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Fossett, 63, took off Sept. 3 from Barron Hilton’s Flying M Ranch, south of Yerington, in a small plane on what was supposed to be a short pleasure flight. During a monthlong search, ground crews, the Nevada National Guard and the Civil Air Patrol scoured a 20,000 square-mile area, but turned up no sign of Fossett or his plane. Hilton, the hotel magnate, later voluntarily sent the state a check $200,000 to cover some of the search costs. Fossett was declared legally dead Feb. 15 by an Illinois judge.
Billing someone for the costs of a search is unusual. On Tuesday, before Kieckhefer revealed the governor’s plans, state Emergency Management Director Frank Siracusa said state and local government search and rescue workers have a long-standing tradition of not charging when they hunt for missing persons, even for multimillionaires such as Steve Fossett. “We do not charge the rich or the poor,” Siracusa said. “There is no precedent where government will go after people for costs just because they have money to pay for it. You get lost, and we look for you. It is a service your taxpayer dollars pay for.”
If they start charging for rescue operations, is your ability to pay going to affect the quality of service? Negligence and stupidity is one thing, but where do you draw the line?
This is very bad path to start on. Will they soon start doing credit checks before they even start the search? I can see going after people who make false reports, break the law or don’t obey warnings.
Oh please, drop the friggin drama. They won’t ever start doing credit checks before starting a search. This is a great first step in balancing out the cost of these things to the ability of the rich to pay. Why shouldn’t the MULTI MILLIONAIRES AND THEIR HEIRS pay to find their loved ones. It’s a drop in the bucket for them. They will make that money back from all those State tax breaks on the corporations they get dividend checks from by the time they exhale after seeing the bill. What I would like to see next is them ripping off the rich of their “social security” checks and giving them to the poor and disabled, including VETERANS, who get thrown aside by the system. Then we can truly call those things SOCIAL SECURITY. This thing of billing the rich for a search is a NON-ISSUE.
Why the hell pay at all, they didn’t find him or his plane.
I guess they must have looked harder for Mr. Fossett than they did for that ‘shrooms and acid kid to run up a bill like that.
@#2: What you propose is Communism. We are all equal in the USA. Why discriminate on the basis of money?
Searches and rescues are the best live training for those services in any state/location and the experience received is worth every penny spent (if not more) for the future serious problems. I hope they fight them in Court.
#2 The rich already paid for this service with their taxes like everyone else. They also paid their Social Security taxes so they should get that too.
This may well relate to the state’s budget crunch right now. The state budget has a shortfall of a more than a few million dollars. Since the Guard is a state-level expense this is presumably a way to offset expenses before cutting elsewhere.
I don’t see this necessarily setting a precedent. This was a very high-profile, very unusual operation. This is probably not something the average person is going to see happen when SAR services are required.
I’m with #2. When my dad was dying from a heart attack, I got billed over 500 bucks for the ambulance that took him away. Fuck this guy. Why is he special?
Adventuring is a risk way beyond camping and other field activities that may result in a person getting rescued. If someone is in real danger, I have no problem with rescuing them with taxpayer money.
However, if someone wants to risk their life, they can. Just don’t expect to have me foot the bill to rescue their dumb ass.
I see no problem with this. I don’t see where it is the government’s job to go searching for every person fool enough to do something stupid. what ever happen to person responiblty?
that said i don’t think we should stop doing S&R but in cases like this (where they search a gaint area for weeks) i can understand asking someone help pay for it.
#5,
Don’t discriminate on the basis of money, discriminate on the basis or risk assumed by the person involved. If you do something recognized as dangerous (by insurance agencies, local police, etc), you don’t get a free rescue.
The classic SAR problem is that if you charge people for a rescue, it will discourage many hiker’s, etc from calling for cell phone help; or having family members call when overdue; or discourage leaving notes in hiker’s cars or with friends in hopes of delaying a potentially expensive search.
RBG
Another thing to add to my living will. If lost don’t bother looking until I radio my position.
From Fox5Vegas:
“Gov. Jim Gibbons said he won’t bill the widow of Steve Fossett, but instead will send a letter asking her to help pay for the month-long search for the famed aviator last fall.”
I think this is the way to go, rather than billing, ask nicely.
Sorry… this is BS. Fossett didn’t die while on one of his adventures. He died while on a routine flight on a normal small plane. I don’t think this qualifies as thrill seeking endangerment.
Compare this to the case discussed here earlier this week about the kid from Santa Cruz who thought he broke his leg because he was stoned. That case, more than this one, deserves to be billed.
