Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Lessons from Hannah’s loss


I have been a resident of the valley for nearly 25 years. On Sept. 1, my dog, Hanna, was killed while I was walking her on the bike path in Hailey. She was killed by a still unidentified vehicle that was racing down the bike path at 11 p.m. at night. The driver must have been doing 40-plus mph. The vehicle's lights were off and I was unaware of what was happening until the vehicle was on top of us. I jumped out of the way and screamed for the driver to stop, knowing Hanna was there. The driver never slowed down even after he certainly felt the impact. The driver continued racing down the bike path to Bullion and took a hard right, disappearing into the night.

The tragedy of what happened continues to haunt me. I took Hanna on the bike path daily. It was Hanna that was killed but it could have been me. It could have been anyone. At any time of day, there are cyclists, joggers, mothers and babies, kids on bikes and lots of other people with their pets on that section of the bike path. If I had been listening to an iPod, I would never have heard the oncoming vehicle. The person(s) that decided to take a joy ride that Monday night need to be held accountable. It is simply wrong that this can be allowed to happen in our valley, or anywhere. This person clearly acted in an irresponsible, careless and life-threatening manner.

A reward fund has been established that will hopefully identify who did this. It's a small town. Someone knows. It was wrong. If you would like to make a donation, or if you have any information, please call the Hailey Police Dept. at 788-3531.

Perhaps a barricade of some sort can be placed where the bike path intersects with roads. It would be a deterrent. It could be designed so that it enabled usage by pedestrians and cyclists and could be removed for winter recreation purposes.

Hanna's dead. Nothing will bring her back. Hopefully some good can come from this tragedy.

Ken Martin

Hailey




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