05.18.05 - 10:57 am

MOUNT ST HELENS ERUPTION
Rescuers discovered a cassette recorded by Ron and Barbara Seibold's children, ages 7 and 9, as the family drove toward the volcano.
"They were goofing around � asking whether or not they would see lava coming out of the mountain," said Jim Thomas, an emergency worker at the time. "One asked if it was dangerous, and both parents cheerfully reassured their kids that they'd be safe."
They weren't.
Like the Seibolds, most of the volcano's 57 victims were caught in the avalanche of boiling mud and ash in sections of the mountain considered safe for camping and recreation. Most died of suffocation as ash filled their throats, noses and lungs.
Twenty-five years after the fatal eruption, victims' families want to stress that their loved ones did not die because of their own recklessness.
That became the basis for a lawsuit brought by the victims' families, who alleged that the restricted areas were based on property lines, not science. The case against the state was dismissed in 1985, after the court ruled that state officials did not know how destructive the eruption was going to be. Some families sued Weyerhaeuser, settling for a reported $225,000 � an amount that many said was a pittance.
"No one brings their kids to a place they consider unsafe," said Donna Parker, whose brother had been camping nearly three miles outside the restricted zones when the volcano erupted. When Parker made it to the site of her brother's death, she found that the eggs inside his cooler had been hard-boiled by the heat.
"And this was supposed to be a safe place?" said Parker, 66. "The state owes us an apology."

you people. what the fuck is going on lately? listen, the fucking mountain was going to erupt and everyone knew it. what the fuck were you doing anywhere near it? i dont give a fuck that for months reports of an eruption from scientists seemed unfounded, as no eruption happened day after day. but scientists dont really like to fuck around, if they say somethings going to happen, something usually is going to happen. and really, how were they supposed to know the scale of the eruption? did your family members think they knew better? is that why they thought they were safe so close to an active volcano?
these people wanting retribution for their families thinking they were safe in camping zones close to the mountain are like idiots going to syria and expecting it to be safe since theyre not technically in iraq and are thuse seperated from the war and violence. pffffft.
dont go next to mountains that are expected to erupt. use your fucking head.