I just read Henry Kliebenstein's article ("Steer clear of those artificial sweeteners" Sierra Sun page B2 Feb. 17) on artificial sweeteners and thank you for getting the word out.

Just Google aspartame and poison and you will have a lot to write about. A year ago I thought I was going to die. I put everything in my wife's name and I had been feeling sick for a few years. I was getting allergies I never had before and highly sensitive to formaldehyde, which is in plywood and I work around. I could smell it across the street and had to stay away from it or have allergy symptoms.

Last November I was starting to have debilitating pains in my hands. I thought I would have to stop working all together. I had poisoning symptoms so I Googled formaldehyde to see how bad it was in the products I work around and aspartame came up. I had been using aspartame in my coffee and everything you would put sugar on for four years and I was floored to find out it metabolizes into formaldehyde. I also saw stories that paralleled mine. I stopped taking this drug (aspartame) and all the symptoms went away - thank goodness.

But I still couldn't get away from it. I was chewing gum with it and I found out we were giving chewable vitamins to our child that also contained the poison. Do you know there are about 500 products that have this in them?

So do some reading online and get the word out please.

James Patzke

Glenshire



Farewell to

Thousand Mile



After 11 years, Thousand Mile will be closing its retail location in Truckee. A favorite of locals and visitors, the store combined elements of surf, outdoor, and athletic lifestyles. The company started in 1985 on a shoe-string budget of $200 when Ken Miller, a long-time surfer and lifeguard, and his wife, Jennifer, began manufacturing uniforms for beach lifeguards in San Diego. From a humble beginning making sales out of a Volkswagen van, their business blossomed into a nation-wide supplier of lifeguard uniforms, an outdoor apparel line with a chain of three stores including the store on Donner Pass Road, which opened in 1995, and a wholesale supplier to outdoor retailers world-wide.

The Truckee location was unique in that with only 1,100 square feet it offered a selection of goods that could outfit nearly anyone for any activity. It wasn't uncommon to see parents and children, teenagers even, shopping side by side. Though good selection and good value were a big part of the enterprise, environmentally the store was a good model for mountain living. All shipping and packing materials were recycled; select goods were often sold as seconds to benefit wilderness protection in Nevada, and collections were made on behalf of The League to Save Lake Tahoe in exchange for Keep Tahoe Blue stickers. The store was also a purveyor of sustainable, organic cotton garments and fleece made from recycled plastics.

The store will be closing down at the end of March when the building ownership changes hands. The staff and owners would like to extend their gratitude to the many good friends and patrons the business has made over the years.

Mike Cooke

Former buyer and

general manager of

Thousand Mile