Hagg Lake drowning: Gaston man who posted warning signs receives $5,000 ticket

Oregonian ^ | 09/07/2014 | Molly Harbarger

[logi_cal869]

Background: Per one of the links in the story at source, 3 generations of a family drowned at Hagg Lake, which is about 5 miles west of Hillsboro, on August 25th. The OP source is a follow up article, excerpted below:

Michael Medill posted eight homemade signs Saturday at Henry Hagg Lake to get the attention of swimmers and law enforcement.

"I actually went up there hoping I would get arrested," Medill, 66, said Sunday.

After Dillon Pilorget, reporter for the Forest Grove Leader and The Oregonian, and other reporters left the lake Saturday, Medill said police told him he could go. He got into his car, made one phone call, then was detained for over an hour.

He didn't get arrested, but he walked away with a $5,000 ticket for criminal mischief. Then on Sunday, authorities removed the signs.

Washington County Sheriff's deputies warned he might be cited, because Medill bolted the signs to posts and trees.

Medill said he is retired from developing and selling resorts on private beaches in Costa Rica, so he has the financial means to pursue a possible lawsuit against Washington County. The citation is his ticket to making the county do the right thing, he said.

[logi_cal869]

While even I thought the drownings were only an accidental tragedy, it turns out residents in the area have for YEARS tried to get Washington County to place warning signs on the shores of the much-used lake, particularly in the wake of the most recent drowning prior in 2008.

This is one of the most pathetic local examples of liberal bureaucracy run amok and a slap in the face to surviving family.

[JimSEA]

Here in Oregon, they’re not shy about letting you know who is in charge.

[logi_cal869]

I know all-too-well, ‘FRneighbor’.

[gnarledmaw]

We have lakes here with drop-offs but we don't have people drowning like video game lemmings. There used to be a lot of quarry swimming too and those are all varying drop-off waters. I remember what seemed to be an unusual spike in drownings during the '70s but those were mostly drunk guys jumping head first off of short piers.

Is there something unusual that Im missing about this lake?

[kiryandil]

The government is Ken McElroy...

The town bully, Ken McElroy, got away with his bullying until citizens who were not peasants decided to act.

The Federal govthugs tried to discover who shot the bully so they could hammer them with the full weight of Peasant Law, but nobody saw anything in a crowd of dozens of people.

Citizens have got to man up.

[Rio]

Nothing unusual about the lake. Some folks just don’t see the need to learn to swim - or to teach their kids to swim.

[Rockpile]

Thanks for the McElroy link. It is stupefying how he got away with these crimes for so long. Maybe he was Sheriff Dan Estes’ boyfriend.

Noticed that Estes ran away after the Legion meeting.

[Rockpile]

Sorry, I should have posted to you instead of logi cal.

[steve86]

Nothing unusual about the lake. Some folks just don’t see the need to learn to swim - or to teach their kids to swim.

So you're fine with the drownings. Asshat.

[dr_lew]

Based on photos of the divers and shoreline during the recovery operation, and the Google Maps view, it doesn’t appear that this is prepared or intended as a swimming area. There is no prepared beach. In seems that the principal use of the lake is by boaters, and in fact the drownings occurred at a picnic area near a boat ramp. Presumably the drownings occurred because the kids decided to go wading.

[Eagles6]

Why are people drowning? There generally isn’t fast moving water in a small lake. Are there alligators? What’s going on?

[TChad]

"An area of Hagg Lake, near Gaston, Ore., Sept. 4, 2014, has a thin layer of calm water concealing a vertical drop-off near where three generations of a Hillsboro, Oregon, family drowned last month."

[TChad]

???

Nothing in Rio's post indicates that Rio is "fine with the drownings."

[cynwoody]

So you're fine with the drownings. Asshat.

Moron.

[SandwicheGuy]

Nothing unusual about the lake. Some folks just don’t see the need to learn to swim - or to teach their kids to swim.

So you're fine with the drownings. Asshat.

What a terrible way to reply to Rio. Would it be OK to say I was fine the drownings, and I wish you could have been one? Then I looked at your page and see it is not really your fault that you are so crude... Bad parenting. And that is what Rio said, bad parenting caused these kids to drown, and bad parenting made you the way you are. Slink away.

[trebb]

Nothing unusual about the lake. Some folks just don’t see the need to learn to swim - or to teach their kids to swim. So you're fine with the drownings. Asshat.

Let's see - folks who don't know how to swim end up over their head and drown. You think that someone ought to do something about it and consider folks who live in reality to be "asshats".

So, how intrusive does the Nanny-State need to be on this one? Do they need to ensure no body of water that people can access is over a foot deep? Do they need to mandate life vests for waders/swimmers?

Like they say, "You can make anything fool proof; you just can't make it damn-fool proof".Exactly where does personal responsibility end and government control take over? Your Freedom depends on where you draw the line, so think it over carefully.

[laotzu]

So you're fine with the drownings. Asshat.

You seem a pleasant sort. What a nimrod.

[logi_cal869]

Update for those interested:

http://www.oregonlive.com/washingtoncounty/index.ssf/2014/09/hagg_lake_drowning_da_drops_ch.html

Worth a read...