...,,.,,.,,r,,.,. .

 

Marathon Experience
What a wonderful‘ experience
all around. I finished 2 min-
utes better than my previous
record, despite the hilly course.
I would call the Vermont City
Marathon the best marathon
yet. "

I really appreciate the
fabulous article in Out in the
Mountains — you all do such
good work up there. I am
thinking about subscribing to
the newspaper. I did not get to
meet up with Jenn [Baudreau,
who wrote “Marathon Man”
0ITM’s June cover story about
Ted’s run] while there, but we
talked on the phone. I did how-
ever get to meet with'Matt
Mulligan at Vermont CARES.
Matt gave me a personal tour
of the clinic. I also met with
Kate Jerman of Outright
Vermont. We had such an
incredible talk about all sorts
of things.

All of it made my run-
ning the marathon so inspira-
tional and very powerful. Even
in the midst of cramping up at
mile 20, I was able to work
through it all by thinl<ing,,about
why I was running the mara-
thon. How my one—person act
could help others keep the
memories alive about Lollie
and Julie.

Again thanks for-all
your hard work in getting my

marathonrun to others. lam ' V

currently working with awriter
for the Advocate about a story
about Lollie and Julie. I am
highly considering running the
Vermont City Marathon again
next year for the 10th
Anniversary.

Ted Hobart
Arlington, VA .

Ted Hobart ran the Vermont
Cities Marathon in memory of
his friend Lollie Winans and
her partner Julie Williams. He
also raised over $1 00 for
Outright Vermont.

Not on the Trail

1 just saw two articles on your
site that contain false informa-
tion, particularly surprising
because they purport to come
from friends and admirers of

Lollie and Julie.

They were not, repeat‘
not, hiking or backpacking on
the Appalachian Trail that
week. They had registered for
a week of hikes on side trails
in Shenandoah National Park.
The campsite where they were
murdered is east of both the
A.T. and Skyline Drive. They
did have to cross the A.T. to
get to the restaurant at Skyland
Lodge, where they were seen
at least one night. Because of
where their car was parked, we
conjecture that they briefly
were on the A.T. to walk from
the car to the intersection of
the side trail down to their
campsite, at the beginning of

_ the week, but that was it.

That does not change
the fact that their murders were
despicable acts of violence, nor
does it change the fact that
many in the A.T. community
were, and are, shaken by them
and we mourn them. But, the
other fact is, they were not hik-
ing or backpacking on the A.T.,

and a simple check with the
law—enforcement authorities in
the park or with the U.S. attor-
ney's office would confirm at
least that part of this sad story.

Brian King
Director of Public Affairs
Appalachian Trail Conference

VDH: Not Hypnotic
Thanks so much for your on-
going coverage of the health
initiatives at R.U.1.2? ‘
Community Center. We are
proud of the work that we are
doing in helping queer and
allied Vermonters make health-
ier choices for themselves.

The Vermont Depart-
ment of Health did ask us to
clarify one point in your May
article onlour tobacco cessation
programming. The State of
Vermont did help pay for a ces-
sation class at the Center co-
sponsored by Fletcher Allen
Health Care in January 2005.
That class offered information

and supplies including nicotine
replacement therapy.

However, the cessation
class offered by hypnotherapist
Betty Moore Hafter that was
offered this spring was not paid
for or endorsed by the Vermont
Department of Health. We are
thrilled that Betty volunteered
to run a hypnotherapy class
and we know from the evalua-
tions of the participants that
they felt very positive about
their experience.
Hypnotherapy, like many alter-
native health care practices, is
effective for many individuals
but is not currently endorsed
by the Vermont Department of
Health. 7

We hope to have Betty
return in the future and we will
continue to work with the
Department of Health, local
practitioners and other partners
to offer innovative, culturally
competent queer health pro-
grams.

Thank you very much
for your coverage of these

 

At Witt’s End

  

4 .

..t_,}_;; ,

Leah Wittenberg

_' - V>.~,.

'7 OH B6A\iTu=ui. Foe $l’ACt0US Sl<iE5 '7  

  letters

important issues.

Christopher M. Kaufman
M.Sc. -
Executive Director

R.U.l .2? Queer Community
Center

Republicans Infiltrating?
Interesting to read that OITM
has been targeted by the toady
Log Cabin Republicans
(“George W Is Right,” Letters,
June). Remember Troy’s
Trojan Horse? Lock the doors
at night, you never know who
will crawl in. Love those nebu-
lous gay statistics, obviously
from Karl Rove. No mention
of the non—existent weapons of
mass destruction that sent and
killed thousands of young
American soldiers, not to men-
tion even more Iraqi citizens.

You have to question
how many of these vapid let-
ters were sent to other newspa-
pers across the country. A mail-
ing party around the swimming
pool while sipping adult bever-
ages, the Gold Coast address
says it all.

Albert Santerre

. Salem, NH

corrections: Because of

incorrect information supplied
to OITM, the name of the com-
pany that donated condoms for
HIV/AIDS prevention in Cuba
in last month’s article “South—
ern Transport” was wrong. The
company was Boston—based
Global Protection

Corporation.

And due to an editing
error, the “In Memoriam”
piece on Jack Nichols in the
June issue was misattributed.
The writer was Malcolm Lazin,

. executive director of Equality

Forum.

Finally, the caption
was omitted from Leah
Wittenberg ’s “At Witt’s End”
cartoon last month. It should '

' have read: “N0 dollar left

behind. ”
OITM regrets the
errors.V