TTTTT H   H  EEEEE
  T   H   H  E
  T   HHHHH  EEEEE
  T   H   H  E
  T   H   H  EEEEE

PPPP   OOOO  RRRR  TTTTT L       A   N   N DDDD  I   A   N   N TM
P   P O    O R   R   T   L      A A  NN  N D   D I  A A  NN  N
PPPP  O    O RRRR    T   L     AAAAA N N N D   D I AAAAA N N N
P     O    O R   R   T   L     A   A N  NN D   D I A   A N  NN
P      OOOO  R   R   T   LLLLL A   A N   N DDDD  I A   A N   N

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The Portlandian, the Internet's premier source of Tonya News

August 2, 2003 Edition
(C) 2003 Portland Ice Skating Society
http://www.oocities.org/portice
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PUNCH-UP AT THE SILVER CITY SALOON

Today will see Tonya take part in her fifth professional boxing 
match, this time at the Silver City Cabaret in Dallas, Texas. 
According to a press release sent out by AMPRO Boxing, who appear 
to be the organizers, Tonya will be the featured fighter with an 
undercard of assorted local talent, the first time Tonya has been 
the main event. It states that all proceeds will benefit Pic-A-
Pal, an animal welfare charity. David House, who operates the 
tonyaharding.org web site, plans to be at the event so for the 
first time we'll actually get a real Tonyaphile's ringside 
account of Tonya's boxing skills rather than the usual 
Tonyaphobic poop the regular media puts out.

At this time there seems to be some confusion as to exactly who 
Tonya's opponent will be, with some sources initially predicting 
Kendra Davis while others name Holly Dunaway. Even Tonya seemed 
unsure in a radio interview on Thursday. Dunaway, whose record so 
far is 3-3-0, is described as a junior flyweight while as Tonya 
has been competing as featherweight. A picture of her can be 
found at the WBAN site at http://www.wban.net/what's.htm.

She's a mean looking chick and with six fights under her belt she
represents someone of similar experience to Tonya - a step up 
from the newbies and couch potatoes she's been fighting so far. 
We hope that whoever her opponent turns out to be, they will be 
swiftly done away with by Tonya.


YET ANOTHER NEW TRAINER FOR TONYA

July saw Tonya gain another new trainer, Paul Brown of Portland, 
who replaces Will Massie and his previously fired boss Jeff 
Hargis. Linda Lewis tells us that Tonya began working with Brown 
at the Grand Avenue Gym a month ago. Linda says:

   It's wonderful that Tonya is working with Paul Brown. I really    
   like him and have a lot of respect for him. He's a kind man, 
   who really does want what's best for Tonya!! So, as long as 
   this is her chosen profession now, she needs to be trained 
   correctly.

Brown's previous experience is extensive, having staged the
Pan American Games Trials and U.S Olympic team training camps and
exhibitions in Oregon during the mid-1990's. He's also a former 
amateur boxer and professional promoter in Idaho who ran training 
camps for heavyweights Riddick Bowe and Michael Spinks. Linda 
tells us that Tonya is very pleased to be working with him. There 
is already some evidence that Brown's training is having some 
effect, as observers report that Tonya's boxing has measurably 
improved from her previous style, which even Tonya herself admits 
was closer to brawling than real boxing. Even Sue TL Fox of WBAN, 
who has rubbished Tonya's boxing efforts in the past, has 
commented on the improvement (and even describes her as a 
"world class skater"!). Wonders will never cease. Could it be 
that the boxing fraternity is finally taking Tonya seriously?

Kerry Eggers, writing in a brief item recently in the "Portland 
Tribune" (http://www.portlandtribune.com/archview.cgi?id=19377) 
has the following from Brown about Tonya:

	"She has done a beautiful job," says Brown, who works with 
   about 15 Portland area boxers. "On Saturday, you are going to 
   see a whole new Tonya Harding. You are going to see a boxer 
   instead of a street fighter."
	Brown says he intends to be a good influence on Harding.
	"Tonya is really trying to get her life together," Brown 
   says. "She's picking the right company to hang around. She 
   said, 'Paul, I don't want to associate myself with anything 
   bad anymore.' A lot of the things that happened in her life, 
   it was the company she was keeping. She's trying to better 
   herself now."
	"The next five or six fights will tell the difference," 
   Brown says. "If she sticks to what she has learned over the 
   last six weeks, then you can start putting her in there with 
   Christy Martin, Leila Ali and the great women fighters. Her 
   competitive edge is unreal. It is what made her so great as a 
   skater."

Brown also mentions that Tonya is planned to appear on the 
"Tonight Show" in September.


