Skiing
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Written by Tony
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Monday, 01 June 2009 |
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Do you like to ski in Wisconsin? Do you like going to the waterparks and attractions in the Wisconsin Dells? We all do. So why would Governor Doyle want to end all of that?
Major business liability expansions are buried deep in the 1743-page Wisconsin State budget bill Assembly Bill 75 (AB 75). These policy changes will dramatically change Wisconsin’s regulatory climate, tilting the scales of justice away from judicial fairness toward more litigation, more damages awards and ultimately to a less competitive Wisconsin business climate. (WMC Radio Ads Oppose Liability Expansion in State Budget www.wmc.org)
Here are details on this:
- Anyone with equal or greater fault than the plaintiff can be held 100% responsible “jointly and severally liable,” even if the defendant is only 20% at fault. (AB 75, page 1605) Existing law requires a person to be at least 51% at fault before he or she can be held responsible for 100% of damages.
- A person or business that is less at fault than the plaintiff can be sued so long as the “combined” fault of all persons sued is equal to or greater than the plaintiff. (AB 75, page 1605) Existing law requires the plaintiff to be less at fault than each defendant he or she is suing. For example, under the budget language a plaintiff fifty percent at fault for his own injury could recover damages from five defendants, in combination, who were each ten percent at fault.
- Under the budget bill, the court must inform the jury how the jury’s findings on fault affect responsibility for damages, and the parties’ legal counsel may also instruct the jury regarding the consequences of their determination of fault. These instructions will allow juries to adjust fault determinations to maximize awards. (AB 75, page 1588) Existing law limits a jury’s duty to fact finding, consistent with over a hundred-year rule of jurisprudence.
- These budget bill provisions repeal the reforms passed in 1995 intended to match liability more closely to fault and fairness. Those changes had public hearings with the full deliberation of the legislative process, and passed with wide, bi-partisan support.
- The Governor’s budget not only abolishes these bipartisan reforms, it sets forth a system even more radical than existed prior to 1995, and does so without meaningful public input, and buried deep in the 1743-page budget.
- Virtually every Wisconsin business and anyone with financial resources will potentially be a target under these provisions. At a minimum, these provisions should be removed from the budget and debated as separate legislation, with public hearings and the full deliberation of the Legislature.
My email / letter:
Subject: Eliminate Joint & Several Liability Changes and Jury Instructions in State Budget
Dear Senator Mark Miller and Representative Joe Parisi,
I love Wisconsin because of all it offers. We get to enjoy all 4 seasons even though winter seems to last forever. This last winter was cold! Brrr!
Actually, I used to hate winter but now I love it. I became a ski instructor up at Cascade Mountain. This next winter will be my 4th year and I'm going for my Level 2 exam, which I'm studying for now - in the summer.
This bill could easily end all that fun. Places like ski hills will have a tough time staying in business if their insurance goes sky high. All the people coming up from Chicago every weekend will end up going to another state. Literally every group lesson I give has people from Illinois in it. I ask. We'll lose that income and tax revenue. That's not smart for the kind of economy that we're in right now.
This bill CANNOT go through. This is not what we need. I urge you to please vote against it.
I know you can't do anything about how cold it gets here but you can help us take care of the businesses that give us something fun to do in the winter (or summer - Wisconsin Dells), which also greatly support our economy.
Do the right thing.
If the Wisconsin economy is important to you, I invite you to also send an email. Please do.
-Tony
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Written by Tony
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Wednesday, 18 March 2009 |
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It's sad to hear about Natasha Richardson's ski accident. She was apparently taking a lesson:
Natasha Richardson is Brain Dead After Ski Accident (www.nypost.com)
The British-born Richardson, 45, fell during a private lesson at Mont Tremblant resort yesterday and allegedly told resort employees she felt fine.
But an hour later, she complained of an extreme headache and was rushed to a nearby hospital.
Richardson was on a beginner's slope and reportedly not wearing a helmet when she fell - although headgear is not required.
"She did not show any visible sign of injury but the ski patrol followed strict procedures and brought her back to the bottom of the slope and insisted she should see a doctor," said a statement from the resort, which is almost 80 miles northwest of Montreal.
"Approximately an hour after the incident Mrs. Richardson was not feeling good."
Wow, so she was fine right after her fall or accident but then must have had some internal head injuries. Most ski patrollers are trained really well and I believe that they strictly followed their procedures.
Even during a lesson, accidents can happen. I pretty much always wear a helmet when I ski and this is a good reminder why.
