Texas Pool May Have Pulled 4 Victims Down (Ft Worth)

The Guardian (UK) ^ | 6-18-2004 | Angela K. Brown

[blam]

Texas Pool May Have Pulled 4 Victims Down

Friday June 18, 2004 12:46 AM

By ANGELA K. BROWN

Associated Press Writer

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) - With their hotel pool closed for cleaning and the Texas heat reaching nearly 90 degrees, Myron Dukes took his two children and another child to check out the fountains and pools at the park across the street.

Within minutes, all four drowned in a swirling, decorative pool posted with no-swimming signs. Authorities said powerful suction apparently pulled the victims to the bottom of the 9-foot pool at the Fort Worth Water Gardens.

Witness accounts of the accident varied, but 8-year-old Lauren Dukes apparently jumped or slipped into the water. Her 11-year-old friend, Juantrice Deadmon, tried to reach in and help her but fell in herself. Myron Dukes, 39, and his son, 13-year-old Christopher Dukes, then jumped in to try to save the girls.

The victims were among 120 members of a Baptist Church in Chicago attending a national Sunday school convention. About 2,000 of the convention attendees gathered Thursday morning for a prayer vigil.

``Today our city extends our wings to enfold and comfort you,'' Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief told the crowd, many of whom held hands and wiped away tears. ``We are very, very sorry about your loss.''

Though the Water Gardens are not meant for swimming, residents say people often wade in the pools on hot days.

In the pool where the four drowned, water comes down several irregularly spaced steps, creating waterfalls that empty into the pool. The water there is recirculated through a drain at the bottom of the pool.

Officials did not know whether the suction was created by the drain or the water coming down. Police officer Tony Moldanado, one of the first rescuers at the scene, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that when he jumped in, the suction ``literally sucked the socks off my feet.''

The youngsters went to the water gardens to cool off after marching in a parade at the convention and practicing their drill team routines.

``(Dukes) said he would take them to the falls, just to put their feet in the water,'' said Cleo Deadmon, Juantrice's grandmother. ``I had no idea that it went down that deep.''

Officials said the Water Gardens, which were drained Wednesday night, would remain closed until police finish their investigation.

[JennysCool]

decorative pool posted with no-swimming signs

There's usually a reason for signs like that. Won't prevent the lawsuits, though, I imagine.

[Liberty Valance]

Prayers for the families.

[buccaneer81]

posted with no-swimming signs.

Darwin Rules!!

[narby]

These water gardens were used as a set for the movie "Logan's Run". This is the place in the movie where Logan dives into the water to get back into the "city". Later, the people in the city come back here and see the Old Man that Logan and the girl had brought back with them.

I remember seeing this place when I worked in downtown FW for a year.

[Liberty Valance]

Isn't this the same place that parts of Logan's Run was filmed?

[antti tuuri]

sign said no swimming and it sounds like they complied

[sam_paine]

FOR CRYIN OUT LOUD!!!! The FTW water gardens are NOT for swimming!!! It's a scary damn display with huge-ass pumps! Can't believe the quote from the rescuer either. That thing is probably 30 years there! I can't remember it not being there.

[Liberty Valance]

uh-huh :o)

[fso301]

No different imo from those people going down to the waterfront in Chicago, climbing up onto the fountain and getting killed by the high pressure water jets.

Never-the-less, I'm sure lawyers have been calling non-stop.

[sam_paine]

[AnAmericanMother]

Eek! I wouldn't let my kids stroll around the edge of that obviously wet and obviously deep pool.

I'm a kayaker, and the shape and concentration of those waterfalls at the bottom of the picture screams "KEEPER HYDRAULIC!"

[technochick99]

Witness accounts of the accident varied, but 8-year-old Lauren Dukes apparently jumped or slipped into the water.

Perhaps reading the article more closely would help. It appears that the 3 other people drowned as a result of trying to save the 8 year old.

[BeerSwillr]

Yeah, no kidding!. I remember visiting as a little kid and being scared witless. It's been there for over 30 years now and never has anything happened like this.

[July 4th]

Wow...if they couldn't read the No Swimming signs, common sense would dictate that you stay the heck out of that death trap!

[garyhope]

The Ft. Worth Water Garden was designed by a great American architect, Phillip Johnson. It's a great work of sculpture and architecture, but it can be intimidating to walk down the steps into the center.

I'm surprised that nobody has drowned there before. It should probably be watched and guarded by a "responsible" person to keep idiots from killing themselves there. It should probably be fenced and closed at night. It's a great work of art.

[SeeRushToldU_So]

Where were the parents when these children were going to swim in a body of water with signs posted of no swimming?

Right there beside them, did you read the article?

[joesnuffy]

Sounds like the parents decided the signs read 'no swimming' not because of DANGER
but because of convenience...rules for arbitrary aesthetic reasons not for safety reasons...

Which they decided weren't worth obeying because of the heat and closed pool at the hotel
they felt sorry for the kids and decided to let them swim there in spite of the signs...

Too bad the 'No Swimming' signs didn't also have DANGER HUGE LIFE THEREATENING SUCKING KILLER HOLE....YOU SWIM ..YOU DIE... sign along side

[higgmeister]

Why did that remind me of this?

Visitors to Ankh-Morpork were often surprised to find that there were some interesting gardens attached to the Patrician's Palace.
The Patrician was not a gardens kind of person. But some of his predecessors had been, and Lord Vetinari never changed or destroyed anything if there was no logical reason to do so. He maintained the little zoo, and the racehorse stable, and even recognized that the gardens themselves were of extreme historic interest because this was so obviously the case.
They had been laid out by Bloody Stupid Johnson.
Many great landscape gardeners have gone down in history and been remembered in a very solid way by the gardens that they designed with almost god-like power and foresight, thinking nothing of making lakes and shifting hills and planting woodlands to enable future generatios to appreciate the sublime beauty of wild Nature transformed by Man. There have been Capability Brown, Sagacity Smith, Intuition De Vere Slade-Gore...
In Ankh-Morpork, there was Bloody Stupid Johnson.
[...]
The Ankh-Morpork palace grounds were considered the high spot, if such it could be called, of his career. For example, they contained the ornamental trout lake, one hundred and fifty yards long, and, because of one of those trifling errors of notation that were such a distinctive feature of Bloody Stupid's designs, one inch wide. It was the home of one trout, which was quite comfortable provided it didn't try to turn around, and had once featured an ornate fountain which, when first switched on, did nothing but groan ominously for five minutes and then fire a small stone cherub a thousand feet into the air.
It contained a hoho, which was like a haha only deeper. A haha is a concealed ditch and wall designed to allow landowners to look out across rolling vistas without getting cattle and inconvenient poor people wandering across the lawns. Under Bloody Stupid's errant pencil it was dug fifty feet deep and had claimed three gardeners already.
The maze was so small that people got lost looking for it.
But the Patrician rather liked the gardens, in a quiet kind of way. He had certain views about the mentality of most of mankind, and the gardens made him feel fully justified.
I know... I'm sick.