Hello, Get on your wallking shoes.
--------- Forwarded message ----------
, 27 Feb 2000 13:38:06 -0700 (MST)
Subject: Atta Girl!
[log in to unmask]>
90-Yr-Old Walks for Campaign Reform
A.P. INDEXES: TOP STORIES | NEWS | SPORTS | BUSINESS |
TECHNOLOGY | ENTERTAINMENT
Filed at 12:24 p.m. EST
By The Associated Press
Nothing seems to slow the 90-year-old grandmother who has
trekked 3,100 miles through
12 states in the name of campaign finance reform -- not
arthritis, blistering desert heat or a
foot of snow in Maryland.
More than a year after Doris Haddock set out for Washington
from the West Coast to draw
attention to her cause, the finish line is near. She was
resting Sunday near Bethesda, Md.,
and planned to complete her walk -- with an entourage of
supporters -- Tuesday from
Arlington National Cemetery to the Capitol.
Her message to politicians: The high cost of campaigns is
giving wealthy special interests the
only voice in Washington and it's shutting out the people.
She wants soft money contributions outlawed and politicians
who won't move toward
campaign finance reform rejected at the polls.
``Sometimes I think it was a fool's errand, but I think
there are more people in this country
who know what campaign finance reform means since I
started,'' said Haddock, who goes
by ``Granny D'' on her Web site, www.grannyd.com, which has
been chronicling the
adventure.
``I think I'm stronger than when I started. Certainly my
emphysema is better,'' she said.
The Dublin, N.H., woman began her journey New Year's Day
last year behind the Rose
Bowl Parade in Pasadena, Calif., and has continued almost
non-stop. Toting a backpack
canteen and wearing a big straw hat, she typically covered
about 10 miles a day.
She got the idea from the Tuesday Morning Academy, a group
of 19 women in Dublin that
meets weekly to discuss world affairs. While members of her
own family expressed
reservations, club members supported her cause, and some
walked part of the distance at her
side, she said.
Along the way, she caught the attention of local and
national media, as well as presidential
candidates Bill Bradley and John McCain.
By late last year, she was flying to New Hampshire to
appear
with Bradley, a Democrat, and
later to Washington for an appearance with McCain, a
Republican. Both support campaign
finance reform.
``McCain said to me, `Look at the press. This is the first
press I've had of this magnitude for
a very, very long time,''' Haddock said.
She had planned to arrive in Washington on her 90th
birthday
Jan. 24, but the media crush,
special appearances and a few set backs changed her
timetable.
Haddock was forced off the road early in her journey and
had
to be hospitalized for four
days after she became dehydrated in California's Mojave
Desert.
``A lot of people around me thought it was time I went
home,'' she said.
Instead, she walked 10 miles the day she left the hospital.
When she walked into snow-covered Maryland, she pulled out
her cross-country skis and
skimmed over 85 miles.
``People thought it strange down here that at 90 I can
still
ski,'' Haddock said.
In fact, she said she never thought about quitting during
the quest, although her legs
occasional cramped at night.
She said the trip has turned out better than she expected,
but she doesn't plan to repeat it.
``This is my last hurrah,'' she said. ``My walking is
done.''
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^^^^
If I keep a green bough in my heart,
the singing bird will come.
Chinese proverb
*************************************************************************
****
