[at-l] aWFul Putnam Mine...

[hike-usa@msn.com (richard mann)]

Someone wrote:

"I also learned that WF was on the Putnam Mine and had a letter writing
campaign going long before ATC even knew what was going on."

The above statement is the embodiment of the whole Wingfoot agenda and
debate.  The first thing that Wingfoot should have done is contacted the ATC
and the NPS to make sure that they were aware of the situation.  Getting an
internet email campaign going should have the second thing...

Wingfoot is a "look-at-me" maverick.  He does things firstly to aggrandize
himself, then secondly to help the trail.  If there is no possible
aggrandizement, then he will not get involved.  A case in point:  There was
no personal benefit to Wingfoot to get involved in the collection of
desperately needed funds for the Place in Damascus, so he banned any
discussion of the effort.  Another case in point:  He must make sure that
everyone knows of his efforts in getting the new Trailplace up and running,
hence the 127 hours and $7000 embellishment...

I defy anyone to find anything that Wingfoot has done that has not also been
used to pump up his own image.  Read his own account of his 1989 hike.  Read
his own account of the first Trail Days, or the first Trail Fest.  Read his
own account of how he got his trail name.  Read his own accounts of how he
has been screwed by the ATC, and ALDHA.  Everything he writes and does has
himself as the hero.  Wingfoot's efforts towards the AT are secondary to his
efforts at perpetuating his own myth.  A truly altruistic benevolent person
never hypes his/her own accomplishments...

Now, people are going to say that I am missing the point, and I'll accept
that.  And people are going to say that I am just a bitter old man - and
I'll accept that too.  But you must accept that I am speaking from personal
knowledge, and not second hand innuendo.  I have been on this list since
January of 1997 ("two dogs, beans, and a rope" was my introduction), and was
also on ATML.  I watched as Wingfoot changed from being "just another
lister", to a person that hacked his own website in an effort to alienate
and discredit others.  He actively and purposefully split the Appalachian
Trail internet community, and that rift is what we are debating today.
Wingfoot is constantly hyping the need to understand the history of the
trail, and how it applies to us today (I do not disagree with this, by the
way).  I am hyping the need to understand the history of Wingfoot, and how
it applies to us today...

If anyone wishes to to understand the history of Pittsburgh, just ask.  I'll
lay out my meager credentials, and I'll take my lumps, and I'll do it
truthfully and without embellishment...

Pittsburgh