Life versus money and a tragedy compounded

On Nov. 24 my wife and I were driving north on Spirit Lake Cutoff Road when we encountered a horrible accident. As we approached the car, we were slipping on the road and almost fell twice. There was black ice in the shadow of the trees on both sides of the road.

In a somewhat controlled slip down the side of the ditch, it was plain to see that the driver had died on impact. But there was a voice inside the wreckage. The mother of the two children asking repeatedly for a towel to slow the bleeding from her older daughter. Her daughter was having a hard time breathing. My wife ran back to our truck for a towel.

Since the accident, I thought about how our tax dollars are being spent in Bonner County. Our taxes have been rising recently as if we lived in a northern extension of California. What’s Bonner doing with this windfall? It’s obvious they’re not spending it on road maintenance in anticipation of fall driving conditions.

There are not enough words to express my disgust with a government department that puts money ahead of the lives of the people under their care.

If you’re concerned about the costs then ask yourself, “What’s more expensive, dispatching three ambulances, two sheriff’s cruisers, a firetruck and the Idaho State Police, or a couple of passes with a brine truck?” And if you think your costs are high, Mrs. Hampton now has a $60,000 medevac bill and the loss of her husband and her older child.

WILLIAM R. BATDORF

Spirit Lake