On the other hand, when I was in Nevada last month I was appalled by how bad the roads are. It appears to me that Nevada needs every dollar it can get.
Yeah. Screw the wealthy. Next time you go looking for a job, go ask a street person for work. They are an overlooked source of well-paying employment.
All the soak-the-rich idiots seem to think that wealthy people sit around on piles of cash. Sure, they have cash reserves, but mostly they invest it in businesses, government bonds, and buy things. All of which provide work and services for others.
The absolutely best way to waste money is to give it to government.
That said, I have no problem if Mr. Fossett’s estate wants to voluntarily reimburse for the search expenses, but to bill his family is ridiculous.
Everyone is forgetting that he was not out on some adventure. He was (and I am quoting from the article) “a short pleasure flight”. He was not involved in some dangerous adventure (like flying around the world). So next time you are out on a boat for a short pleasure sail and need help from the coast guard or are out on a sort day hike and fall injured I guess we shouldn’t go looking for you either unless the government thinks that you can afford it. Personally I would like them to spend my tax dollars on finding me.
#8 In this case he wasn’t “adventuring” he was flying a plane over an area that lot’s of people fly over all the time.
This wasn’t one of his stunts or record attepts.
Why shouldn’t these “Rugged Individualist” Billionaires and Millionaires PAY THEIR OWN WAY ??? They ought to re-imburse the state for the expenses incurred searching for them !!! “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need” !!! Don’t worry, the wealthy can easily afford it because they made it by closing factories here and laying off Americans, and investing in CHINA !!!
The state of Colorado setup a Search and Rescue fund which helps counties defer the cost of those operations. A person pays into the fund when buying a fishing license or a direct Search and Rescue Card for three bucks for a year. Colorado Search and Rescue Fund
Maybe the good people of Nevada should do something similar if the gambling money is not paying for search and rescue missions…i.e plan ahead.
This is like getting billed for a taxi trip when the driver couldn’t find your house. Write them a check, stop payment and send it to the dot heads for collection.
#18 quotes Marx as to how we should run our government? Seriously?
#18, Okay Karl Marx, thanks for the input. I’ll be sure to disregard.
My apologies, I thought he was on one of his usual jaunts. I should have investigated the death before weighing in. Mea Culpa.
Having said that, do they always look for small planes that go missing for that long and with that many resources?
This is a good thing. I’d rather have this then a legislature banning activities because they don’t want to pay for the consequences, much like seat belt laws.
#9 – I don’t see where it is the government’s job to go searching for every person fool enough to do something stupid.
Of the people
For the people
By the people
Of course it’s their job. What the hell do we pay taxes for?
It’s strange that the ELT (emergency locator transmitter) in his plane didn’t activate. I’ve heard beacons on 121.5 (I monitor when flying over desolate areas) and find out later an ELT was activated by a very bumpy landing on a dirt strip.
So either he had a safe emergency landing or the ELT malfunctioned. The former may be why the search continued as long as it did.
Guess we have to ask, is “Search and Rescue” a “cost center” or a “profit center”?
I know! As “Search and Rescue” is now (apparently) a profit center, she should sue them for incompetence! They didn’t rescue, so they’re the ones that failed!
SmartAlix: I also actively participated in the search for fosset by being a Turk. I believe I read about it here on this site…but here is a description of it Search For Steve Fossett Expands To Amazon’s Mechanical Turk
Maybe the Fosset’s should pay my bill rate for the time I spent analyzing those photo’s…oh wait, it was my employer at the time. lol
Sigh…
Excerpts from: http://tinyurl.com/573epq
The governor of Nevada intends to ask the widow of missing multi-millionaire Steve Fossett to help pay the £340,000 bill for the unsuccessful search for the adventurer, officials said.
But a spokesman for governor Jim Gibbons’ office said any contribution from Fossett’s widow Peggy or his family to the 687,000 dollar (£343,500) cost would be VOLUNTARY.
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Mr Gibbons’ spokesman Ben Kieckhefer said: “We are going to request that they help offset some of these expenses, considering the scope of the search, the overall cost as well as our ongoing budget difficulties.”
20 Said. Unlike a taxi, when searchers go out to look for you, there are no guarantees you will be found & brought home.
26 BubbaRay. As you know, the ELT won’t transmit properly if underwater, if caught in a narrow canyon perhaps with an overhang; if part of it, like the antenna, is destroyed; possibly if shielded by wreckage, and I bet a number of other reasons.
RBG