WASHINGTON, D.C. -- "I was rather stunned," said Douglas R. Scott, Jr., president of Life Decisions International (LDI). "He just started threatening us."

LDI had received a message from James Duralin of Wachovia Securities, located at 33 River St. in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. The call was returned by LDI's Director of Communications, Ken Garvey. "He started by saying LDI was an illegitimate group and he was going to tell every Catholic Church in Ohio to boycott us," Garvey said. "From the moment I identified myself to Mr. Duralin at the start of the call, I could hardly get in a word."

Garvey said Duralin immediately started attacking LDI for placing Wachovia on The Boycott List, which identifies  corporations that donate to Planned Parenthood. "Mr. Duralin said he checked with the corporate headquarters and had been assured that, at the corporate level, Wachovia has not funded Planned Parenthood," Garvey said. "When I asked about giving to Planned Parenthood from local Wachovia banks or subsidiaries, Mr. Duralin said he has 'no control' over such things and even considering such criteria when deciding which corporations to boycott would be 'ridiculous.' He then hung up on me, which was actually not so bad since I wasn't allowed to say anything anyway."

Duralin received a follow-up call from Scott. "I had the same kind of experience. Mr. Duralin did not ask questions about our policies, standards or evidence. He simply started ranting. In fact, the first words out of his mouth to me was the threat to 'boycott' LDI by telling all Catholic Churches in Ohio that we are 'illegitimate', and to urge people to not donate to us."

Scott said that when he interrupted the diatribe to ask about donations to Planned Parenthood by Wachovia subsidiaries, Duralin would not respond. "Let me finish!" Duralin demanded. "But I was not about to let Mr. Duralin make me another victim of the kind of verbal abuse and bullying he had foisted upon Mr. Garvey," Scott said.

Scott immediately told Duralin that his speaking in such a way to LDI personnel is unacceptable and no one should be forced to endure his verbal assault. "I also told Mr. Duralin that since he was going to publicly and dishonestly discredit LDI, we would be forced to issue a press release to respond to the attacks."

"This was especially frustrating because Mr. Duralin claimed that his particular Wachovia Securities office consists of nine brokers who say they are Christians," Scott said. "Like all human beings, the people who work with LDI were created in God's image. None of them should be addressed in anything less than a respectful tone."