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The Sad Saga of James Kim
Posted by Pile
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[Beating Dead Horses]
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 It's a big buzz on the Internet and the mainstream media is all over the place. In the spirit of young white girls who go missing in exotic places, San Francisco tech writer James Kim drove his family into the middle of the wilderness in Oregon, got them stranded, and unfortunately died while wandering off from his vehicle into the frozen cliffs.
This is a sad state of affairs, but as usual, the media is blowing this totally out of proportion. What gets me are the folks calling this guy a "hero." I think our definition of hero needs a little bit of work. It's very sad that the guy died, but when you hear the details of this story, it reads like a classic cautionary tale of what NOT to do if you're driving cross-country.
Before people lambast me for my nerve to question the wisdom of Mr. Kim's decisions which led to his death and the near death of his family, I ask, is it any better for the media to replay this tragedy over and over? Who is exploiting this tragedy for selling advertising, and who might want to at least point out there are some lessons to be learned beyond merely mourning for an associate? It's just a thought. |
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(12-07) 04:00 PST Grants Pass, Ore. -- James Kim put himself through a desperate ordeal, climbing down a ravine over boulders and logs, through nearly impenetrable brush, and in and out of an icy creek, in what one rescue leader called a "superhuman" effort to save his family.
In the end, his exhausting trek took him in a big, oval-shaped loop to within half a mile of where Big Windy Creek empties out into the Rogue River in the southern Oregon mountains.
It was there, surrounded by towering cliffs, that the body of the missing San Francisco man was spotted just after noon Wednesday. He was found floating in the middle of Big Windy Creek, 11 days after his family's car became stuck in the snow on a side road and four days after he ventured off to look for help.
The death of Kim, 35, came as a blow to rescue workers, two of whom broke down in tears while talking about his heroics.
"We are devastated," said Josephine County Undersheriff Brian Anderson, his eyes moist and his voice cracking. "I'm crushed."
In the end, Kim's circuitous hike took him to within a mile as the crow flies from the spot where he had left his stranded family in their car. Rescuers said that if he had continued down the road in the direction he was driving when the car became stuck on Nov. 25, he would have reached a lodge and almost certain safety. |
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Economics trumps empathy
Posted by arsehole on 2006-12-08 10:51:22 | | I concur for the most part. It is a sad state of affairs for a nation to be so easily swayed by what corporations view as newsworthy, only to be lured away by a new tragedy in a week. In the midst of this family tragedy what is lost, beyond a life, is a people's ability to be compassionate or empathic to the suffering of others. The media has played this as another "gladiatorial" event to be offered up to the masses to cheer or jeer at. The people who want to donate money and or lament Mr. Kim's passing have lost the point of what it is to be compassionate. Material things and indirect statements of "RIP" will not allay the families loss, nothing will. Instead of "distance grieving" what people should do is begin caring for those within their local community. Be involved, be compassionate and empathic to the sorrows and joys of the lives around them. Start local, then go global. Until then most of what is stated and said is just hypocrisy. |
| Posted by Pile on 2006-12-08 11:02:48 | Did you see Larry King's morbid fascination with the way the guy died? Asking the details of how he died, how he felt, and whether this was "the worst way to die?" It's just sad to see this kind of stuff on a major network.
One redeeming thing over the Larry King coverage is after they talked about James Kim, they had a guy on who survived something like two weeks in his car trapped in snow, and he did everything the Kim's didn't. CNN tiptoed around the obvious fact that according to everybody, what the second guest did, who lived, was the smart thing to do, meanwhile "Hero" scrolled across the display referring to Mr. Kim. |
So what's the secret?
Posted by wizeGurl on 2006-12-08 11:47:36 | I'm curious...I missed Larry King, and it sounded to me like the guy did everything he could think of to stay alive and rescue his family, even if it didn't work. So what should he have done? What was the "right" thing to do? What did that second guest do differently? Do a public service and tell us what to do if we're ever trapped in a freezing car for over a week. (My solution is stay where it's warm, but not everyone has that option.)
All I can think of that he should have done differently was to wear a hat when he left the car, and maybe stick to the road rather than wandering off into the woods. |
| Posted by Pile on 2006-12-08 18:35:47 | Here's the transcript from the show:
http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0612/07/lkl.01.html
Here's the real hero:
DARYL JANE, RESCUED FROM SNOWBOUND JEEP: Every time I look out the window, it is harder and harder snow coming down. So I just getting a little more worried each day.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Each day, the snow piled higher on 37-year- old Daryl Jane's jeep, stuck on forest road 23.
