Posted on 03/07/2005 12:30:03 PM PST by Ramonan
MONTPELIER, Vt -- Four Pennsylvania men who were lost in the woods for 30 hours in December after going out of bounds at Killington Resort were sent bills Thursday for the cost of their rescue by state police.
Each of the men was assessed $4,177.87 to cover the cost of the rescue, said Lt. Donald Patch, whose barracks was in charge of the search Dec. 20, a night when temperatures plummeted to between 20 and 25 below zero.
"Let's face the facts: Some people get lost accidentally, things happen, they make a mistake and that's one thing," Patch said. "When you're purposely skiing out of bounds, knowing you're going out of bounds, that's a different story, especially when you're not prepared."
"It's one thing when you get a bill from the (ski) area ... It's another when you get one from state police: 'And here's your bill for being ignorant.'" - Killington Resort spokesman Tom Horrocks
State police say the men from Perkasie, Pa., north of Philadelphia, were negligent because they ignored at least three large, fluorescent orange warning signs that they were off the trails.
The four men -- two on skis and two on snowboards -- from Perkasie, Pa., survived on gum, breath mints and snow melted over a fire they built with a lighter and some wet sticks of wood wrapped with a headband.
Michael Styer, Jared Raytek and Thomas Arnold, all 23, and Jared Rush, 22, were treated at Rutland Regional Medical Center after their ordeal in December. On Thursday, they got their bills.
A message left for Arnold, the only one of the men with a telephone listing in Perkasie, was not immediately returned.
The group skied out of bounds at the Killington ski area around 12:15 p.m. Dec. 19 and finally were reported missing by a friend 15 hours later. State police organized three dozen rescue workers and launched a search at 4:30 a.m. Dec. 20.
A Vermont National Guard helicopter finally spotted the men's campfire about 3 p.m. that day. The men and their rescuers emerged from the woods about two hours later.
Killington Resort, which contributed personnel, snowmobiles and a snow tractor to assist in the search, did not bill the men, spokesman Tom Horrocks said. The resorts have given up responsibility for searches and rescues to state police, he said.
"It's one thing when you get a bill from the (ski) area," he said. "It's another when you get one from state police: `And here's your bill for being ignorant."'
Killington posts signs warning skiers and snowboarders when they're approaching resort boundaries. There also are a series of signs beyond the border to tell people that they've crossed out of bounds and to turn back unless they're experienced in backcountry treks and are prepared for an emergency.
"There's plenty of warning," Horrocks said.
Three or four searches and rescues typically have to be organized each year, said David Dillon, president of the Vermont Ski Areas Association. In the past, when the resorts themselves were responsible, the ski areas would occasionally bill people who got lost in the woods. Often, though, the bills went unpaid, he said.
The total $16,711.48 represents overtime for state police and the costs incurred by two local search and rescue teams that were called in, said Maj. James Baker. The cost of the National Guard helicopter was not passed along to the four men.
"We're reviewing one other case from this year. We're looking at that case to determine if we're going to do it," Baker said of a January rescue, also at Killington. "In this case we determined that we believe their behavior put a lot of folks in danger and they knew what they were doing and as a result of that we billed them."
$4,177.87 costs a lot less than a funeral
Dang, haven't seen that one before--it's GREAT!
Too bad we can't send a bill to the politicians in Washington. That'd clear the place out pretty quick.
Apparently there is. And it's $4,177.87.
That's a lot of man power having to search for some guys who figured the bright orange warning signs did not apply to them. Glad that the rescue crew was not injured.
I'm sure that tax payers in Pennsylvania just love forkin' out the green to find bozo's lost in the woods due to foolishness.
I didn't have a problem with that, and I'll bet very few people who camp in that vast wilderness would argue with it. More than anything else, it makes you very careful in whatever you do out there.
Pardon the mistake. It's the tax payers in Vermont.
The Dem party: "put it on my tab"
Based on the results of the last 2 elections...they must have a hell of a bill waiting for them.
If someone would rather freeze to death than call for help and, due to their own negligence, face a fine, then I'm calling dibbs on his North Face jacket.
Do fire departments charge for stupid fires?
People who ignore multiple safety warnings in order to get lost and freeze aren't a threat to the community. A burning house is.
Isn't this why we pay taxes to pay for these services?
Paying taxes to assist people who have accidents and need help is a burden I think everyone is happy to bear. Financing people who intenionally do wrong and then expect to be bailed out for free is a drain on already thin resources.
Having lived up in the White Mountains of NH for a while, I can say that many more than half of the rescues are caused by egomaniacs who don't know what they're doing, and think they do.
People ignoring winter gear suggestions, ignoring plainly visible avalanche warnings, ignoring the conditions, ignoring everything but most significantly their own monumental hubris.
I've walked away from bozo like these, only to see them spend a very cold night in the mountains.
It's all about ego. The fine should give them a measure of humility and the knowledge that its not all about "me, me, me."
True, ignorance basically means you don't know.
Stupid is as stupid does.
Everyone is entitled to be stupid, but some abuse the privilege.
Cheers!
So if someone is stupid enough to first ski out of bounds ... and then is even more stupid to not call for help ... well, that makes them double-secret stupid. And Darwin Award material.
Pennsylvania supplied the dumbasses. We've got a running surplus here.
I was living on South Mountain SW of Harrisburg during the President's Day Storm, a couple of miles from the Appalachian Trail. Some youth group thought it would be a splendid idea to hike into an AT shelter during the storm and camp out - even though that was an extemely cold storm by Pennsylvania standards (about 12 degrees). They called for help when some of the kids couldn't feel their feet any longer sleeping in open lean-to shelters. It forced the local crews to muster out in two feet of snow to get them out by snowmobile.
Gum & breath mints? The melted snow I can see, but can't these guys skip a few meals? Were they going to die from skipping a day's worth of food?
Depends what you mean... you don't get charged for run-of-the-mill, leave the stove on negligent stupidity. However, try having an open flame cookout in your living room and see whether you get billed for their services.
Did you see the thread where someone in Colorado was killed by an avalanche ... during an avalanche awareness class?
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