Originally Posted by
Jack Tarlin
Quick comments regarding Mr. Warren Doyle's comments in #70, above:
Doyle's animus and bitterness towards the Billville group is long-standing and well known. Basically, his balls are frosted because he blames this group of people for helping getting him tossed off the ALDHA Board (which is true, they did indeed vote against him en masse, along with scores of other folks) And it bothers him immensely that Billville people are now quite active in ALDHA, an organization that Doyle has essentialy withdrawn from, for reasons of his own choosing.
But his comments in Post#70 above are unfair, unjustified, and untrue.
The drinking at Trail Days long preceded the appearance of the Billville group, and of course, Mr. Doyle is aware of this. In terms of alcohol abuse, the years that saw the most alcohol-related arrests and/or ticket citations by law-enforcement personnel actually took place several years before Billville even existed.....and of course, Mr. Doyle also knows this to be true. In short, his "history" of Trail Days and alcohol is incomplete at best, and disingenuous or false, at worst. In short, not for the first time, he's full of it.
Mr. Doyle is also perfectly aware that there has alweays been drinking at the Gathering also, including drinking by ALDHA officials, Board memebers, employeees of the Folklife Center, etc. And this hasn't been a problem, either. There was considerable drinking at the last Gathering, for example, and there were no problems that I'm aware of as a result of this. Mr. Doyle presumably knows this, too. Of course, he'd be in a better position to comment on this if he'd bother to actually attend the event in question, which he didn't, but this can't be helped.
Mr. Doyle is also aware of the other things that Billville people do......but of course he never speaks of these things. We've done a volunteer work project at Pine Grove Furnace Park for years, for example. And we've never seen Warren there. We've been active in Bob Peoples' post-Trail Days "Hardcore" Trail maintenance project since its inception.....but I've never seen Warren there. This past Tuesday, four out of five people on the Hardcore cooking crew were Billville people. Of the three people who have taken part in all seven Hardcore projects two out of three are Billville people, and the third is a friend of ours. Billville people manned the ALDHA information table at Trail Days this year....as they have for many years. How many hours did Waren put in at the booth this year? Billville people and their friends were active before, during, and after Trail Days, working with Trail Days officials and others to help the event run smoothly. How much work did Mr. Doyle do? It should also be added that on several occasions this past weekend, our camp was graced by the presence of Damascus' very friendly Chief of Police, who has become a friends of ours. In short, if our group constitutes some sort of imminent threat or danger at Trail Days, as Mr. Doyle asserts, this would certainly be news to people that actually live in Damascus, and work to keep that community safe.
I could go on, but I think you get the point. Mr. Doyle's post is nothing but bile and blather. If he actually had a beef with us, he was welcome to come by and address this in person......he certainly knows where we were camped, as he walked by on Sunday morning, no doubt eager to see piles of uncollected garbage, passed-out minors, pools of puke, and other unpleasantries. Of course, none of this was there, much to his disappointment, I'm sure. For 7 years, we've made a practice of leaving our camps in better condition than we found them, and of course this happened this past weekend in Damascus. If Doyle wishes to challenge this, then he should contact anyone in town or on the Trail Days Committee; then he can get back to us and tell us what he discovered.
In closing, there are folks here on Whiteblaze who think I have a real problem with Doyle.
Well yeah, but only when he says foolish or untrue things.
His post above, #70, is complete nonsense. If has a problem with any of my friends that make up the Billville group, then he should have the fortitude and integrity to address thee people personally.....if he's concerned and wishes to discuss what transpires at hiker events and get-togethers, well, he should actually bother to attend them, instead of commenting and complaining monthg later with a farrago of conjecture, hearsay, exaggeration, and falsehoods.
In short, his attitude regarding the Billville group is getting a bit tiresome.
He's essentially becoming a figure of increasing insignificance in ALDHA and the hiking comunity, and in his bitterness and self-pitying peevishness, he's striking out at us because he needs someone to blame.
Suggestion to Mr. Doyle: Lose the negativity. C'mon out, do some volunteer work. Join us at Pine Grove or Kincora some year. Find out who we are.
After all, that's what the folks in ALDHA did......which is why several of our members and friends now help lead that fine organization. Mr. Doyle could learn by this example. Gee, Warren: Hundreds and hundreds of folks have seen what sort of people make up the Billville community or associate with it, and they've seen fit to award some of these folks with positions of prominence and respect in the hiking community. These same hundreds of folks recently gave you the FEWEST number of votes in an ALDHA election, and they did this for any number of reasons. I don't expect Mr. Doyle to be elated over this, but he should at least understand the implications: People in the Billville group and their friends are very active in the long-distance hiker community, are respected by many in the community, and give a great deal back to the Trail every year.
Mr. Doyle could profit by their example.
I bet you're really in the CIA or something and do this for kicks. 
Or as I said before you are on the same meds as I am and just aren't taking them. 
dew
