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SLO Christmas Parade 2000 - Letter to the Editor of The Tribune

Here's the Letter to the Editor which I submitted to The Tribune regarding the club's participation in the 2000 SLO Christmas Parade.

Editor,

What a pleasure it was for myself and fellow Jeep four-wheeler Bryan Archambeault to participate in our first Christmas Parade in downtown SLO. The enthusiastic crowd clearly enjoyed the demonstrations of our vehicles' capabilities when I ran my Cherokee up and over his Wrangler's tires. Since the parade we have been avalanched with kudos. We were gratified to take part in the SLO tradition, and the entire SLO County 4WD Club thanks the parade organizers and the community for inviting us to participate.

The Tribune's Dec. 2 article, "For the Love of the Season," however, got one thing wrong. The article says I "lurched [my] Jeep up the side of another to the sound of crunching fenders." Actually, such wheel stunts—famous in the 4x4 community for providing impressive demonstrations—are simple to perform. And, fortunately for our wallets, they do not cause any damage to the Jeeps other than cosmetic tire marks—less damage than they suffer on some of our rock-crawling trips.

It's for those trips to the wilderness' rugged terrain that our club really exists. Each member of our growing association has a deep love for the outdoors, proven by our less-public actions. We drive safely, responsibly and soberly. We strive to follow the "Tread Lightly" philosophy, to clean up our trash and that of others, and to educate about the importance of caring for the backcountry.

Again, thanks to the parade spectators for their enthusiastic response to our entry in the SLO Christmas parade. We look forward to another year of "wheeling" and another parade in 2001.

Berkeley Johnston
San Luis Obispo

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