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2.24.08
Negligent Hikers May Pay
As more hikers call for help in the White Mountains, New
Hampshire lawmakers try to make negligent adventurers repay search and
rescue costs.
With more rookie GPS-
and cellphone-toting adventurers braving New Hampshire's White
Mountains, the number of them calling for help is on the rise. Now,
Granite State lawmakers want to make some of them pay for their rescues.
According to a report in today's
Boston Globe, the New Hampshire House is considering a bill that
would change the language of a 1999 state law that allows public
agencies to recoup expenses from those who "recklessly or intentionally
create a situation requiring an emergency response." The proposed change
would lower the threshold for the public to compel repayment by changing
the law's wording from "recklessly" to "negligently" prompting an
emergency response.
Since one hiker died on Little Haystack on
February 11 (see
Why The Whites Kill), New Hampshire Fish and Game rescue
teams have remained busy. The following Saturday, February 16, rescuers
using a Black Hawk helicopter plucked a hiker suffering from frostbite
out of the Pemigewasset Wilderness section of the White Mountains.
According to the Globe article, officials said that hiker was
negligent because his boots were inadequate and he didn't follow weather
reports. Two days later, rescuers were at it again, helping two Virginia
hikers off the south side of Mount Washington after severe weather
struck the area.
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