OSO — The Stillaguamish River is too low to risk a second trip this summer past the site of the Oso mudslide, the guide of a controversial rafting tour said last week.
Dave Button led one float trip past the slide area June 7. He has 70 people on a waiting list to take his next tour, he said.
He doesn’t expect it to be anytime soon.
“The river’s too low and it’s not safe,” he said. “We will be going back when the water’s back up.”
That could be later this summer if it rains enough, or it could be next year, he said.
A lawsuit filed in Snohomish County Superior Court on Wednesday aims to make sure the trips never happen again. Attorney Karen Willie is representing Ron Slauson, son of slide victim Lon Slauson, and Davis and Ruth Hargrave, Lon Slauson’s neighbors and friends. Lon Slauson was one of 43 people killed in the mudslide March 22, 2014.
The suit alleges that Button and his company, Pacific NW Float Trips, trespassed on private property and published information online that “falsely represents” the purpose of the trips by saying profits will go to people affected by the slide.
“Plaintiffs explicitly stated they want no part of any business’s profits from the Oso Landslide tragedy,” according to the lawsuit.
Button, who advertises on his company’s webpage that proceeds from the raft trip benefit slide survivors, said he was thinking of putting the money into a scholarship fund for students affected by the slide.
The slide changed the river’s course and part of it now runs through the Slauson property, according to the lawsuit. The suit claims rafting there is trespassing and criticizes “cynical efforts by profiteers hoping to garner money and publicity from this tragedy.”
The rivers are public property, Button said. He views the trip as a chance for people who are curious about the disaster to see the devastation up close.
“I encourage people to respect that area and yet learn from it,” he said.
The lawsuit seeks an order to keep Button and his company from rafting on the river through Slauson’s property and to make him remove the online statement that profits benefit slide survivors. It also asks for reasonable attorney and expert witness fees and “damages in an amount that will be established at trial.”
Kari Bray: 425-339-3439; kbray@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
