Now I'm Pissed!
First, thanks Roxie, for posting that article in it's entirety.
I know that Fudge(packer) is trying to keep his liability down for the impending lawsuit, but GEEZE!
First he says they “We use GPS equipment quite frequently for RESOURCE MANAGEMENT..."
that means making sure you dynamite the correct tree stump. But no use of GPS for searches? Who's driving this bus?
"...and we had some information relative to that... We were able to do some coordinate work that first evening, but we weren’t able to locate the vehicle in distress.”
They were able to do some coordinate work that evening? That's code for
'We were bumbling around with the GPS, but we couldn't figure out if we were at those coordinates or not, and didn't want to look stupid by calling in a higher authority.'
Looks pretty stupid now, doesn't it?
But you'll notice, he never says that anyone actually used the GPS coordinates and went to the site to search. He in fact says that there are no landmarks, so they couldn't.
NEWSFLASH!!! If you have GPS, you dont need landmarks, that's the benefit of the device.
He says “We knew that it was a distress call, but it was pretty unclear to the responding rangers that they were looking for an overturned vehicle in the surf.”
Holy ****! Does this mean if the woman next door is getting brutally beaten and raped, and I can't give a detailed description of her and her assailant, that the Sheriff's Department won't come?
“There are no plans for any changes in our policies or regulations,” he said. “The regulations we have in place work but the individual did not follow them. He was driving in an area not designated for off-road vehicles, and he was traveling at a high rate of speed, certainly in excess of the speed limit.”
I hope this idiot is lying, because without some serious retraining and policy changes, more people will die. There's nothing quite so arrogant as someone being at least partially responsible for two deaths, and then blaming the victims for being out of area or speeding. Does this make them somehow less deserving of lifesaving resources and the Ranger's best efforts? If so, perhaps instead of letting "out of bounds" skiers know the risks, I should just plug them with a 9mm slug.
Sorry, but this "doublespeak" really pisses me off. My politics may be a shade left of center, but I have a hard time abiding those who don't take responsibility for the mess they've created.
t~
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