LOCAL
Wednesday, august 21, 2019
HeRMIstOnHeRaLd.COM • A9
Aquatic centers devise plans to prevent drowning
By ANTONIO SIERRA
STAFF WRITER
H
ermiston and Pendleton’s
aquatic centers are discuss-
ing teaming up to help pre-
vent drowning.
A youth spent swimming saved
Pendleton Parks and Recreation
Director Liam Hughes’ life.
When he was 10 years old,
Hughes and his family went on
a vacation to a campground near
Biarritz, France, a resort town on
the country’s southwestern coast.
On the first night there, Hughes
and his father went on a bike ride
on the coast before deciding to take
an unplanned swim in the ocean.
But to the two travelers, the
opportunity seemed too good to
pass up.
“The sun was close to setting but
it was a warm night and the ocean
just looked (too) inviting not to go
for a swim,” he wrote in an email.
The tide soon pulled Hughes
away from shore, and although
his dad was still able to stand up,
Hughes was disoriented as he was
repeatedly “enveloped in a wall of
foamy salt water.”
Luckily for Hughes, he grew
up swimming in a local river in his
native England and practiced four
times per week as a part of a swim
team.
Hughes swam as hard as he
could back toward the shore, using
the crashing waves to boost him,
and his father was eventually able
to help get him out of the ocean.
Hughes shared this story to
demonstrate that swimming ability
isn’t just for leisure, but also a vital
survival tool. In a region where
lakes, rivers and creeks are bounti-
ful, people never quite know when
they’re going to be in the water.
He pointed to the drowning of
staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Lifeguard Elli Nirschl watches over a lap swimmer last week at the Pendleton Aquatic Center.
a 35-year-old Umatilla man on the
Columbia River in 2018. While
fishing, his son fell into the river.
Neither knew how to swim, and
although the boy was saved, the
father drowned.
Both the cities of Pendleton and
Hermiston are interested in educat-
ing the public about safe swimming
practices. Because even in the rela-
tively controlled environment of a
municipal aquatic center, they are
discovering a lack of both knowl-
edge and ability.
Hermiston Recreation Coor-
dinator Kasia Robbins said the
Hermiston Family Aquatic Center
employs 60 lifeguards to monitor
its various pools, waterslides and
diving boards.
Robbins said some parents are
over-reliant on lifeguards to watch
their children, leading to several
situations per day where lifeguards
need to jump into the pool for a
save or assist.
“They’re a line of defense,
but they’re not the only line of
defense,” she said.
Robbins said life jackets are
also sometimes used as a substi-
tute for close supervision. While
life jackets are important for keep-
ing a child afloat, she said they can
often flip a child onto their stom-
ach rather than their back if they go
unmonitored.
Robbins said adults often over-
estimate their child’s swimming
ability, so Hermiston is revamp-
ing their swimming program
accordingly.
Instead of telling parents that
their children are capable of “flut-
ter kicks” and “free arms,” aquatic
center staff are reporting whether
their child is at a low, medium or
high risk of drowning.
Pendleton is also interested in
drowning prevention, and is plan-
ning to launch a public outreach
campaign in the spring.
He said there’s even talk
between Pendleton and Hermiston
about collaborating. Robbins said
Hermiston is interested in filming a
public service announcement with
Pendleton.
As one of the people who over-
sees the Pendleton Aquatic Center,
Hughes echoed many of the same
concerns Robbins did.
He said the ultimate goal of
the campaign would be to have all
children learn to swim at the same
time they learn to walk and to dis-
pel the public of the notion that just
because it’s a public pool means it’s
a safe environment.
“We have all seen the Face-
book posts of people trying to pet
polar bears at the zoo and get-
ting attacked. People wouldn’t
approach a polar bear in the wild,
but because it is in a zoo they think
it’s safe. The problem is that (the)
polar bear has not ceased to be a
polar bear just because you put it in
the zoo,” he wrote.
“The same is true for pools. Par-
ents are cautious letting their kids
play in a lake that is 6-foot deep,
but don’t think twice about letting
them in a 6-foot-deep swimming
pool. The water did not become
less dangerous because we brought
it into a public pool. Anytime we
are around water it deserves our
respect and attention.”
June drowning deaths prompt negligent homicide investigation
The sheriff’s office ques-
tioned three others who
reported the boat’s owner
was driving, according to the
affidavit, and two of them
said Kirkendall only stepped
in to take the wheel once law
enforcement arrived.
By PHIL WRIGHT
STAFF WRITER
C
arbon monoxide may
have played a role in
the June drowning
deaths of Janice Arsenault
and Trenton Williams.
The information came
from the affidavit Uma-
tilla County sheriff’s Sgt.
Rowen Hayes wrote June 26
to obtain a warrant to search
for evidence of criminally
negligent homicide.
Arsenault, 44, and Wil-
liams, 20, went missing
June 15 while boating with
friends in Lake Wallula on
the Columbia River east of
Umatilla.
They were on a 21-foot-
long blue 2007 Skiers
Choice with three other
adults, according to the
affidavit, and witnesses
reported the two were intox-
icated. They were chest
down on the dive deck at the
back when the craft headed
to shore. After arriving, the
party discovered Arsenault
and Williams were not on
the boat. A dive team recov-
ered their remains June 17.
Two days later, a wit-
ness came forward and
told investigators with the
sheriff’s office the story he
read in the news about their
deaths did not match what
he saw the day they went
missing. The sheriff’s office
The
affidavit
also
revealed Dr. Rudy Ste-
fancik, the county medical
examiner, reported high lev-
els of carbon monoxide were
likely a contributing factor
in the drowning deaths.
The sheriff’s office — at
last report — was waiting
on the Oregon State Police
crime lab’s analysis of blood
samples from the victims.
Sheriff Terry Rowan did not
immediately return a call
seeking comment for this
report.
staff photo by e.J. Harris
A Umatilla Fire Department rescue boat searches the south
shore of the Columbia River for missing boaters Janice
Arsenault and Trenton Williams in June east of Umatilla.
at the time reported Richard
Kirkendall, 41, of Herm-
iston, drove the boat. But
according to the affidavit,
Kirkendall was not the only
driver.
The witness claimed he
stopped in his boat that day
to talk with the people in
the Skiers Choice. He said
he noticed the two people
hanging off the dive deck.
The affidavit also stated
the witness said the boat’s
owner — not Kirkendall —
was driving.
Deputy Jon Roberts
asked the witness if he was
sure about who had the
helm. The witness said he
was positive, according
to the document. He said
he knew the owner of the
boat and did not recognize
the other man, referring to
Kirkendall.
The East Oregonian
declined to identify the
owner at this time because
there have been no arrests
or charges in the case.
The boat pulled away
with Arsenault and Williams
on the dive deck, the witness
said, and after the owner cut
power to coast to the beach,
he thought “he saw some-
one that was struggling to
stay above the water,” but it
was too far away and saw it
only for a split second.
He said he dismissed
the image because children
were floating on rafts and
playing about 30 feet from
the same place.
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