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KALISPELL - U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., state Senate Majority Whip Greg Barkus of Kalispell, and three other people remain hospitalized after their 22-foot motorboat crashed Thursday night onto the rocks at the northern end of Flathead Lake.

Also on the boat were two members of Rehberg's staff and a fifth person, state Fish, Wildlife and Parks officials said.

Rehberg's office released little information about the accident, other than to say the congressman was stable and "doing well."

Glad he's okay, but Rehberg's a prick. Drinking and boating.

Grizalltheway wrote:Glad he's okay, but Rehberg's a prick. Drinking and boating.

Agreed. Lucky no one was killed. Kinda looks like he thought he bought that boat/car and wanted to catch some air off that rock ledge

Wow man, these politicians gotta learn to use the right tool for the job. Kennedy trying to use his car as a boat and Rehberg doing the exact opposite.

Hope they are all gonna recover.

How the heck do you not see that shoreline?

UNI88 wrote:How the heck do you not see that shoreline?

Dude I've been there and you can't see shit at night. My brother got his boat into the middle of a log jam without knowing it one night and once they got the candle power out and saw what kind of fucked they were it was pretty tense getting out of it from what he said. It is pitch fucking black at night. The real question is how could you be going even 20-30 mph when you can't see a fuckin' thing? They had to be going at a pretty good clip to get where they did on the rocks like that.

Ursus A. Horribilis wrote:

UNI88 wrote:How the heck do you not see that shoreline?

Dude I've been there and you can't see **** at night. My brother got his boat into the middle of a log jam without knowing it one night and once they got the candle power out and saw what kind of **** they were it was pretty tense getting out of it from what he said. It is pitch **** black at night. The real question is how could you be going even 20-30 mph when you can't see a ****' thing? They had to be going at a pretty good clip to get where they did on the rocks like that.

Are there rules for night boating? Here the speed limit is 25mph and you need your lights (green/red in front and white up high in the rear) which gives you some illumination. Based on how far up on shore they went my guess is they were going 35+ mph. They're just lucky they didn't hit 10-15 feet to the left.

hope everyone ends up okay - other than that - i'll reserve judgement until the facts come out

UNI88 wrote:

Ursus A. Horribilis wrote: Dude I've been there and you can't see **** at night. My brother got his boat into the middle of a log jam without knowing it one night and once they got the candle power out and saw what kind of **** they were it was pretty tense getting out of it from what he said. It is pitch **** black at night. The real question is how could you be going even 20-30 mph when you can't see a ****' thing? They had to be going at a pretty good clip to get where they did on the rocks like that.

Are there rules for night boating? Here the speed limit is 25mph and you need your lights (green/red in front and white up high in the rear) which gives you some illumination. Based on how far up on shore they went my guess is they were going 35+ mph. They're just lucky they didn't hit 10-15 feet to the left.

Light scheme is same here but I don't know about the speed limit. We were always on the water at night and had a great spotlight and we never went too fast at night for obvious reasons. Anybody that is on the water at night these days after dark have a real advantage if the use their GPS to show the shorelines and so forth. They must not have thought of that option.

Very lucky they were not killed.

dbackjon wrote:Very lucky they were not killed.

Yeah that is kind of amazing considering the pics. One or several could have easily bought the farm on that one.

I have often boated on this lake in this area in the dark after drinking a little too much. Hard, yes impossible not even. This area South of Bigfork and our old house is littered with homes a campground full of people this time of year and light dotting the lake edge. Following the shoreline along the lake is not that tough if you are even paying a little bit of attention.
Now have you ever beached a boat on purpose? Even on sand beaches the boat slows down tremendously as soon as you hit the sand. Did you look at the picture of how far up that rock ledge they launched that boat? They were traveling way over the night speed limit to fly that far up into the rocks. And it wasn't like they hit it from the side they were going straight at the beach pushing I would guess upwards of 35MPH head on.
As far a drinking they were, the funny thing is so far they have released only Rehberg's BAC and it was .05 supposedly. If the guy piloting the boat wasn't drunk then they need to take away his drivers license before he kills someone because he really sucks. Hopefully he is the one with possible brain damage because he obviously had a fair amount before this happened.


Not surprising at all...



He said state Sen. Greg Barkus, who was driving the boat, has retained an attorney - and in a letter directed all questions about him and his wife, Kathy, to the law office.

Lawyer Todd Glazier did not return voicemails or e-mails left Sunday requesting comment.

Barkus is a Kalispell Republican and the state Senate majority whip. Barkus' BAC has not been released.

A couple things on that .05 BAC. The Associated Press was reporting today that the test was taken sometime after 1 a.m. The crash happened at 10:20 p.m. HMMM. 2.5 hours later is about three beers not recorded. Not that it matters if Rehberg wasn't really driving.

somebody needs to find those fellas and remind them "it's not the crime, it's the cover-up"... get clean and fast.

polsongrizz wrote:
He said state Sen. Greg Barkus, who was driving the boat, has retained an attorney - and in a letter directed all questions about him and his wife, Kathy, to the law office.

I missed that little gem when I read this post the first time.

Having done a LOT of boating at night, I'd say only someone with a deathwish or not of their right mind would be going fast enough to put THAT boat where they did.