To the editor:

In response to the letter to the editor from Jack Hartsell on April 4, this was not a memory of Cardinal Charlie. Some of my articles are thing that were told to me.
I think I know Jack and his brother Bob was in school when I was.
I think he graduated two years before I did.
Mr. Canfield, an Orchard Street neighbor who sometimes walked to school in the morning, and we sometimes walked past the Fitch house, the only thing I knew of the Fitches was they were one of Dowagiac’s rich families.
The Fitch Foundation and Fitch Camp were a great thing for Dowagiac children.
My two boys enjoyed it, as have many over the years.
I’ve written at different times over the years, mentioning Fitch Camp and the kids who went there in my 590 columns since 1989.
In all my writing, I never intended to hurt anyone, and I’m sorry to have hurt Jack Hartsell.
Paul Bakeman was a friend, and when the talk was Dowagiac might get a casino, Paul called me and asked if I would write a letter to Fred Upton that his farm acres would be an ideal place for it.
Well, we have one on M-51, but not on Paul’s property.

Cardinal Charlie Gill
Dowagiac