REFUSED - UNAUTHORIZED MAIL

[guest]

You know.. I thought my envelope was pretty cool until I found out that the Washoe County Sheriff's Department has a bigger, redder stamp than I do. It ought to be submitted to Guinness for the world's largest stamp. I'd like to see that thing. Where do you get an ink pad that freakin' big? Oh wait.. they probably have plenty of ink and rollers lying around. I should have known that sending stamps to Dennis would bring about a refusal - ignorance on my part is no excuse. So i re-sent the letter to Dennis this morning.
While I'm here posting this I'm going to b*tch for a bit - read it if you want, ignore otherwise... it's just a personal aside and I have to write some of it down somewhere... it might as well be here.

I guess I'm a transitioning stage 2 - stage 3 jumper. I can certainly appreciate everyone's zeal for park access (I have it too at times), but at the same time it seems a big waste of time butting heads with the park service which, based upon statements to the press and comments here, seems to be talking out of both sides of its mouth. Who the hell am I fooling, though?? I work in that type of environment everyday - I see it first hand... it's always just a dog and pony show and it is driven by votes and graft. hmmm let's see....I'll just string this constituent along until the next election then I'll file his letter(recycle bin). Oh btw.. I'm at the state level people.. don't get your hopes up

I don't know WHERE this nonsense about Sup. Mihalic not having the authority to issue a permit came from... seems to me Sups. are given pretty broad discretion. Did Secretary Babbitt sign the permit for the BDA?? I haven't seen it, but somehow I doubt it - that would be micromanagement of the worst scale. What we need here is someone willing to step up to the plate and bat for us. Whoever does would be held in the highest regard by us (duh... like that's a big carrot ).

Someone said on here recently that the BASE award is the 'license' (Nick-BR?). That's true because it's a damned hard thing to get - and those who really want it will go and get it. That _IS_ how it is... anything else wouldn't be BASE jumping.

I think there is another force at work here that we aren't considering with regard to acceptance and access: a psychological force. This country is too full of namby pamby wimp dorks to ever accept BASE jumping. I've been trudging through a paper titled: _Cars, Cholera, and Cows - The Management of Risk and Uncertainty_ by John Adams (not the forefather). I recommend everyone read at least the executive summary (that should be enough to draw you in for the rest of the paper). Find the summary @
http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-335es.html
(you'll need adobe acrobat to read the rest) My research of late has been along these lines... basically trying to get to know and understand my enemy - to see how they perceive our sport. You rangers should read it too. Could one of you leave a copy on Sup. Mihalic's desk?? Thanks.

Anyway... "The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is the fear of the unknown" - H.P. Lovecraft. That pretty much sums up what we're dealing with here. We jumpers know the fear and embrace it; the non-jumpers don't. Fear makes the bear bigger. As a consequence, they shun the thought of flicking themselves from a rock - and because THEY are afraid, they think WE shouldn't be allowed... nuff said.

It's really a pity that those of us who are willing to take responsibility for ourselves are unable to do so because of an atmosphere created largely by those who refuse to accept responsibility (namby pamby wimp dorks). Society is riddled with frivilous lawsuits over circumstances that, in many instances, involve someone not taking responsibility for himself. Saddest of all is the ONE entity (NPS) that can provide us with a venue for jumps is unable to do so because of society's fear of litigation or some trivial financial burden (in the scheme of budgetary considerations) due to rescue.

Then there's the arguement over someone having to put himself in danger to rescue us yahoos. It is my understanding that there's a waiting list to be on park rescue teams. Seems to me those people know the risks yet they STILL want to do it. Why haven't we heard from them? Where's NPSSAR in all of this?

For the purposes of educating the general public, it is MOST unfortunate that BASE jumping is such an exclusive and clandestine sport. So complex, intricate and polished are its many facets that the non-jumper can never understand this jewel's worth; its rewards are as priceless as its risks. We can NEVER compile accurate statistics because of the nature of BASE... untold numbers of jumps happen annually... yet the public only hears of the occasional going-in or the hang-up on some object. Sad.

