[at-l] Mean Jeanne

[rcli4 at comcast.net (rcli4@comcast.net)]

Well we lived through the storm.  I made a few observations while it was here.
!...I am tired of hurricanes and all we get are the tornadoes spun off them
2 tornadoes suck
3 Someone asked a while back how fast the wind has to blow to knock you down.  Well a constant wind of 50 will not do it. My pomerainian ran out into the storm and I spent about an hour looking for her.  She was in my nursery standing in 4 inches of water (she is only 6 inches tall) On the way back to my wash house I was lookin at my hand held wind meter. A gust of 63 will roll you like a drunk down a hill.  I lost my wind gauge but held on to the dog.
4 marmot presips don't keep you dry if you lay down face first in 8 inches of water.
5.wind will blow water through a concrete block building
6 The St. Johns river came out of it's banks and washed 3 months work away.  Most of the landscaping we have done for the super bowl is somewhere between Orlando and Cuba.
7 Sometimes it is good to sell your company before the storms hit :>))
8 My house just don,t look the same with out a front porch
9 My nieghbor liked it better attatched to my house than in his front yard.
10 A stormy day in Florida is better than a snow day up north :>))
Still lovin Florida ClydeFrom TrailR at aol.com  Mon Sep 27 09:58:19 2004
From: TrailR at aol.com (TrailR@aol.com)
Date: Mon Sep 27 11:06:06 2004
Subject: [at-l] Camping for the Gathering and the Use of Alcohol
Message-ID: <1e1.2b71db74.2e89929b@aol.com>

In a message dated 9/27/2004 10:09:31 AM Eastern Daylight Time,  
spiriteagle99@hotmail.com writes:



Nope - didn't say there were brawls - at the Gathering.  Yet.  But there sure 
have been some "on the Trail" in the  past.

**
A brawl on the trail closed "panarchy" to hikers (in Hanover) last year.  Not 
sure if it stayed closed, but a drunken thru hiker was the cause.
**



You're right - it's not just an ALDHA thing.  It's also a  "Trail thing"  - 
and a "societal thing."
But that doesn't mean  ALDHA has to put up with it to the point that ALDHA as 
an organization  gets a rep that we don't want - or until someone gets hurt 
(as almost  happened last year) - or until the Folklife Center (or Hanover) 
decides  that we're not welcome there anymore.  
**
True
**

For  those of us who've been 
around a while, the atmosphere at Hanover has  gotten decidedly colder and 
ALDHA is a lot less welcome than we once  were.  Nor is the Folklife Center 
as accomodating as it once  was.

**
This is something that the everyday ALDHA members don't hear about, or  
notice. 
Everything seems to go so smoothly at the Gatherings. Maybe these  issues 
should be discussed more publicly at the ALDHA meetings (at the  Gathering).
**





The "one-size-fits-all" statement is entirely accurate  the way it's phrased. 
Those who CANNOT give up alcohol for a  weekend do have an alcohol problem. 
**
My mistake. I missed the emphasis on cannot.
**


Those who, like you, don't want to give it up - fit into the  next 
category, not this one. The problem here is that most of those who  CANNOT 
give it up for the weekend will place themselves in the next  category too.   
I like an occassional beer or two myself -  especially when I get to gether 
with friends I haven't seen for a  while.  But I don't do so at the Folklife 
Center because I respect  their hospitality.

As for "enforcing it all along" - it has been  publicly anounced at every 
Gathering and it's been printed in some of the  Gathering literature.  In the 
past, AT hikers have been assumed to be  adult enough to abide by rules.  It 
hasn't been deemed necessary - or  even desirable - to "enforce" those rules. 
But that's apparently  changed.
**
Hikers are a sort of counter culture, SOME of them are not good at  following 
rules,
maybe "Hike Your Own Hike" gets carried a bit too far where alcohol is  
concerned.
Drugs too...
**


Yeah  - agreed.  But those few a$$***** will, if not checked, destroy the  
organization.  Personally, I'd much rather that we self-police  ourselves.  
But that ain't gonna happen because of the nature of  hikers.  There are too 
many who think the "Hike your own hike" mantra  gives them license to do 
whatever they want - including getting drunk and  disorderly, burning the 
shelter down and hassling the locals. Or screaming  their way through the 
night and keeping others awake.  And there are  too many of us who look at 
their BS and tell ourselves that it's not our  business.  So we don't do 
anything about it --- and they get away  with it - and the rest of us pay the 
price by getting a rep as a rowdy  organization.  Not acceptable - it is most 
certainly OUR  business.  We lost one campsite at Hanover because of that 
kind of  behavior.  And we may eventually lose Storrs's Pond if there are too 
 
many repeats of last years performance.


**
I stayed at Storrs campground last year and never saw any  bad  behavior, 
just 
noise (up the hill). What were the big issues last year, so we can avoid  
them this 
year at the new campground?  Just because we have a "drinking" camping  area, 
doesn't mean the bad behavior should be overlooked there.
**
 
hotdog