by Kerry Thomas
February 4, 2008
The Chicago media have been busy “investigating” the death of a local Chicago news anchor, 45-year-old Randy Salerno, from Crystal Lake, Illinois. Salerno died in a snowmobile accident January 24, when the snowmobile on which he was a passenger missed the trail markers along the shore of Plum Lake and hit several trees.
According to a member of the group with which Salerno was riding on that below zero night, their group had had dinner in Boulder Junction, and were returning to their home in St. Germain, when they took a rest stop at the Sayner Pub. The bartender was in the process of closing for the night, so all they had to drink at the Sayner Pub was (what all members of the group and the bartender agree was) a single cocktail each.
When the group left the Sayner Pub, the snowmobile driven by
Salerno’s friend, 44-year-old Scott Hirschey, also
from Crystal Lake, wouldn’t start. The
two men climbed aboard Salerno’s snowmobile, which was designed for just one
person.
Instead of heading south, toward St. Germain,
the group went north, out across Plum Lake.
WBBM’s
website reports, “The snowmobile was speeding across [Plum] lake. It hit a 2- to 3-foot bank, then become
airborne for 46 feet before hitting the trees, still 3 feet above the ground.”
The initial call for help was made to the Vilas
County dispatch center around 11:40 pm.
The caller indicated 2 accident victims, one of whom was unresponsive,
on the snowmobile trail “just south of Sayner.” This confusion resulted in a delay, as
rescue personnel began their search for the accident victims. When the first rescuer got to the scene, it
was after midnight.
Salerno was pronounced dead at the accident
scene. Hirschey was severely injured in
the crash, and suffered a concussion, broken ribs and a lacerated
liver.
According to published reports, Hirschey, the driver of the snowmobile, refused a breathalyzer test at the accident scene. Four hours after the accident, blood tests showed Hirschey still had a blood alcohol content (BAC) of 0.225%. A second blood test showed a BAC of 0.183%. (In Wisconsin, a person with a BAC higher than 0.08% is considered legally intoxicated.) Randy Salerno’s BAC was 0.035%.
Department of Natural Resources (DNR) warden Tim
Price, who investigated the accident, said, "Falling down drunk, no, he
wasn't…[Hirschey] was impaired to the point that he needed help getting to the
truck, whether that was a result of drinking or the traumatic experience or a
combination of both."
Hirschey has been charged with homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle.
So now the Chicago media are busy playing the
blame game in the death of their colleague, investigating “the snowmobile
culture” here in Northern Wisconsin. (WBBM
characterizes it as a “Deadly
Culture Of Speed, Alcohol And Snowmobiling”)
One of their reports asks, “How safe is
snowmobiling in Wisconsin?” I’d answer
that it’s safer than walking the streets of Chicago.
In
2003, there were 598 people murdered in Chicago, more than any other U.S. city. By the end of 2007, WBBM was trumpeting about
how “Chicago
had 442 homicides in 2007”, the lowest since 1965.
After the shootings that left 5 people dead in a
Tinley Park mall, will these “award-winning” Chicago journalists now do undercover
investigative reports about the safety of “the mall culture” in Chicago? Or maybe they’ll investigate the safety of go-karting
in Indiana?
There’s more than
enough blame to go around. To try to
blame Randy Salerno’s death on any one cause, or on “the snowmobile culture”
only serves the self-interests of these media whores, whose only real concern
seems to be using their colleague’s death to keep this story alive for one more
news cycle.
That was clearly evident in WBBM’s February 4
undercover investigation “Alarming
Upswing of Snowmobile Deaths In Wis” (reminiscent
of a Geraldo Rivera over-dramatized self-aggrandizing report).
Dave Savini and his hidden camera team reported
“It’s an adventure that can take you from the mundane to the majestic in
seconds. Thrilling rides across frozen
lakes and winding trails; powerful snowmobiles reaching speeds of up to 120
mph. And if that’s not enough, just follow
the signs and bright lights to a night life centered around luring riders
and their wallets a few feet away from the trails, into a world of drinking
games and half priced specials.”
“These trails are loaded with bars where our
hidden cameras found the drinks are flowing and there’s little regard for
safety. In fact, when we rented our
snowmobiles, we were given a map showing us the way to every saloon, pub and
tavern along the most fatal trails in Wisconsin.”
