Open Letter to Sheriff Nyland

[guest]

Dear Sheriff Nyland:

If you think the occasional BASE rescue is expensive, wait'll you get a load of constant regulation and enforcement.

Wait until you have your guys out there in the desert at all hours of the day and night, in every kind of weather, trying to catch people who have had 20 years to develop evasion and escape tactics, courtesy of the National Park Service's dishonest and discriminatory policies toward us.

Wait until the casualty rate doubles and triples because people start jumping in marginal conditions to avoid detection.

That is what is happening in Yosemite, where the deaths and critical injuries of a dozen people are directly attributable to the NPS policy of "prohibition as regulation."

And keep in mind, sir, that you are not dealing with the forgiving 2,000-foot-high walls of Yosemite: You are dealing with 300-500-foot-high cliffs that are very hazardous if not approached deliberately and carefully -- and without worrying about jackboots coming up the road. So start _another_ discriminatory pogrom in _your_ neighborhood and you'll see your SAR operations skyrocket.

And wait until you think about the cost of creating that pogrom -- excuse me, regulatory system, complete with documentation and signage and regular patrols. And overtime. And, of course, even _more_ SAR cosrts because of the aformentioned jumps made in marginal conditions to avoid detection, capture and arrest that will result in death and injury.

Start adding up these costs and see what bottom line emerges... not to mention the political and community cost of the internecine warfare your proposed action will generate.

And then consider this:
What you ought to do _instead_, Sheriff Nyland, is _JOIN WITH US_ to demand that the NPS end its unfair, illegal, discriminatory and essentially psychotic policies against wilderness parachutists.

THE SOLE REASON SO MANY JUMPERS COME TO MOAB IS BECAUSE THEY WILL BE ARRESTED AND JAILED IF THEY GO TO THE BIGGER WALLS IN THE NATIONAL PARKS.

Period. End of statement.

The Bottom Line is: You and your colleagues (and your SAR budget) in Grand County are victims of NPS policies exactly the same way we are: If not for the sick policies based on lies and the perverted ranger who initially pushed them, less experienced jumpers (and the good ones too) would spend more time in parks with bigger walls.

So think about that, sir. And remember as you think that you live in the free state of Utah, and that is who employs you, not the godless, soulless, amoral federal government which has made such a mess of so many things over the years.

Love,

Robin Heid

[guest]

EXCELLENT POINTS!! Hope you send it directly to him, and anyone else who may have a say in this!!

[guest]

Loved your post. I am asking permission to reproduce it on our site.

It is up and running right now at:

http://trak.to/base

Just click onto "The Facts" link and scroll down a bit and it is there.

If you want it off of there I will remove it ASAP. Just let me know.

Cheers

Ken

[guest]

Sorry Sherrif,

Robin doesn't always take his medication. He is not a representative of the base community. Even if his heart is in the right place, his head is somewhere else. SAR is expensive, and more likely to increase in your area as base jumping continues to grow. Perhaps a sharing of your stats on costs to rescue jumpers for the last year 5 years versus all other rescues would shed some light on the situation. Clearly jumpers without insurance (who can't or won't repay the SAR) should "take a hike". We are not looking for free rides or to be a burden, but seek only equal and fair treatment to other Moab visitor, injurerd or otherwise.

Olive branch kindly extended

[Mike]

If BASE jumping is going to continue to be legal in Moab, we are going to have to face reality. With legalization comes regulation, of some kind. You can't have one without the other, at least not for long. Take note that the sheriff doesn't want to outlaw base altogether, but just like everyone else in this country, we might have to play by some reasonable set of rules. Big deal.

Don't take this to mean that we should sit back and let the outsiders make our laws. We need to be proactive to ensure that our side is represented, and to show that we're interested in cooperating. Cooperating means offering constructive criticism to the BLM, the Sheriff's office, and every other concerned party involved. We need to EDUCATE these people about our sport. If all we do is complain about the government and whine about our freedom, then we can expect their decisions to be based on spite, rather than knowledge or understanding.