City Government
Swimming Upstream
March 23, 2006 
The GUARDIAN had a chance to meet all the new brass at the Statesman Thursday for a sneak peek at the new graphics they plan to unveil after tax day in April.
We chided them about favoring form over substance noting the lead news story in the local section was about a tree falling in the river. What earth shaking news that a tree fell in the river in Idaho in the spring time!
Their defense was that it was published for the safety of kayakers, canoe paddlers, and rafters who could be injured or drown if caught in the dangerous current. The GUARDIAN was regarded by some as taking an unfair shot at the paper.
The REAL news story is “river users are at increased risk because there is an obstacle and no warning signs.” Sorta like reporting a bridge out, but not doing anything about getting flashing lights or signs to warn motorists.
If there was a real danger to public safety they should have reported it to the Boise Parks Dept.
The GUARDIAN did just that . Office workers at Boise Parks said they were aware of the hazard which was reported by field workers, but no warning signs were erected. Within 20 minutes of our (persistant) call, a Boise Parks foreman was on the scene near Fish & Game headquarters scouting the best location and wording for a warning sign. The foreman and supervisor PAUL WOODS both promised signs would be placed upstream along the river Friday to warn unsuspecting river users of the dangerous fallen tree.
All you gotta do is ask! No big deal, but without fallen trees there would be no “breaking news” on the Statesman web site.
KUDOS to Woods and crew for a timely response and grasping the solution to the problem. Of course, one has to be crazy to be in the river when it is cold and flows are so high. Ironically, the story below the fallen tree was about a young man who drowned the day before at Lucky Peak when his boat capsized.
There’s an old philosophical question, “If a tree falls in the forest and nobody hears it, did it make a sound?”
The GUARDIAN asks, “If a dangerous tree falls in the river and everybody knows about it, did they do anything?”
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Comments & Discussion
Comments are closed for this post.
Mar 24, 2006, 2:22 am
Signs? Jeeze. Whyn’t somebody just snag a rope or a cable around the thing, hook it to the back of his pickup and yank it up onto the bank?
Oh, maybe Californians don’t do things that way.
Still, there must be at least a few Westerners around who still know how to solve ‘most any problem on a ranch or farm with a good rope or cable and an ol’ pickup, no?
ED NOTE–Fire dept. took a look and declared the tree too big and water too dangerous to remove at present time.
Mar 24, 2006, 10:27 am
There are too many warnings and information signs these days. Go to a trailhead and see how many signs are there. It’s crap. If people get lost or trapped under a tree then it’s probably because they were not prepared, didn’t have the knowledge and experience, or took an uncalculated risk. Let Darwinism reign! Besides, most of the above mentioned are probably Sprawlifornians and we could use less of them around anyways.
Idaho is too Great to Califonicate.