six kids drown

[Bob Riebe]

http://www.theleafchronicle.com/article/20100804/NEWS01/100804019/La.+man+saved+teen++couldn+t+stop+6+from+drowning

I have the greatest admiration for the six kids, though they could not swim, but tried to save their friend anyway.
All this bruhaha with Wash. throwing money at education, why isn't learning how to swim required by Wash.?
When I was in junior high, learning how to swim was a required class in gym, as were gym classes; alas the gym classes we had to take as teenagers are no longer required, liberal educators thought students should not be forced to take such classes. It wasn't fair to the fat kids, because someone might poke fun at them.

The only truly fat kid in my class dropped a hundred and fifty pounds after graduation, played in a rock-band, got married and had kids.
Didn't seem to hurt him much.

[Easy Drifter]

We have had a very high number of drownings in Canada this year especially in Ont. No question the heat has had a lot to do with it.
However one thing that has become apparent is the large number of immigrants to Canada who do not know how to swim.
This is not a knock but many of these people have had no experience around water and get into trouble. Without experience of the dangers of water they just get into trouble. I have no easy answer.
The vast majority of Cdn. born people do know how to swim but even then not well in many cases.
I spent every summer from age 4 around water and was a powerful swimmer, albeit with no training. From June until Sept. I probably swam at least a mile a day. I also could stay under water for close to 3 minutes.
Today I will not go in the water without someone watching me.
The only person in our crowd of around 20 young people who was close to me on the surface was one of my girl friends who later was a Cdn. Olympic Triathalon member.
I wish I knew the answer but life jackets/pfd's sure help/

[Hondo]

We (Louisiana) are one of the least smartest states in the union. For some reason, we spend a great deal of time and money trying to remain that way. Even for strong swimmers the rivers can be dangerous due to very strong currents and debris like logs being carried in the current just below the surface. In addition, there are creatures in our waters that tend to view us as snacks. None of this keeps people from pushing their luck, which, from time to time, runs out.

Louisiana is fairly equal in poor whites and poor blacks, neither of which is going to spend money on PDFs. Access to swimming instruction is equal for blacks and whites. Someone will be willing to teach you. However, if the parent or parents place little or no importance on learning to swim, the child will not learn. If you can afford a beer, cigarette, and a cell phone, you can afford to allow the Red Cross, church summer program, or YMCA to teach your kid to swim.

[Mark]

Here most kids can swim but they go swimming in a river and the current takes them or quite often go swimming in a lake and the cold takes their breath and they drown.

There was some controversy a while back when some Police "Community Support Officers" (basically people paid to walk around and look they are police) stood and watched a boy drown in a lake, they didn't go into rescue him as they "hadn't been trained".

[GridGirl]

We were on holiday in Ibiza as children and the adults deep pool was seperated from the kids shallow pool by these stepping stone type things. My brother who was about 7 and had only just began learning how to swim at the time was jumping into the kids pool and some German lads were jumping into the adults pool. Some how one of the other lads knocked my brother and he ended up falling into the deeper pool and almost drown. He ended up being fished out and had to have mouth to mouth. He did eventually learnt to swim properly but theres no way on earth you would see him swimming in a local leisure centre or while on holiday now. I think its pretty much scarred him for life. :s

When I was a kid we only learnt to swim at school between the ages of 7 and 11.

[Mark]

When I was a kid we only learnt to swim at school between the ages of 7 and 11.

Me too. I wonder if they still do now? Can't be cheap even just for the coach hire!

My parents took me swimming almost every week, way before we started learning to swim at school. My Dad used to dive in the North Sea for fun, so he felt it was important.

Unfortunately at the school lessons the instructors were absolute smegheads! I remember doing a test to see if I could go into the 'top' swimming group which was two laps of the pool without touching the side, easy enough. One of the other kids shouted to me "stop, you're done now!" and because I'd believed him I'd failed and there was no appeal, I was in the 'bottom' group for the next 2 years!

[Mark]

http://www.theleafchronicle.com/article/20100804/NEWS01/100804019/La.+man+saved+teen++couldn+t+stop+6+from+drowningl iberal educators thought students should not be forced to take such classes. It wasn't fair to the fat kids, because someone might poke fun at them.

I'm getting tired of your political "liberals are at fault for everything" posts. They are boring and irritating, please stop!

[Tazio]

I'm getting tired of your political "liberals are at fault for everything" posts. They are boring and irritating, please stop!

Here than let me annoy some people to diffuse the situation. I recued my God-daughter from drowning. I've saved three people’s lives, two from certain death.
That’s probably the only reason I'm still alive. :confused:

[Hondo]

I was taught to swim by my parents. I was also taught lifesaving by my parents along with being "water-wise". Lifesaving was also taught by the Cub/Boy Scouts. I don't recall swimming being taught at school although they had a pool.

