FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE On Tuesday, 5 February 2002, a newsletter was released by Dennis M. Hope of the Lunar Embassy (Gardnerville, Nevada USA) to subscribers of the organization's electronic mailing list. In the newsletter (complete text available here), several claims are made regarding the Lunar Republic Society (www.lunarrepublic.com) and its affiliated agency, MoonProperty.Net (www.moonproperty.net, which was consolidated as The Lunar Registry in December 2002). Among the allegations made was one regarding a link between the Lunar Republic Society and the Artemis Society (www.asi.org), in which Mr. Hope asserts that our organization "has strong ties with the Artemis Project." In fact, we have no ties to them whatsoever. The Artemis Society is widely respected in both the public and private sector of the space industry for the work they do in educating the public on the future of lunar exploration, settlement and development. We commend them on their efforts, and ask that everyone truly interested in this important objective will give them the support they deserve. Next, Mr. Hope claims that our organization did not exist "until I was asked to speak at the 2nd Annual Lunar Development Conference held in Las Vegas, NV in 2000." Our organization was formed in 1996, and began operating on the Internet in 1999. He goes on to claim that "After approaching this in a relatively friendly manner our attorneys had to threaten to bring suit against the Lunar Republic before they would shut the site down." In early 2001, Mr. Hope's attorney did contact us with a tersely worded order demanding that we close our organization down. We replied immediately to Mr. Hope's attorney via FedEx stating that we had absolutely no intention of bowing down to their threats. Mr. Hope and his attorney did not respond to our letter, and have yet to do so almost six months after their single letter of contact. (As of this update, it has been more than three years since that single contact, although Mr. Hope has made at least one incredibly angry phone call to our New York office since.) Continuing, Mr. Hope states that "The problem is they have started four sites and every one has been shut down by us with the exception of this last one (www.moonproperty.net)." It must be pointed out in no uncertain terms that we have had one site and one site only, ever since 1999. We're not certain what the "four sites" are that Mr. Hope has shut down, but we can guarantee that MoonProperty.Net is our one and only web site, and it has grown into one of the most popular destinations -- and most successful websites -- on the Internet today. Next, Mr. Hope proclaims "They started this business after they heard my speech on private property rights at the convention. They are harming your property values." Apparently, Mr. Hope knows something that we don't; no members of our 19-person staff attended the convention, and none were aware that he spoke there. Furthermore, it is our fervent belief that we are not harming anyone's property values. We believe that in a free and fair market it is the customer's choice as to where to spend his or her money. Our success has been very gratifying, and we welcome an informed clientele that looks at all options and makes a choice based on facts, not fantasy. It must also be made very clear that Mr. Hope's proposal for a "Galactic Government" was made public just a few weeks after we were contacted by his attorney. We find this highly coincidental, as the Lunar Republic Society had by this time already published plans on our website for the drafting of a constitution; had already unveiled our flag; and had already announced our plan for elections. It challenges the imagination to believe that Mr. Hope required twenty years in business before suddenly having the inspiration for plans so remarkably similar to our own. Over the past three years in order to support our goals, we have sold over 250,000 acres of property on the Moon to people in every country around the world. We have invested the profits in private organizations and public corporations -- including Lockheed-Martin and Orbital Sciences -- that are helping to make the goal of privatized lunar settlement a reality. We are at the forefront of projects to create the most detailed, three-dimensional maps of the Lunar surface ever produced. We are working with teachers in classrooms around the globe to help spark the imaginations of young people about exploring worlds beyond Earth ... and beyond the Moon. We don't consider what we do to be a "novelty" or a fantasy game. We consider it a challenge and a mission that must be fulfilled.
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UPDATE! 
