TAPSCon Update – Jason Hawes Responds
by Karen Frazier, Managing Editor
Paranormal Underground e-Magazine
I have heard from Ghost Hunters’ Jason Hawes (TAPS) with regard to the document from the Belleview Biltmore that lists The Atlantic Paranormal Society on the top of it. Here is his statement:
I have just spoken to the attorneys for the Biltmore in Florida.
They have apologized for their misprint in their statement stating “The Atlantic Paranormal Society” owes them any money.
They are rewriting an email today to reflect the accurate statement. The Atlantic Paranormal Society “TAPS” owes them no money and never signed any contract with them or Brent Fair to appear at the event.
Brent Fair set the event up and collected all funds. I nor Grant ever took one cent in payment from TAPSCON 1 or TAPSCON 2. We even paid for our own travel to TAPSCON 1 to attend the event.
I hope when we receive this email and send it off to you that you would find it right to post it countering the false statement listed on your site at this address.
http://www.paranormalunderground.net/?p=841
In a follow up email, Mr. Hawes had this to say: “I just do not want TAPS blamed for something it never did. Any and all TAPS held events have gone off without any issues and are in great standings with the places that events were held.”
We are awaiting the documents from the Biltmore’s attorneys. In the meantime, I think it is important to clear this up. The Belleview Biltmore was mistaken in printing The Atlantic Paranormal Society on the documents found in this post. The attorneys for the Biltmore are currently correcting these documents so that they do not list The Atlantic Paranormal Society across the top. I will replace the previous documents as soon as I receive the new ones from the Biltmore’s attorneys. I hope that those who have copied the PDF documents from our site and linked to them will also replace their documents with the new ones provided by the attorneys.
While I understand that people are EXTREMELY frustrated with the whole TAPSCon 2 fiasco, I think that we need to attempt to get to the bottom of it. Yes – there are definitely questions about Brent Fair, but neither Mr. Fair nor TAPS have indicated that TAPS had any involvement in the event other than as special guests. Our goal is to get to the bottom of the controversy by looking at and providing the evidence and facts of the situation, as well as by getting everyone’s side of the story who wishes to comment. It is NOT our intention to seek to malign or bring down any individual or entity.
I appreciate Jason Hawes taking the time to respond.
We will be back as soon as we have the updated documents, or if we receive a statement from Brent Fair (which we requested). Any additional information will be provided as we get it.
Here is the updated information from the attorney of the Belleview Biltmore.
Thanks Karen for the update!
I am sorry, but, Brent Fair IS apart of TAPS. Regardless if they had direct standing in what has occurred, or not, they are affiliated with Brent via the TAPS family.
There is ill keeping within the “family”; and as with any family, if you have a Black Sheep running havoc, do something about it.
Well, they’ve denied having any part of the TAPScon events…Had the attorneys for the hotel straighten out the misapplication of the TAPS name on the statements…Denied having taken any money to be there…And instructed Brent Fair that he cannot legally use the TAPS name on his event next year.
The queston is: Will this be enough for people?
I will take Jason’s response as truth as the founder of TAPS. For myself, I just don’t have that much invested. I see Ghost Hunters as a TV show and wouldn’t pay that much to stand in line and have Jason and Grant give me the 30 seconds of their timeit took to autograph my tee, book, poster…add your own item here!
Personally, I appreciate that Jason took the time to come up with a new answer rather than referring us to his MySpace page or reprinting it for Karen. That is what I imagined he would do.
I am glad Jason took the time to clairfy what had previously been thought.The reputation of TAPS is important.
Although I could never have afforded to attend, the people should get their refunds.It is all a disappointment to any level of fan of the group and program.
I just can’t imagine that either Jason or Grant are enjoying having this person they trusted make them look like dirtbags, just for having associated themselves with him. Even though it might seem a little ridiculous to believe that they had no stake in TAPScon, we really don’t know how Brent Fair pitched the idea to them. For all we know he told them that a lot of people wanted to meet them and that they would be doing it for the good for the cause. He could’ve easily told them that he’d only charged enough to cover expenses for the event, all the while planning to make off with a huge windfall from the walk-up sales. I’ve watched the show more than a few times, and none of the TAPS guys struck me as being a Donald Trump protege. Not to say they’re simpletons, but they just strike me as average guys doing what interests them, not bottom-line businessmen. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time someone famous got used by a promoter looking to make a quick buck, and I would bet that TAPS will be a little more careful about who they trust with their name in the future.
while I think that it is a good thing that the hotel get the right name on their statement, I also think this all could have been avoided from the get go had Jason had shown some ethics and responsibility in the first place and made it clear at TAPSCon 1 that it was not a TAPS event, as well as not allowing TAPSCon to use their logos. Jason really needs to go back to school and learn about ethics, branding, and logo protection. So far with what I’ve shown my professors about how he runs his organization he gets a D to D-. But what else can you expect from Krusty.
Mr. Fair, had he dealings with my professors, would be in court and would have an injunction preventing him from holding any events until he made full restitution.
Honestly I think this whole thing will be settled out of court and the public will not known about any of the details regarding who is right or wrong and why. Most likely this will leave the people who lost money unable to recover their monies.
I am very glad to see Jason and the Biltmore got this worked out! The real issuse since this is cleared up is- Where is the ticket holders money?? Why will Brent Fair NOT respond to his customers and will everyone get a refund?
I hope they all do and I will continue to work towards goal of seeing a paranormal community where we don’t stand for this sort of scam.
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