MEDIA ROUNDUP

These aren't all the media Tonya's been involved with recently - 
she's also been busy with several radio interviews in recent 
days. These include appearances on the Liz Wilde Show, the Pugs & 
Kelly Show, and the Bo Roberts Show.

Tonya is featured in an article in a recent issue of "Sports 
Illustrated" by Ed Swift, who wrote several articles about Tonya 
in the early/mid-90's. It appears that it's mainly a rehash of 
the events of '94, with an update on Tonya, Oksana and a certain 
skater from the Boston area. Linda also says it has a great 
picture of Tonya in a boxing pose.

Unfortunately the article does not appear to be available on-
line, only in the print edition, however a table of contents and 
a picture of the cover (in case you happen to come across a copy 
sometime) can be found at:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/features/cover/03/0630/

The Oregonian also featured another pro-Tonya article by John 
Nolan on July 18. Unfortunately this is also not avaialble on 
line to our knowledge.

KABC is reporting that Tonya has been offered big bikkies
to fight in Japan, (where there has long been a loyal Tonya 
following even back in her skating days). Apparently six figure 
sums have been quoted, which would hopefully be enough to finally 
get Tonya out of the financial mess she seems to have constantly 
been in. It also says that Tonya has quit smoking.

Finally, Leo (who came up with much of the above stuff) has found
another article about a potential Tonya opponent:

http://www.post-gazette.com/neigh_south/
20030723s51boxer0723p5.asp

Personally, we have to wonder whether Tonya quitting smoking is a 
good idea: sure, it's great for her health, but terrible for 
maintaining her "bad girl" image. One possible solution is for 
her to just pretend to smoke. Perhaps she could take a leaf out 
of a certain former President's book - and just not inhale!


A FISTFUL OF WEB SITES

With Tonya's decision to change sports has come the need for her 
fans to learn a whole new lingo. If you're like most Tonyaphiles, 
you're probably more familiar with axels and Ina Bauers than left 
hooks and uppercuts and have probably found the transition rather 
jarring. In order to get Tonyaphiles up to speed on Tonya's new 
vocation, we've therefore put together this list of generic 
boxing sites that will provide you with what you need to know:

- WBAN (Women Boxing Archive Network) http:://www.womenboxing.com/ 
  - the internet's premier women's boxing site.

- East Side Boxing - http://www.eastsideboxxing.com/ - general 
  boxing site. News can be found at 
  http://www.eastsideboxing.com/news.html

- Max Boxing - http://www.maxboxing.com/ -  another large boxing 
  site. Latest boxing news can be found at: 
  http://www.maxboxing.com/News/newslinks.asp (warning - full of 
  alot of slow-loading, memory-hogging and totally unnecessary 
  animations. Best if you put this in your "restricted sites" 
  zone or you'll be waiting all day for it to load).

- rec.sport.boxing - the main boxing newsgrroup. Contains the odd 
  reference to Tonya, not usually flattering.

- Yahoo!'s listing for the pugilistic art:  
  http://dir.yahoo.com/Recreation/Sports/Boxing/


WHEN THE MOON IS IN THE SEVENTH HOUSE...

Recently we discovered something that's just what every groovy 
new-age Tonyaphile needs - Tonya's astrological chart:

http://www.khaldea.com/charts/tonyaharding.shtml

Whether it's good or bad karma isn't stated, nor do we know 
whether this means the dawning of an Age of Aquarius for Tonya. 
But we certainly think that even if you believe that astrology is 
a load of old Taurus droppings it's a safe prediction that Tonya 
will continue to be in the news.


COMPULSORY FIGURES: MOVE OVER, ROBERT MUGABE

Last issue we spoke of two major developments in the 
administration of competitive figure skating, namely the 
formation of two organizations dedicated to reforming the sport. 
The first, Skatefair, is an organization of concerned fans, 
whilst the second, the World Skating Federation, aims to replace 
the corrupt and decaying corpse known as the ISU with something 
better (which would be just about anything).

Since then not much has happened, so we were rather worried we'd 
have nothing to fill up this issue's commentary with. We needn't 
have been concerned. Just in time - indeed, almost as if on cue - 
the USFSA has handily come up with something to once again 
demonstrate its almost unrivaled arrogance and stupidity. 

This time it involves Ted Clarke, a USFSA official who has been 
most vocal in criticizing the ISU and its policies over the past 
few years. According to the latest edition of "Skating" magazine, 
the USFSA's imaginatively titled official journal, Clarke has 
been the subject of a "grievance" filed against him by the USFSA 
for his activities in speaking out, which are allegedly 
"detrimental to skating" (read: "detrimental to the ISU"). This 
is despite the fact that the USFSA recently endorsed the 
principles of the WSF (though not the organization itself) at its 
recent annual conference.

