Grants, fees raised funds for vessel

This is in response to the letter regarding the sheriff spending $150,000 for a patrol boat for the south end of the lake. The south end is currently serviced by the patrol boat from Hope. The Hope area workload manages to keep this boat busy. The consequence is the south end is often neglected.

Two summers ago I was working the patrol boat in Hope when we were dispatched to the south area of the lake. A 2-year-old boy was having breathing difficulties  and had actually stopped breathing once. His parents, with direction from dispatchers, brought the boy out of the mountains to the lake’s edge on the east side.

It took 45 minutes to reach them and get them to an awaiting ambulance at Garfield Bay. That little boy got to the hospital alive thanks to great efforts on the part of his parents and this community’s emergency responders. I have sorrowfully learned in my law enforcement career that minutes are so important in life or death situations. I must therefore ask, “What price human life?”

Part of our department mission statement is to “invest available resources” on “behalf of community safety.” Many talented people have done assessments on the need for a patrol boat for the south end of Lake Pend Oreille. They have worked hard for grants and getting money from fees we all pay for boating in order to provide a patrol boat for the south end of the lake. 

JACK CAMPBELL

Hope