Click Here To Go to MIT's Page About Ronald J. RileyClick here to break out of Frame
Bullies, we face them at all ages. The SKIPPY STORY for kids.
The Crosby family lived in a mansion, which still stands to this day. But that all changed. Mr. Crosby wrote cartoons which made fun of the high and mighty. He created an empire which was the envy of others. A small peanut butter company copied his famous cartoon character, Skippy. He went to court to stop them, and he won. But they continued to use the character anyway. They tried to make the character their own but were unable to proceed. They needed to get the creator of Skippy out of the way. Then Mr. Crosby was attacked by the IRS. It was common then, and even today, to use the IRS as a weapon. The IRS took most of Mr. Crosby's property. They seized all his money. His wife left him, taking his four children. Later he was found stabbed, with his wrists cut, but no knife was found. Reasonable people believe that he had been attacked, and the attack made to look like a suicide attempt. He was locked up in a mental institution for sixteen years, and died there. It was common for people to be unjustly locked up in such institutions then. In fact the process of locking up people was misused so much that today it is very hard to do that to someone. But it was easy to do then. The lawyers who were supposed to help Mr. Crosby ended up receiving projects from the very people who wanted to take his Skippy cartoon character. They made major mistakes in handling his property and the peanut butter people mysteriously profited from each mistake. Do you think this was an accident? I do not think so. When Mr. Crosby died, his daughter Joan received part of his property and the records of his life. But some of those records were kept from her by the very attorneys who used to represent her father, attorneys who now appeared to have ties to the peanut butter company. And she believes they tricked her into signing a contract which gave away all claims she had against the peanut butter company to get her father's records. They, and their likely collaborators, sued her again and again. They introduced competing products and she believes that they used their marketing muscle to discourage people from doing business with her company Skippy Inc. The pressure was so great that her husband died at a young age from heart problems. Is this what it means to have your heart broken? Not just his heart, but her heart, and their children's hearts. Today, Joan Crosby Tibbetts is a grandmother who has been stripped again and again of her money by a big bully, a bully who admits they have sold many hundreds of millions of dollars worth of peanut butter. And as the bully was bought by even bigger bullies they have been able to delay justice. It is said that justice delayed is justice denied. So you see that even adults have to deal with bullies, and unfortunately some bullies do win again and again. But some people - like inventors, writers, and artists, do fight back. I personally have been fighting such bullies for over ten years and I know a number of people who have fought such bullies for a very long time. In some cases 10, 20, 30, and even 40 years. And some of them do win. Such victories are so sweet. The Skippy story is still unfolding. We do not know if the rightful owners of Skippy will win or not. But I, and many other people, are cheering for them. You can help. Tell your parents not to buy Skippy peanut butter. Better yet tell them not to buy any product made by CPC-Bestfoods, the owner of Skippy peanut butter. You can see a list of their products by clicking here. Tell your friends how many of America's inventors are boycotting Skippy. Ask them to help convince the bullies at CPC-Bestfoods that they must honor the rights of the creators of the Skippy name. Ask your teachers if you can do a report for your history class about Skippy. Or do a report about freedom of speech for your government or social studies class. Who knows, maybe your teacher will give you extra credit. Judge (Richard L. Williams),who is hearing the case, held grandmother Tibbetts in contempt of court, for telling the story of how she and her family have been wronged. It appears that the judge does not understand first amendment rights. The judge even went so far as to suggest to CPC/Bestfoods on 8-29-99 that they should move to have the Skippy corporate charter sold. This would allow the peanut butter company to finish taking the rest of grandma Tibbetts property. This judge is hardly an unbiased dispenser of justice. Last, click here to send a note to the bullies at CPC-Bestfoods. Tell them that they should be ashamed for the way they have acted. And tell them how you and many other children are not eating Skippy peanut butter anymore. Click here to send grandma Tibbetts an encouraging word. "Taking the Bully by the Horns" at http://members.aol.com/kthynoll/bully.htm .
Return To Kids Home PageSite Index - Contact Us - © InventorEd, Inc., Page last revised 4-1-2003 |
