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Les,
I was not endangering anyone else with my actions. I don't hold the government responsible for mishaps stemming from my actions. I just want them to stay out of my Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness. Got a problem with that? Guess so. Better form a bigger government to protect us all from ourselves.
Aloha, Dan
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Quote:
"I was not endangering anyone else with my actions."
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Let's say for the sake of argument, that you or your companion had the misfortune to fall, or be injured by a local methane explosion while in the restricted area.
Who do you think would risk injury to themselves to come to your assistance? Do you think they would let you die because you resent their involvement in your life?
The whole point of the County's involvement at the flow is that sadly, some of us do need to be protected from ourselves.
I sympathize with your feelings of independance, and have done similar things myself.
However; If you don't want the government interfering with your "pursuit of happiness", you might have made your visit when they weren't there to "be involved".
I've never known a rescue worker to pass up an attempt because the vicim is a libertarian.
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Yeah, if the lava is so fresh that your feet are getting hot, then you are walking on a thin crust. Have you any idea how crispy a thin layer is, and how little it can support?
You'll forget your name if you break through there! Just agonizing screams will be heard as your ankles shrivel and smoke! (The agony of de feet?)
I'd rather light a branch (a long one, too) than walk on liquid rock, thank you!
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I see now that my previous story was deleted...... Just to clarify, a week earlier the police were allowing hundreds of people to venture out to the Pahoehoe flow and when we hiked to the ocean entry, we crossed no barriers, nor signs stating that the areas were restricted.
So Then, should we keep everyone out of the oceans? How many are injured or killed while swimming, surfing, fishing, or diving off these shores every year? And how many are injured or killed by Pahoehoe flows?
Daniel, everything written about lava viewing emphasizes the instability of ocean entry areas because the cooling lava creates new land that's highly unstable.
Not that many people fall into the lava or the ocean because most pay attention to the warnings, but if there was no information or control, sure, more would be killed.
I too get upset when someone says it doesn't hurt anyone else if he injures himself. Not only do the rescue workers risk their lives to help people, but our hospital is understaffed. On any given night there are a number of people waiting to be tended to at the Hilo ER, waiting for hours, while in pain -- as they take a back seat to people brought in by ambulance.
We all have a responsibility to try and be smart and not get injured and use resources because we are willing to take risks. Those resources belong to the community. I did read recently the list of people that are known to have been killed by the lava, and their bodies were consumed and never recovered; however, it was only known what happened to them because someone was there to see the accident. There must be others whose fates are a mystery and simply disappeared to be eventually presumed dead.
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Quote:
"So Then, should we keep everyone out of the oceans? How many are injured or killed while swimming, surfing, fishing, or diving off these shores every year?"
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It's not about keeping people out. It's about maintaining a ballance of public access and public safety.
The County has invested a great deal of time and expense to make the lava viewing area accessable and safe. If they allow you to approach the lava too closly, don't they also have to let Joe Numbnuts from Boise approach also? Does he have the right to carry his toddler there on his shoulder? If Joe or Junior Numbnuts are injured are they going to sue the County (us). "Well, they let Daniel in, I thought it was safe".
In your previous post, Daniel, you said you took your scoldings and left. This is an appropriate response. To later suggest that the Government has no right to protect the public from themselves is not.
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quote:
...don't they also have to let Joe Numbnuts from Boise approach also? Does he have the right to carry his toddler there on his shoulder?
Hey I think I saw Joe trying to boogie board at Hapuna in the big waves!
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Greg,
Funny that you should mention Joe. As we were making our way back to the parking lot, against the hoard of people that had been released from the 2 PM starting gate, a 30+ish man, wearing sandals and carrying a picinic basket, came RUNNING across the Pahoehoe to get the first look. He had a 9 month old baby on his shoulders.
He might have been from Boise.
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Madame Pele is good for helicopter tour business I noted several times today...plenty helicopters overhead!
Carrie
http://www.carrierojo.etsy.com
http://www.vintageandvelvet.blogspot.com
"Freedom has a scent like the top of a newborn baby's head..." U2
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I am starting to understand why the helicopters bother people in HA and FA so much. It used to be weeks would go by without seeing or hearing any plane or helicopter from Seaview. Now I see them many times per day. Ho hum.