JANE: Each day brushing off the hood, brushing off the roof, and then keeping that door so I can just open it and get some oxygen in. I just would get right back into my sleeping bag and just -- I would warm my fingers, warm my toes, because they were numb.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: By day seven, the snow was at five feet and climbing. He turned to meditation.
JANE: I get panicky. You know, because I didn't -- I felt like I was going to be buried alive.
On the eighth day, I wrote a goodbye note to everybody.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: He was rescued this past Saturday. By the way, Joe Hyatt and Lars Larson remain with us.
He's Daryl Jane, rescued after surviving two weeks in a snowbound jeep en route to help with the search for James Kim. He was en route to help for the search for James Kim when he heard the news that Kim had been found dead.
All right, what happened? Where were you going? What is the story, Daryl?
JANE: I was headed to a place called Trout Lake for a sky watching event. And I got stuck in about a foot of snow, about 25 miles in.
KING: In other words, the car drove into the snow?
JANE: Yes, I drove -- it was a beautiful blue, sunny day. I started to see a little bit of snow, an inch here, couple of inches there, and I started to look for a place to turn around. And I came around a bend, and that was about eight or nine inches of snow.
I had a four-wheel drive, but no chains, no snow tires. So I was looking to turn around, and it was too late, I got stuck. So got out of the jeep and tried to get myself unstuck. Wasn't possible. Figured I would be there for a day or two until someone came to get me.
KING: Have a cell phone?
JANE: I did have a cell phone. I tried it. I was out of cell range. Every day, I tried 911, different numbers, but no dice.
KING: How long were you there?
JANE: I was there for 14 days.
KING: How did you eat?
JANE: I had -- I stopped for some supplies on the way in. I had about three-quarters of a gallon of water, had some rice cakes and some banana chips.
After the snow started coming Monday night, I just chucked my food aside, because I was just worried about water. So I didn't really start eating until after I found water on the eighth day.
KING: This was in Oregon, right?
JANE: This was actually in Washington.
KING: The border state?
JANE: Right.
KING: What did you do? Did you walk? What did you start to -- what was your plan?
JANE: Well, once the snow came, my plan was just to bunker down and wait it out. I figured the storm might be three, four days tops. Stretched into 12, 13. I couldn't believe -- I had never seen that much snow in my life. I was afraid I was going to get buried alive.
KING: You spent all the time in the jeep?
JANE: Twenty three and a half hours. I only got out in the morning to brush off the snow from the hood and from the roof, because I was hoping a helicopter would fly over and see me. But as soon as I'd get done brushing it off, I would look down, there would be two more inches on the hood. So I'd just hop back in the sleeping bag, try to stay warm, and hope for the best.
KING: Did you try to walk at all?
JANE: I did on Sunday. I got trapped on Saturday. And I tried on Sunday. I got about 500, 600 yards from my jeep and realized I was 30 miles from one town, 25 miles from another. And I had on, you know, not the type of clothes -- I just had tennis shoes and cargo pants and a light jacket. I figured my best bet was just to stay with my car.
KING: Tell us what goes on mentally.
JANE: Well, I was frustrated. I kept expecting a helicopter or something to come over. But once that snow started falling, it was relentless. I mean, I realized there was no way, even if they could get a chopper up, they probably wouldn't even be able to see me, the snow was so heavy.
About the eighth day is when I ran out of water. And that's when I wrote the goodbye note to my family. I said, hey, I've got to get out of here and look for some water, or I'm going to die of thirst. So if you don't find me in the jeep, I'll be near this mountain.
And I got on my hands and knees and crawled out of the jeep, and I crawled about 30 feet away and fell down this ravine, about five feet and I landed in this pool of snow melt. Had a little trickle. It must have been coming from the top of the mountain.
I couldn't believe it. I mean, I just couldn't believe it. It was like an oasis in the desert. So I was able to take my jug, and I had a little styrofoam coffee cup, and I just filled my jug up with water, crawled back into the jeep, and I knew I could wait it out for a few more weeks with water. I mean, without water, I was doomed.
KING: A few more weeks?
JANE: Yes. I was ready to, you know, wait as long as I had to. I knew my family was going to be looking for me. I knew they wouldn't give up until they found me.
KING: Have a radio in the jeep?
JANE: I did have a radio, but I didn't want to play it. I didn't want to waste my battery. I was able -- I had about half a tank of gas, so I was able to run my defrost six or seven minutes each morning. All I had was leather gloves, and my pants would freeze every morning. So I just ran the defrost to sort of thaw those out, and I could get out and do the whole wiping of the snow off.
KING: How much sleep do you get?
JANE: None. I didn't sleep at all.
KING: What...
