FROM THE ARCHIVES: Man tries to pay tithing on money made from scalping Archuleta/MoTab tickets, is rebuffed

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December 2, 2010. 
SALT LAKE CITY - A LaDaSa man has been rebuked for his attempt to pay tithing on the money he made from scalping tickets to the David Archuleta/Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert. Each year the Mormon Tabernacle Choir puts on a Christmas concert for the community and each year a national luminary is invited to perform with the choir. Past participants include Angela Lansbury, Roma Downey and Gladys Knight. The Church always receives more requests for tickets than they can accommodate so a lottery system is set up. Those lucky enough to have their names picked receive their tickets in the mail.

Buy here: http://bit.ly/10XguIh

This year, middle-age-married-woman heartthrob David Archuleta is slated to perform. This has caused an unusually high demand for tickets, enticing those who win the lottery to consider selling the tickets. One of those people is Walter Peck, a resident of Taylorsville, UT.

Walter Peck

We caught up with Walter at the local role playing card store to ask him about his experience selling the Archuleta/MoTab tickets online.

"I originally put my name in for the lottery for my wife. When I saw how nuts all those crazy old broads was going for the tickets I figured I had done won the sissy lottery so why not make a few greenbacks? I'm straight up so I knowed I had to pay my 10% on the money I made."



What happened next was a bit of a surprise for Walter.

"Since the tickets came from the church headquarters I figures that's where my tithing done needs to go. So I drove down there in my Pontiac Fiero and try to hand the money to the guy [Scott Wilde, manager of centralized tithe taking]. I made the mistake of telling him that I was paying on those dumb Archuleta tickets I hawked."

Shakayleigh Sue Peck

Apparently Mr. Wilde was less than impressed.

Walter continues the story: "Man was he mad! He says something along the lines of people born in barns and that he'd sooner take tithing from someone who beat up a homeless guy and stole his tin cup before he'd take tithing from me. It was pretty intense."

We reached out to church spokesman Bruce McDunnough for comment. He replied that the office of centralized tithing has quite a bit of autonomy. "In this case we feel that Brother Wilde acted appropriately. I would further add - and this is just me talking now, not the church - I would further add that I'd rather take tithing money from someone who stole stuff from a garage sale put on by a blind guy to raise money for his daughter who has no legs and cancer. But like I said, that's just me talking."

The church has said they will look at future lottery events more closely.


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