Quote:
Originally Posted by Lakegeezer
When paying for a license or "lift ticket", I expect rescue to be part of the deal, so feel my skiing, boating and snowmobiling rescue is covered. In Switzerland, there is insurance to buy on top of a lift ticket, which goes to defray rescue costs. You do not have to buy insurance, but you do have to pay for a rescue.
Hikers are the problem. They don't pay any state fees to use the woods, yet are rescued by state and local funded agencies. Perhaps an insurance or hiker license system would work. The national park fees are probably not relevant here. As far as I am aware, the national park fees don't get funneled to the local rescue squads or F&G.
It is unfair to put the true rescue cost on the persons being rescued, because they have no control over the services rendered, however, the money has to come from somewhere. Rescuers can be counted on for a lot, but need the proper resources to conduct their job safely and effectively.
I disagree strongly with the attitude of "let the fools die". I would rather have my tax dollars go to rescuing a "crack pot tree hugging whack job flat lander" than see my town's "donor dollars" go to Manchester so they can divert school tax dollars to trash collection.
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LG- I guess you didn't appreciate some of my comment, yeah maybe over the top but it is a legit beef IMHO. How many times do we read about people doing crazy stuff, get in trouble then just expect that help is just a phone call away? While the ability to carry a cell phone, GPS and all sorts of other gadgets certainly can be useful when venturing into the outdoors, there has become a comfort level with many (often times inexperienced) that the level of risk involved with wandering into the back country somehow are less of a concern and they are not. Hey look at how many have died trying to conquer Mt Everest. Is it sad that they don't make it, of course, but let's face it doing so carries significant risk and if you choose to roll the dice and make a bad decision, well there are real consequences to those actions. Why some think they are impervious to this is beyond me but neither you nor I should be expected to foot the bill for their gambling.
There is the expectation that the government has unlimited resources to do anything and everything including bailing people out every time they mess up and this way of thinking has got to change.
I do agree with you that if donor town money is being spent by others to provide local community services that is not only wrong, it's unconstitutional.