JANE: At night, I was too nervous. I was getting buried. So I'd have to open up my driver side door, and sort of -- I had this little snow scoop, and I'd scoop out the door. It kept piling up. The whole rest of the jeep is buried in snow. All I could get was that driver's side door open a few inches. And so I was just nervous that if I fell asleep, it would bury me.
KING: Lars, how do you explain people like this and what happens to people under these kind of circumstances?
LARSON: People react differently, Larry. And Daryl is a good example. Having the stick-to-it-itiveness to say I'm only going to run the defroster for seven or eight minutes, because he knew how much gas he had, he knew that he might be there for weeks, and only run the gas -- run the engine long enough to charge his battery up, to defrost the window, and to get his roof cleared off, and know that the thing that was going to save him was to be able to have somebody from the air see that jeep.
That's what happens. But people react very, very differently. Some people panic. Other people keep their heads.
KING: Joe Hyatt, how do you explain Daryl?
HYATT: Well, again, he just has that strong desire to live. He brings up a really good point, in the fact that if you're going to go out into an area, such as we live in, where there is frequent winter storms, you've got to let somebody know where you're going and an expected travel time. A lot of times, we get a phone call that somebody is overdue and we don't even specifically know what route they took. You're searching literally the state of Oregon trying to get some clues as to where they went.
So always go prepared. Know the weather. Know your route. And most of all, give somebody a timeframe of where they can expect you.
KING: We'll take a break and come back with Joe Hyatt and Lars Larson and Daryl Jane and more about how he was rescued.
We're hearing from NASA that the space shuttle mission has been scrubbed for tonight. The window of opportunity is closed, so it will be rescheduled, and we'll be back with more on the James Kim family story and others right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: OK. Daryl Jane, how were you rescued?
JANE: Well, on the 14th day, it was a Saturday morning and it was the first morning I was able to look out. And I had blue sky. I didn't have to brush the snow off the hood. So it was really cold, though, that morning. I almost froze that night. I think because the clouds cleared, I must have dropped like 20 degrees.
It was first night my water jug -- I had this much water left, and it actually was mostly frozen. So I just wanted to kind of stay in my sleeping bag and try to stay warm. So it was about 10:00, 10:30 -- and I was listening for helicopters that whole time, because my plan was if a helicopter came, I had an umbrella. I was going to open my door and signal with an umbrella.
And so I'm laying there and I hear this high-pitched sound, thinking it's a helicopter coming for me. So I flip open my door, look out and here comes Jim Bezelo (ph) and in his super snowmobile right up the hill. He was about three feet above me. And we just started pumping our fists and screaming, high-fiving. He was as happy and excited as I was.
KING: And I understand he had lost someone? One of the reasons that drove him on to find you?
JANE: That's right. He had actually gone up there with five of his -- four of his buddies. There were five snowmobilers altogether. Four of the guys couldn't make it. There were 20, 25 trees fallen on this road, eight feet of snow on it. It was insane. But he said that -- he got me on the back and as we were headed, he said, I've got to tell you, a couple of years ago, I lost my son in a car accident and he was on the back of my snowmobile with me, telling me, just keep going dad, you're going to find this guy, just keep going. And he did.
KING: And then you went to look for James Kim?
JANE: Yes. Yes. I -- I got back Saturday and got out of the hospital Sunday and I heard about the story on Monday. And I won't go in a lot of details, but there were just parallels there I couldn't believe. And I just felt compelled. I had to go down there and see what I could do.
KING: So where did you go? What did you -- how did you get? What did you -- how did you travel? JANE: I hopped in my van. I live on Bainbridge Island, that's right off of Seattle and I just -- it was straight shot down the 5 to Grants Pass and I got about an hour away when I heard the news.
KING: Are there any repercussions from your ordeal? Any health problems?
JANE: No. I got lucky, Larry. I came out fine. I don't even think I got a cold.
KING: Lars, this story is incredible, isn't it?
LARSON: It's absolutely incredible, Larry. But it's also -- you know, most of these situations that people get into are very, very preventable. And that's -- the real tragedy is that people die in the Northwest and other parts of the country almost every year because they take themselves into situations. They fail to prepare. They trust maps and satellites and Onstar and cell phones way too much. And they end up in conditions that are literally life-threatening, like the Kim family found itself in.
KING: Joe Hyatt, would you agree?
CAPT. JOE HYATT, GRANTS PASS FIRE DEPARTMENT: Most definitely. We try as much as we can to advertise on the routes that this is a problem, that the road may be blocked by snow. But people just simply aren't familiar with the area, get a little bit overconfident in their abilities and they become stuck. |
| Posted by michelle on 2006-12-12 05:52:43 | | Thanks for the transcript. Incredible story, a hero here as well. |
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