Farrah Ashline Speaks: "His Further Probing Caused a Sudden Article to Appear"
We have so much new info about Farrah Ashline, non-prostitute about town, that posting it all would like choke the poor confused Gawker server again. So we'll parcel it out as best we can, leading with this rather astonishing email from Farrah herself to Rich Leiby, attempting to refute/correct the story his Reliable Source story about GirlsGoingOut.com's financial troubles. Highlights:
•"It is complete false truths that Van de Camp claims to have worked on WO Magazine for a year."
•"After discussing with you via phone my 'incident' with the Albany police. . . my involvement in that day's events were indeed not prostitution at all, but an extreme case of ill-intent brought forth by the police themselves."
•"If you were going to write about women who in turn were prostitutes, why not feature one of our great American poets, Maya Angelou?"
•"Lastly, you doubted my sharing with you that I have spent the past two months working 'feverishly' on this new national web site. Well I will most proud to share within days the new national web site, and I will be sure that upon viewing, you will indeed know that I have been working hard. "
We can't wait.
[All sic.]
Dear Mr. Lieby:
I am disappointed by your reporting in today's article. First off, I have never employed April Van De Camp or Alison Strock as employees. We have a standard independent contractors agreement for contracted editorial duties and unless either of these two women can produce our contract or any employment letter of hire, intent to hire, or contracted work, this is misleading. GirlsGoingOut.Com has relied heavily on freelance contract work in the areas of event planning and freelance editorial. As for Monet Mercer, she was contracted out as a public relations specialist and after three weeks on incomplete work, she was fired. She was determined to try and tarnish my reputation and receive monies for work never completed and a suit brought forth against me which was dropped as can be verified by my lawyer, Richard McGuire. Ms. Monet is upset because she cannot be paid for work that was not completed.
It is complete false truths that Van de Camp claims to have worked on WO Magazine for a year. There is not one thing contributed in today's WO Magazine that can be attributed to any work that Ms. Van de Camp or Miss Strock contributed. Once again, I would assume that women who seem to claim to be so mal treated would be intelligent enough to bring forth contracts of hire or any documentation to their employee status at all. I have hundreds of women who respond to a web site like GirlsGoingOut and WO Magazine and often these women are willing to volunteer for free to help launch their names in print and get a startup magazine off the ground. I was VERY clear to all of those freelance writers and contributors that indeed these were NOT paid for positions.
After discussing with you via phone my "incident" with the Albany police, I was forthright in sharing with you that I had an encounter that far from prostitution and my involvement in that day's events were indeed not prostitution at all, but an extreme case of ill-intent brought forth by the police themselves. I was not made aware of any sort of search warrant for my arrest(although I am not surprised by the news now that a reporter inquires on the matter to them) and can only state that while may father is an officer himself as well as my entire local family being located in the same city today, it would not have been difficult to have found me if they wanted to. Did you ever wonder why the Albany Times decided to report the incident three weeks after the incident rather than the day after? In reaching my assigned lawyer and sharing my story, he had not been surprised at all as other incidences were occurring in my hometown and his further probing caused a sudden article to appear, thus painting me out as a supposeof prostitute before I could even tell my side of the story.
The fear and continued threats to remain quiet have stayed with me for years and it is the fuel for which I strive forward in providing such a web site and magazine for women.
Lastly, you doubted my sharing with you that I have spent the past two months working "feverishly" on this new national web site. Well I will most proud to share within days the new national web site, and I will be sure that upon viewing, you will indeed know that I have been working hard. As I stated to you on the phone, I am an entrepreneur with no investors or backers, and that in producing a new national web site, it requires taking a step back, taking that break to rebuild, a move that was well documented weekly in my newsletters to the entire membership. Even during the rebuilding phase, I continued to host events for women every month. We guarantee through the annual membership a packet of information, a membership card, and free attendance to our New Member conferences. Ms. Atkins is someone I remember clearly because upon sending out three packages, she still claimed to have never received one. I made the decision of letting her know her membership id # to avoid the possability of the packets and cards being received and enjoyed by those who may try to wiggle out of ever paying a fee. Ms. Atkins is one person, but I have successfully assisted THOUSANDS of women in their quest of finding other women to enjoy events with. You have chosen NOT to interview the thousands of women I have held conferences and events for, and so in this, your reporting is very one sided.
If you want to report on my past, be sure to include it all. There are many parts of my history you forgot to mention in presenting your picture and it includes a number of various accomplishments as a writer, student in France, employee at Harvard Medical School, high school teacher in the district for a year, and magazine editor at a leading Nursing Magazine. And you forgot to mention the outcome of the charge which was that it was dropped, hence proven INNOCENT of the charges.
I did notice though that you mentioned in your article that I was attractive. Seeing that I cannot remember meeting you ever in person, I would be curious to know where your conclusion was formed from or what relevance it held in reporting your story. Certainly I am curious to know why you felt this was even important to mention.
In choosing to tell a story, I feel it is important to research carefully all sides of the story. It was my concern in giving you a call back that you were choose sensationalism rather than the truth. It is much more compelling in a gossip column to report the negative than the positive. Much of what is viewed in the media is such. It inspires me daily in our own web site and magazine to raise the bar to a level in which the entire story is told, both the negative and the positive. If you were going to write about women who in turn were prostitutes, why not feature one of our great American poets, Maya Angelou?
My expectations of who would have been the character of someone to have given such resistance to a web site like GirlsGoingOut.Com would have been a man. I have been disappointed to note that in the past two years, I have found my experiences to have come from a few women, those who have claimed to be supporters of such a web site to exist but in turn after my decision to let those women go who were not carrying their weight, to turn. It has been amazing to have noted the hundreds of emails from men who thanked me for getting their women out of the house.
I am sorry Mr. Lieby that you did not take the time to come speak with me more in length in person. I can assure that you that there is a lot more depth, intelligence, and determination behind the attractive girl, and I'd be more likely to spend my time persuading you to alter your reporting skills than to why you should believe in a web site like GirlsGoingOut.Com.
Respectfully,
Farrah Ashline
GirlsGoingOut.Com Founder