Sevier Co River Rescue
It seems to be big local news for the last 15 hours or so that 54 or so kids were pulled out of the French Broad during a rafting trip. The rafting company claims that the rescues were not needed, the various groups involved in the rescue says the rescues were justified. In the end no one went to the hospital and a few kids were treated for MILD hypothermia.
I think this is a great example of overreaction. You get 54 kids rafting and you are going to have a few fall (jump) out of the boats. That is why they are made to wear life jackets. Those wet kids are going to be cold and they are going to need a blanket or towel to get warm - i.e. MILD hypothermia. A few are also going to be a bit nervous and yelling when they realize that the situation is a bit bigger then they comprehended - thus the reason that older teens and adults need to be with, and were, with the rafters.
From what I have read and heard two people called 911 saying kids were stranded in the “fast moving” river. First of all every local knows that the French Broad is not the Ocoee, and that most of the time it is not much faster then the Lazy River at Dolly’s Splash Country - in fact in some places it is not as deep as Dolly’s Lazy River - either. The key point in this story to me is that no one went to the hospital and that some of the kids were rescued FROM BOATS!!!
To me this story comes down to the fact that in todays world if someone calls in a emergency it is treated like it is a emergency - even if it is not - because of risk of suit and bad public relations. IF the local emergency agencies had responded with - We are not going to do any rescues as there is not a problem - then it is likely that the local news agencies would be doing investigative reports on unresponsive emergency services today. They would also find some obscure story (probably 10 to 15 years ago) where a small child died in a river due to lack of emergency response. They would talk to the mom of the child that died and include a picture of the child at the age when they died and mention how they would be 20ish or 30ish today. Present a possible problem, voice over, interview, tug on heart, voice over with graphic, tug on heart, voice over, fade pic in with graphic of dates of birth and death, back to anchor.
To me the real blame falls on the two people on the shore overacting and a society that does not seem to understand the scale of issues today. Everything is NOT a emergency, everything is not DRAMA, and a answer of NO from a authority figure - in any area personal, professional, or public - is not a example of abuse or neglect. Just something to think about.
