Posted on 02/23/2005 9:05:16 PM PST by SmithL
REDDING, Calif. - A lost hunter who started a forest fire in northern California while trying to keep warm was ordered to pay $18.2 million in restitution Wednesday.
The fire in the Mendocino National Forest burned 6,058 acres and cost $33 million to suppress, authorities said. The restitution covers the U.S. Forest Service's cost of fighting the fire and restoring the burned area, prosecutors said.
Jason Hoskey, 26, of Willows, lit a campfire when he got lost hunting on Sept. 27, 2003. The fire spread after he fell asleep.
Flames had been banned in the area because of extreme fire danger. Prosecutors said Hoskey also violated the ban by smoking several cigarettes.
Hoskey pleaded no contest in September to a federal misdemeanor of leaving a fire burning or unattended.
Besides the restitution ordered at his sentencing, Hoskey was banned from the Mendocino National Forest for five years.
It could have been me, but I decided to endure the cold. Could not find my way back to my campsite after dark during a storm in Northern California back in 1987 while hunting. Spent a cold night jogging in place under a tree. All I had to keep warm was a plastic trash bag. Oh yeah, and the memory of the mountain lion I saw earlier helped me stay awake.
Glad to hear that. I figured a federal employee would get a raise.
It takes three things to make a fire: fuel, air, and a source of ignition. Air we can't do anything about. Ignitions happen naturally. So what do we do about the fuel?
Nothing.
It makes NO sense to label the source of an ignition in a forest fire as the "cause" of the destruction when frequent fires through dispersed fuels is the best way to preclude a holocaust. The reality is that the owner of excessive fuels is the real perpetrator for a disaster. So, why don't we go after that individual?
Government is the largest fuel owner around.
I don't recall if she got a fine or not, but she is going to be spending quite a few years in the graybar hotel.
I don't think bankruptcy vacates court judgements or debts owed the government. Why would it, it's a creation of the government?
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