Email from a lawyer

[attroll]

I got the following email in the webmasters email from a lawyer. I don't know why he could not post it himself. I guess the site was to complicated for him. But here it is in case someone wants to respond to it.

I am a lawyer who is investigating the trajic death of a 15 year old on the Trail. The death ocurred 6/15/03. We are bringing an action against the state facility which had her under detention at the time of her death. We have been told that a number of hikers saw her and heard her screaming at the adults who were present that she was sick and could not go on. She died of heat stroke. We ARE NOT suing any individual or organization in any way involved with the AT. This group of children were without guides and no guide, hiker or AT entity were involved. please help---send any information you mat have--even rumours to Brad C. Kaplan 7 Lenox Pointe, Atlanta. GA 30324 or to my e-mail address [email protected]. Thank you.

[gravityman]

Oh man, that really really stinks... If this rumor is true, someone is feeling really bad about that whole mess. And the poor girl and her family...

I don't understand who they are going after if no guides were with them...

Gravity Man

[tlbj6142]

Originally posted by gravityman
I don't understand who they are going after if no guides were with them...

Whomever this is...

against the state facility which had her under detention

Maybe she was with a "state run" day-camp?

[Lone Wolf]

A "hoods in the woods" program.

[tlbj6142]

Maybe "hiked straight"?

[Lone Wolf]

"Hiked Straight" is the gay teens group.

[tlbj6142]

Good point! I was thinking more along the lines of the old "Scared Straight" program in which they took "troubled youths" to prisons and had the prisoners yell at them for a day, or so, about how bad prison life is.

[gravityman]

But wouldn't a hoods in the woods program have guides with them?

Gravity Man

[tlbj6142]

Probably not. As we know you don't really need one on the AT. Probably just a few "paid volunteers" working off their AmeriCore time.

[Spirit Walker]

In 1988 I met a group of hoods in the woods. They had leaders, but the leaders were really really awful. They couldn't keep up with the kids, forgot the food, (they stopped at a 7-11 and bought three days of candy bars for food) and left the kids entirely to their own devices. They hiked Springer to Neels Gap. Two of the leaders went ahead of the group to go pick up the car, two of the leaders stayed behind because they were sore and hurting, and the kids were left to wait by the road for six hours with no food or money until the other leaders came back. The Hansons gave the kids dinner and chewed out the leaders when they finally showed up. Some of those kids were really hard core - I'm surprised they didn't run away.

We met other groups of hoods in the woods. Some had responsible leaders who wanted the kids to learn something, some were useless and the kids looked on the hikes as punishment only.

[Youngblood]

Unfortunately the lawyer didn't mention where on the AT this occured and since it is a big trail I did a web search and came up with this newspaper article:

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/met...3/05hiker.html

Oddly, the dates don't quite match, the lawyer stated 6/15/03 but the newspaper article is dated 7/05/03 and says she was found on wednesday, which would have been July 2nd. Anyhow, the newspaper article said the location was along the 'Roller Coaster' in Virginia and it was a 2-day hiking trip. I would thing this is the same incident and that the lawyer's date is incorrect. So, if you were hiking along the area of the 'Roller Coaster' in Virginia on July 1st or 2nd, 2003 you may have information that the lawyer is interested in.

Youngblood

[attroll]

There is a link on this site started by PushingDaisies whom had spent the night with the group and saw some of what happened the next day.

http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/show...highlight=died

[Youngblood]

So maybe PushingDaisies should contact the lawyer listed on the first post of this thread.

Youngblood

[attroll]

I have emailed her about it.

[Montana]

I was out hiking this section around the time of this poor girl's death. I was a few days away when this happened, so I only heard about it via word of mouth. Register entries said the girl had been complaining excesivly from the start, the leaders did not notice any thing was wrong till too late because she had always been complaining. I suggest that the lawyer look into getting copies of these registers, there was first hand knowledge in them.

- Big Montana

[attroll]

Here is a follow-up from the lawyer.

I appreciate your taking the time to post the e-mail I sent regarding the death of 15 year old hiker, Danita. My office is having a host of internet troubles and viruses and, because of the gravity of this issue, I am sending e-mails to whomever I am capable of sending them to that I believe may be able to help. It seems that there was some question on the forum as to who was being held responsible for Danita's death since there were no instructors on the trip. No one related to the Appalachian Trail or any hiking guide or instructor is being sued. Danita was under the care and supervision of a school/rehabilitation facility located here in Georgia. The teachers/counselors planned a hiking trip for the 14-15 year old children, yet the teachers had no understanding of hiking procedures or medical emergencies. Danita was crying, passing out, and collapsing for four hours suffering from heat exhaustion, yet the teachers forced Danita to keep hiking. Other hikers who tried to offer help and water were turned away and told that Danita was simply throwing a it/temper tantrum in order to get her own way. She was denied medical attention and was forced to continue on the hike, and, as a result, died of heat stroke. We are suing the school/detention center she was confined by, and perhaps the state of Georgia. We need help contacting the hikers who witnessed Danita before she died. We simply want to find out what happened from the people who were there, but we are having difficulty locating these people. Please contact our office with any info that you may be able to offer, or if possible, forward this message to someone you know who may be able to help. Thank you very much for your help - it is VERY much appreciated.

Angela Tagliapietra
Legal Assistant to Brad C Kaplan

[Rain Man]

Originally posted by attroll
I appreciate your taking the time to post the e-mail I sent regarding the death of 15 year old hiker, Danita. ... We need help ... We simply want to find out what happened from the people who were there, but we are having difficulty locating these people. Please contact our office with any info that you may be able to offer, ... Thank you very much for your help - it is VERY much appreciated.

But not appreciated enough to give us any contact information? GEEZ. If they really want help, you'd think they'd give phone numbers, fax numbers, email addresses, regular mail address, all sorts of contact info. But nada, zippo, nil, ... just a name, not even a location? Something isn't right.

[tlbj6142]

Originally posted by Rain Man
But not appreciated enough to give us any contact information?

It is in the first message of this thread.

[PushingDaisies]

I'm just getting home from the trail, so I didn't see this thread til now.

Thanks, Troll for emailing it to me.

[Nightwalker]

A "hoods in the woods" program.

I've ran into three of these kid's programs out on the trail. All three had very well-behaved, very polite kids. It seems as if, in these cases, the year-round whatever-camps had a really good effect on these kids.

I sincerely hope that the lawyer-thingy is just a troll on the e-mailer's part...

(edit) It appears not, however.

Frank