Posted on 07/17/2009 5:19:18 PM PDT by Jean S
CONCORD, N.H. — A Massachusetts teenager who spent three nights alone on Mount Washington in April after he sprained an ankle and veered off marked trails has been fined more than $25,000 for the cost of his rescue. Scott Mason had been praised for utilizing his Eagle Scout skills — sleeping in the crevice of a boulder and jump-starting fires with hand sanitzer gel. But authorities say he wasn't prepared for the conditions he encountered and shouldn't have set out on such an ambitious hike. "Yes, he'd been out there in July when you could step across the brooks. And people have been out there in winter in hard-packed snow. But with these spring conditions, it was soft snow, it was deep snow," said Fish and Game Maj. Tim Acerno. Acerno said he believes Mason's fine is the largest ever sought under a 9-year-old New Hampshire law that allows lost hikers and climbers to be charged for rescue costs. Mason's rescue was particularly expensive because the helicopters the state typically used were unavailable, and a helicopter from Maine had to be brought in, Acerno said. Mason, 17, of Halifax, Mass., had planned to spend one day hiking 17 miles in the New Hampshire mountains but ended up lost after he hurt his ankle and decided to take a shortcut. The shortcut led him into rising water and deep snow caused by unseasonably warm weather.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Stupidity hurts, in more way than one.
He never called for help, he did fine - just as you would expect of an Eagle.
We get morons all the time up here who hike in at 2pm after they wake their lazy asses up, realize they have no light after it's dark, and call for help on their cell phones.
THEY don't get charged - making an example of this admirable young man is hard to understand.
Does a hiker have the option to decline to be rescued?
Or is it like all government programs, the gun is put to the head?
If he had been gay instead of a Scout; no problem, no fine.
In Colorado, if you purchase a fishing licenses, you also get an insurance policy for any search and rescue efforts. You can even purchase one separately (CORSAR card) for $3/year or $12 for 5 years. It is a great deal for anyone going out into the woods for any reason.
See, the free market can solve these things. Although, in CO’s case, it’s the government. But this could be adopted by a private company.
Do the asshats who get stuck on mountainsides while purposely climbing them ever get fined?
In Arizona we have the Stupid Driver Law.
If you decide that you should drive through a wash during a flash flood, and get swept downstream, you get to pay for your rescue.
Gotta have some kind of deterrent.
Unless you are an illegal with no money. Then you get a free pass.
From one article it’s tough to get all the facts but if neither him nor his family called for help they will win on the challenge that they have until August 9th to issue. $25,000 seems rather excessive for a few people to go into the woods to get him. It seems like much more of a fine than the actual cost.
There are similar cases where drunk adventurers get lost and ask for help. In those cases 100%, they should pay for at least some of the cost of rescue. It’s good capitalist sense.
how do you make a fire with handgel?
Try putting some Purel on your hand and lighting it. You'll be shaking your hand vigorously in about 3 seconds as the blue flame engulfs your hand. I lost all the hair on my hand once on a bet. Won't do that again (drink while using Purel, that is).
I may be reading too much into this, but maybe they're just really po'd because he didn't need their help. They all showed up in their he-man suits, uninvited, and probably felt a little foolish.
A law that sounds like a real good idea at the time invariably ends up being a revenue source for bureaucrats.
I hope the kid fights and wins.
Fining teenagers $25,000 for something as harmless (and yes, perhaps foolish) as hiking in a risky area strikes me as something we don't want to do. Is this zero-tolerance for adolescence?
I'm sorry to say that I'm not altogether surprised at the number of Freepers posting who think this is perfectly sensible.
What this means is that if someone gets lost in that state, they will delay or refuse to call for help, knowing they will be penalized for doing so.
(Real progress...)
He didn’t make fire with the hand gel, he used it to fuel a fire he already started.
Don’t expect me to foot the bill for your harmless mistake.
Ya know, I might agree with you if we weren't drying out useless pieces of crap every time they drop some bad acid and are declared indigent.
I'd rather pay the freight to pull an injured Eagle Scout out of the woods than send some POS back to a publicly funded methadone clinic for the umteenth time.
Colorado Hunters pay a $0.25 for a search and rescue fee on the hunting licenses. It is good for the entire year, so if you have to get rescued the rescue effort and cost is reimbursed thru the Colorado division of wildlife. My take on this kid is he needed rescuing and they needed the practice, so why the $ 25,000.00 Fine?
I shudder to contemplate the cost of rescuing America from the chaos and calamity caused by Obama....
Since a majority of the sheeple in the U.S. voted for the *&^%*&% — they should be charged heavily and painfully for their ignorant and calamitous action..
The guillotine sounds about right....
More info at this link:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,518417,00.html
After Mason sprained his ankle he did turn around and headed back down the mountain on an emergency exit trail he had preplanned with the help of the the staff at the local Appalachian Mountain Club lodge where he began his hike.
The information they had was that the trail was clear but he found the trail was blocked by snow so he had to reverse course again and head back up the mountain.
He wasn’t lost - he knew exactly where he was all the time.
He saw the helicopter on his way back up the mountain and tried to attract their attention but they were looking elsewhere.
So he continued his hike up the mountain on his way to an observatory where he knew he would find assistance.
Before he reached the observatory he and a search team came upon each other.
I'm not sure how "unseaonably warm weather" caused "deep snow".
If he didn’t ask for help, there should be no way the state or anybody else can charge him for it.
But it’s a great racket, just run around “helping” people and then charge them. See some woman crossing the street? Grab her bags, run to the other side, and when she catches up, tell her that will be $5.
Let's leave out any clothing, entertaining, transportation and dental. Hey the kid sprained his ankle piss on him. Moving along where are we now yes $222 a week after expenses. He's got a bum leg - tough shouldn't have twisted the ankle, right. So $222 a week income and $25,000 to pay off that's 112.6 weeks of work or 2.25 years.
That sounds reasonable to me. What a hell of a deal. No college for you butthead. This little stunt cost you your future. Eagle Scout my ass. In the meanwhile the banksters have stolen about $15,000,000,000,000 to pay off their losses (that's $15 trillion dollars) and no one is sending them a bill.
If we want to save money we aren't going to do it on the weakest members of society.
How much did they bill that global warming expedition that had to be rescued? (Poor planning, and in real trouble?)
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