LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: MARCH 1, 2025
This article was published in the March 1, 2025 Edition.
On collective responsibility
Dear Editor,
Mammoth Lakes is a community built on adventure, resilience, and the shared experience of life in the mountains. Yet, when it comes to the harder conversations about safety, accountability, and our collective responsibility, we too often stay silent, letting rumors replace truth and allowing real lessons to go unlearned.
This isn’t just about Claire Murphy’s tragic passing, the increasingly reckless après-ski culture, or the crashes that have become too frequent. It’s about a pattern: accidents happen, incidents unfold, yet we fail to address them openly as a community. We need transparency—not just to prevent future harm but to foster the kind of trust that makes a town stronger.
Another concern is the growing number of people heading out of bounds, often without the proper knowledge, gear, or regard for risk. We all know that the allure of fresh snow and untouched terrain is strong, but so are the dangers— avalanches, exposure, getting lost, and putting rescuers in harm’s way. When things go wrong out there, the whole story is often buried, and we miss the opportunity to educate and protect locals and visitors.
Why are we so hesitant to acknowledge what’s happening? Why not be more vulnerable and more honest? Authentic mountain culture isn’t just about pushing limits—it’s about looking out for one another. That means acknowledging when things go wrong, learning from them, and making changes. Whether it’s resort operations, town leadership, or individual responsibility, we all play a role in shaping the future of Mammoth.
I urge Mammoth Mountain, local officials, and community members to commit to open conversations. Let’s not let fear of liability or discomfort keep us from doing what’s right. We owe it to those we’ve lost, those still here, and those who will come after us.
Dr. Arianne Weiner
Mammoth Lakes
Regarding the Man in the Bush Hat
Ted,
Last week, in Hartley’s column, there was a section subtitled “WHY ARE PEOPLE SO LACKING IN ACCOUNTABILITY” bemoaning the fact that a woman’s husband had the temerity to complain in court after his wife was killed on safari by a rampaging hippo.
This is the smug writer for the msm (main stream media) needs a story, invents one, and runs with it genre.
It began with a famous case of a woman who spilled hot coffee on herself that she got from MacDonald’s, sued and won a lot of money.
This sent the msm into a major tizzy. How could someone be so outrageous to spill coffee on themselves and then have the nerve to sue McDonald’s for its own bad behavior. What was never mentioned in those breathless accounts was that McDonald’s had taken to heating the coffee to near boiling before serving it because the bean counters at McDonald’s figured out that heating the coffee to very high temperatures kept the coffee from spoiling and saved a third of a pot of coffee per day per McDonald’s! This, the bean counters claimed, would result in a lot of money for Ronald McD by the end of the year.
What also wasn’t mentioned was that before this woman got badly burned by the super-hot coffee, McDonald’s had received hundreds of complaints about people being seriously injured by the coffee, but the corporation chose to consciously ignore it. Only legal action persuaded McD’s to change its approach.
Now onto Mr. Hartley, who can’t imagine that someone, being apprised of the fact they might see Hippos(!) would not instantly understand the mortal danger of such an endeavor. Just the mere mention of the word hippos is a “red flag” to Mr. Hartley. “This guy is an asshat, these types of lawsuits should be banned” Hartley intones, implying he’s considered all the relevant facts. NOT.
We know from published reports that the couple went on a safari arranged by a highly reputable and highly compensated tour company here in the States, with a highly regarded safari company in Africa. Let’s assume the couple, named Craig and Lisa Manders, show up for their safari tour at the tour company’s door. They are greeted by a sandy-haired outdoorsy looking fellow in khaki clothing and a bush hat who tells them, in an accent that sounds Australian but is actually from South Africa, that the tour is incredibly dangerous, that hippos can be vicious and unpredictable, that the safari cannot be relied upon to ensure their safety, and that they better have wills prepared before going. Of course, the Manders, throwing caution to the wind, immediately sign up for this interesting adventure.
REALLY? NO, NOT REALLY!
With an intro like that any reasonably awake person would turn around and high-tail it out of there at top speed. Not to mention the fact that the safari company would have been out of business in about ten seconds flat and Mr. Bush Hat would have been right back in Kinshasa washing dishes in a restaurant.
What is much more likely is that Mr. Bush Hat told them the tour was perfectly safe, they had conducted it hundreds of times and no one had suffered so much as a hang-nail, they had trained guides who would not lead them into something dangerous, and that they could completely rely on this highly reputable company to take good care of them.
Meanwhile, the Manders, being from New Jersey and not knowing the first thing about safaris and wild animals, (in New Jersey, the most dangerous animals only have two legs) but having been connected with the highly regarded safari company by their highly reputable tour company, figure Mr. Bush Hat must know what he is talking about and decide to go on the safari. Does this make Mr. Manders an “asshat” as Hartley tells us? Well, an insurance defense attorney and Hartley clone will be sure to tell a jury exactly that but when the jury hears all the facts and renders a decision in Mr. Manders’ favor, will Hartley apologize and write an article about how he jumped to a conclusion without considering all the facts and smeared poor Mr. Manders?
Hmmm. Perhaps or perhaps not.
Paul Rudder
Mammoth Lakes
