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The Portlandian, the Internet's premier source of Tonya News
October 6, 2001 Edition
(C) 2001 Portland Ice Skating Society
http://www.geocities.com/portice
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It's been three months since our last issue. Three months seems
like a short time, but the world has changed quite alot since the
last Portlandian came out.
With this in mind, Tonya has issued the following message to her
fans in this time of world crisis:
http://www2.bluemountain.com/cards/boxb226632x1/cant72zcnb7xm6.ht
ml
I'm sure I speak for all our subscribers when I convey my deepest
sympathies to anyone reading this who has been affected by the
tragedies in New York and Washington. As the bulk of our
subscribers are located in the United States, this is clearly an
incident that will affect alot of Tonyaphiles quite hard. Tonya
and Linda would like you to know that you are in their prayers.
TONYA ON "THE WEAKEST LINK"
We have recently received word that Tonya has just finished
taping an appearance on an episode of this game show. For those
of you who haven't seen it, the format, which originated in
Britain on BBC2 last year, is basically the "Survivor" formula
applied to a traditional quiz show with members of competing
teams voting off the "weakest link" (i.e. least useful team
member). At this stage the date on which it will air is not
known, probably some time this month, but we will try to let you
know in advance. In the meantime, you can keep a beady eye on the
show's official web site at:
http://www.weakestlink.com/
TONYA'S APPEARANCE HITS A HOME RUN FOR SUNS BASEBALL TEAM
On June 29th, Tonya made a personal appearance at a minor league
baseball game in Florida. The occasion, organized by the
Jacksonville Suns team, went very well, with over 6700 people
attending, the 7th largest crowd of the team's 41 home games this
season. Tonya spent an hour and a half signing many of the 2000
miniature baseball bats that were given away to fans by a local
TV station as a promotion, autographing each in gold pen and
punctuating her signature with her trade mark smiley face. Then
she threw out the game's first pitch and spent the first inning
in the dugout chatting with Suns players.
Tonya also appeared on a couple of local radio stations while in
town: Rock 105 FM's "Lex and Terry" morning zoo and another
unnamed national radio program in the afternoon. The main topic
of conversation on the Rock 105 show was the now discredited
topless Vegas revue rumor. Tonya also took several calls,
including some from people wanting advice on trucks!
The event got good media coverage with the local paper (the
Florida Times-Union) running several articles. Regrettably, there
were also the usual pious letters from readers questioning
whether Tonya was a suitable role model to be invited to such an
event, but overall it was a fun and successful appearance for
Tonya. A couple of the minibats have already gone on eBay for
around $60 each!
1: **Mark Woods** You want fun? The ballpark is place to be
05/18/01
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-
online/stories/051801/spw_6206309.html
2: **Baseball** Tonya Harding coming to Wolfson Park tonight
06/29/01
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-
online/stories/062901/spb_6562582.html
3: **Baseball** Welcoming Tonya Harding 06/30/01
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-
online/stories/063001/spb_6574418.html
4: **Mark Woods** Signing bats a cruel irony for Harding 07/01/01
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-
online/stories/070101/spw_6577234.html
5: Letters from readers 07/03/01
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-
online/stories/070301/opl_6589243.html
6: Letters from readers 07/04/01
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-
online/stories/070401/opl_6597726.html
BARRACUDA CLUB APPEARANCE NO DRAG FOR TONYA
July 26th saw Tonya making another appearance, this time at a gay
nightclub in New York's Chelsea district where she judged a lip
syncing contest for a bunch of transvestites! Kim White of the
"Blades of Gold" site was at the event and reports that Tonya was
given a warm reception by the club patrons, many of whom waited
hours to see her. Two guys who came especially to see Tonya had
once skated with her. Dozens lined up for pictures with Tonya,
and again the local media gave her a good write up:
http://www.nydailynews.com/2001-07-
29/Metro_Sports/Other_Sports/a-119952.asp
Many patrons bought CD's and photographs, part of the proceeds of
which will be donated to charity (Tonya, by the way, was not paid
for this appearance). Tonya was on stage for about 10 minutes,
with the highlight being when the host asked her about her "bad
girl" reputation and Tonya poutily replied, "Well ... everybody
has to be a bad girl once in awhile!" to a storm of approval from
the crowd!
TONYA ON LARRY KING - YET AGAIN!