The USFSA's method of dealing with their beef with Clarke was 
classic stuff, typical of how they treated Tonya: firstly, they 
held an expedited hearing ahead of the Governing Council, despite 
giving no reason for the haste. The USFSA Grievance Committee 
appointed all the members of the hearing panel. The USFSA's 
attorney was also attorney for the governing panel. Finally, 
there can be no appeal from the decision, other than to a court 
of law. One is surprised they didn't build a gallows as well.

The outcome was inevitable, with Clarke having his eligibility 
stripped. His 32 years of dedicated service to the sport of 
figure skating has been repaid with a knife in the back and the 
equivalent of a dishonorable discharge. Frankly, it all sounds 
like the sort of thing you'd expect to happen in some tin-pot 
third world country like Zimbabwe, though not at all surprising 
from a tin-pot third-rate outfit like the USFSA. Thankfully it 
appears Clarke has got himself a lawyer and is talking legal 
action, so hopefully he'll be able to get the decision overturned 
(or at least a massive pile of damages).

Further details, including information on a letter-writing 
campaign to try and get the decision reversed, can be found at:

http://www.worldskating.org/news/clarke-sanction-23jul2003.shtml


EDITORIAL: IS MARTHA STEWART THE TONYA HARDING OF BUSINESS?

The past weeks have seen the indictment of Martha Stewart, the 
home economics tycoon whose alleged insider-trading antics have 
become the latest in a series of shock revelations and outrages 
that have in recent months tarred the American business world 
with scandal. Looking at the way the media has reported on this, 
however, it's hard not to ask the question as to whether we're 
seeing a repeat of what happened to Tonya almost ten years ago.

There are certain disturbing parallels, namely:

- the case against Ms. Stewart, like that aagainst Tonya, is 
largely circumstantial: she just happened to sell some shares 
shortly before some bad news about the company drove down the 
price. While as this is right to make people suspicious and 
deserves investigation, it's hardly conclusive evidence. In 
addition, just like with the Kerrigan incident, at least one key 
witness has changed his story: an employee of Ms. Stewart's 
stockbroking firm who initially backed up her claim that she had 
standing instructions to sell once the price fell below a certain 
level has since claimed he was bribed to say this.

- as was the case with Tonya, Martha has onnly been charged with 
lying to investigators and covering up after the fact rather than 
with the original crime that instigated the investigation in the 
first place (insider trading).

-  as was the case with Tonya, the innocentt until proven guilty 
principle has once again gone out the window. Many commentators 
are already speaking as if Stewart's guilt is a foregone 
conclusion.

- a distinct double standard is at work. Allthough estimates of 
how much money Martha saved from her sale of her shares varies, 
most put it at under $60,000. Compare this with the $200 BILLION 
dollars lost in the Enron, Worldcom, Tyco, Global Crossing and 
other corporate scandals. Isn't that far more damaging to the 
economy? Why aren't Leno & co hammering these guys? Perhaps 
because an attractive woman doing something naughty is more 
interesting than a bunch of dull grey middle-aged men in dull 
grey suits doing something naughty. Or for that matter, a bunch 
of dim-wits trying to rig skating contests, whether by clubbing 
one of the contestants or nobbling the judges.

- the punishment already suffered by both wwomen is vastly 
excessive to their proven crimes so far. Tonya had her skating 
career destroyed for covering up, under duress, someone else's 
crime. And as a result of the scandal, Martha Stewart has 
resigned as head of her company and has already lost around $20 
million dollars of her personal wealth - many hundreds of times 
the amount which she would have saved from selling her shares 
early.

- even if Martha is acquitted she will likeely never be able to 
prove her innocence and will always be smeared with the aftermath 
of this incident, as is Tonya.


Fortunately, unlike Tonya, Martha Stewart still has the resources 
to mount a proper legal defense and has chosen to challenge the 
charges in court. So maybe this time we may see the truth come 
out. And let's get one thing straight: if Martha Stewart is found 
guilty of impropriety she deserves to be punished. The impact of 
white collar crime is often underestimated, in many cases costing 
people their savings and livelihoods. But the level of invective 
being hurled at Ms. Stewart has to give any Tonyaphile a 
depressing sense of deja-vu. We'd suggest that the real bad guys 
- whether they be sleazy Enron executives oor sleazy figure 
skating judges - deserve far more scrutiny by the media than 
Martha or Tonya.

Thankfully the Internet now gives people the opportunity to 
access alternative points of view in a way that wasn't possible 
for the average person back in the days of the Tonya/Nancy 
scandal. For those who want an different perspective to what the 
mainstream media is dishing up about Martha, we suggest you visit 
http://www.savemartha.com and check things out.

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VISIT THESE GREAT TONYA WEB SITES:

PortIce - http://www.oocities.org/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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