Hells Angel Appeals Fail to Resolve Olympic Dispute

They’re not exactly pen pals yet, but Hells Angel George (Gus) Christie said Monday he has received his second letter from Kennedy heiress Eunice Shriver.

And this time he did not like her message any better than the last time she wrote in March.

“I’m afraid we’re no farther along than when this whole problem started,” said Christie, the president of the Angels Ventura chapter.

Shriver’s letters--in response to dozens of phone calls by Christie--have centered on a disputed $3,000 that Christie collected from his biker buddies last summer as the entry fee to run a kilometer in last summer’s Olympic Torch Relay.

All the funds were supposed to benefit charity, and Christie earmarked his $3,000 donation for Special Olympics programs for mentally retarded children in Pottstown, Pa.

But Shriver, chairwoman of the board of Special Olympics Inc. in Washington, has refused to pass the money on to Pottstown.

In a letter dated May 8, she advised Christie of a longstanding policy under which funds are distributed on a 50-50 basis between Washington headquarters and state chapters--and not given directly to local chapters.

She said that Christie’s $3,000 had been divided between Special Olympics headquarters and a state chapter in Pennsylvania. She added that the mentally retarded children in Pottstown have benefited and will continue to benefit through the state’s largess.

“This looks like a chess game,” Christie said, “and the pawns are the Special Olympics participants. I’m at one end and Eunice is at the other. And I’m not sure she even knows what moves she’s making.”