Tonya made her third appearance on CNN's Larry King Live briefly
in late August, discussing the hassles the media gave her, in the
context of the Gary Condit case (anybody remember him now)? Tonya
was on for about five minutes doing a remote from Portland, and
was mainly just recounting her bad experiences with the media in
'94. She avoided giving any opinion on the Condit business,
saying she hadn't been following the story, and in any case all
she would have to go on were media reports and of course, who can
trust the media?
There's a transcript at:
http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0108/23/lkl.00.html
The main item of interest is that at one point Tonya implies that
her relationship with her mother has improved somewhat, but
unfortunately Larry didn't explore that further.
There's another one of her June 6 2000 appearance as well:
http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0006/06/lkl.00.html
MORE TONYA PHOTOS ON-LINE
Recently the "Blades of Gold" site has uploaded some new photos
of Tonya taken by Charlie Covell. They can be found in galleries
8 and 9.
2001: SKATE ODDITIES
Tonya on a Wheaties box? It could have happened! David House has
the pictures on his site to prove it:
http://www.tonyaharding.org/news/wheaties.html
This item, which showed up on eBay recently, was a gift to Tonya
by the General Mills cereal company and was one of only five
prototypes ever made (apparently to link in with their "Breakfast
of Champions" slogan). The photo shows Tonya from her 1991
Nationals victory where she became one of only two women to
perform the triple Axel jump, a distinction she still holds to
this day.
This isn't the only food-related Tonya item to show up on eBay
either: a few months ago we spotted this "Tonya hot sauce and
hubcap holster" there as well:
http://www.geocities.com/portice/sauce1.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/portice/sauce2.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/portice/holster1.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/portice/holster2.jpg
According to the seller's blurb, the hot sauce was marketed at
one stage by an Oregon company, while the "holster" hung in a bar
in Oregon for nine months and is made from shower curtain vinyl.
THE HARAN CHRONICLES: PART 9
Lots of odds & ends in Joe's message this issue, including yet
another example of how Portland skating officials in cahoots with
a prominent insurance company conspired to sabotage an
opportunity for Tonya:
26 December 1999
Terry Hall, Head
Special Duties Section
Portland Ice Skating Society
Christchurch
New Zealand
Hello, Terry!
I know what you want from me are anecdotes involving Tonya, not a
lot of my philosophy; so I'll try and remember some specific
occasions.
Wasn't that special? Tonya's love for animals knew no bounds.
Once, when returning home with Gillooly, Tonya noticed a calf
lying on its side in an adjacent pasture. She got out of the
truck, climbed through the fence and went to its side. She
perceived that it was very sick; so she insisted Gillooly go to
their nearby house, telephone a veterinarian and fetch blankets.
She wrapped the calf in the blankets. The veterinarian finally
arrived; and he stated the calf would need intravenous feeding
and other medical aid in order to survive. By that time, the
owners of the agricultural property had arrived on the scene.
Tonya pleaded with them to help save the calf, but they refused
to authorize the expenditure. The farmer's young son said:
"It's only a useless calf." Tonya was led away in tears, still
pleading with the farmer to save the animal's life. Her pleas
fell on deaf ears.
Minutiae redux: when Tonya and I would go out for breakfast
she'd always order bacon, eggs, orange juice and coffee -- and
she's always stipulate that she wanted her bacon "limp." At
rinkside, Tonya would put so much cream and sugar in her coffee
that Maggie Morris used to refer to it as "Tonya's milkshakes."
I noticed that when at home, Tonya seldom ate more than small
salads which she would prepare herself.
By the way, when I first met Tonya she had already left Gillooly
and was living with a young woman about her own age. They had
met at some event and took a liking to one another. (I wish I
could remember her name!) Anyway, Tonya and she wanted to work
together on skating-related matters. One of these was a clinic
Tonya and she would conduct at the ice-skating facility in
Eugene, Oregon (this state's second-largest city and the home of
my alma mater). That ice-skating club had already agreed to the
clinic. There would be a $50 charge for each person attending
the clinic, which was a hell of a bargain considering the level
of expertise Tonya would be providing! Her friend was experienced
in competitive jazz-dancing, so Tonya would teach skating
techniques while her friend taught dancing techniques.
This happened during the spring of '93; and everything was going
as planned when, at the last moment, the Eugene Ice Skating Club
cancelled the clinic. No satisfactory reason was ever given.