“We saw safety conscious riders by day, but by
late at night things began to change.
The two investigators used hidden cameras to expose what has been
described as an epidemic in Northern Wisconsin.”
Savini’s slanted report managed to edit together
bits and pieces of footage showing people drinking in bars with speeding
snowmobiles in such as way as to make the average viewer think their undercover
report illustrated typical behaviors of “the snowmobile culture” of Wisconsin
snowmobilers.
So what else did this “award-winning” team of
undercover reporters discover about “the snowmobile culture” here in Northern
Wisconsin?
They discovered snowmobile enthusiasts flock to
Northern Wisconsin for the best snowmobiling in the Midwest.
They discovered
that when they rented snowmobiles, the reporters were given a free map of the
local trail system, a map that also showed the locations of the businesses
whose advertising paid for their free map.
And some of these businesses included saloons, pubs and taverns.
They discovered sometimes snowmobilers patronize
these local businesses, including the aforementioned saloons, pubs and taverns.
They discovered that people in saloons, pubs and
taverns will, on occasion, consume an alcoholic beverage or two. Sometimes more than one or two.
All in all, their undercover investigation was
only slightly more revealing than the secret of Al Capone’s vault.
According
to WBBM, “In Wisconsin, dozens die every year in
alcohol-related snowmobile crashes.”
There is no doubt, speed and alcohol were
factors in Salerno’s death. As of
January 29, there have been 15 people who have died in snowmobile-related
accidents in Wisconsin this snowmobile season.
According
to the DNR, speed and/or alcohol were factors in 100% of those deaths. Speed and/or alcohol were factors in 21 of
the 26 Wisconsin snowmobile fatalities in the 2006-07
snowmobile season, and were factors in 31 of the 36 snowmobile fatalities
in Wisconsin in the 2005-06
snowmobile season.
As of January 29, 2007, there had been 6
snowmobile fatalities in Wisconsin during the 2006-07 snowmobile season; by
that date in the previous season, there had been 10 fatalities. These are the figures WBBM used to report “an
alarming upswing in snowmobile deaths in Wisconsin.” Both of these snowmobile seasons saw a significant lack of
snowfall early in the season. This year,
the snows came early, and riders hit the trails as soon as they were open.
If they had bothered to go back one previous
year, in the 2004-05
snowmobile season, by January 29, 2005 there had been 18 snowmobile
fatalities in Wisconsin, and were a total of 37 snowmobile fatalities in
Wisconsin that season. Speed and/or
alcohol were factors in 34 of those 37 deaths.
Snowmobile Fatalities in Wisconsin
|
Season |
WI Fatalities |
Speed/Alcohol Factors |
Jan 29 Count |
|
25 |
24 (96%) |
15 |
|
|
26 |
21 (81%) |
6 |
|
|
36 |
31 (86%) |
10 |
|
|
37 |
34 (92%) |
18 |
*2007-08 figures are as of April 15, 2008
One WBBM story notes “Price says there were other factors involved in the crash: potentially blinding clouds of snow kicked up by the snowmobiles they were following, and unfamiliar terrain. Alcohol, he says, left Hirschey somewhat impaired, but not incapacitated, as the blood alcohol level would seem to imply.”
A separate WBBM report says, “Randy’s friends say none of the group, which had been together all day, saw Scott drinking excessively, or displaying any sign of impairment.”
At least two WBBM reports mention the trail markers along the shore of Plum Lake were not clearly visible, that the trail was not clearly marked. These reports fail to mention that the route Salerno’s group took that night across Plum Lake was not part of the official snowmobile trail system. It was a shortcut, a “local route” not maintained as part of the trail system.
There are other factors to be considered, too.
Before he left for this trip, Randy Salerno told colleagues
that this would be his first time snowmobiling. While he was wearing a helmet, he did not have a snowmobile
safety certificate.
There are still many questions surrounding the circumstances of this death. A trial is almost certain to follow in this case.
I think this WBBM quote sums it up best: “Scott Hirschey has been forgiven by the family and defended by those who were there.”
Randy Salerno’s death was tragic. Could it have been prevented? Probably. But it wasn’t. One man is dead; his friend faces charges in that death.