There was the announcement from the so-called Grand Orient of the United States!
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R.W. Bro. G. David Cooksey has Passed Away
Bro. Cooksey served as a founding member and Worshipful Master of Vulcan Masonic Lodge in Birmingham, Alabama under the jurisdiction of the Grand Orient USA. He was also a member of several lodges under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Alabama. He served for many years in the Birmingham Scottish Rite, and was award the honor of Knight Commander Court of Honor. He was also an active member of the York Rite and Shrine. He was known in the City of Birmingham for his Pink Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign which caused all the lights of the city building to glow pink for one month per year. His mother passed away from breast cancer in 2010. Bro. Cooksey will be terribly missed by all who knew him, more especially by his brothers in the Masonic fraternity. He was a great man and Freemason. Funeral arrangements are being made. The Grand Officers of the Grand Orient USA will preside at the graveside.
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Right
Worshipful Brother G. David Cooksey, Past Grand Secretary of the Grand
Orient of the United States of America, and Sovereign Grand Commander of
the Ancient & Accepted Scottish Rite, passed away on Friday, the 13th of
April, 2012, after a lengthy illness.
The Problem? THEY LIED!!!
Well, not about Mr. Cooksey's passing but about nearly everything else. We extend our condolences to his few friends since at the time of his demise, he apparently had no living relatives. Mr. Cooksey was in an auto accident in December, 2011 and never left the hospital.
Was he their Past Grand Secretary? NO! In fact, for several years, we've had the box below posted on this page. Guess they never looked at that because if they had, they would have seen how absurd their hand-wringing was. Here's Mr. Cooksey's statement about GOOFUS membership IN HIS OWN WORDS (albeit typically obtuse and complete with spelling/grammar 'issues'):
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"Bro. David Cooksey is not affiilate with GOUSA or... Yesterday 8:59 PM|DavidC "Bro. David Cooksey is not affiilate with GOUSA or a GOUSA lodge. He resigned from its predecessor, GLofUSA more than a year ago."
Let be make this crystal clear;
I have had no part in the forming of the GOUSA, I am not nor have been a part of GOUSA or a member. Nor do I now nor will I have any future connection with the GOUSA.
I demitted from MSM. <Translation: Mainestream Masonry> I resigned as GS of the UGLA.
I am an INDEPENDENT MASON AND SHALL REMAIN as such ONE PERIOD. |
The quoted first sentence was from a post made by another internet gadfly with close ties to the GOOFUS organization (although too cowardly to leave regular/recognized Freemasonry and affiliate with them). "DavidC" (David Cooksey) replied.
The announcement also blurred the relationship with the so-called Vulcan Lodge. Because of the acerbic Mr. Cooksey's behavior, the so-called Grand Orient severed all connection with Vulcan - which Cooksey then trumpeted as the lodge becoming independent. It's bizarre, really.
And, further, Cooksey RESIGNED from all of his (regular/recognized) Scottish Rite/Shrine AND Masonic memberships in a huff. It's somewhat like praising a former soldier for his military service despite his having received an administrative or bad conduct discharge 'for the good of the service'.
What lesson can we draw from this? Well, the so-called Grand Orient of the United States are LYING - or, if you wish, playing fast and loose with the truth! Nothing more - but certainly nothing less.
The Threats
Anyone watching Mr. Cooksey's online activity knew that he held a particular hatred of this site's author. Without the least bit of hyperbole, it could easily be classed as an obsession. However, at one point he took that behavior a step too far.
Unreported here until the creation of this page (October, 2012) was the fact that in December, 2011 (at just about the time Mr. Cooksey had been hospitalized from an auto accident), he sent me an email stating "See you in January" and giving meeting date/time information on one of my Masonic lodges as well as (what he thought was) my address and phone number. This was not the first December he'd threatened to arrive in January (see below) but this was different.
I'd never thought of Mr. Cooksey as being the sharpest blade in the drawer but because the address he'd given was for a completely different Edward King - and because of his seeming propensity for irrational behavior and potential violence, I notified the police of this matter. They quickly determined that the person at the address given by Cooksey was a 67 year old janitor at a local elementary school. Coming close on the heels of other shootings at schools in the United States, this was, obviously, something they did not take lightly. Suffice it to say that although everyone felt reasonably comfortable that the threat was nothing but hot air, police (local, county and state) were not about to take any chances. Had Cooksey entered my state, he would have found that he was a very unwelcome guest - in several ways!
