Thu, Feb 09, 2012
Saving Lives Trumps Conflict Of Interest Guidelines
You may have heard the story of three mushroom collectors
who were found after being lost for six days in a southern Oregon
forest. Daniel and Belinda Conne and their 25-year-old son Michael
were airlifted out of the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest on
Saturday and spent the night recovering in a hospital. But the man
who finally spotted them from his Robinson R44 (similar aircraft
pictured) was violating Jackson County ethics guidelines by
participating in the search, and says he'd do it again.
John Rachor is a 63-year-old county commissioner who says he's
flown on about 15 search-and-rescue missions, and last weekend
wasn't his first save. In 2006, he found Kati Kim and her two young
daughters after their car became stuck in snow in a wilderness
area, trapping them for nine days. Her husband, James Kim, died of
exposure after leaving to walk for help. Kati and her daughters
were saved.
The Oregonian reports that was before Rachor was elected to the
Jackson County Commission. Now, part of his responsibilities
include overseeing the budget for search and rescue, and his
reimbursement of $420 for the fuel used to find the Connes is
therefore, technically, a conflict of interest.
Rachor says that if its hunters reported lost, there's a good
chance they're prepared to last a few days while ground search
crews find them. But he tells the paper, "If there is a 4-year-old
boy, all bets are off and I am going anyway. When you have
something like this, when people’s lives are at stake, I will
always go."
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