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Friends defend
Miss America

Photos courtesy
of Chip and Kelli Lotrich

Kate Shindle with Chip and Kelli Lotrich

Kelli Lotrich is executive director of the Miss Lake Cook (Ill.) Scholarship Organization. Her pageant was the first that Kate Shindle won on her march to Miss America. Mrs. Lotrich, a friend and admirer of Ms.Shindle, took this opportunity to comment on controversies that have been swirling around the pageant, including the adoption of the two-piece swimsuit and the de-emphasis on the wearing of the crown. She also comments on the allegations that Ms. Shindle benefited from family connections to the Miss America Organization.

Kate Shindle as Miss America

Focusing on the message

As the very proud local director of the new Miss America, I can say that although I may not personally have ever enjoyed the swimsuit aspect of competition, I recognize its value -- both for the sheer sake of tradition and for the fact that physical fitness contributes to substantial mental fitness. I applaud Kate for having the ability to go on national television and wear a suit that she found to be fun and that showed her personality, and not to go with what the judges may have found attractive.

I think that all of America will have to admit that she was not the thinnest girl on that stage. She is far from an emaciated beanpole. On the contrary, she is extremely fit and proud of it. She took the time and dedicated herself to a proper and healthful diet-and-exercise routine, which allowed her to become fit while teaching her to take responsibility for her own health. She learned a great deal of discipline and self-control through her months of preparation for the Miss Illinois and Miss America competitions.

Secondly, Kate is very proud of her crown. It is something she has dreamed of having ever since she was a little girl. However, she recognizes that she has been entrusted with a duty, and it is her job as Miss America to empower the youth of our nation with important information to help them protect themselves against the spread of the AIDS virus. She feels strongly that to pass this message along to them, as well as to adults who have the ability to help her spread this important message, she must do so by being KATE!

Kate Shindle
as Miss Lake Cook, Illinois

Newly crowned as Miss Illinois 1997,
Kate Shindle is flanked by
Miss America 1969 Judith Ford (left)
and Miss America 1991 Marjorie
Vincent, each a former Miss Illinois.

The crown is a symbol of her personal accomplishments, and she will treasure it always -- but in order to fulfill her responsibilities to the American public, she will travel over 20,000 miles each month, speaking out to hundreds of people without her crown. She will spread the message of HIV/AIDS prevention and awareness as a real person, Kate Shindle, not just as a figurehead with a shiny tiara!

I hope that this gives some insight into what the thoughts of the new Miss America are, and what we feel the Miss America organization seems to be striving for. Banner, crown, two-piece -- whatever! Miss America is a symbol of inner strength and inner beauty, and what every young woman who aspires to achieve her dreams can be. Kate is exactly that, and above all she is a real person, not a plastic (or crystal) facade.

After winning a talent preliminary talent at Miss America, Kate Shindle celebrates with her parents, Gordon and Maggie Shindle.

A manufactured scandal

The issue of Kate's father is truly a non-issue. All 300,000 people nationwide involved with the Miss America system are strictly volunteers. I have a hard time picturing Gordon Shindle out dining and schmoozing Angie Everhart so that Kate could win Miss America (ha ha!).

Kate has been competing for several years, unsuccessfully, in the Miss America system. She had never PLACED, let alone WON, in local pageant competition until this year.If her father really had something to do with her success, she would have been Miss Illinois and Miss America several years ago.

People really need to stop looking for scandal where there is none. Kate earned her local title completely on her own merit, and four of the five judges had never been involved with, let alone judged, a Miss America preliminary pageant before. And at the state level, there were seven judges who were selected over a year prior to the Miss Illinois Pageant. It is done this way to avoid any problems. Kate again won on her own merit, and the same goes for the Miss America Pageant. The preliminary and final judges have stated that they had no knowledge of Kate's father, or the fact the he volunteered to park cars for the Miss America Organization.

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