http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?to ... 165#195989Sheriff Rusty Hierholzer said Monday that the boy, who has not been named, was wading in the creek. Star Ranch employee Lisa Marie Mariana went into the creek after him as he was swept away by water moving downstream toward the Bluff Trail Road low-water crossing.
The current also carried Mariana downstream against the bridge, where she was pulled out by Donald Ehlers, who lives upstream from the property.
[First, is it ever wise to have only one staff at a water activity? Second, I lived in the area where this happened, on a creek near a low-water crossing. Locals know not to allow children to play near them and particularly near the crossings where water passes under the bridge through large metal culverts. Some have guards, others don?t. Limbs can get jammed in those without guards. Therefore if a person gets sucked into the pipe, they are trapped and will not shoot out the other side. Star Ranch should have known this and set stringent rules for water safety. Depending on the current, which varies, water only 6? deep can knock an adult male off their feet. If I were in charge of a group of kids, they would play where the water pools and has little to no current. Doesn?t it make sense that the program would have such safety rules in place?]
Ehlers said the boys were playing and riding their bikes through a shallow-water crossing for about 20 minutes before the accident occurred.
?It was a two-inch rain, and the water came up after the rain,? he said. ?I don?t know why they let those kids down there.?
[Yep, Mr. Ehlers, some of us wonder the same thing.]
****Another boy required hospital treatment recently after being stabbed by another resident. The injured boy?s family did not press charges, law enforcement officials said.
But it was the accident last week that triggered the decision to end the state contract.
I think it was the incident that convinced us there seemed to be a PATTERN OF INADEQUATE SUPERVISON,? Crimmins said. New placements had been found for all 19 boys by late Friday, he added.
A grand jury found no criminal conduct in Mikie's death and the state placed the facility on probation.
Although,
State officials say a follow-up investigation found the ranch DIDN?T COMPLY WITH RULES REGARDING USE OF RESTRAINTS THAT IMPAIR BREATHING. Records also show the ranch WASN?T MEETING REQUIREMENTS ON TRAINING AND SUPERVISION FOR STAFF, said Patrick Crimmins, Family and Protective Services spokesman.
Re: Restraints- anyone interested can read this excellent 5 part article
http://www.charlydmiller.com/LIB/1998ha ... urant.html