Unsafe Ice!

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Originally Posted by Rose

May I just remind everyone that what you hear/read on the tv/internet may not necessarily be accurate. Too many are quick to pass the story before the FACTS are in. You may want to wait before you pass judgement lest you end up like Oprah dedicating an entire hour retracting what you said.

Hello Rose....

You make an excellent point here.

But (and I hate to use but) in these cases I think the New Hampshire Fish & Game along with local fire & police officials are at their wits end over these skimming/thin ice issues. Skimming is illegal. Skimming, unless done in a controlled environment (like the sled show in Fremont) is stupid. And rescue calls initiated by these acts needlessly risk the lives of the rescuers, while tying up valuable assets that are not available for other emergency calls.

I know State & Local officials have done everything in their power to warn people about this year's ice conditions and have tried to discourage skimming by imposing high fines. They have used the media relentlessly to get the word out. I remember mentioning to my wife a few weeks ago that if I heard one more thin ice warning, either from Channel 9 or from the Foster's/Citizen, I was going to pull my hair out.

And Fish & Game has actually done an excellent job this year of getting factual accident reports out to the media almost immediately to warn people of the extreme dangers out there.

And in the span of four days we have three separate skimming issues on one Lake alone!

I know there was concern about the facts presented in Sunday's death as maybe being inaccurate. However, as the story has developed it only got worse when it was learned that the victim had previously put a snowmobile to the bottom of a lake.

Its just amazing to me the stupidity that some dispaly for a few cheap thrills....actions that directly or indirectly endanger or place unneccesary financial and emotional burdens on the rest of society.

Yes, I agree that we sghould be careful of initial media reports. However, it appears that in the cases we are talking about here, the media and Fish & Game have been very accurate in getting their story and subsequent warnings out to the general public.

Apparently to some, no amount of warning can overcome a total lack of common sense!

Sorry for the long diatribe, but this stuff is just plain crazy!

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