Dr. Pangloss has left a new comment on your post "Happy Birthday, Bethany and Erin Joy":
Where can we find more information about the Just and Tabor murders?
This is very cryptic.
Love your blog, Greg!
Paul
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GJ - WELS Pastor William Tabor was at Salem in Milwaukee when his mistress murdered his wife in their home. Most people assume he was directly involved, either pulling the strings or finishing the job. Tabor received a call to Escanaba, Michigan. I am not sure if it was before or after the murder. He went to Escanaba and served there for a year or two, messing up another group of people. The chief of police in Milwaukee retired, sorry that he never put Tabor away. The editor of the Northwestern Lutheran (Mischke's buddy) told me that Tabor's file was empty when the police came asking for it. I know from several sources, including Bischoff (Trinity, Bridgeton, Missouri) that people wrote WELS warning letters about his adultery in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. WELS took him in and set him up in a mission church in Cape, knowing he was unfaithful and fathered a child in his own parish.
Al Just was a WELS teacher at Arizona Lutheran Academy (Phoenix), where CrossWalk channels Andy Stanley. Just claimed his wife rolled over and over a steak knife in bed. The father of the First VP in WELS organized a busload of Just fans from New Ulm to back up poor Al at his trial. Huebner's father, president of DMLC, testified FOR Just. The jury voted to convict Just, who married his children's baby-sitter while in prison.
Just insisted he was innocent, and many WELS church workers still believe that lie. Just also confessed his guilt to someone. A staffer at MLS wrote me an angry email, telling me that his Uncle Al was an innocent man. I was slandering him. The murderer served only a few years in the clink.
WELS has an obligation to report major crimes within their synod. Covering them up with silence or denials is a new crime.
WELS District President Ed Werner went to state prison for molesting girls in his own congregation. All the pastors knew he was doing it, but they kept re-electing him. Finally, the previously molested mothers of the girls he was currently molesting called a stop to it.
In Michigan, WELS Vicar Scott Zerbe went to state prison for having an affair with a minor girl during his vicarage. Pastor Fred Adrian, who was chairman of the District Mission Board, wrote two versions of Scott's vicarage report - one knowing about the affair, the other not knowing. The girl's family sued WELS in court and won an initial amount of $400,000. Adrian wrote his congregation a letter, saying in effect, "Don't worry. Insurance will pay for it." The WELS lawyers immediately appealed the verdict.
In court WELS denied knowing about any other scandals involving their church workers. I supplied the girl's attorney with names, dates, places. When she gave that to the judge, the court ordered WELS to tell the truth. That is what broke the case open. The criminal element in WELS has been trying to get even with me ever since, not that they were very nice before.
Fred Adrian resigned from the ministry for another reason, but he is back in a call in Michigan. The Good Ol' Boy Network never fails one of their own.
The Werner and Zerbe stories should have been in FICL too.
The CLC (sic) is just as bad.
McCain said Missouri had to get tough because it was costing them so much money in lawsuits. I will let his fanbase absorb that insight from the Purple Palace.
There are many details that only hurt the victims of these crimes.
Ex-SP Gurgle was a DP when he managed to use up the entire estate of MilCraft, which was to support the man's widow during her lifetime. She had to sue to get some money from WELS. The WELS response was "We have to be more careful about which gifts we accept from now on." Robbing widows is mentioned in the Bible.
Gurgle was so good at managing money that WELS elected him SP to stop amalgamation, which he immediately pushed forward.
Now Gurgle is doing the same for Texas.
Someone could do a crime series on WELS.
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Scott E. Jungen has left a new comment on your post "Asking about the Murderers":
I was a DMLC student during the time of the Al Just murder trial. Somebody used the school's mailing list to ask for funds for his defense. My father received one of these letters. I tried to explain to him what happened after he asked.
About a year ago I had a WELS teacher tell me how he knew of someone else who accidentally rolled over on a steak knive in bed. See, it could happen! Therefore Al Just was not guilty.
Even after thirty years people still have a hard time believing that a called worker could do such a thing. Sad!
