"So Sorry For Your Loss... Will That Be Visa Or Mastercard?"

Talk about adding insult to injury. Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons intends to bill Steve Fossett's widow for the $687,000 the state spent searching for the missing adventurer last fall.

The Associated Press states Ben Kieckhefer, spokesman for the governor (right), told The Las Vegas Review-Journal on Wednesday Gibbons planned to bill Peggy Fossett for the cost of the unsuccessful search, in an apparent effort to combat budget shortfalls.

That plan contradicts statements made Tuesday by state Emergency Management Director Frank Siracusa, who pointedly noted search and rescue crews traditionally do not charge to search for missing persons, even with they or their families are well-off.

"We do not charge the rich or the poor," Siracusa said. "There is no precedent where government will go after people for costs just because they have money to pay for it. You get lost, and we look for you. It is a service your taxpayer dollars pay for."

As ANN reported, Fossett went missing September 3 after taking off from a private ranch in Yerington, NV in a two-seat Bellanca Decathlon. A massive search-and-rescue effort was launched... with volunteers aiding state and federal SAR crews, and searchers from the Civil Air Patrol and Nevada National Guard.

Unfortunately, those efforts failed to yield any sign of the multimillionaire aviator... and an Illinois judge declared Fossett legally deceased February 15. That declaration was a necessary step towards settling what Cook County Circuit Court Judge Jeffery Malak termed a "vast," eight-figure estate.

Hotel magnate Barron Hilton, who owned the private airstrip Fossett took off from, voluntarily sent the state of Nevada a $200,000 check to cover some of the state's expenses... but Gibbons apparently wants more, and isn't afraid of offending anyone's sensibilities to get it.

Even should Fossett's estate pay the state for the search, that money won't come close to settling the projected $900 million shortfall projected to hit Nevada's coffers by 2009.

FMI: http://gov.state.nv.us/Gov.htm, www.stevefossett.com