Easter request

[Ron Chrisley]

Connectionists:

As nice a gesture as it is, this "Easter request" should be ignored.  I'm
posting some news articles relevant to the message which indicate that
NO MORE CARDS SHOULD BE SENT.

Please do not waste anymore bandwidth by forwarding the message to other
mailing lists, bboards, or newsgroups.


     Ask for Cards, and Ye Shall Receive and Receive and Receive
			   by Douglas Burns
 
       WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- A 7-year-old English boy with cancer is
finding that once a story hits the modern-day grapevine of fax
machines and computer bulletin boards, it is impossible to stop.
       Critically ill with a rare brain tumor, Craig Shergold told his
parents and nurses at a British hospital in September of his wish
to be in the Guinness Book of World Records for owning the world's
largest collection of post cards. The same wish was fulfilled only
a year earlier for another English boy with cancer.
       Once the news was out, it flowed through every conceivable
medium to even the most unimaginable places on the globe.
       Budget Rent A Car in Miami got news about Craig from a Budget
office in Gibraltar and sent one of their employees out to alert
South Florida businesses.
       ``We also passed it around to all our offices in the nation,''
said Maria Borchers, director of travel marketing.
       Children's Wish International, a non-profit organization based
in Atlanta, is also working to get cards for Craig. One of its
appeals made its way to a computer bulletin board run by Bechtel, a
Maryland-based company with an office in Palm Beach Gardens.
       ``We are getting 10,000 to 15,000 cards for Craig per day,''
said Arthur Stein, director of Children's Wish International.
       But Craig doesn't want any more cards.
       In November, he received a certificate from Guinness after his
mountain-sized collection of 1.5 million cards broke the record set
in 1988 by Mario Morby, a 13-year-old cancer victim.
       Since then, Craig's dream has become a logistical nightmare for
his parents, phone operators and the Royal Marsden Hospital in
Surrey, England.
       Monday, the unofficial count for Craig's collection reached 4
million, said Mark Young, a Guinness Publishing Ltd. spokesmen. The
hospital has set up a separate answering service to implore callers
to refrain from sending more postcards.
       Despite pleas of mercy and reports in the media, hundreds of
post cards continue to pour into the hospital every day.
       ``Thank you for being so kind,'' said Maria Dest, a nurse at
Royal Marsden. ``But he really does not need any more post cards.''
       Dest said that whenever a corporation gets wind of Craig's
plight, the bundles of mail increase.
       ``As soon as it starts to slow down, it goes around again,'' she
said. Dest would not discuss the specifics of his condition. ``His
condition is deteriorating, but he is still able to talk and
function,'' she said.
       Young, with Guinness, said he gets several calls every day from
people who question if Craig Shergold even exists.
       ``This is definitely legitimate and Craig will be in the 1990
Guinness Book,'' said Young.
       But because of the problems the two appeals have caused, Young
said Guinness plans to discontinue the category.
       The public outpouring for Mario and now Craig surprised
virtually everyone involved, he said.
       ``These two boys really captured the public imagination,'' Young
said.
 
Daniel
 
It gets worse.  Some quotes from newsgroups (I assume they are true):

"Guinness has announced that this category will not be included in
future editions because attempts to break the record have taken
several lives.

One critically ill child suffocated when a stack of 500,000 cards fell
over on him."

and

"ok guys,

this story has been bouncing around the net for a while.  yes it is true,
but the kid has died already.  the parents have requested that no further
letters be sent.

this story has been on soc.singles, misc.misc, and several other boards for
the past few months.  it has been debated for a long while!  please don't
start this over again, the kid has died there is no purpose for bouncing
this any longer!!"


Ron Chrisley	chrisley at csli.stanford.edu
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