Originally posted by Billy Griffin
Hello friends. I am writing to you today and hope that this message gets through to the storm chasing community.
Earlier this summer, there was a great deal of controversy over photos posted on my website. Without going into great detail, those storm photos and question have been removed and those guilty of emailing and hacking in to the webpage have been identified.
Unfortunately, a lot of good chasers were victimized as a result of this, and for that, I apologize. The problem, I thought, was taken care of however.
It has come to my recent attention that yet another photo has been posted to my home town's television station website, WPSD Television in Paducah, Kentucky. The photograph claims to be courtesy of Billy Griffin and it is of a tornado which states to be of the recent, tragic Benton, KY tornado.
One can obviously see, just by looking at the photograph, that the picture appears to be of 1970s or 80s quality, at best, and is obviously not of digital or modern-day 35mm quality.
This morning, I contacted WPSD and requested they remove the photo if they could not identify where the photo came from, or at least remove my name. They confirmed mine, as well as many others' suspicions that the photo was indeed from an unidentified source, but the source had claimed \"photo courtesy of Billy Griffin.\" Since that time, I see the photo has now been removed.
I have spoken with some friends and family members who also received an email from my home email address claiming that I was chasing that day and had captured that photo and a few others. Indeed the email, however, was forwarded by an unidentified source.
It is obvious that, yet again, someone is either hacking in on my email address list, or trying to identify me as posting pictures that are not of their original source.
I am asking that everyone please be patient as I attempt to identify who it is this time, and where the source is coming from.
I can state the following as fact... I was not chasing in Kentucky, I did not photograph any tornadoes, and I have personally not sent any emails claiming to have photographed any tornadoes in Kentucky.
I hope this clarifies things for now and I apologize for the continuing problems in relation to my webpage and my storm chasing hobby. However, this webpage will remain open and viewable to all my fans.
For those who have already shown their support and helped bring this to my attention, I thank you. For those who feel victim to the scandal earlier this year, I am sorry for what occurred and those who were involved have been identified and punished accordingly.
For now, my thoughts and prayers are with those who lost so much in the recent round of severe storms in the Midwest.
As we approach the Holiday season, may we take a moment to wish them all a very quick recovery from their devastating loss.
Kindest regards,
Billy Griffin
