Unfounded rumors follow Baltic book salesmen

Estonian student Timo Aleste is one of seven Eastern European young men and women selling educational materials door -to-door in the Permian Basin this summer. They have faced challenges based on unfounded Facebook rumors that they are Russian spies. The Midland Police Department reports that their permits are all in order. less Estonian student Timo Aleste is one of seven Eastern European young men and women selling educational materials door -to-door in the Permian Basin this summer. They have faced challenges based on unfounded ... more Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Unfounded rumors follow Baltic book salesmen 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Timo Aleste left his home and family in the Estonian city of Tallinn to come to America to sell books door to door for Nashville-based Southwestern Advantage. This year marks his seventh summer to make that costly trek, all done at his own expense.

There has always been the occasional, “Go back where you came from,” response from residents, but this year has been particularly challenging due to a Facebook rumor that, according to Aleste and to Southwestern Advantage spokesman Trey Campbell, apparently started at the beginning of the summer in Oklahoma. The rumor was that they were Russians who were asking about the presence of children in the neighborhood in order to kidnap them. As the summer progressed, the rumor grew, and one Midland version insinuated that they were Russian spies.

Some background is helpful in understanding how this started. Southwestern works with about 1,200 American college students and, since around 2001, has worked with students from Latvia and Estonia, with about 1,000 of those in the program this year. Each student is an independent contractor, selling Southwestern’s educational books and software, suitable for preschoolers up to high school age. Each student obtains all necessary local permits and the foreign students have all been vetted and approved by the State Department.

At a sales school in Nashville, students are trained to maximize their time by asking at each door if there are school age children in the home. If they have had a positive encounter, they ask the family for the names and locations of other families with school age children in the neighborhood. “This way,” Aleste explained, “We don’t bother people whose children are grown and gone.” This information is known in Southwestern terminology as “pre-approach.”

It seems, Aleste said, that a mother in Oklahoma, who had two daughters, “I don’t know, I guess she just got scared or something, but she got the idea that they were gathering information about where children live and, at night time, some guys come and steal the children.”

She posted this on Facebook and asked everyone to share it. Aleste said that, at one point, the post was being shared 1,000 times per day. Southwestern successfully lobbied Facebook to remove the original post, but due to the massive number of shares, the damage was done.

It quickly spread through all Midwestern and to Pennsylvania states, first hitting Texas in Lubbock. The rumor about them being Russian spies seems to have arisen here in Midland after a resident met a Latvian student at the door and said something to the effect of, “I know who you are, and you’re not who you claim to be,” according to Aleste.

Then it became dangerous for the students to work in Oklahoma and Pennsylvania, so Southwestern moved them to other states, he related. Some came to this area.

Company President Dan Moore finds irony in the fact that these Estonian and Latvian students are being mistaken for Russians. “Any Estonian who is called Soviet or Russian—you couldn’t do worse if you insulted them.” Aleste mitigated that statement considerably, saying, “I have many Russian friends.” One of the Midland salesmen actually is ethnic Russian, although he lives in Estonia.

Campbell stated that Estonia in particular is a stronghold of capitalism in Eastern Europe, and is a willing trading partner for the United States.

Aleste himself is working in Andrews this summer, and has had little direct contact with anyone espousing the rumors until the last few days. But those in Midland and Odessa have had a hard time working with such rumors flying.

He said if people have questions, he wishes they would go ahead and call the police, because then they could verify who he is and that he has all necessary permits. At two doors in Andrews, he himself called police from his cell phone to show reluctant residents that he was doing everything legally.

Sara Higgins, MPD spokesperson, said the department had fielded nine calls between August 1-19 about “suspicious activity” from Europeans with a thick accent, but, she reported that they have permits, are operating within the law and there have been no reports of any illegal activity.

Moore said the company, which was founded in 1855 and began doing door-to-door sales in 1868, began working with Estonian students on a large scale in 2001, after a few years of working with a few at a time.

“The first student from the Baltics actually came in the early 90s, recruited by a sales manager who was invited to Estonia to be a guest speaker at the newly-formed Estonian business school. One of the young people who was his interpreter and guide for that week got really interested in entrepreneurship and Southwestern, and came over and spent the summer.”

That student enrolled at Bentley College in Massachusetts and sold for three more summers. That student returned to Estonia to start a business, then called Moore in 1998 about sending a newly hired salesman through sales school and a summer on the book field. The Estonian sent another new salesman through the program in 2000. From there, the decision was made in 2001 to recruit fulltime in the Baltics.

Company officials see this as an opportunity to export American culture and values. Campbell closed by saying, “How they feel about America is shaped by what’s going on in that community.” He encouraged anyone with questions to call him at 615-391-280 or 888-602-7867.