It’s Not the Same

We had a snowmachine driver plow at full throttle into two Iditarod race teams as they came up the trail into Nulatto. Several dogs were maimed, one killed and both drivers were in fear of their lives. The incident was an example of an outrageous criminal action where the man who did it admitted to being drunk at the time. His action interfered with an event where the two mushers were contenders for the lead in the Iditarod Sled Dog Race.

The Iditarod is an international event. The snowmachine driver claims her has no memory of the incident. It is time to stop mollycoddling such criminal actions. I a drunk person ran a tractor into the horses at the Kentucky Derby would he just be able to shrug off the event claiming, “Oh well, I was drunk.” If a motorist drove rampant over a crowded pedestrian sidewalk, could they hide behind the inebriation factor? If a driver got intro a drunken rampage collided into racers at the Indianapolis 500 would there be a big stink?

We can’t just dismiss the actions of a drunken snowmachiner as a “Wellness” issue. It is much more and needs to be faced with the full force of the law. Does throw the book at him mean anything? We have too many full-blown crazy events happening and we can’t afford to look the other way. —N.L.M.—