To the Editor:

I am writing in response to the article published in the Watertown Times on January 6 2011, regarding the supposed skipping out of a loan by Sleepy Hollow Studios. Never in my life has our family been the subject of so many false allegations, we have silently sat by while this paper has allowed people to run us in the ground. We can no longer do so because we are and continue to be victims of a stalker and cyber bully. We never intended on responding to this article or the comments since they were all half-truths.

However a business owner in Potsdam has stalked us and has been spreading lies about us in our new location, hundreds of miles away, the location I will not disclose out of fear for our safety. This man has been berating us on Facebook and in the finest definition is a cyber bully. I have copies of all the lies and threats that he has posted on my space, Facebook, the Racquette and now the Watertown Times in hope of being able to one day take legal action. We contacted an attorney while in the North Country when this began in 2007 and since we are unable to prove that he physically typed these lies, even though his picture and name is also apart of our documentation. We have had no legal recourse at this time. This downtown Potsdam business owner continues to sit behind his computer and stalk and attempt to bully us hundreds of miles away attesting to his true cowardly and childish behavior.

I’d like to address the Potsdam Local Development loan that we secured in 10/08 since we received that loan we had kept 3 sub-contractors and 1 part-time employee with gainful employment until May 2010 as part of the agreement of the loan. We have never missed a payment and as of February 28, 2011 the balance of the loan will have been paid in full. This is a full two years ahead of our agreed pay off date. It was a pleasure doing business with the Village of Potsdam.

My husband, Kevin Robinson who was born in Canton and raised in Potsdam wanted to return to the North Country in 2006 out his love for the community and area. Also we felt this was a good community for our business and it proved to be a profitable endeavourer. With four colleges with in 10 minutes of downtown Potsdam it seemed a good location for a tattoo and body piercing studio. Leaving the town in North Carolina were we had our business for 3 years was a wise choice since the business was much slower and the economic of the community was also lower than that of St Lawrence County; however the overhead of running a business in the Potsdam community proved to be much higher then that of North Carolina.

To address the supposed hundreds of gift certificates that we supposedly sold, according to our records the last gift certificate that was sold by us was in June 2010 and our records also indicate that in eight years of business we have not even sold one hundred gift certificates. Our records also indicate that all certificates that had been sold, have been redeemed except for one that was sold in 2006. We had given away 23 gift certificates to numerous people asking for donation to help in jamborees or other charity events over the years and many of them were not redeemed. I don’t know the persons source of information stating that legal action has been taken to redeem unsatisfied gift certificates but this is untrue. We have not been contacted by anyone regarding this, nor do we anticipate being contacted.

Last I’d like to clarify our reasoning for relocating our business. It became very difficult for me to be away from my family here in the Southern United States. I also found after four winters in the North Country that I could not adjust to such a cold climate for such a long period of time. Secondly the cost of running a business in Potsdam as I previously stated is much higher then here in the Southern United States. We have been able to cut our overhead by almost 3⁄4 of what it was in Potsdam. Any smart business owner is always looking for a way to cut cost especially in this economy.

This relocation proved to be a wise choice both for business and our desireto be closer to family.

In conclusion I think that our communities need to come up with away to stop the cyber bullying and stalking that has been come a side-effect of the world wide web. The newspapers need to do a better job of investigating their facts prior to printing half-truths that then feed the fire of such bullies.

How many adolescents need to commit suicide before something substantial is done to stop this kind of cowardly behavior.

I hope that one day we will be able to take legal action against this downtown business owner for the and years and the continued stalking and bullying he has put us through and continues to put us through many miles away from New York.

I have not addressed ever slanders and lies that has been part of the January 6, 2011, article and the follow comments since some are so far fetched it is not worth my time to respond. Again we would like to thank the Potsdam Local Development Corporation for its support while we were apart of the Potsdam Community and would recommend any business owner who wishes to expand his work force and business contact them, they were a big part of our success in Potsdam.

Mary Robinson, owner, Sleepy Hollow Studios