Tonya and her friend were devastated by this turn of events,
which surely had roots in the USFSA's anti-Tonya campaign. This
friend and roommate of Tonya's was an attractive and personable
young woman; and she wanted to help Tonya organize her time. She
became the keeper of Tonya's schedule; and she extended me every
consideration and courtesy. It is unfortunate that their lives
were not more compatible and that Gillooly stepped up his dirty
tricks, for Tonya surely would have benefitted from her
organizing skills and her perceptive judgment regarding who was a
real friend of Tonya's and who wasn't -- who should get some of
Tonya's time and who shouldn't, et cetera.
They were, however, compatible in many ways: they were both
dynamic and energetic people; and they seemed to have genuine
respect for each other's talents. They had a lot of fun and
laughs together and were true buddies. But, as happened in other
filial relationships, Tonya's inability to maintain friendly
relationships (not so much a conscious effort but rather a lack
of the necessary skills) manifested itself -- not without
Gillooly's "help," of course.
I'm sorry for all these unpleasant anecdotes, but I've been
holding off on relating them. But, what's the point? You
obviously care about Tonya and would not publish anything of a
private nature. I believe those of us trying to help Tonya via
media of communication must, if possible, be armed with as much
factual information as possible. That way, we can forsee danger
zones or earlier recognize hidden agendas being pushed by
Tonyaphobes.
Anyway, here's the last unpleasant anecdote I can recall today;
and it doesn't in and of itself denigrate Tonya in spite of the
fact that it was an extremely unfortunate development. At the
Pacific Northwest Figure Skating championships in '93 (the "death
threat" tournament), there was to have been a reception for Tonya
sponsored by the insurance company that was one of the
tournament's major sponsors (the John Hancock Life Insurance
Company of Boston in the State of Massachusetts).
This was a wonderful development, as it was to be a formal
reception replete with big shots and folks with lots of money.
Well, shortly before the tournament began Tonya was asked to meet
with the local John Hancock representative "to iron out some
details." Oddly, she was asked to come alone. She recognized the
red flag waving in her brain at this "come by yourself" request.
She went, but in the company of Gillooly. Upon arriving at the
insurance-company's Portland offices, she was greeted by several
people: one of them was an influential local figure-skating
leader (whose name I cannot recall). Upon completion of friendly
greetings and small talk, this skater-boss woman began to lecture
Tonya about her behavior and stated that she would have to change
her ways, et cetera. This was, I recall, in reaction to the
Julie (J. E.) Vader column in "The Oregonian" which had painted a
picture of Tonya as a party girl with loose morals who would be a
bad influence on young people, et cetera.
While the others attending this ambush of a meeting sat back in
silence, the woman went on about all manner of supposed incidents
involving Tonya. Finally, having heard enough and being
mystified as to the reasoning behind this meeting which she was
to have attended alone, Tonya argued back in attempts to refute
this woman's allegations of inappropriate conduct, et cetera.
Tonya then excused herself and left the meeting, as would have
anyone thus waylaid by unethical behavior.
A few days later, it was announced that the reception for Tonya
had been cancelled! When I looked into this matter, I learned
that the John Hancock representative and the skate-boss lady were
spreading the defamation that Tonya had arrived at the meeting
drunk and was abusive of those who met with her. The insurance-
company man reportedly asserted that "We just can't take that
chance" of Tonya's embarrassing the company by inappropriate
behavior at the planned reception. Others at the meeting said
that wasn't so and supported the above, pro-Tonya, version of
events. It is my belief that the USFSA, the local skating lobby
and influential people in New England (Kerrigan's territory)
persuaded John Hancock big shots in Boston to cancel the
reception and so not afford Tonya that avenue of validation. The
"meeting" would be made into a vehicle for rationalizing the
cancellation.
Well, that's all for now. Keep in touch. Best wishes and keep
up the good work!
See ya!
//SIGNED//
JOSEPH A. HARAN, JR.
JAH/jh
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VISIT THESE GREAT TONYA WEB SITES:
PortIce - http://www.geocities.com/portice
David House - http://www.tonyaharding.org
Charlie Main - http://www.charliesweb.com/tonya/tonya.html
Puppetboy - http://www.puppetland.com/mirrortony2.html
Valerie Smith - http://www.olywa.net/radu/valerie/LilHam.html
Swan Lake - http://members.tripod.com/~TonyaHarding/index.html
Blades of Gold - http://members.tripod.com/tmhfan/index.html
Pegasus Times - http://www.pegasustimes.com/harding/
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