Dear Todd,

I didn't realise that you'd actually cashed the cheque until I read this post. Still, I thought I would be up to speed with things once I had read it. You started your post with the subject line, "THIS is why I cashed the check!", so I thought you would explain. And yet the whole message is about a letter you received from the State of Connecticut Attorney General's Office demanding that you take down a "press release" from "your" website. There was no demand in the letter for you to cash the cheque.

You say, "I correctly assumed there would be trouble if we left the donation and I was correct." However, you seem to have misunderstood the situation. The complaint you received was about content on Lindsay's website. It had nothing to do with your leaving or not leaving the donation. What happens to the money has no effect whatsoever on the existence of the content on Lindsay's website, which is all that the complaint was about.

So, as far as I can see, your post doesn't clarify in any way why you cashed the cheque. Please could you spell it out for me?

I understand why you are upset about the letter, but I don't understand why you think it means that you are personally in trouble. Clearly, Save the Children simply misunderstood who the website belonged to. Once they have been informed of its true ownership, there is no way they would try to take you to court over a website that you have no control over. I am concerned about Lindsay, but I am sure he is competent to deal with the situation. You should forward a copy of the letter to him, if you haven't already done so.

Now, back to the money. As you will recall, it was sent to you on the understanding that it would go to a charity that worked to help children. I have no idea what its legal status is, but ethically, in my view, the money is not yours to do with as you see fit. I think you should get the permission of each of the people who donated money (and that includes me) before doing anything with it that is outside of the original aims. So where is the money now? What are you planning to do with it? Please keep us informed.

This issue has nothing to do with your changing of position in the debate about the childlove movement, or anything like that. A change in opinion does not call your honour into question, as far as I am concerned. I am, however, concerned about what you are doing with the money that has been entrusted to your care.

Mr. Crab