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07.21.09
New Hampshire Fines Hiker $25K
A Massachusetts teen says he'll fight a $25,000
fine imposed on him by the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department after
he was rescued on Mount Washington last April, according to a report by
Boston's WCVB-TV.
Scott Mason, 18, of Halifax, Massachusetts, spent
three nights alone on Mount Washington in April after he sprained his
ankle and became lost. After getting injured, Mason tried taking a
shortcut down the mountain, but ran into rising water and deep snow
caused by unseasonably warm weather.
New Hampshire altered a law last year to give the
Fish and Game Department broader abilities to charge negligent hikers
for the cost of rescuing them. Officials say Mason wasn't prepared for
the conditions he encountered and shouldn't have set out on such an
ambitious hike.
Mason says he sent a $1,000 check to rescuers and
was shocked to receive the $25,000 fine since officials didn't contact
him before fining him. He says he has no way to pay the fine, and he
plans to fight it.
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