Comments on: Cops: Kims Stuck On Road Opened By Vandals

Authorities Say Someone Cut The Lock, Opening Mountain Road Where Family Ended Up Stranded

[rudy654-2009]

I wonder if there will be a homicide charge for the vandal(s) that cut the lock? I wondered why they would have taken such a dangerous backroad in winter. This is so sad.

[missut2]

Do any of you read the articles before commenting? The headlines itself tells a story...the road the Kim's were stranded on was blocked and locked, but vandals broke the lock and opened the road. As far as sending up lights from the lodge...there was no one at the lodge. It is closed after deer season. However, it was stocked with food and would have been a place where the family could have taken shelter.

This is such a tragic end to a heartwarming story. Living in a time that too many people abuse, neglect, and generally ignore their children, I found it unfair that the Kim family has to suffer such a loss. These were parents that obviously loved each other and their children...so much he would die for them. This is just my opinion and in no way takes away from yours.

[nothappyatall]

gossimer3, people will forget (as they do all of these cases in the news) as we all have jobs and lives and our own families, problems and issues to deal with, as the weeks and months go by few will even remember the name let alone the details, that's just how it IS when there is no familial or close friendship attachment to the person.

We're just going to have to agree to disagree on the definition of "hero", if you wish to consider Kim a hero by all means do so, I don't, others do or don't depending on their own views. In the end it won't matter who prays, remembers or calls whom by what title- the guy is dead, case is closed and time to be archived and closed away in the solved lost persons cases files.
The balloons, stuffed animals, cards and flowers outside the Kim's house will be swept up and removed, the wife will get life insurance money from his workplace, and move onward and forward.
The two kids will someday look back at photos of a stranger they won't really remember and didn't really know and move on as well.
Time to file this away as closed.

[gossimer]

"There is no greater gift than to lay down your life for another." James Kim did indeed lay down his life for his family. If he had not made the decision to try to go for help his entire family may have died, as rescuers were lead to the Kim's van by his footprints.

James Kim IS and will always remain a "hero" in my heart. I pray for his family, his wife and their two children, who are thankfully alive today because of the heroic and selfless act of Mr. Kim. He set out in desperation, and during his hike I cannot believe he didn't contemplate the possiblity he, himself, might not survive, yet he knew he had to go on for his family's sake.

My thoughts and prays go out to James Kim's family, I will never forget their tragic ordeal. I don't know how anyone can. Everytime I travel in the winter, I will think of them and say a pray. What happened to them could happen to any of us, at any time.

[mrthornman]

Our local paper here in Oregon did not use the word hero. They just reported the facts, and let people make their own judgement.

[nothappyatall]

Hey Phil, I just call it like I see it, like it or not I have an opinion like everyone else, I do not believe in PC rhettoric or hero worship, I don't play word games, semantics or tootsie foots with the facts because SOMEONE might be offended or whatever by daring to come out and say something that certain people may object to. The country is a free one last time I checked, the internet is big, these posts are not permanently archived, they expire to further additions 72 hours after a story has run and then they fall away after a time.
The family has much more important things to DO than sit here and read comments on a fairly obscure news site don't you think?

And juiliemd, I may not know that exact area but I have examined it with google's earth, it's rugged, mountainous and all that, I lived near Elkton for years and owned 21 acres a few miles outside of Riddle on Shoestring rd with a BLM road behind me, so I do have a fair idea of the general area

[juliemd]

You really cannot imagine how remote and isolated this area is until you see it. Serious wilderness, no power lines, minimal signage. The suggestion about shining a light at the lodge reflects an ignorance about this locale. The Lodge runs on its own generator when it is open in the summer months. It is even more isolated that the road where their car was stranded. The lodge is the most easily accessed via the Rogue River--a wild river you don't just motor up and down in...

What the Kim's did and how they survived was Super Human and I'd call that heroic.

[mcashel]

It amazes me how the people on here dogging the story don't have something better to do. It sounds like you guys are such intelligent individuals I would think you wouldn't have time to waste on here. If you're so ticked about every part of the story, why do you keep coming back here?

[juliemd]

Hey antoniorego--You are so right, man, everyone here in Oregon is a peace-loving, pot-smoking, organic-veggie eating, trash...so stay the *** away. We don't want the sounds and likes of you anywhere near some of the LAST REMAINING Wilderness on Earth. You stay in Hell, we're happy here in Heaven.

[susanhelit]

He's a hero, and she's a hero. Making a mistake doesn't mean you aren't a hero when you sacrifice your safety for others, willingly, and both the mother and the father did that. He went out to try to get them rescued, when it became apparent that rescue was not coming, she fed her children with a food supply that was coming from her own scant reserves - both of them took courses of action that could have lead to their death to try to save others. That's a hero, always, to me.