Update as of 5/8/13
Posted: Wed May 08, 2013 1:27 pm
Fellow Members,
Our request for the quotas to be waived has been held up by governmental bureaucracy and/or the lack of will/spine to proceed up the chain of command.
The phrase "wilderness character being disturbed" is being used as the main reason/excuse not to proceed. We have addressed this issue directly by being willing to spend almost $2000 to get our food over Taboose Pass and close to the Taboose Pass Trail/JMT junction so that we could all get over the pass that same day with each team member continuing on to their assigned basecamps in different sections of the search area well outside of the required 1/4 mile for groups over 10 (neither search team will be over 8).
The main slap in the face is that there will be no major SAR effort for Larry conducted in July, but a few (2-3) qualified individuals, yet to be recruited, would search for clues, walking the trails talking to people. No SAR, no helicopters, no large group of searchers.
When Randy Morgenson went missing, that following year there was a major SAR effort for him, which included a couple of helicopters, Yosemite climbing SAR, and all the backcountry rangers. Now I understand that because of the federal budget cuts things are tight, and that Randy was one of theirs, but Larry is one of ours! Claus, Alexander, and his family & friends deserve to get
resolution if possible by our search effort, especially with SEKI not being able to commit the manpower or helicopters for a second legitimate effort.We never planned or wanted to get politicians or the media involved, but instead made an effort to work within all the park regulations by exactly keeping the wilderness character and environmental impact in the forefront at all times, regretfully the NPS & Inyo NF stance on this minor issue of waiving the quotas for a day will take us down this very avenue.
When and if you are called to write your representatives, I hope you will rally with us to help make a stand for this noble cause and humanitarian effort for one of our own HST members Larry Conn, who was a father, a partner, a son, a friend to many!
Thanks you for your patience as we continue to try to resolve this issue! Mav
PS. If anyone has any political or media connections please contact me via PM.
PS. Our secondary backup plan will proceed as planned.
Our request for the quotas to be waived has been held up by governmental bureaucracy and/or the lack of will/spine to proceed up the chain of command.
The phrase "wilderness character being disturbed" is being used as the main reason/excuse not to proceed. We have addressed this issue directly by being willing to spend almost $2000 to get our food over Taboose Pass and close to the Taboose Pass Trail/JMT junction so that we could all get over the pass that same day with each team member continuing on to their assigned basecamps in different sections of the search area well outside of the required 1/4 mile for groups over 10 (neither search team will be over 8).
The main slap in the face is that there will be no major SAR effort for Larry conducted in July, but a few (2-3) qualified individuals, yet to be recruited, would search for clues, walking the trails talking to people. No SAR, no helicopters, no large group of searchers.
When Randy Morgenson went missing, that following year there was a major SAR effort for him, which included a couple of helicopters, Yosemite climbing SAR, and all the backcountry rangers. Now I understand that because of the federal budget cuts things are tight, and that Randy was one of theirs, but Larry is one of ours! Claus, Alexander, and his family & friends deserve to get
resolution if possible by our search effort, especially with SEKI not being able to commit the manpower or helicopters for a second legitimate effort.We never planned or wanted to get politicians or the media involved, but instead made an effort to work within all the park regulations by exactly keeping the wilderness character and environmental impact in the forefront at all times, regretfully the NPS & Inyo NF stance on this minor issue of waiving the quotas for a day will take us down this very avenue.
When and if you are called to write your representatives, I hope you will rally with us to help make a stand for this noble cause and humanitarian effort for one of our own HST members Larry Conn, who was a father, a partner, a son, a friend to many!
Thanks you for your patience as we continue to try to resolve this issue! Mav
PS. If anyone has any political or media connections please contact me via PM.
PS. Our secondary backup plan will proceed as planned.