Posted on 12/10/2006 6:38:04 AM PST by surfer
For four days, as the snowbound Kim family's food supplies dwindled and they used up their gas running their stranded car's heater, no one even knew they were missing.
It was two more days before rescuers narrowed the search to roads leading across thousands of square miles of western Oregon, and another day before cell phone transmissions helped to pinpoint the search area.
While the speed of the investigation in some ways was remarkable -- given what little authorities started out with -- it was dogged by early missteps and obstacles that handicapped investigators.
A Portland hotel where the family had stayed refused to provide credit card records that might have indicated which way the Kims had gone. An early search by air and land of the treacherous mountain route that James and Kati Kim drove out of Grants Pass yielded nothing.
The owner of a lodge on the road where the Kims' car was stuck had told authorities three days before Kati Kim and her daughters were found that he had seen tire tracks in the snow, but he hadn't been able to follow them in his snowmobile once he hit bare ground. No one followed up.
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(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
ok...a lot of the pressers early on were wrong. Look at how far they drove, and the facts show a different story.
Kati said they stopped to ride the storm about because she didn't think they would have enough gas to get back to where they came. I am sure in those conditions with spinning the tires, etc...that they were burning more gas than they wanted to.
I don't think they left on their trip without a reasonable amount of gas.
BS. He did everything he could. For all he knew, the tracks he had seen could've been from the searchers who had allegedly driven that stretch already.
How many rescues were families or individuals stranded on that road in winter conditions?
If you count the RV situation - well they walked out and brought help to them...I would hardly call that a successful SAR.
Again I want to stress - it is not that I think they didn't make the decisions they could have or that they didn't work their butts off. I know what it is like.
My biggest beef is with a couple of people in the chain of command that seemed to ignore pertinent facts from "locals". Maybe all of their perceived successes created an air of arrogance to their approach.
Do you agree that some key mistakes were made specifically relating to searching the road and area surrounding Bear Lake Lodge?
This was a press conference after Mr. Kim was found dead. There were errors in judgment on all sides here. That's what happens when human beings are involved.The search and resuce folks were quite heroic, and it does no good to tear down their efforts.
I hear the news reports for a week before they found Mrs. Kim and the girls. Searches were primarily based on what the Kims had said their route was going to be. First SAR attempted to determine if they had met misfortune on that route. Then they spread out to cover other ground. They were limited by time, people and information.
I understand your points.
Kati and the girls are lucky their father-in-law is well to do and could afford to create the pressure and bring the resources to bear to find them.
Sorry to be so cynical if it weren't for his efforts and that of self-initiated local folk - I think we would either still be looking for them or it would a total recovery effort and not rescue.
Sadly LE missed the opportunity to thank the local help when it came time to wrap this up. They patted each other on the back and thanked the Kim's. Not one mention of the local man who took it on his own to fly and found them. I think it was a major gaff on their part not to thank the local helicopter pilot who is truly a hero here and made at least part of this story a positive one.
There was a family rescued just the week before, and a hiker in another part of the state. The family in the RV wasn't supposed to be as far up because, at least the family I remember, their camping permit did not allow it. Less than a week later, the Grandparents, who were stuck with the family, were arrested for meth production and authorities believed they had misrepresented some of the facts of their disappearance. Maybe the people in the chain of command assumed that the Kims recognized the warning signs that they would have had to pass to get stuck, and wouldn't have risked such a dangerous road.
It has only been mentioned because his story came out. Go back and watch the clips when they found the Kati and girls and then watch the major pressers once they found James and then the day after. I don't remember the state police or the under-sheriff mentioning either of them.
The search and resuce folks were quite heroic, and it does no good to tear down their efforts.
I have no idea what the national coverage brought. Local coverage had OSP thanking the helicopter pilot the day the family was found.
The point being, OSP aknowledged the help and expressed gratitude for it, whether FOX, CNN or others showed it.
Thank WB...I think we get taken off into specific directions on the thread and the bigger picture is muddled.
You are very right.
One of the things that keeps bothering me...
Everyone seems to know how bad this route is.
Everyone seems to know you shouldn't do what the Kim's
However I know of three similar situations in this specific area where in two of cases fatalities occurred because of the time it took to search "roads".
Why aren't the maps absolutely clear?
Why isn't it part of the training of every hotel in the area to discuss the issue during the winter with people that make reservations - especially for a guest that has never stayed there before.
Why don't the gas stations all put up signs with a specific warning about the roads?
Why after 11 years of situations in this area that I know of this could possible still be a problem?
Why aren't the vandals dealt with properly?
I have heard the county is very poor in regards to Federal funding, etc...
But something really needs to be done to help others. There is a family without a father this Christmas because they made a wrong turn down a road that should have never happened.
I watched the feeds from KATV, CNET and KGW of the conferences while they occured. I did not see any coverage of this issue on CNN, Fox or other national news outlets except for what was online.
James Kim made the main mistake. There is no way I would go over that pass in anything other than summer. That pass has claimed numerous people. It is nothing more than a paved wagon track over killer canyons.
Second guessing the searchers while excusing the driver serves no purpose.
Pray for W and Our Troops
To travel at night through snow and unknown terrain, even a marked major highway, is the height of irresponsibility. Sorry, someone had to say it.
Had you read my first post on this thread (#3), you would've seen that I did say it.
I misspoke a couple of posts back.
The SAR team had a 100% success rate over the last four years, with over 80 successful rescues a year, not 80 over four years.
These statistics indicate to me that the structure is working quite well, including those in the command levels. Of course things could have been done better with this search, but how were they to know at the time? They were following protocols which had brought complete success over the last four years. I can see why they didn't want to mess with the model.
Which is what makes Mr. Kim's death all that more tragic. I simply hope that he rests peacefully now, knowing his family is safe.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2006/12/10/MNGVOMT3NJ1.DTL&o=0
This article really lays out the some of the details and provides a timeline and map. Gives a good perspective on the situation.
I know what you mean every time you write "Bear Lake Lodge," but not everyone might.
It's "Black Bar Lodge," just for future reference. Been meaning to say that.
oops...sorry just realized that mistake...
Thanks for the heads up!
Bear Camp Road, Black Bar Lodge...
They had all kinds of people out there looking at first. This was just the morning after the story got out the night before. For all anyone knew, the Kims were in Portland or Roseburg.
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