And so this is the individual that the GOOFUS crowd wants to now immortalize: a stalker who steadfastly maintained he was not part of their organization. How wonderful, huh?
Oh, and we should mention that they did NOT - as promised - preside at the graveside service. Another lie! Typical....
The Cooksey saga from the beginning
On the Vulcan Lodge page during 2007 and 2008, we'd wrote about Mr. David Cooksey, the once proud Grand Secretary of the United Grand Lodge of America and his status as the 'Former' Grand Secretary a scant seven months later. We had also written about his creation of the so-called Temple of Regulus and the Rite of Claremont, both of which seemed to morph into a new entity called Vulcan Lodge as his Grand Secretary-ship ended. In late 2008 the Vulcans - all 3-4 of them - seemed to have distanced themselves from him as well but as of May, 2009 {link no longer works}, he was back with them. We detailed his attempts to derail a U.S. gubernatorial election, his character assassination of members of the Grand Lodge of Alabama and the Scottish Rite Bodies there. And we also had written about a supposed death threat he'd received ostensibly arising from things he had written online about regular, recognized Freemasonry. (Incidentally, no proof of that was ever forthcoming.)
Mr. Cooksey, in response, took great umbrage with the things written here. (See further note below!) He railed in many online venues that we were lying yet he never substantively showed how - except via circuitous (and sometimes non-existent) references. Following our site revisions on July 30 and August 1, 2008, this was posted on one his blogs (now removed) on the morning of August 2, 2008.
Perhaps Mr. Cooksey believes that a 'confrontation' accomplished via a trip of some 1,500 miles will scare us into changing our mind about the foolish antics of those who're so heavily involved in fake/sham Masonry. Perhaps he thinks that threats like this will immediately bring support his cause. Maybe he thinks calling regular / recognized Masons "cult members" will bring sympathy to his cause. Who knows?
Based on what we've observed of Mr. Cooksey's erratic behavior and his obvious intent to escalate, perhaps with violence, we've decided to let him make an ass of himself on his own time and not waste any more of ours on him.
When we say we've been threatened, folks, we put the evidence right out here in public view....
An addendum:
Perhaps you came here to read about how Mr. Cooksey's mother was supposedly insulted by Ed King. In fact, no such thing occurred. Mr. Cooksey, however - and for years, wants to play the victim and get attention.
In my August 1, 2008 update, under a comical graphic of a baby crying and the header "Mommy, Mommy...." I commented about GOOFUS members as follows: "They regularly write e-mails to Grand Masters of various Grand Lodges bemoaning how they've been mischaracterized on this website, sometimes using family situations (real or fantasy) to appeal to the soft-hearted nature of Masonic leadership whom they've regularly accused of being lying, cheating, spineless patsies." Mr. Cooksey has, in fact, done this very thing. I then added an intemperate comment that these whiners also sometimes use family illnesses to bolster their position, thinking of not only Mr. Cooksey but at least one other person in the so-called 'Grand Orient'.
My comment was NEVER meant as any kind of insult to Mr. Cooksey's mother nor was it worded in a way that any reasonable person could ever make that connection. Mr. Cooksey, however, choose to use his bizarre interpretation and repeat it in several places on the web.
THE FACTS
: the offending paragraph was IMMEDIATELY removed and replaced with an apology - within 24 hours of its initial appearance and within five minutes of my seeing his several blog posts, each more incendiary. In addition, I posted an apology directly on Mr. Cooksey's blog. First he wrote that an apology was not good enough, then he mused that someone else posted that apology in my name (how they used my Blogger account was something the astute Mr. Cooksey never seemed to think about!!), then he closed his blog to comments so he would not have to address incontrovertible proof that it WAS my apology, then he removed the post to which I had attached the apology, then he posted several threats (one of which is shown above), and then he closed down his blog.He now continues to mischaracterize the incident at, seemingly, every opportunity. It is only because of Mr. Cooksey's continued mischaracterizations that we have included this addendum.
Two years on, Mr. Cooksey
continues to misinterpret -
deliberately - what was written.
We have apologized but it seems we're expected to take back the past
and make him feel better somehow.
Because we don't have a time machine with which to do that, he
persists in threatening and harassing.
Here's one example. Doesn't this impress the heck out of you?
(Rather than give him the page views, we've put a screen capture here instead.
Of course, now this blog too is gone!)
December 22, 2010 - And the beat goes on....
