Wrong to sue to keep rafters out

After watching another local TV news segment on the outrage, and now a lawsuit by some against a local river raft company running a rafting trip on the Stillaguamish River through the Highway 530 mudslide, I feel I have to write and give my support to the river raft company and its owner. The Stillaguamish River is a public river and if rafting was permitted before the slide, then there is no reason it can not be resumed now. Rafting the river through the side zone is not disrespectful to those who died in the slide. How is people wanting to see the slide area in a raft on the river any different than people stopping along Highway 530 and gawking at the destruction caused by the slide? I know that people who lost loved ones in the slide are still grieving, but they do not have the right to demand that people stay off a public river. I say to the river rafters, do not let bullies keep you off the river.

Gayle Olcott

Arlington