An axe with a built in distress signal.
After being stranded for days in an area just south of Wollaston Lake, he cut down four power poles in hopes of attracting attention. According to SaskPower’s James Parker, he was spotted by a helicopter last Friday. “We fly the line to see what the issue is. So naturally our folks went down to rescue him. He was in a very distressed state when we got to him.”
Heh. The title.
“…cuts down power polls…”
He must read SDA.
Wait….
He has the strength to cut down four (FOUR!!!!) power poles with an axe, but not the strength (or the sense?) to follow the power lines out?
There must be more to the story. Either that or he’s an idiot.
Seems some of the city slickers have never been lost deep in the bush. It’s not a parlour board game, doods.
It was a good idea and worked!
An honest question: As a deep woods survival strategy, chopping down some power poles was obviously effective, but it did involve some property damage. What’s the small-government, personal-responsibility, libertarian take on who should foot the bill for repairing the downed lines?
The small-gov’t, personal-responsibility take would be that if he got stranded as a result of something reckless he should pay, but otherwise not.
I’m sure some people would say he should pay regardless but I doubt many.
It’s a risky strategy, cutting those power line poles. He would be found in a well-done state if the power line fell directly on him.
He has to pay for the repair. He did what he had to do to survive, but he can’t get off Scot-free. He put himself in that position in the first place.
A few months ago, a lot of people made nasty comments about the cost of resuing snowmobilers. I’d assume they’ll apply the same logic to this situation.
I’ve used an axe more than the average person, and I have to say, that’s a real accomplishment. Not to mention the risk of being electrocuted.
I heard people on the radio praise this guy as brilliant for thinking of disrupting power to get help to come. I got lost in Yellowstone Nat’l Park at age 13, with three younger siblings in my not-so-capable care, and we flipped a breaker at a power station we came across, hoping for rescuers to home in on us. Fortunately we were found after only 6 or 7 hours of wandering around the bush. [And actually I didn’t tell our rescuers about the breaker because I was afraid my Dad would get hit with a bill for the disruption.]
Also, we too had begun following the power lines to the next town. I did ask our rescuers about that, and was informed that the next town was several hundred miles away.
That stance would make sense if people were cutting down power poles in cases where they weren’t in danger and a disincentive was needed, but I don’t see that happening.
*
“davenport screeches… small-government,
personal-responsibility”
yeah… what’s four days lost in the bush?
why couldn’t he just sack-up & die
like a real man?
*
I got lost hunting once. The only comfort I had was plenty of ammunition & water. Otherwise it was scary as hell.
davenport said: “What’s the small-government, personal-responsibility, libertarian take on who should foot the bill for repairing the downed lines?”
You break it, you fix it.
But then, you already knew that.
Not enough facts to determine the appropriate outcome except that I believe in any case where folks get lost during recreational activity, they or their estate should be billed for most of the expense. Kids today, and adults as well, but the kids coming up are so isolated from happenstance, they fail to prepare for daily life much less gallivanting in the wilderness. It’s going to get expensive if examples aren’t made of people.
see!….i toldja!
if it had been a wind farm…or a solar panel farm he woulda starved to death…
simply more empirical proof bolstering my admittedly Luddite theories….
What’s the small-government, personal-responsibility, libertarian take on who should foot the bill for repairing the downed lines?
Predictably insipid Marxist blog commenters.
Waterhouse says “Predictably insipid Marxist blog commenters.”
I disagree. I think it is a fair question. We should all be able to defend the moral ground we stake out for ourselves.
Of course, when it comes to cutting down power Poles, nobody can beat Comrade Stalin…
I disagree. I think it is a fair question.
Good for you. I think it’s a sneering distraction from a goose-stepping Marxist nitwit who should be apologizing profusely to every citizen who can’t find a doctor or has to wait years for surgery thanks to the socialist utopia he and his economically illiterate ilk foisted upon this country.
Q….are you a pole vaulter ?
A….i’m not Polock!….and who told you my name is Walter?
Ve know who you are vaulter and ve have vays to make…..
Sorry.
An axe is an amazing tool and weapon. Very versatile. That one tool can chop, slash, cut, punch, club, hammer, wedge, and lever.
It has been the most popular tool of pioneers, soldiers, woodsmen, farmers, and firemen for centuries.
Everyone could benefit from owning one.
Jesus H. Christ, you mean people actually live in Stony Rapids at the end of Hwy. 964 ?
Why four poles?
Wouldn’t one have sufficed?
Gord –
> Why four poles?
Haven’t you ever seen a couple broken poles leaning after a storm, but still with the wires intact?
Maybe he found dropping 4 was needed to actually bring the lines down. In fact, he may have had to cut one pole more than once to get the wires on the ground.
As someone who’s used an axe as a primary tool on survey crews on 4 continents, I find the concept quite interesting…
Charge him criminally and force him to pay for replacing the poles and the costs of the people he deprived of power.
What a frigging idiot.
From all reports, his life was indeed in danger. He’d been stranded there for 5 days in sub-zero weather, and there was no way to walk out. He had to drop four poles to cut the power. Who pays is a question to answer later – in his situation, I’d hope any small government libertarian would be as innovative.
a friend of mine used old telegraph poles as masts on his sailboat and set several records including the longest solo nonstop…almost 43,000 miles….a fascinating story of true humility….he xly declined to win the first solo round the world race…allowing knox johnson to win….literally giving him the fame glory and filthy lucre…
and six strand galvanized wire rope for shrouds and stays….cobbled together with u-clamps and etc etc…
he had little money but great ingenuity heart and courage..a remarkable man and a wonderful writer who will be as respected in God’s good time in that adventure travel milieu as saint-Exupery…
Sure begley, in your mind,let’s see a pic of you and Bernard hanging out.Joshua was custom built, hardly cobbled together with old telephone poles. Ya gotta cut back on the dope.
“As someone who’s used an axe as a primary tool on survey crews on 4 continents, I find the concept quite interesting…”
Posted by: chopper at June 2, 2010 12:12 AM
Man, you must be 100 years old. Surveyors haven’t used axes for anything other than chopping holes in frozen ground for over 40 years.
The fact I think he needs to pay for damages doesn’t mean I disagree with what he did. You do what you have to, to survive, but you have to pay the price for being rescued. If he was on the job, his employer is responsible.