Should the kid's family pay for rescue efforts?

[CHAPPY]

Do you think the kids family should pay for any part of the rescue efforts on the balloon ride, or should the tax payers foot the bill?
 

[WilldCrd]

Do you think the kids family should pay for any part of the rescue efforts on the balloon ride, or should the tax payers foot the bill?
 

Nope, its what we pay taxes for in the 1st place.
I think it would set a bad precedent. The kid is 6yrs old, they do stupid stuff. Now if he was 16....then maybe a part of it as punishment.
People seem to forget that part of our tax dollars are already allocated to this kind of thing. It's one of the things we as a civilized society enjoy thru our taxation 

If we have to start paying for rescue then the rescuers shouldn't get any more of my tax dollars, just send the bill to the rescued person (if they lived).

[Treize69]

If it was just a kid screwing up, no. If they can prove it was a stunt set up by his parents, then yes.

[WilldCrd]

If it was setup by the parents then yes + go to jail, do not collect your $200

[Westy]

Right now he should be hand writing personal letters of an apology
to every person involved in trying to "rescue" him.

[CAP1]

Nope, its what we pay taxes for in the 1st place.
I think it would set a bad precedent. The kid is 6yrs old, they do stupid stuff. Now if he was 16....then maybe a part of it as punishment.
People seem to forget that part of our tax dollars are already allocated to this kind of thing. It's one of the things we as a civilized society enjoy thru our taxation 

If we have to start paying for rescue then the rescuers shouldn't get any more of my tax dollars, just send the bill to the rescued person (if they lived).

but see?

if we pay for this already, then is it right that we get billed for that helicopter ride after the serious accident? i realize that it's a private company(virtua here in nj) that operates it, but the pilots are state troopers.

 if our taxes pay for this stuff, then the state should be paying for the operating cost of these too, rather than billing the accident victims.

 i think that motorists are billed for cleanup at accident scenes too.

[allaire]

I agree that if it was a setup the full weight of the law should be brought against these attention potatos.

[Rich46yo]

The Police should have known that 99 out of 100 times the kid is in the house, or near it, hiding or sleeping.

And if they knew this two had been on a previous TV show? Wife Swap? Well whats that tell you?

Now I think they just want to get the entire thing off the front page for a few days. The authorities will look like fools, which they are, if the public finds out in these hard economic times they got flimm-flammed by a trashed out family seeking fame.

What was the bill yathink? 1 m ? 2 m? 10 m?

"Wife Swap" http://abc.go.com/shows/wife-swap/episode-guide/heenesilver/161743# 

Yeah sure, this was legit alright.

[Rino]

but see?

if we pay for this already, then is it right that we get billed for that helicopter ride after the serious accident? i realize that it's a private company(virtua here in nj) that operates it, but the pilots are state troopers.

 if our taxes pay for this stuff, then the state should be paying for the operating cost of these too, rather than billing the accident victims.

 i think that motorists are billed for cleanup at accident scenes too.

     The state troopers aviation budget is funded through your vehicle registration fees.
They are slowly but surely getting out of the medivac business.  Several companies
including PHI operate medivacs out of NJ now.  The interesting part for me was that
Air One, the Morristown operator doesn't know if they will be paid until after the ride.

     This is from the horse's mouth btw, as a buddy of mine flies for them.  I also know
several of the Northstar/Southstar state trooper pilots from my time at KMMU.

[CAP1]

     The state troopers aviation budget is funded through your vehicle registration fees.
They are slowly but surely getting out of the medivac business.  Several companies
including PHI operate medivacs out of NJ now.  The interesting part for me was that
Air One, the Morristown operator doesn't know if they will be paid until after the ride.

     This is from the horse's mouth btw, as a buddy of mine flies for them.  I also know
several of the Northstar/Southstar state trooper pilots from my time at KMMU.

i got to meet a few of them.

they're great people, and not at all what most people picture when you mention state trooper.

a few years ago, they brought one of their jet rangers in to VAY for our CAP cadets, and 2 years ago, i actually got them to bring in southstar.
 i deat with Trooper Mitchell. one helluva nice guy.

 if i remember right, they said that virtua owns southstar(the chopper anyway), and the emt's are virtua employees. the pilot, and co-pilot are troopers.

 they were EXCELLENT in dealing with the kids. 

[gyrene81]

The Police should have known that 99 out of 100 times the kid is in the house, or near it, hiding or sleeping.

And if they knew this two had been on a previous TV show? Wife Swap? Well whats that tell you?

Now I think they just want to get the entire thing off the front page for a few days. The authorities will look like fools, which they are, if the public finds out in these hard economic times they got flimm-flammed by a trashed out family seeking fame.

What was the bill yathink? 1 m ? 2 m? 10 m?

"Wife Swap" http://abc.go.com/shows/wife-swap/episode-guide/heenesilver/161743# 

Yeah sure, this was legit alright.

I think you hit it on the head there Rich.

Would be interesting to see if they get a bill for their stupid efforts ($100k easy)...you see the differences in reactions between the mother and the father? That guy looked like a real ham to me...but then I tend to think the worst of people until they show something different.

[John Curnutte]

 From what I heard the National Guard Chopper was $ 14,500 dollars by itself , if this family was hoaxing this then they should write a check and publicly denounce themselves .
                                        Nutte

[Hornet33]

The state troopers flying those private helo's, are they flying while on state time as part of their official job or are they flying on their time for extra income? If it's state time then the state must have a contract to use those helos for official purposes so all costs should be covered by the state. If they're flying as a second job on the companies dime, then yeah a bill would seem to be in order.

I'd have some serious questions though if a state trooper was flying a private helo while on the states time, then got a bill from the helo company for having to be flown somewhere for a medivac. My first question would be, why wasn't a private company paid pilot flying the aircraft, and does the medivac fall under an authorized state trooper mission, or a private company flight? If it was a state funded/authorised mission then why am I getting a bill from a private company and not the state? If it's a private company flight, then why are my tax dollars being used to pay for the pilot?

[CAP1]

The state troopers flying those private helo's, are they flying while on state time as part of their official job or are they flying on their time for extra income? If it's state time then the state must have a contract to use those helos for official purposes so all costs should be covered by the state. If they're flying as a second job on the companies dime, then yeah a bill would seem to be in order.

I'd have some serious questions though if a state trooper was flying a private helo while on the states time, then got a bill from the helo company for having to be flown somewhere for a medivac. My first question would be, why wasn't a private company paid pilot flying the aircraft, and does the medivac fall under an authorized state trooper mission, or a private company flight? If it was a state funded/authorised mission then why am I getting a bill from a private company and not the state? If it's a private company flight, then why are my tax dollars being used to pay for the pilot?

IT'S part of their job.

at least here in nj, from what i was told, they have to earn it. all troopers start out on a "beat" on the highways. they earn their way into training, and then flying them.
 they're limited to two years of service in the air(for southstar), then they go back to patroling the streets....or whatever else they choose.

[Karnak]

Do you think the kids family should pay for any part of the rescue efforts on the balloon ride, or should the tax payers foot the bill?
 

No, this would cause parents to delay calling for help on missing children until all private avenues were exhausted making it harder to rescue the child or catch criminals in cases where the child is not simply misbehaving.