September 7,2009
Mark Emkes, CEO
Bridgestone-Firestone
535 Marriott Drive
‘Nashville, TN 37214
Dear Mr. Emkes:
This is a letter that would be unwise to ignore.
It’s about a crime committed fifty years ago, by a Firestone employee.
As a fifteen year old boy I was picked up by the driver of a Firestone truck, taken to an
isolated area and was raped twice.
Thave been paying for that one day my entire life, because unlike the law, there is no
statute of limitations on emotional damage.
recently consulted an attomey and was told there is nothing I can do because of the
statute of limitations. As I reflect on the years of pain and other consequences I suffered,
can not and will not accept this deprivation of my right to ask for compensation.
Regardless of what limit the law sets, I am appealing to you on a human level to do the
right thing and to give this request your serious consideration---as a human being,
1 am not looking to become wealthy, but I can offer definite proof how this affected my
entire work life and, considering not only the emotional pain, but the financial losses as
‘well, I deserve some compensation.
At 64, I now find myself living on minimal Social Security and after having many
promising job opportunities ---all of which I can demonstrably prove I lost because of the
rape-—I don’t even have a retirement fund, because I never held a job Jong enough to
participate in one. Because of the lifelong failures this caused me, even my children and
grandchildren ultimately paid for it.
This horrific event has eaten away at me for fifty years and now that I’m reaching the end
of my life I have made a firm decision that I will not accept things as they are.
To this end, Tam going to begin with an appeal to you to have a Firestone representative
meet with my attorney. My attorney and I are well aware there is no requirement that youeven acknowledge this letter, so if you do, your decision will be met with gratitude and I
‘would ask him to negotiate accordingly.
However, if you choose to ignore or deny me this request, the matter will no longer be
left to my attorney to handle---I will make it my personal campaign, for whatever time I
have left on this earth. If lose in the end, I assure you my children and most Americans
will know what happened and know that I gave it the best fight I possibly could.
Please re-read the opening sentence of this letter, because I want to be perfectly clear-~if
you choose to ignore this request, it is not going to just go away. At this point I have
nothing to lose and I will use the only option left to me and promise make this very
compelling story a media event that will haunt Firestone like this has haunted me. I
promise you, even if I don’t “win”, your company will lose,
Untimately, 1 will go to jail if I must,
1 do want to apologize for some of the aggressiveness imparted in this letter, especially
since I don’t know what your position will be once you've learned the facts, but Iam
assuming this could be the only direct communication I will have with you and I feel,
compelled to make myself clear.
Please let me know of your decision within thisty days, if I don’t receive a response by
then, I will assume you have opted to ignore my request.
Very truly yours,
Bo
John 2
PS: Enclosed are three of the many documents that show this crime did indeed take place
and that your driver pled guilty and was sentenced to prison.
VIA FAX: 615-937-3621