Old Stuff

Australia

My website is starting to get boatloads of hits from Australians googling for Bill White. A check of news.google.com reveals a couple of Bill Whites in the news down under.

Reverend Bill White of the Surfer's Chapel:

Christian Surfers, an international organization that started in Australia more than 20 years ago, has flourished recently in the United States. Two years ago, nine chapters served about 450 members. Today, 28 groups from Old Orchard Beach, Maine, to Pensacola, Fla., to Hawaii, count about 1,400 members.

The Christian Surfers' Web site (Christiansufers.com) lists two chapters in San Diego County - Christian Surfers San Diego North County and Christian Surfers Encinitas.

The organization sees itself as a bridge between surfers and churches.

"For a lot of surfers, the whole concept of church is off-putting," said the Rev. Bill White of the Surfer's Chapel, where services are held on Saturday nights to avoid interference with morning waves.

Surfers are sometimes skeptical of organized religion, he said, but can be swayed by a community of faith solely comprised of fellow wave riders. "Nobody thinks anything of an Armenian church or a Hispanic church or a Samoan church," White said. "I feel that surfers identify with surfing as much as any ethnic group identifies with their ethnicity."

Then there's the Los Angeles cyber-stalker Bill White:

A former University of Queensland lecturer who has been stalked over the Internet for the past five years is seeking at least $110,000 in a damages claim.

Trevor Cullen, who taught journalism at UQ, has asked the Western Australia Supreme Court to award him damages of at least $100,000 in his Internet defamation case against Los Angeles cyber-stalker Bill White.

A judge has already ruled that he was defamed by White, who set up a website in Dr Cullen's name in which he purportedly admitted to being a pedophile and to having committed academic fraud.