"Incident"

[Marco]

My wife and I are now in Jackson Wyoming ( where I'd rather be ) . About 5 years ago I had a car incident at the Jackson Lake Dam where my wet wader foot slipped off the brake and onto the accelerator. My Jeep just about jumped over the precipice and onto the rocks and Snake River below. The only thing that stopped it was a large log barrier that high centered the wheels . Only slight damage to the Jeep, minor park property damage (dislodged the log barriers and their concrete foundation) and large damage to my self esteem and underwear. I was at the scene again yesterday and although my insurance company was charged and paid $4000 for the property damage, the repairs have not been made. It's not money out of MY pocket ( except for perhaps higher ins. rate) but it's the principal of the thing. I'm about ready to visit park hq and inquire as to what's up but maybe I should just forget it and be glad I'M STILL ALIVE

,

[Betty Hiner]

Yuck!! I still get all mooshie in the knees when I see that picture! All the what if's and could a been's come rushing to mind!! So glad all came out well!!

[CharlaineC]

contact your insurence co then the park. if neither proves and practiall information then call the news. had a simular incident where the state charged my father 10k for damage to a 20' span of guard rail on the highway. that was never fixed the highway department kept jercking me around as did the govenar so i called the news. come to find out they charged us for a 200' span of guard rail and still never did the work. at the time I was decently well off and had paid it in full. with the proof in hand I ended getting my money back with interst after the story aired. and shortly their after we had a whole hew highway department head.

[modocdan]

Marco...
You should definitely be counting your blessings that you're still here with the rest of us. That little "log barrier" don't look like much to me. However, there's a couple other points that I think need at least thought. 1. $4000.00 seems like quite a lot to effect the repairs necessary to the "barrier". and 2. If the ins. co. truly did pay, the repairs should certainly be made, not for esthetics, but to ensure continued safety, should someone else need those "barriers" to stop them. and then there's #3....... those "barriers" look a lot more like landscaping than barriers to my untrained eye.......
.......just sayin' ..............ModocDan

[soloman]

Don't want to start an argument here but, money received from an insurance company is for your loss. If someone dents your fender and you get a payment, you don't have to fix the car, unless you have some type of lien/loan that requires it.

[Marco]

Soloman,
I would agree with you if the loss were to an average John Q. Public type. In this case, it is a government entity whose accounting/budget needs to zero out at end of it's fiscal year. In other words, all funds received must be disbursed/spent. The $4000 should have been spent and probably was BUT not for the repair for which it was paid/intended. Having said/ranted the above, I really don't care WHAT they did with the funds, I support the National Park Service 105% and don't begrudge them any funds, in fact I have 4 "Golden Age" lifetime passes ,three of which were purchased because I thought $10 for visiting Grand Teton NP was a pittance. And ANOTHER "in fact" ,today I caught 10 cutthroat trout in Cottonwood Creek ( greatly overlooked stream) in GTNP and would have gladly paid ANOTHER $10 for the pleasure I derived .
And in summation, I AM glad to be alive after the "incident"

Mark

[Cold]

Yuck!! I still get all mooshie in the knees when I see that picture! All the what if's and could a been's come rushing to mind!! So glad all came out well!!

Agreed. I was involved in a fairly serious car accident a few years ago, and I still get sick to my stomach and the adrenaline goes every time I drive through that intersection.

Very, very glad you're safe. Cars and barriers can be repaired...sometimes people cannot.

[soloman]

Mark,

I agree with you about the public accounting aspect of this situation. The park service should fix the barrier for safety sake, at the very least. Maybe they found a much more serious need for your "donation."

I doub't that the person receiving insurance funds even knows what the money is for.

I too love our parks. We, as a nation, are very blessed with our public lands.

I am glad you escaped injury from this accident. I would still be pulling seat cushion from my hind end.

Lendell

[Gigante]

Glad it all worked out for you.

I say they should make the $100 fix and be happy with $3900 profit and use that to improve a stream habitiat

[Uncle Jesse]

It looked like it needed some manual labor and some long steel spikes to hold it in place. Surely the local jail or prison had some guys who could use the help sleeping at night and a gold star on their probation paperwork.