[Easy Drifter]

None of the schools I went to had pools. From grade five on I was in school in Scarborough (now part of Toronto). There were no public pools in the school system and no other pools in Scarborough then. As a Cub I got my 'swimming badge' but we went to the YMCA pool in downtown Toronto.
Just the same most of my classmates could swim but not all. All of our group of about 20 at the lake we had a cottage on were pretty good swimmers. My parents could swim but not well.
For those who have been or plan to go to St. Jovite there are two places to swim. One is the lake just behind the paddock and the other is the river on the outfield below turns 1 and 2. The river should be used only by good swimmers as there is a strong current and a fairly powerful whirlpool. Well known driver in the 70's Gary Magwood and I were the only 2 that I know of that could swim upstream through the whirlpool. Gary had been a professional high diver.
A few people did get in trouble but the river widens out and gets shallow about a 100 feet downstream so as far as I know there has never been a serious accident there.

[tannat]

As a former lifeguard one saddening observation is the lack of lifeguard support at swimming pools and beaches. This seems to be an occupation on the out.

Is this a US phenomenon or is it true in other parts of the world?

[Brown, Jon Brow]

As a former lifeguard one saddening observation is the lack of lifeguard support at swimming pools and beaches. This seems to be an occupation on the out.

Is this a US phenomenon or is it true in other parts of the world?

As far as I am aware all public swimming pools are supported by a lifeguard at all times. It seems to be quite a popular part-time job for students.

As for beaches, it's quite rare for people to swim in the UK seas :p

[Drew]

There was some controversy a while back when some Police "Community Support Officers" (basically people paid to walk around and look they are police) stood and watched a boy drown in a lake, they didn't go into rescue him as they "hadn't been trained".

How ironic, they're there to supposedly help the community, but they just left him there to die. I hope they feel guilty as hell about it now.

There was a story here (Plymouth) a few weeks ago where some teenagers had to be rescued because they tried to swim to Drake's Island but they couldn't make it. It's rare to here stories about people drowning.

Tombstoning is much more dangerous.

[Easy Drifter]

Most municipal pools have lifeguards but not all.
Some beaches do but many do not including Wasaga Beach the world's longest freshwater beach. There are thousands of people there on a good weekend.
Very few motel/hotel pools have lifeguards.
We also have a huge number of lakes and rivers with places to swim but no guards.
I live in a private complex on Geogian Bay with a sandy beach. No lifeguards.
Anyone on the beach under 16 is supposed to be accompanied by an adult but that is not enforced. Plus there is no requirement the adult can swim! There also is absolutely no lifesaving equipment at the beach.
There is also none along the docks on the river where people keep their boats.

[Tazio]

As a former lifeguard one saddening observation is the lack of lifeguard support at swimming pools and beaches. This seems to be an occupation on the out.

Is this a US phenomenon Dude, I hope you are not implying that the U.S. is sub-par in this arena, because if you are this is the most idiotic, and uninformed comment I've read in a while. The U.S. has tremendous lifeguard service, probably as good, or better than Australia. Every public pool, park, and popular beach has highly qualified Lifeguards with an EMT minimum requirement, not to mention swimming, and other rescue techniques that require certification, at least in California. It’s covered by our taxes. The U.S. is a very big place. I go 10 minutes outside the city limits (and within) Bass fishing and I'm in riparian woodlands with an occasional sandy little beach, but you enter the water at your own peril, because you are in the middle of freakin' nowhere. Ask Easy Drifter or Mark in Oshawa how far they have to travel to find beaches and natural pools that do not have lifeguards on duty.
Canada is also a big place.
Louisiana "The Sportsman’s Paradise" is largely swamp. Beautiful and many parts still pristine swamp. Most of it, by its nature is remote. The responsibility of these drownings falls directly on the parents of these youngsters. It is not a crime in this country to not know how to swim. But it is the duty of the parents of minors who they have taken into the wilderness to understand the gravity of the situation, and circumstances. I have a pretty strong feeling it has started to sink in to them right about now. I don't care what the religious, ethnic, or racial background of these people is, citizens or not. It is incumbent upon them to know where it is safe to go into the water. As crass as this may sound, in events like the stupidity (or irresponsibility) on the part of these parents amounts to nothing more than a natural culling of the population of our species. And the really sad part about it is they aren’t able to offer up their own lives to bring back what they mortally lost.
But that is precisely how nature works.

