State negligent for not ensuring safety

Published 4:22 pm Wednesday, August 13, 2008

I believe that the killing of a hiker by a hunter is unacceptable under any circumstances but in this situation there is plenty of negligence to pass around. The negligence of the hunter and his parents is obvious. The not-so-obvious negligence is with the state of Washington and the Department of Fish and Wildlife.

It is inexcusable for the state to have allowed a hunting safety law to fall off the books. I blame the Legislature that dropped the ball and every Legislature following that for negligence contributing to a death. The law should require an adult over 21 years to be with a minor under 18 years while hunting.

It is inexcusable for the Department of Fish and Wildlife to not set off boundaries from selected popular hiking trails, like Sauk Mountain, and have it posted. The boundaries should be set back 3 to 5 miles in each direction from these popular trails. This also negligence contributing to a death.

We are not living in a time where people “need” to hunt for food. Hunting is for sport and should be controlled as a sport so that people hiking cannot be injured or killed by someone attempting to bag a trophy.

The state should not be patting itself on the back because a tragedy like this hasn’t happen in two decades. It should never happen. Safety is the issue here and in this case safety was failed by the hunter, his parents, the state and the Department of Fish and Wildlife. Let’s make sure this never happens again. One death is one too many.

Side note: Why are so many more people worried about what someone might see when going to a latte stand and less worried about a human being’s death?

Dale Barringer