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U.S. NEWS Tuesday 1 augusT 2017

Officials bar annual lake party

1 year after girl’s boating death

LAKE GEORGE, N.Y. (AP) — Authorities closed off a
popular bay on an Adirondack lake to boaters Mon-
day, scuttling an annual alcohol-fueled party from
being held there a year after a fatal boat crash fol-
lowed the event last summer.
Dave Wick, executive director of the Lake George
Park Commission, said only two boats with people
looking to party during what was known as Log Bay
Day were turned away by police boats from the tree-
lined bay on the lake’s eastern shore.
“It seems like the whole thing has come together per-
fectly,” Wick said.
Log Bay Day, held on the last Monday of July for the
past 20 years, typically attracted more than 250 boats
and as many as 1,000 people to the shallow, sandy-
bottomed bay, Wick said.
A vacationing 8-year-old California girl was killed and
her mother seriously injured last July when the family
motor boat was hit by another boat driven by an im-
paired man who had spent the day partying at Log In this July 29, 2017 photo provided by Rainbow Air INC., black-colored wastewater treatment
Bay Day. The tragedy prompted officials to take steps discharge is released into water below Niagara Falls, in Niagara Falls, N.Y. The water near the
to end the party, started in the late 1990s by local mu- base of the falls that border the U.S. and Canada turned an alarming shade of black before
sicians to give their friends in the local tourism industry tourists’ eyes following a foul-smelling discharge from a nearby wastewater treatment plant.
(Patrick J. Proctor/Rainbow Air INC. via AP)
a way to relax during the busy summer season.
The party grew over the years as word spread through Discharge turns water black at Niagara Falls
social media. The scenic bay became jammed with
boats and people who left behind human waste and By CAROLYN THOMPSON mass from a Rainbow Air be limited to the normal
garbage, both in the water and on the shore. As Log Associated Press Inc. helicopter around 4:15 sewer water discharge
Bay Day’s popularity rose, so did the number of ar- The water near the base p.m. Saturday. He soon re- smell.”Executive Director
rests, with police charging dozens of participants with of Niagara Falls turned an alized that wasn’t the case. Rolfe Porter did not imme-
various violations, including boating while intoxicated. alarming shade of black “The first thing that came diately return telephone
Last year’s Log Bay Day, held on July 25, ended in before tourists’ eyes fol- to my mind was, ‘Dear messages left by The Asso-
tragedy. Charlotte McCue, of Carlsbad, California, lowing a foul-smelling dis- God, please don’t be an oil ciated Press Monday.
was killed and her mother, Courtney, was injured charge from a wastewater leak,’” Proctor, a vice presi- Wastewater flows through
when a motor boat slammed into their boat as they treatment plant. dent for the company that carbon beds as part of a
returned to a relative’s waterfront home after a sunset The water board for the city flies tourists over the falls, seven-step purification pro-
cruise along the lake’s western shore. of Niagara Falls, New York, said Monday. His video and cess, according to the wa-
Alexander West, a 25-year-old local resident who had said Saturday’s discharge photos of the peculiar sight ter board’s website. Even-
spent the day partying with friends at Log Bay, was was part of routine mainte- have been widely shared tually it is discharged into
driving the boat that struck the family’s vessel. He was nance of one of its basins. online and through social the river. The Maid of the
convicted in May of manslaughter and other charges Video taken from a heli- media. The Niagara Falls Mist tweeted video and
and sentenced to five to 15 years in prison. copter showed black-col- Water Board apologized an aerial photo of one of
Authorities discouraged this year’s party by announc- ored water along the Ni- for alarming residents and its tour boats packed with
ing their plans weeks ago in the media. A Warrant agara River’s U.S. shoreline tourists. tourists and surrounded by
County Sheriff’s Office dive team held a training exer- below the falls that border “The blackish water con- murky water. It asked city
cise in the bay Monday, and more than a dozen po- the country and Canada. tained some accumulated and state officials, “Why
lice patrol vessels were cruising nearby. A state police The inky water enveloped solids and carbon residue the smelly black discharge
plane was being used to spot any efforts to shift the the dock for the popular within permitted limits and into Niagara River on very
party to another location on the lake. Maid of the Mist tour boats. did not include any or- busy tourist weekend?”
“It has been good,” Sheriff Nathan “Bud” York said. At first, it looked like a shad- ganic type oils or solvents,” Proctor said the stain con-
“Nobody’s giving us a hard time.”q ow to Pat Proctor, who the statement said. “The tinued to grow through the
spotted the expanding unfortunate odor would afternoon.q