The families and survivors of the Oso slide have suffered such a profound loss that most of the world can not even fathom it. The loss made worse by the fact that it was the very people who are paid to protect the citizens who placed them directly in the path of danger.
There is a big to do about the proposed tours through the Oso area and some of the family members and survivors are objecting to it. Oddly no one said anything about the bike tour through there that made a ton of money, none of which was donated to the survivor’s or their families.
I called and talked to Dave Buttons, at great length so I could understand his motivation for offering these tours. I asked him if he could give me a statement as to why this was so important to him. Here is his response
Good Morning Brendia,Thank you for your e-mail and interest in our Educational Trips down the Stillaguamish River to see the Destruction caused by the Mudslide near Oso. Or entire objective is to offer an opportunity for folks to get a feeling BOTH emotionally and intellectually of what happened and what caused this EVENT to occur on March 22, 2014. We have been operating River Adventures in Washington www.pacificnwfloattrips.com AND Alaska www.alaskafloattrips.com since 1974 AND out intent is for folks to participant in a Outdoor Adventure with safety and comfort while learning of our different eco-systems that make up this FANTASTIC Planet in our diverse Universe.. Must folks do NOT dig deep enough to discover The True cause of Natural disasters. I appreciate your CONCERN and research that you have applied in this endeavor. Please keep me informed of your progress.Kind Regards,Capt. Dave
I explained to him that I still have vivid nightmares about that tragic day: I have spent what amounts to months going through emails, and most devastating all of the heart-breaking 911 calls.
It was my community, our community that this happened in and I have done everything within my power to make sure that the county does not get away with this.
Many people were affected by this horrific event. I still get emails from people saying the same thing. The families and survivor’s are not the only ones who were affected by this, most don’t know what to do though.
When I first heard of this I thought (and still do) that people needed to go see what happened, not to loot it or desecrate it but to understand it, to make it real. It was a man made disaster, created from carelessness, ignorance, and greed.
The last I heard the families and survivor’s are merely mitigating the lawsuits so it appears they will simply just settle out of court so many of the truths of this disaster will not come to light. If they did go to court it could mean decades of litigation, literally. Snohomish County would love that, just out-money and out-wait them.
That is the nature of the joke of our court systems these days. They won’t get any justice, just money and that can never bring back the lives that were lost or unsee that tragic day.
It’ll just be “That bad thing that happened in Oso” that will fade from most people memories, but for some of us it will never fade away.
I really wish the families would sit down with Dave and really talk to him to see his true motivation. His statement above was not very eloquent, his words to me gave me a small measure of comfort. His main focus was that he not want people to ever forget what happened that day or why it happened. He wanted people to be more aware of their surrounding and the dangers that are out there when stupid govt agencies trade lives for favors.
Maybe it is too soon, and it does not need to be a “Groupon” deal, but at some point in time the community needs to let others in so it can begin the process of healing. I would hope by now that the survivors and the families know and believe that I have their best interest at heart, and that I care deeply for their pain, loss, and suffering. I just pray that they do their best to make sure that no one ever forgets.
