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Subject: Re: TWL: PFD's for children - required
From: Sandy Floe (steamer@XXX.XXX)
Date: Sat Mar 02 2002 - 11:50:56 EST
Frank wrote in part:
> I view the requirement as an attempt to protect the innocent from
> their parent's stupidity or ignorance.
Frank is right on! Just over a year ago I was laying over in Port
Angeles,(WA) while taking the trawler north alone. There was a
family on the dock which consisted of 5 children with their father,
who was fishing. The oldest of these kids was 8 years. The kids
were having a lot of fun yelling and screaming while running up and
down the dock. I kept an eye on them sort of expecting something
might happen.
Returning from a supply trip I remarked to the kids, as I walked by,
and loud enough for the father to hear, that they should have life
jackets on. No reaction from the father.
A little while later I heard a large splash and knew what it was
without looking. As I leaped from the boat and was running up the
dock I could see the oldest boy going down....again. He went under
at least three times before I could get out to him and manage to
pull him out of the water. His struggles to the surface had been
carrying him far from the dock. The father had gone to another dock
too far away to be of any help at all. Lucky kid. He's going to live in
spite of his father's dumbness.
In several towns along the inside passage and all over Alaska there
are life-jackets for kids at the head of the dock ramps. These
jackets are hanging on nails in a sheet of plywood, to be used by
the children of the town while on the docks. They are installed and
maintained by local clubs, such as the Lions.
Incidentally, I wrote a letter to the local newspaper in Port Angeles
detailing the situation and suggesting such a solution. The paper
never even bothered printing it. They must have a surplus of
children there.
Sandy Floe
"Sea Eagle" (39 CHB)
Day Island, WA
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