[Easy Drifter]

Distance in my case is 100 feet to the river, although normally no one swims there and 100 yards to the beach where people swim in Georgian Bay.

[ShiftingGears]

I think the lifeguards here do a damn good job considering how many people are at the beaches. If you stay between the flags and don't go too far out you will most likely never need to have the lifeguards rescue you.

[Jag_Warrior]

The story in the OP is very sad. But I stopped reading when I got to this part:


Patlan bolted the 10 yards to the river and jumped in, saving 15-year-old DeKendrix Warner. By the time he had dragged the boy to safety, the six others from two families — all nonswimmers — had drowned. Family members, who also can't swim, watched helplessly.

I know that Bob would try to make a choice between Corn Flakes and Rice Crispies liberal vs. conservative, but this is just a sad story about two families that didn't properly raise their children and allowed them to do something incredibly stupid. And the kids died because of it. Sad story but a simple lesson.

[Bob Riebe]

The story in the OP is very sad. But I stopped reading when I got to this part:



I know that Bob would try to make a choice between Corn Flakes and Rice Crispies liberal vs. conservative, but this is just a sad story about two families that didn't properly raise their children and allowed them to do something incredibly stupid. And the kids died because of it. Sad story but a simple lesson.

A public personality once said "Liberalism is a disease"; you are very sick.

[ShiftingGears]

I'm getting tired of your political "liberals are at fault for everything" posts. They are boring and irritating, please stop!

:up:

[Jag_Warrior]

A public personality once said "Liberalism is a disease"; you are very sick.

I have the same question that others have on this topic, Bob: WTF does it have to do with liberal vs. conservative?!

You try to present yourself as some kind of "conservative" on this (and every other) topic, and yet you say that the government should require kids to learn how to swim as part of basic education. And then you say that I'm a "sick liberal" because I believe that if you haven't taught your kids to swim, you shouldn't take them to a body of water and let them get in.

My claim stands: you are prone to take ANY subject and try to inject baseless, silly political claims into it. You need help, man. You really do.

[Hondo]

Here in Louisiana there are lifeguards at public (city or parrish) run pools. As a general rule there are no other lifeguards at rivers, lakes, or beaches. The State of Louisiana assumes that even though you are a resident of the state, you are at least smart enough to know that you don't know how to swim and should exercise extreme caution around water. I would suggest that such a large group of non-swimmers willing to expend so much effort on a hot day to get to an isolated spot on the river had intentions beyond playing in the water. They could have soaked down with the garden hose at home.

On a good day the visibility in any Louisiana body of water is maybe 8 inches. The river currents can be very strong and treacherous at times. You enter Louisiana waters at your own risk.

[Tazio]

Dude, I hope you are not implying that the U.S. is sub-par in this arena, because if you are this is the most idiotic, and uninformed comment I've read in a while.

Your off the hook! ;) In the context of this event, this one beats it by a country mile!
[quote=" Bob Riebe"]
A public personality once said "Liberalism is a disease"]

Please leave! :mark:

[markabilly]

where and when i grew up, none of the public schools had any swimming facilities, and many schools in the USA still do not have such, and it has nothing to do with anything of liberal v conservative, yadada, except spending max dollars on football and football stadiums, some of which built in the last few years are nicer than what you find at many major colleges

they went swimming in a river, and it was a bad day for everyone. Simple and tragic.

[Tazio]

Here in Louisiana there are lifeguards at public (city or parrish) run pools. As a general rule there are no other lifeguards at rivers, lakes, or beaches. The State of Louisiana assumes that even though you are a resident of the state, you are at least smart enough to know that you don't know how to swim and should exercise extreme caution around water. I would suggest that such a large group of non-swimmers willing to expend so much effort on a hot day to get to an isolated spot on the river had intentions beyond playing in the water. They could have soaked down with the garden hose at home. On a good day the visibility in any Louisiana body of water is maybe 8 inches. The river currents can be very strong and treacherous at times. You enter Louisiana waters at your own risk.