To the unwashed: I suppose you've never had the occasion to observe hawks in flight circling high overhead when, suddenly, they fold their wings and begin an earthward plummet at the force of gravity - only to recover at treetop level. I suppose you've lived your life in a fashion which never lead you to a passionate desire for flight. Hopefully you have a passion for something... and hopefully you don't find obstacles in the way of your passion. I want to be a hawk when I grow up.

After Jan's death I posted a battle cry. I asked that jumpers not seek solace in night jumps from some obscure tower in the middle of nowhere. That was a silly request on my part because, for the most part, it's all we have. I've given a lot of thought to how I feel about access. Certainly I would embrace access, but I can't honestly say I think it's a good thing nor necessarily something we need. Lately I've been leaning toward sticking with just what I asked us not to do in my battle cry. The thought of making the lives of rangers in yosemite and other parks miserable through repeated fox-chases in the woods at night under severe conditions both intrigues and delights me. Rangers: it's nothing personal.. just a nose-thumbing reaction to a stupid policy.

Ultimately, it is only Darwin and the physical laws that rule... you can't legislate safety into everything. There is argument that legislating safety into something increases the likelihood that one will take on additional risk because of the added security one feels - regardless of its presence or absense. One thing is certain: BASE jumping is the big daddy of all extreme sports. In twenty years we're only up to how many numbers?? I heard 600s. That's quite telling of its nature. Keeping it illegal only serves to highten the challenge and the risks... which results in making us more careful; that's good.

I suppose what I'm saying here now is I'm indifferent to the access issue. I'll continue my work toward access for the BASE community, but I'm not banking on the outcome for myself.

Happy Thanksgiving Folks!
Gardner 311

[guest]

Gardner,

When someone puts Cars, Cholera, and Cows - The Management of Risk and Uncertainty_ by John Adams on Sup. Mihalic's desk, it should be accompanied by your post.

I've come to a conclusion and it's something you touched on. If there is only 600 or so of us (let's just use that number), therein may lay our problem. Suppose there is 6,000 or even 60,000 BASE jumpers in the world, would access issues be eased by the fact this big market would demand attention. For instance, would someone invest a million dollars in a 2000 foot made for BASE jumping tower if financial success is almost a certainty?

We may, (it's lonely out on this limb, so bare with me) be approaching some things backasswards (always wanted to use that word) by keeping BASE jumping "The Big Secret."

Stage one BASE jumpers automatically go into secret mode and get very possessive of sites they consider their own. It can be argued this secrecy is necessary to the upkeep of sites, but in the end this policy works against the sport, and only benefits the jumpers of the moment.

I'm in the BIZ and the more BASE jumpers the better is an easy thing for me to swallow. However, what we are doing has resulted in what could be termed BASE stagnation. We are just plodding along with the secrets passed word of mouth from one generation of BASE jumper to the next. (Our accident rate reflects an unfortunate side effect of our culture, if you are not with the "in" crowd, you can miss some of the more important secrets).

Everyday I see the result of our limited market. Everything we do, what Mick does here on the board, what the BASE manufactures toil away on, what Dennis is doing sitting in jail, and what we've learned from all the accidents and deaths is basically wasted by keeping it all to ourselves.

Everyone harped there weren't enough jumpers in Yosemite during the show of support. Considering that these 600 hard-core BASE jumpers are scattered all over the world what did show up it doesn’t sound so paltry. Imagine how many would have came if there are 60,000 of us. People who complained may not fully understand the limited scope of this sport.

If we could figure a way to open the door to the thousands who stumble onto BASE jumping but have no prior parachuting experience everything would change. Is that possible? Probably, but not at our present level of training. Believe me if the military suddenly needed to train some BASE jumpers from scratch they throw enough time and money into to make it work. So don't be afraid to dream.

Some changes will not go down well, but that's the nature of change and the end result could be to the benefit of those who simply want to fly.

Nick