Posted on 01/28/2005 8:36:41 AM PST by robowombat
Quarry victim's son wants body removed Saturday, January 22, 2005 - Bangor Daily News
ROCKLAND - Justin Dennison walked into City Hall early Friday, plunked a wad of cash onto the counter and implored authorities to remove his mother's body from the quarry where her SUV sank the day before. He was politely told to go home.
Authorities believe Dennison's mother, Llynne Haskins, 46, of Rockland, died Thursday morning when her Chevrolet S-10 Blazer skidded out of control on the snow-covered Old County Road and rolled into the quarry. The car plummeted 100 feet to the ice-covered surface, broke through and sank in an estimated 105 feet of water.
A state police dive team determined that it would be unsafe to place divers in the water under winter conditions. Team commander Matt Grant said the divers were prepared to return in the spring and try to recover the body when the ice was gone.
"I just went down to City Hall and threw $8,000 on the counter, saying, 'I want my mother's body back so I can give her a decent burial,'" Dennison said. "This is a horrible tragedy and that road is terrible. Something has to be done and the city has done nothing in the past." Haskins lived on the road where her SUV entered the quarry.
Although state police have put the recovery of Haskins body on hold, the city is searching for ways to assist the family.
City Manager Tom Hall said Friday that he is hopeful a commercial dive company can be found that would be able to take on the job. Hall said he also hopes that Haskins' insurance company will assist in the recovery. Hall said a specialist with the proper gear and the skill to dive to depths in cold weather would be needed to recover the body.
"I want to do what's appropriate to accommodate their needs," Hall said. "We'll do everything that's appropriate and try to expedite this thing to assist in the recovery."
Though the city owns the quarry, Hall said, it is uncertain whether the city's insurance company will participate in the recovery. He also said that the city is not prepared to cover the cost.
"I don't think that it is our responsibility to do it," he said. "It sounds awfully callous, but I don't want to be left holding the bill."
Dennison, 28, of Rockland has had his own encounter with another one of the city's quarries in September 2002.
He said he lost control of his pickup truck on a rainy night and found himself skidding over the edge.
Unlike his mother, he said, he was able to jump free of his vehicle and land in the quarry. He suffered a broken hip and cracked ribs. He was cited by city police for driving to endanger, sentenced to two weeks in jail and ordered to pay the cost of his rescue.
"The city covered up an unsafe roadway on me, and now they're doing the same thing to my mother," said Dennison. "My mother died the way I should have died two years ago. It's a dangerous part of road."
The quarries are a daily reminder of the era when limestone was extracted from the midcoast area and Rockland was known as the Lime City. Old County Road is pocked with abandoned quarries, from Thomaston to Rockland. In many places the road is narrow and drivers can simply look out their windows into the deep pits. The quarries have claimed many lives over the years.
Hall said the road is the responsibility of the state Department of Transportation. He said the city has had discussions with the department for years about improving safety along the road, but in many spots the quarries encroach on the travel lane on both sides. He said it would be difficult to install barriers at those areas because the road is too narrow.
"How do you put in safety features in places like that?" Hall said. "I don't know what the solution is, but I think it would behoove the city to sit down with the DOT and certainly talk about trying to improve that stretch and talk about Old County Road."
Dennison said the family lives a short distance down the road from where his mother's car entered the quarry and can look out their window and see where she left the road. Details about Haskins' other family members were not immediately available.
Dennison said his mother was taking her cat to the veterinarian when her vehicle left the road. He said he ran to the accident scene after the veterinarian's office called to ask her whereabouts. Dennison said he saw items in the road that he knew came from his mother's truck.
"I said, 'That's my mother down there,'" he said. "She went over the wall, busted through the ice and was gone. The only thing I loved in the world was my mother and she's gone. I don't want to leave her there."
Because of uncertainty about removal of the body, no funeral plans were available.
WTF, back in the 60's we used to dive beneath the ice in the old limestone quarrys located around Lemont just outside Chicago. We would cut holes in the ice, rig up nylon lines, and several of us would dive down to the bottom around 100 feet. Was not that bad with a 1/4 inch wet suit and long handle woolen underwear.
So, over 40 years later with modern gear, they can't go ice diving?
Still the guy that did it was one brave guy.
If it had, I believe that the writer would have used different wording to describe what happened. And there probably wouldn't have been debris from her truck all over the road if she had slid over the edge without flipping over.
A prudent driver, knowing of an existing dangerous situation should adjust to the driving situation.
Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.
If a member of my family has a bad accident, I am going to learn from it to make sure it doesn't happen to me.
The govt can't protect us from everything.
Having said this, I still feel sorry for the guy.
"would you dive 105 feet..."
You have a point. I know that there are divers who use special suits for arctic conditions but I don't think you can count on them being available to help just because he has 8k. But if they "can" help, if such a diver was available for hire by the state, then they should - if all parties are willing. It just seems like they don't care enough to try.
"What am I missing? If the car skidded off the road, went over a cliff, into a quarry, and sank in 105 feet of water -- why is debris scattered in the road?"
Uh, duh, I think the vehicle also went through a wall.
I agree that they both should have been more aware of the driving conditions and they should have driven more carefully. However, if the city had put some kind of barricades along the side of the road, neither of them would have gone over the edge. Aren't those the kinds of things that people pay taxes for? They lived on that road. They had to drive on it.
For $8K isn't there a private scuba contractor willing to do it? Heck I would- but it may take several or many dives just to locate it- you would need a dry-suit, and at 105 feet you can under stay submerged a few minutes to avoid potentially hours of decompression
My dive team has already done recoveries like this one.
Ice is a problem for the surface support people. Less so for the divers if they are diving proper procedures. Viz is always a problem in lakes & quarries. We do most things 'blind' and by 'feel'. Also, water temp is constant at that depth -- year round.
They need to send a single diver down to put a line on the car. Likely, it will be upside down. Thread a wrecker's hook through the A-frame. Get out of the way and let the wrecker winch it in.
Thankfully they didn't have to dive 105 feet
You'd have 15 - 20 minutes of Bottom Time. More than enough if you have an equipment line on the target. Don't search. Use a side scan sonar unit to locate the mass of the vehicle. Rent one with a qualified operator. Their in Maine, so bring someone in from the coast.
I didn't realize that the cost of city operations was taken directly from the city managers pocket either!
If I was qualified, but I don't ever plan to be qualified. With the ice, it is an overhead environment so you really would need a cavern certification and associated equipment.
The authorities probably don't have cavern-certified divers and would have to contract out the job anyway. So it is definitely in their interest to just let him hire them since he has the money.
I dive, but as far as I am concerned cavern diving is a death wish even with the right training and equipment.
Since I couldn't find anything about a wall in the story, you must have other sources. What kind of wall? What was it made of?
I was thinking the same thing. I've seen people drive on snow and ice covered roads as if it were the middle of July, completely oblivious to the fact that they could spin out of control in an instant.
As for me, I drive somewhere between 5 - 10 mph on snowy roads, but that's just me. Better late than dead.
Punctuation is your friend.
Has anyone posted the obvious here??? She risked driving over dangerous roads for a cat...and got herself killed...and since no mention of the cat...probably the cat too....
The cost really seems to be an issue in this particular case for some reason. I wonder if the Kennedy family paid for all the recovery efforts for JFK jr.?
Maybe it hit a guardrail.
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