And, not unsurprisingly, immediately upon this page's update to include the above, that blog at the particularly hilarious address of http://hateandliesfroma{jurisdiction name}freemason.blogspot.com/ (the most recent post to which was shown above) was removed. Then, pathetically, Mr. Cooksey whines (for not the first time, as noted above) to the Grand Master, the Deputy Grand Master and the Grand Secretary of one of my Masonic jurisdictions saying - well, we've provided it below and highlighted a particularly relevant part for emphasis....
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From: David Cooksey Sent: Wednesday, December 22, 2010 2:01 PM To the MWGM <redacted>I understand that Edward King who is a member of your Grand Lodge has once again resorted to slanderous, and vile hate at me. I do not understand this man but he is a member of your Grand Lodge I have on NUMEROUS occasions tried to get the Grand Lodge of <redacted> to stop these acts to no avail. I have said nothing nor done anything for Edward King to start his campaign of hate again. Please understand that I will NOT tolerate these actions. I will be speaking to my attorney today about this matter. PLEASE be advised that after the holidays are over I will be visiting <town redacted> and I will see to it that these childish escapades of Edward King and you failure to stop these actions will cease. Edward King is a very active mason in your Grand Lodge, he is your webmaster, he implicates you directly. David Cooksey |
OH! So all of those "fat old man" comments and the threats - again - just 8 weeks earlier were "nothing", eh? And what "vile hate" are you talking about? Pointing out that you've continued your threats, conjuring an imaginary insult up time and time again for no apparent reason? Is that what you call "vile hate", Mr. Cooksey - or is it really that our pointing out the scam you're running with this Vulcan thing comes too close to home? If so, please get a life! Your creation of that blog (and another) was ignored but when you started with the threats again, you crossed the line. And now with your e-mail, you're including others! Don't ruin your life with these ill-advised actions.
Creating more fantasy
Mr. Cooksey's television interest in Mixed Martial Arts seems to have warped his sense of reality even further than before, and it's perhaps THAT which causes him to engage in these foolhardy threats. However, we have and will continue to document them here. On a lighter note, because of the continued foolishness, we've actually written a book that might interest him....
In this one amazing volume you'll find all sorts of wonderful things like:
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What a fax tone sounds like and why it's different from a whistle; (Hint: blowing a whistle can't continue uninterrupted for several minutes like a fax receiver tone! Cooksey claimed I'd blown a whistle in his ear when he called. In reality, he apparently called my FAX line!); |
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Why it's not good to be making threats to someone (not me) who's been a law enforcement officer for over 35 years and has been given the honor of "Legendary State Trooper"; |
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How finding a picture of Ed online is nigh unto impossible - and that if the picture you've found of Ed King who's written this site shows him with a guitar, you're a damn fool; (Can we spell Lynrd Skynrd, folks?) |
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Why a corpulent, late-middle aged man shouldn't be using the term "Fat Old Man" to insult others; |
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What NOT to do if you want other bogus Masons to think you're really young and intelligent'; |
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How to beg, grovel and kiss fanny in a pathetic attempt at getting reconnected with a lost bogus pseudo-Masonic group; {Breaking news update 22 December 2010: apparently Mr. Cooksey won't need this chapter - for the time being at least - since he has taken down the short-lived blog at http://alabamafree-mason.blogspot.com/ which came about at the same time as post shown above. Was this some sort of fraternity hazing whereby he had to trash me to get into the good graces of the GOOFUS Grand Master again? Who knows - but it is certainly ironic. Ah, the FreeHyphenMasons of Alabama: we hardly knew ye....} |
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What to do when you get a couple of public personalities fired from their radio jobs and they aren't interested in talking to you ever again; |
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And why using the term "Fat Old Man" is SO very pathetic, even if you use it in every sentence! |
And SO much more. Coming soon to an imaginary bookstore near you!
VERY IMPORTANT NOTICEThe use of the word 'mother', 'mommy', or any similar word anywhere on this website except in the section immediately above (from the words "The Cooksey Saga" to here) has NO CONNECTION to Mr. Cooksey or his family in any way, either expressed or implied. Never had; never will! |
Updated
May 31,
2008, July 28, 2008 and August 1, 2008
Completely revised August 2, 2008 and updated August 25, 2008,
October 17, 2008, October 29, 2008, January 29, 2009,
February 11, 2009, May 25, 2009,
July 8, 2009, July 15, 2009, May 31, 2010, August 1, 2010,
November 15, 2010, December 22, 2010 and
January 21, 2011. Added Cooksey's death information on
October 6, 2012.
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