A large group of relatives and friends, including about 20 children, gathered on a sandy shore near the northwest Louisiana river's bank to cool off from the oppressive heat and to barbecue. They hadn't even set up the grill. Fiero could you elaborate on your inference you made that I emboldened in your comment? I mean I understand about the dissolved solids in the water making visibility low but actually fishing better as tea colored, or stained water is generally a better habitat for warm fresh water fish like Catfish, and to a slightly lesser degree Largemouth Bass,(or at least makes it easier to fool/catch them) especially considering there is a steep drop off which is another positive for fishing enviornment as fish can rest in cooler deep water yet have shallows to ambush smaller fish or Crayfish close at hand,
It's frequented by swimmers and fishermen, who must walk through woods along a path to reach the river. The city had just dug a trench to limit access to it. And according to this article some form of authority was trying to limit access to people from fishing and swimming there.
But what is it that this group of people that were there and were involved in this tragedy "up to" beside poor judgment? You don't have to be able to swim, in order to catch fish. Plus the article states that they were setting up a Barbeque, and having a family get together. Pray tell! Do you think they were out there to hide dead bodies? Hatch a terrorist plot? Smuggle crack cocaine or cook meth? or something as horrible as taking fish over the limit? There is an agenda in your post that is suspiciously reeking of racism to me, but hopefully I am way off base on this and there is a history of nefarious activities at this location where people like to fish and bath.
BTW you don't have to be able to swim in order to bath.
At best this was a very ill conceived idea (to bath near moving water and,
unknown underwater topography) But by all indications the worst case scenario happened, or at least close to it because everyone in the group could have drowned. What is it do you think these citizens of your own home State could have perpetrated there that they could not in the privacy of their own front or back yards while cooling off with a garden hose, beside saving a little money on their water bill? :confused:

[Bob Riebe]

I have the same question that others have on this topic, Bob: WTF does it have to do with liberal vs. conservative?!

You try to present yourself as some kind of "conservative" on this (and every other) topic, and yet you say that the government should require kids to learn how to swim as part of basic education. And then you say that I'm a "sick liberal" because I believe that if you haven't taught your kids to swim, you shouldn't take them to a body of water and let them get in.

My claim stands: you are prone to take ANY subject and try to inject baseless, silly political claims into it. You need help, man. You really do.

Read what I said, try real hard, the government where I live used to require that students learn how to swim and take gym classes.
They dropped both-- now government wants to force kids from eating certain things because they are becoming fat-asses; at the same time kids are drowning but learning how to swim is no longer required. (the city I grew up in built a another general public swimming pool and you can , if you have the money pay for lessons)

So you think it is better now that the government there stopped making these things requirements, taxed the public for another pool, where those with enough money can learn to swim, and to hell with drowning kids.
Those who had no school swimming pool, I can only sympathize for them, but for ones that did to stop requiring a possible life saving class, well liberals are the ones that caused it to be dropped, you figure it out.

Your lame exuse is that, lame.

[Bob Riebe]

I'm getting tired of your political "liberals are at fault for everything" posts. They are boring and irritating, please stop!

You then have problem with reality.
It is amazing one can call Jewish people what ever insulting lie one wants, as one of the posters does continually, but gee, tell the truth about liberals, well, that says much about your bias.

[Jag_Warrior]

Read what I said, try real hard, the government where I live used to require that students learn how to swim and take gym classes.

Here's what you said since you can't seem to remember:
"All this bruhaha with Wash. throwing money at education, why isn't learning how to swim required by Wash.?"

Of all things, WTF should Washington REQUIRE kids to learn how to swim?! American kids can barely break the Top 25 globally in math and science. Especially in larger cities, the average high school graduate can't read or write at a 12th grade level. And your "bright idea" is to build swimming pools???!!! God help us all! Well sure! We'll just fire a few more teachers, eliminate some AP classes and get right on that, Brother Bob. Anything else you want? How about that Washington should require kids to know how to safely ride horses? We'll tear down the library and build a barn or three.



So you think it is better now that the government there stopped making these things requirements, taxed the public for another pool, where those with enough money can learn to swim, and to hell with drowning kids.

If you want your kids to learn how to swim, send them to the YMCA/YWCA, or send them to one of the thousands of public and private pools around the country and get them lessons. If you don't/can't do that, then you shouldn't allow them in the water in the first place. Why is this so incredibly difficult to understand? See, in your (foggy, confused) mind, a kid who doesn't know how to drive, but his parents give him a car and watch him get killed in a crash... that's the liberals and the gubment's fault. In my mind, the children of dumbasses tend to have relatively short and/or difficult lives no matter what. Do you have kids? If yes, then I figure they know exactly what I'm talking about here.




Your lame exuse is that, lame.

Excuse? Excuse for what? If you don't know how to swim, don't get in the frickin' water!!! Yeah, crazy me. What was I thinking? :rolleyes:

[Brown, Jon Brow]

I'm getting tired of your political "liberals are at fault for everything" posts. They are boring and irritating, please stop!


You then have problem with reality.

Please just stop!!!

Making a political point out of an awful accident is pretty sick.

[Tazio]

Please just stop!!!

Making a political point out of an awful accident is pretty sick.

I agree but the only reason that it is being discussed on this forum was that is what it's original poster was (pardon the pun) "angling for" :down: