Did anybody see Dateline tonight?

[Larry Harp]

It was about the I-40 bridge over the Arkansas River collapse. One of the fishermen who helped save some of the victims and shot a flare up on to the bridge and helped stop traffic was Kirk Washburn. Kirk is a really cool guy who has a local fishing show here in Okla. I have talked with him several times at tackle shows and never had any idea that he had a role in that horrible accident.

Harpo

 

[Texas Transplant]

Yeah, I saw most of it. Very interesting stuff. Would have scared the hell out of someone. Amazing that more were not hurt/killed.



Tex

 

[Staci Matheis]

YES!

What a truly wonderful person he must be!

Talk about keeping a cool head!



I can only wonder how he is handling the aftermath of the incident in his mind, heart and soul..... How he is living with what he saw and experienced.....



May God Bless all who were involved.....



me!

 

[Rob LaMoy]

Saw it and can't imagine what those guys must have gone through trying to stop that. We have a big bridge up on the border that goes from VT to NY and it's HIGH! If that ever happened, we'd have the same problem. We do occasionally get barges down here from the St Lawrence or up from the Hudson. No "dolphins" on our bridges though. Hats off to those guys, they are heros.

 

[Mark Gross]

Ilived in Florida when that bridge was hit.It was hard to cross after that.Tthey turned the south bound bridge into two-way traffic till they replaced it with what is there know.It was night and foggy and the vehicles just kept coming.One survived when the Ford pick-up he was driving landed on the barge that hit the bridge in the first place.I can tell you this to this day when ever I drive over that bridge I remember everything all over again.

 

[Donnie Matney]

The tractor trailer that ran in the river had a full load from the company I work for in Lex. KY. We had to write off thousands of merchandise.



Donnie

 

[Texas Transplant]

Gross,



Just wondering about your comment. 'Lived in Florida when that bridge was hit. It was hard to cross after that'.



The story and bridge they showed last night was on I40 near the OK and ARK border. We talkin' about the same bridge, or another one?



Tex

 

[Michael Snow]

WHEN was this bridge hit? I haven't heard of it. I'm glad to know it's on the other side of the state. We go from Dallas to Memphis through Little Rock several times a year (unfortunately).


http://www.texasfishinginfo.com

 

[Larry Harp]

It was hit last summer--Memorial Day weekend I think. Beside the tragic loss of life it was a huge expense for the state of Okla and a major pain for the little town of Gore that all the traffic was routed through. I was amazed that it was rebuilt so fast. We drove over it just days after it was finished--got a kind of weird feeling in the pit of the stomach.

Harpo

 

[Steve Rizza]

I agree that they were brave to stick around and help the people,BUT,the whole time I was watching it I couldn't help thinking how tacky it was that they were wearing thier tournament shirts with the sponser logos all over them.

I really can't explain why,but it just didn't seem very respectful to the people that lost their lives.

 

[Mark Gross]

Tex,The Tampa Bay bridge was hit by a barge in the 70's at the time there were two bridges side by side north bound and south bound. Even after they tore it down and put up the new one it was a strange feeling remembering that fatefull night.

 

[Texas Transplant]

Gotcha, Gross. Didn't know about that one.



Tex

 

[James D.]

Steve R,



not sure what all happened in regards to the tournament and didn't catch the dateline show as i would have liked to see it. every 3 wks i made the round trip to Ft. Smith and went across that bridge as i came across it the friday before it came down. long ways down and not a good way to go. i will say in regards to the tourney shirts, that kirk washburn is a good christian man and just a wonderful person to be around. as harpo mentioned, he has his own bass fishin show that is the most popular around here and he fishes the tournament trails. he probably wears a tourney shirt everyday. keep this in mind also that they were in the middle of fishing a tournament that morning when the bridge came down and i doubt changin shirts was on anyones mind (i am assuming that what you are referring to was filmed on the scene at the time, not many days after in some interview). IMHO kirk and the others were not just there by coincidence, but were needed to be there. you make a good point on how trivial our materialistic concerns are when faced with death. i know what you mean about the shirts as we are kind of "tuned in" to them more so than maybe someone else not involved in the sport. think of these shirts as just a uniform they have to wear while fishin tournies. that was another sad day here in oklahoma as it seems that there have been a lot of tragedies here the last few years.



take care,



jd



jd

 

[Larry Harp]

J.D., I inferred that Steve was offended by the fact that the Dateline story was filmed recently and Kirk and his partner were wearing their tournament shirts for that filming. I didn't think a thing about it being disrespectful. I have seen Kirk Washburn on several occasions and he was always wearing a sponsors shirt. I'm sure that the Dateline producers asked them to wear them since they were filming on the site of the accident on their boats, to make it more realistic.

Harpo

 

[Rob LaMoy]

Exactly Sooner. They had several shots of boats at WOT. Just part of the dramatization. IMHO, the media takes a tragic event, and makes it worse. These guys were not plugging their sponsors, I'm sure they were asked to wear they tourney shirts as that is what they had on that day. The interviews were conducted on the deck of the boats....not by coincidence.