A sad story for all of you who are parents

Lee_2

A week ago today, friends of ours lost their 14 year old son to a tragic accident. Cal was an avid lacrosse player on the varsity team, a true gentleman and the most outgoing 14 year old I have ever met. Cal and his twin brother Al, along with their friend went out onto the LI sound in a canoe. The canoe capsized in the water 100 yards from shore. Cal was dressed in layers of sweat clothes and the water his sweats down like cement blocks. He tired out, and even though a man swam out to bring him in to shore, from exhaustion and panic, he suffered a cardiac arrest.
The sad part is that there were three life preservers on the canoe and not one of them wore one. They were raised around the water their whole life, but as Al said when he gave his brothers eulogy, they just don't know why they didn't put them on. Over 7000 people attended his wake during a two day period.
I explained to my own children after the funeral on Saturday, that this is why their father and I constantly remind them of every safety procedure known, with anything they do, because one simple mistake can result in something like this. We don't nag them because we took lessons in parental nagging, but because we love them and as parents its our job to look out for them 24/7.
I've done a lot of reflecting this weekend, and wanted to share this with all of you. Not to make you feel sad, but just to remind you to hug your kids tonight. They are so precious. I've watched a family fall apart with grief.
Cal's father Dave Kohart is the owner of Hasko Plumbing Supply, down here on the Island. I can't tell you how this tragic accident has touched all of us in this area.

Mad Dog

Hear ya loud and clear Lee...what a tradgedy huh?

Yes, they would probably still be alive today. I used to do a lot of crazy things when I was a young pup too. God Bless Mad Dog

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Wayco Wayne_2

Thanks for sharing Lee

I remember feeling immortal when I was young. I was only lucky. I hadn't been close to a tragic death and didn't know any better. Time and experience are the best teachers. If you have kids that will take what you say to heart you are lucky and a step ahead in that lesson. 2 weeks ago one of my students of my Tuesday night Hydronics class left school after class with a friend to go partying. Short story: booze, drugs, speeding car, tragedy. I hadn't gotten to know him that well yet but his classmates were in their 4th year with him and were all in attendance at his funeral. They were a somber group the next class. The lessons of common sense and safety are important ones. Hug your kids, and talk to them always.

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DanHolohan

Thanks for this, Lee.

Like I'm always saying, hug your kids. Do it every day.

Jeff Lawrence_20

House rule

My sympathies go to his parents. There's a new angel in heaven now.

Whenever you are out in a boat of mine, you wear a lifejacket. Period. No exceptions.

I wear one and make my daughter, who can swin circles around me, wear one.

Here's 2/3rds of my fleet.

Jim_47

Poughkeepsie NY area


It is amazing that these girls survived a similar accident just this past weekend. Thank god for the neighbor.



Monday, October 13, 2003

Girls rescued after canoe flips over
By Nik Bonopartis
Poughkeepsie Journal

RHINEBECK -- Two New York City girls were rescued Sunday by a sheriff's deputy and an alert neighbor after their canoe capsized on a small lake, the Dutchess County Sheriff's Office said.
Police received a call about 3:50 p.m. from Jesse Jones of Round Lake Road, who told them two young girls had fallen into the water and were yelling they needed help and were cold, Sgt. Jonathan Hughes said.

The body of water the girls fell into is about half a mile wide and a quarter-mile long.

Deputy Frank Stieberitz was the first to arrive on the scene, Hughes said, and used a boat in front of another house near the lake. He and Jones, who was in another boat, rowed about 500 feet to the girls, bringing them back to the shore.

Stieberitz -- who normally does not do water rescue -- credited training with the Boy Scouts for helping him get to the girls quickly.

''It was either act, or the consequences could be dire,'' he said.

The girls -- Nadya Jabour and Lila Goldstein, both 15 -- fell into the lake when both shifted to the same side of the canoe, Hughes said. Both were in regular clothes and neither was wearing a life jacket, he said. Jabour and Goldstein were treated at the scene for exposure to cold water by Rhinebeck Rescue and Northern Dutchess Paramedics.

John Abbott

Imortality?

Five years ago last July my apprentice who had worked for me eleven years since he was 16 went out in an overloaded boat in windy conditions.Three went out only one survived it was the imortality of the young syndrome.How I survived my youth I will never understand.This young man died two weeks before his journeyman's test. What a waste.Youth is wasted on the young and wisdom is wasted on the old.

John

Guy_5

Whether it is boating, work, whatever.. I always tell my kids to think "What is the worst thing that can happen". If it is asking a girl out-Well she may say no. Big Deal. If it is my daughter asking a boy out, the worst thing that can happen is ME. If it is riding an ATV without a helmet the worst is far worse.
Like others have said, I look back and wonder how I am still here with all of the foolish things that I have done. I hope to pass that knowledge (or lack of it) down to my kids.