Mr Deon Attard of Pro-Lite Oz Responds

On August 28, 2009 I commented here on life at the Australian Cycling Forums and my interactions at the time with Mr Deon Attard of Pro-Lite Oz.  On September 15, 2009 I received an email from Mr Attard in regards to my blog posting.  In fairness and to insure equity and to allow Mr Attard to present his side I am posting in full his email below.

Andrew,

I’ve taken offence to the blog that you’ve posted on your site slandering my name and business.  What you have done is illegal and you are walking on very thin ice, you’ve crossed the line between a personal agreement and slader [sic] against my name and business.

I can assure you that this is a fight you will not win and cannot afford to defend.

I am asking you very politely to please remove ALL reference to my name and business from your website within 24 hours.

http://www.aushiker.com/2009/08/pro-lite-oz-dean-attard-and-getting-a-little-touchy

—
Yours sincerely,
Deon Attard
Managing Director

Having received this email, I have reviewed my posting to determine if it is in my view it is inaccurate. I also note that at this point in time Mr Attard has not provided any evidence or substantive statements to suggest that anything actually stated in respect to himself or his business is factually incorrect. In light of this I replied today as follows:

Dear Deon

I have given consideration to your email and reviewed my blog posting and the comments posted to date.  On the basis of that review I am declining your request to remove the posting and also will not be editing it in any substantive manner.

In fairness and to ensure balance, I will be posting your email response to the blog, so that readers can read your take on the posting.  The posting [sic] can then stand or fall on their merits.

All the best
Andrew Priest

In hindsight I should have clearly made an offer to Mr Attard to post a comment on either blog posting presenting his “corrections” to the statements made as he sees fit and I do regret not doing this.  I therefore now extend that offer to Mr Attard if he considers his email above to be an insufficient rebuttal.