My body camera caught that interaction, and here is a screen capture where we can see Mrs. Crecelius walking toward the steps to come to me. Mrs. Crecelius came up the steps and in front of my 13 students/families and asked if she could speak to me. (We had as many come watch as MCTKD had compete). She first asked if I was “Master Grant” in a clear attempt at insulting me as if she didn’t know who I was. She and I have had many face-to-face conversations over the years, and she acts as if this was her first time meeting me. It was laughable, and you could hear my chuckle when she asked.
Of course, answering her, we moved back away from the railing, and she asked me to leave. She didn’t mention or seem to notice the other 13 members of my party, that I was not welcome, and that the tournament was an “invitational” only. She complained that my post saying we were “sister schools” to MCTKD was false and misleading, as we were not part of the TTCA. And that it gave the wrong impression. I told her that we are; we share a common root, and I consider all martial arts schools as sister schools. As my post before the event suggests.
She stated that our mere presence was disturbing and upsetting to all those there and even upsetting to the Johnson family. So, she very politely asked that I leave, and I told her I would take that under advisement and discuss it with those present. It was at this point, she realized, those other 26 eyes were with me, and she tells me “you have posted some mean things about the Johnson family and Mr. Edwards” and I told her that anything that was posted was either corrected or was miscontrued as it wasn’t my page that had posted anything negative about MCTKD or TTCA, all of our posts are public for everyone to see. I also told her that I had personally reached out to Mr. Edwards, and Mr. Spicer to go over the concerns they had, and I told them I would make sure to see that our posts wouldn’t be misunderstood in the future, to be more clear, as they felt many of our posts were about them. One of our posts from the day of our local Christmas Day parade upset them, as they felt it was about their instructor, but, we we reviewed the time line, and how it was posted, it showed, it wasn’t about the instructor, but that I would take better control of posts and make sure to be more clear and not offend if possible, I have kept that promise as I have given clear and precise instructions as on what can and can not be posted.
Mrs. Crecelius said she had to get back to her ring but that since it’s my school, I am responsible for any posts on our page, and I told her, absolutly, and none of my posts were negative in any way toward Mr. Edwards and obviously, never about Mr. Johnson or his family. However, some in the Johnson family have said some pretty nasty and derogatory things to say about us, but we have never done that to them, nor will we. Mrs. Crecelius said, “I’ll send you to Grandmaster Choi if you don’t leave.” I, of course, chuckled at that. She just spent about five minutes telling us how we were not competing, as it’s an invitational, and we are not part of the TTCA. I said, “Clearly, we are not here to compete, and we could never be part of an inferior organization. We are here to support the local school and all martial artists, as we made publically clear.” She didn’t want me to get in front of GM Choi, as he is and has always been level-headed with me, in part because of GM Lavanchy and my involvement with the ITF, the history of Taekwon-Do, and Korean martial arts in general. He has always treated our group fairly, especially since I was able to obtain for him some things from Korea of historical significance two years prior.
Mrs. Crecelius stated, “You are part of Traditional Ways, and GM Choi told Master Yochum that they are not allowed here, and since you are with them, then that means you too!” I corrected her that I wasn’t part of their group, but like the TTCA and MCTKD, I do and have supported their events and will continue to do so!
I followed her down to discuss this with GM Choi. He was speaking with some students, so I didn’t interrupt so I went and spoke with an MCTKD student who was selling shirts and had a cordial conversation as we always do. I told that adult student that Mrs. Crecelius told us we had to leave, he was taken aback a bit, as he asked why, I spoke to several others, and even another instructor from Henderson who came to see GM Choi and visit, he is hosting a similar tournament in the same venue in April, but, he wasn’t told to leave, and Mrs. Crecelius cleary didn’t give him the same statement she gave me about how Traditional Ways members were not allowed there. That instructor from a group that left the TTCA was asked by Mrs. Crecelius if we were coming beforehand. He had indicated I am not for sure, but he said he was.
Mrs. Crecelius, at the luncheon they had, where they got most of the food donated by local businesses, was caught bragging to Mr. Crecelius, saying that she told us what to do and kicked us out. A great thing they did with all that leftover food, as not more than 10 to 15 people stayed for their lunch, they did donate it to a great cause, they donated “a ton of food” as per the program director at Mission Teens in Greenville, KY. While at the Best Western Hotel in Central City, she said the same things. The cause of the demise of loss of membership within the TTCA isn’t anything other than current leadership. Mrs. Crecelius has a long pattern of bragging as well. GM Choi has stated many times that he “doesn’t know why they have so much hate and treat people the way they do,” but there is no pension or retirement plan as a Taekwondo instructor, and they paid him a nice penny for the TTCA rights. After her tournament, Mrs. Crecelius posted how she and Mr. Crecelius are “making them possibly the only married 9th degree couple!” She was “promoted by the TTCA to 9th Dan.” On second thought, since I have more time and experience in Taekwon-Do and martial arts in general, I should join the TTCA. I would be 9th Dan by now! And this statement about them being the only married 9th Dan couple is far from the truth! If they were not always so xenophobic, they would know just the Chung Do Kwan Taekwondo world that isn’t true, and in the larger Taekwon-Do world, they are not even close! There are several 9th Dan Taekwon-Do couples not only in the USA but worldwide! THINGS TOLD: The above information is 100% fact as you can see, I kept receipts; below is things told by others, or gathered through 2nd hand information. It may be accurate, as I always want accurate information, but this could contain some minor errors, and I’ll be happy to correct them! So please feel free to share! As you can see, I have stuck to the facts as I know them; there are many varied stories about the behaviors of both of the leaders of the TTCA. Mrs. Crecelius isn’t the first Mrs. Crecelius. She was a student of Mr. Crecelius, and they dated while he was married to his second wife. They didn’t marry until April 20, 1991. So says the “rumors.” Ok, well, so said GM Lavanchy. So, to be clear, that is “secondhand” information here.
Mr. Crecelius doesn’t talk about his previous employment like they did in 2000, when he was a “high school arts teacher.” By 2001, he was no longer a high school teacher, and it’s not mentioned any further, no retirement, no he pursued other interests nothing. One of his websites discusses how he is a magician and that he started to give magic shows in 1998 and that he had a bonsai (I have one he gave to GM Lavanchy that he gave to me, I planted along the woodline of my Evansville home) and pottery shop, but before that, he did what? He was a high school art teacher. Again, according to GM Lavanchy, he was “asked” to resign for some issues that involved female students, and since we know how he met the former Miss Kathleen Rutledge, who was a high school student when she started Taekwon-Do, we see a disturbing pattern. Again, this is secondhand, but it does fit a pattern. He did date a student, and she progressed in rank faster than most, as indicated on their website! The ex-high school teacher was known to be a bit of a flandaier, and he has been married three times, but his second one was rumored to have caught the current one in various states of dress in his and her’s then current wife’s hot tub!
