness sake.

Why is Horne so interested in John’s sexuality? I don’t know.
Horne seems to be overly obsessed by this. Once again I point out, John did not write this – George did.

He writes about John’s behavior lately – Lately? The man has been incarcerated for the past 6 months…When was the last time “sources” had any contact with him? Why does he care about John’s financial situation? How many Americans are having difficulties right now? How could he pay rent? He has been incarcerated. Duh! Talk about weird behavior – well Horne’s blog speaks for itself about revealing weird behavior. I just say consider the source.



Horne writes -



He may have suffered some strain with the apparent drug overdose death of his son Evan, last year.--Ed.]

Oh my God!
I can only guess this guy does not have any children.

Any parent who has lost a child under any circumstances would take offense to this comment.
May have suffered from some strain? How about having your whole world being turned upside down? WOW! There isn’t enough time to address the insensitivity of this comment.

Obviously Horne has a personal vendetta against John. Why? I do not know. Don’t care really.

For those of us who know John – well, we know the truth. For readers who do not, the blog is for you to get to know us. Read and see what this slice of life is about. It’s all there.

I will say that this blog ended up not being what I thought it was going to be. It is better.
I thought it was a way for John to keep in contact with his friends, family and showcase his poetry and his experiences. It is actually better then what I had in mind. Now, in my opinion, it’s about documenting a journey through a defined period of time. It’s about the journey, experiences, communication, poetry, writers, relationships, feelings, and intimate thoughts from different perspectives– not about personal attacks. The stories are real. Horne is missing the point of the blog (but thanks for the publicity).

We, here at our little blog, understand we may not be popular. But we write of what we know. So I will state this only once –

We will not, after this entry, ever respond to anything Michael Horne writes about us. It is because he is very inaccurate in what he posts. Extremely slanted. An unreliable source with a personal grudge against John. We can only shake our heads in pity for the man and say God Bless.

And yes John, alcoholism is a terrible disease.

-kc