I saw this man this morning interviewing Sebelius, the Health and Human Services Department head,on NBC TV. He's nothing but a corporate tool. He epitomizes what is wrong with corporate journalism. His questions to Sebelius were so off base, continually asking her about the cost of the health care bill without pointing out, or trying to ignore, how corporate insurance keeps jacking up prices and not insuring Americans.

For him to state that it wasn't the job of journalists to do what Jeremy Scahill and Amy Goodman, amongst others, did in the days leading up to the Iraq War just points out what kind of a man he is: he totally lacks any sort of integrity. He ought to be ashamed of himself.

I am reminded of what the late Mae Brussell, a political investigator who died some twenty years ago, said on her public radio show out of Pacific Grove, California: i am paraphrasing here but the crux of what she said was that many corporate journalists were actually part of a plan by the major media and corporations to be hired right out of college quite willing to compromise their careers to promote an agenda of American imperialism and corporatism.

Your postings on this site led me to look into this case. According to a newspaper article on the www:

xxxx "said he believes Mason's fine is the largest ever sought under a 9-year-old New Hampshire law that allows lost hikers and climbers to be charged for rescue costs. Mason's rescue was particularly expensive because the helicopters the state typically used were unavailable, and a helicopter from Maine had to be brought in, Acerno said."

The law was on the books, isn't it the hiker's responsibility to apprise himself of that before he heads up the trail? He's from Massachusetts, he should be well aware New Hampshire is a low tax state, which many conservatives favor, and therefore is not in the position to provide expensive search and rescue services courtesy of the tax payer. As I wrote earlier, you can't have it both ways.

In California we have an extensive volunteer search and rescue network. My brother has been training new recruits, who must pass a police background check, this weekend up in the Sierra Nevada.

Many of the people he has rescued there in the past didn't consult a weather forecast and have few wilderness survival skills when they are unable, for whatever reason, to make it back to their cars.

The reason Cronkite's "greatest moment" was giving his opinion on the Vietnam War...

Is that what he was doing, giving an opinion? I do not think so. I think he was stating a very reasonable, almost certain, conclusion, based on the facts as he had determined them. That sounds like what a journalist should do. But what even then they mostly did not, as is shown by all the attention his words still attract.

Fairness---NH is charging people deemed negligent or reckless the actual amount spent on their rescue. No more, no less. So happens this dude's rescue cost a heckuva lot more than most. It's not like the government came up with some arbitrary number. So is that fair? No, not in the sense that fate has dealt him an unfair blow, but as far as I can see, NH is being consistent with its policy. You may want to argue that there should be a cap on what gets charged back (a fair argument, IMO), but then you'd be talking about using more government subsidy... Thus, the other posters' conclusion that you are arguing for bigger government, not against it.

The idea of possibly forcing parents into insolvency over a juvenile rescue or possibly denying a child a chance at a college education over his reckless decision making, by slapping him with a huge rescue services bill, makes government appear unseemly, and not what it was intended for.

Unless I incorrectly read New Hampshire law it appears there may be other problems as well.

TITLE XII

PUBLIC SAFETY AND WELFARE

CHAPTER 153-A

EMERGENCY MEDICAL AND TRAUMA SERVICES

Section 153-A:1

153-A:24 Responsibility for Public Agency Response Services. –

I. A person shall be liable for response expenses if, in the judgment of the court, such person:

(a) Negligently operates a motor vehicle, boat, off highway recreational vehicle, or aircraft while under the influence of an alcoholic beverage or controlled drug and thereby proximately causes any incident resulting in a public agency response;

(b) Takes another person or persons hostage or threatens to harm himself or another person, thereby proximately causing any incident resulting in an appropriate public agency response; or

(c) Recklessly or intentionally creates a situation requiring an emergency response.

II. A person's liability under this subdivision for response expenses shall not exceed $10,000 for any single public agency response incident.

Source. 1999, 345:6, eff. July 1, 1999.

153-A:25 Collections; Insurance. – The response expense shall be a debt owed by the person responsible and shall not be paid by an insurance company. The public agency which incurred the expense may collect the debt in the same manner as in the case of an obligation under a contract, expressed or implied. Public agency expenses may include reasonable attorney fees.

Source. 1999, 345:6, eff. July 1, 1999.

Clearly the child was negligent, but who else is negligent by ignoring their own law?

The idea of writing a law that excludes the payment of insurance is ridiculous and is unnecessarily punitive.

I hope this matter can be litigated down to an amount that everyone can live with and won't prevent juveniles from calling for help in the future if they need it.

I never heard of the State of Alaska, charging anything for rescuing one of their crab boats in incredibly dangerous ocean waters, why should this kid be any different in land locked New Hampshire?

New Hampshire is a conservative's dream with no state income tax and no sales tax (except on prepared food). None of that spreading the wealth around, right?

I would guess the law was enacted in part because those in need of rescue were disproportionately out of staters who had limited wilderness survival skills. Simply put, Granite State taxpayers got tired of footing the bill every time some city slicker got lost in the White Mountains.

If they had to borrow a helicopter from somewhere else, the tab could easily reach 25 grand. The family should be grateful the kid's alive (thanks to the rescue and his own survival skills).