-Tony
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Written by Tony
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Monday, 09 March 2009 |
I'm almost done with ski trips this year (and I just took a spring ski trip), but ski season is far from over! I'll still be skiing a lot more this month and maybe into April. Spring skiing is the best! The snow conditions are still great and the temps are really nice. I've talked with several college kids that are taking their Spring Break trips to go skiing or snowboarding. Some great skiing spring break ski/snowboard destinations are:
- Squaw Valley Lodge (Lake Tahoe, CA Skiing)
- Resort at Squaw Creek (Lake Tahoe, CA Skiing)
- Northstar at Tahoe (Lake Tahoe, CA Skiing)
- Heavenly Lake Tahoe (Lake Tahoe, CA Skiing)
- Vail (Colorado Skiing)
- Beaver Creek (Colorado Skiing)
- Keystone (Colorado Skiing)
- Breckenridge (Colorado Skiing)
There are also skiing vacation destinations in Canada and the East Cost and the Midwest.
You can get some great travel deals at Travelocity (flight and hotel). Only Travelocity guarantees not just the price, but your entire travel experience.
The snow won't last forever. It'll be gone and you'll wish you took a ski trip, so go now! :-) Some new snow is being reported at places like Aspen Mountain, Breckenridge, Heavenly Mountain Resort, Jackson Hole, Park City Mountain Resort, Ski Banff @ Norquay, Snowbird, Steamboat, Stowe Mountain Resort, Vail, Whistler Blackcomb and Winter Park Resort.
-Tony |
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Written by Tony
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Monday, 09 March 2009 |
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Michigan (U.P.) Ski Trip 2009
This year I headed up north for a ski trip with Al and John. We left late Thursday afternoon and got back on Sunday night. We got to stay at Al's uncle's cabin in Mercer which was great.
The first day, we went to Whitecap Mountain. Although confusing at first, it was a pretty good day of skiing. The snow was sort of sticky and soft, which made it hard to really ski like you wanted to but we found some good runs. We took one rest at a wine hut they had set up and then did lunch there as well. The sky cleared up at the end of the day and it got even warmer and sunny. We had a few rounds outside on the deck there at closing time. Nice. 
On the way back to the cabin, we found a great little pizza place which just had amazing homemade pizza. Wow. Well, after a day of skiing about any food tastes great but it really was some good pizza! I forgot the name of the place. If I remember, I'll edit this post. I know it was before we got to Hurley, WI or it might have been in Hurley.
Day 2 it was a little cooler but still at 30 degrees when we got to Big Powderhorn Mountain in the morning. We skied to the right for a bit but then found that the left side was really nice. After an early lunch, we stuck to a few trails on the left that we really liked. I did 3 runs on their Giant Slalom (GS) course. My time wasn't that great, but I didn't miss a gate and shaved 1 sec off my time. It wasn't NASTAR, but pretty much the same thing. I did about 2 hours of snowboarding at the end of the day, which really wore me out but it was fun. We had one round outside and another inside while we mocked an infomercial about some kind of floor sweeper.
We ate at Tacconelli's that night in Ironwood, MI. I've been there before with Karl. I had a chopped sirloin, salad and corn bread. That hit the spot. Al and John seemed to enjoy their meals as well. We then headed back to Mercer and set our clocks back that night.
Day 3 was at Indianhead. Before taking the 45 minute trip up there, we got packed up and cleaned up the cabin. I think we were on the snow about 10:30 and skied until 2 since there was a snowstorm going through parts of Wisconsin - although it was partly cloudy up in Michigan. I got to do my favorite run, Geronimo, 4 times. I would have done it more but they still have it on a t-bar lift, which takes a bit out of you on your third day of skiing. We had a quick lunch there and ended up skiing some of the blue runs at the main lift, which were in nice shape. They didn't have NASTAR running for very long or I might have taken a few runs on it.
The roads weren't too great heading back after Wausau but we took our time and got home safe. It probably only took about an hour extra, which wasn't bad.
All in all, it was a fun trip. It was great to have a guys weekend. I liked Indianhead the best still, then Powerhorn, then Whitecap. Before I took my trip, everyone was telling me how great Whitecap was. I don't know if I had high expectations or what and conditions weren't great but I didn't feel like it was kept up very well and even the grooming was shoddy. I didn't see any ski patrol there either. I don't think I'd plan on going there again but wouldn't doubt if we did go there for one day next year. It was nice to go to 3 places instead of just one. Some pictures are below (or click into the story to read more). I'll update this again when I get more pictures from Al.
Only a few weeks left of the season this year. It's sad. The warmer temps will be nice though as it was a cold winter.
-Tony |
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