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letters
CBC’s woes its own fault
are just beginning. How wonderful!
To the Editor:
I’m surprised that Just Out would quote a
single source about the activities of the old can­
nabis buyers club [“Up in smoke,” Just Out, Jan.
3,1997] as completely credible. David Olstein is
not and never was an officer of [the Portland]
CBC. He is only accurately described as Marc
Brown’s partner. Diane Densmore’s descriptions
of mismanagement, unethical activity, vindic­
tiveness and hoarding for a select few have been
echoed by many people many times in phone calls
to Portland NORML [National Organization for
the Reform of Marijuana Laws].
The facts about Marc Brown’s relationship
with Portland NORML are these:
1) Marc attended one or two NORML meet­
ings where he spoke once about Portland CBC.
2) He made application to Portland NORML
for membership. His check for $5 bounced. He
had no further involvement.
CBC’s history under Marc Brown (and a host
of other interchanging officers) includes the first
two newsletters containing Marc’s negative state­
ments about individuals associated with CBC. It
was at that point, about 18 months ago, that their
problems with suppliers began. From that point,
CBC began to erode as a viable group supplying
medical marijuana to those that need it.
David Olstein narcing on Phil Smith is unfor­
givable. Phil Smith is kind, generous to a fault,
unrefuted in his Portland NORML releases, and
an activist for medical marijuana reform also.
Geez, I wonder how many suppliers looked at the
newsletters and Phil’s bust and wondered when
their names would appear somewhere because
they displeased someone in a very small group of
people.
The only mistrust and infighting I see going on
is Marc Brown/David Olstein and...
Eric C. Simpson
Lincoln City
Bill Wells
Portland
T.D. Miller, director
Portland NORML
A hard, hard blow
Challenges just beginning
To the Editor:
My best Christmas present came several weeks
early this year. My doctor at OHSU called with
the results of my most recent blood work. After
over 10 years of being HIV positive and two near-
fatal illnesses—undetectable!
Needless to say, I was floored. If this could
happen to me, it could happen to anybody. Why
me, anyway? Why not my friends who had died?
And what does this really mean?
That last question has occupied my days and
nights ever since, and having been in conversa­
tion with friends across the country I am coming
to understand that I am not alone. I honestly never
thought I would see this day. I vacillate between
cautious optimism and wild jubilation, even as I
see there are many new issues before us. I realize
that while I am incredibly fortunate to be linked
with programs that make the new drug “cock­
tails” available to me, countless thousands are
not. Even as I am feeling better, I cannot think of
returning to work unless I can find employment
with insurance that will cover the benefits that I
now enjoy. My partner and I are thinking about
long-term goals together for the first time in our
relationship. It is amazing, exciting, challenging,
wonderful.
It occurs to me that there are many ideas to
share, and much that we can learn from each other
and develop together at this time. Consequently,
I am working to develop retreats here at the beach
for others who are also in the process of restruc­
turing their lives and outlooks. These retreats will
be very affordable and in a delightful setting, with
plenty of free time built in to enjoy nature and
each other. [For more information about the beach
retreats, see "Get a life!” in the Bulletin Board of
the Out About Town section.]
The challenges are not over yet—in fact, they
Not the whole picture
To the Editor:
In response to The Boston AIDS Writers Group
article [“The great debate,” Just Out, Dec. 20,
1996], it should be pointed out that two recently
published articles in leading scientific journals
disprove Dr. David Ho’s hypothesis of rapidly
reproducing CD4+ T cells being destroyed by
huge amounts of virus from the time of infec­
tion—the so-called “sink theory” of AIDS. One
article states the following conclusion “[0]ur
data do not support the idea of high rates of
production and destruction of CD4+ T cells as
depicted in the ‘sink model’...our data indicate
that the bulk of CD4+T cells in HIV-infected men
is turning over at the same rate as in healthy
persons,” (source: Wolthers, Science, Nov. 29,
1996). The second article includes this conclu­
sion: "Our data show no huge daily turnover in
these cells in individuals infected with HIV-1,
and do not support the idea of high rates of
production and destruction as depicted in the
‘sink model’ of HIV-1 infection,” (source:
Miedema, Lancet, 1996, 348: 1574).
Once again the AIDS establishment has ac­
cepted a hypothesis as proven fact without confir­
matory studies. How long will it be before the
media report these new findings or until AIDS
physicians learn of these studies? We are left with
the previous theory of a virus that is very hard to
find and is found in very small quantities even in
people very ill with AIDS diseases.
To the Editor:
About a week ago my daughter called me at
work. She’s 18, in her first year of college and
living on her own in Eugene, so phone calls at work
usually mean she needs a loan. This time was
different; she was crying. “Dad, Cheri died yester­
day,” she said, “I just read it in the newspaper.”
Well, like lots of gay men I’ve grown accustomed
to death, but this one was a hard, hard blow.
I met Cheri Snell at Dorris Ranch, the oldest
filbert farm in Oregon. It’s run by a local park
district as a living history farm, and Cheri was the
education coordinator there. When I moved into
the farmhouse as a site manager, it took us about
five minutes to drop our pearls and become pals.
And my daughter, 14 at the time, took to her like
a big sister. She was one of those amazing adults
who can engage a whole flock of kids at once—
a regular kid-magnet. One of my strongest visual
memories of her will always be Cheri’s lanky
form bending over a sea of little heads to show
them some bug, or flower, or leaf.
Cheri was irrepressible. I never had a chance
to see her again after she learned she had breast
cancer, but mutual friends have told me she didn’t
let it keep her down for long. I imagine her getting
up now, somewhere else, and dusting herself off
for a new start as a goddess. She was out and
willing to say so, but she wore it more like a big
red baseball cap than like armor. She was a mom
and a partner and a sister and a daughter, and a
mentor to my child. She was a first-class citizen
not just another taxpayer, if you know what I
mean. Her behavior in itself put the lie to so many
of the mean things that are said and believed about
lesbians and gay men.
I [want to] honor Cheri by emulating her, and
let the community out there know that there’s a
great example to follow.
Dave Skilton
Salem