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 LAKE GEORGE---A year ago this weekend, a tour group of 47 senior citizens from Ohio and Michigan were aboard the 40-foot long Ethan Allen tour boat owned by Shoreline Cruises for a leaf peeping tour along the shoreline of Lake George.
The lives of 20 of those 47 people on board the tour boat that clear, sunny Sunday afternoon last Oct. 2 were lost and the lives of their families and the survivors were forever changed with the capsizing of the boat.
On Sunday, Oct. 1, the village and town of Lake George will dedicate a memorial monument on the Lake George shoreline in honor of the victims of the boating tragedy and a public memorial service will be held.
More than 65 survivors of the tragedy, their families and families of the 20 elderly passengers who drowned are expected to attend in addition to Gerald Brown, the mayor of Trenton, Mich.
Complimentary lodging and meals for the guests are expected to be provided by local establishments.
The monument will be placed near the docks at the end of Lower Amherst Street in Lake George. The dedication will begin at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 1 with a service in the Caldwell Presbyterian Church on Montcalm St. There will be a procession to the grounds of the Lake George Historical Association on the Lake George shoreline where the dedication will be held at 3 p.m.
The monument design is by Jim Girard of Loiselle Memorials of Hudson Falls and was chosen by a committee from seven proposals submitted. It is a tall, rectangular piece of granite into which is etched an apple blossom, the Michigan state flower.
The Ethan Allen has been removed to a temporary home in storage in a boat yard, it's name covered with duct tape. Owner James Quirk of Shoreline Cruises says the boat has to be kept intact due to the pending extensive civil litigation involving the boating accident. Additional testing on the boat may also need to be performed.
The Warren County Sheriff's Department was asked to provide an escort for the trailered boat as it was moved down I-87 to the Scarano Boat Building Inc. at the Port of Albany. Scarano had performed the controversial modifications to the boat including replacement of the canvas canopy and installation of windows around the sides of the vessel.
According to Quirk, the FBI has opened an investigation concerning his claim that he was defrauded in the purchase of marine insurance after the insurance company claimed that there was no coverage for the accident.
Defense attorneys in the multi-wrongful death lawsuits filed in U.S. District Court in Albany have agreed to allow the plaintiffs' attorneys to inspect the Ethan Allen by Nov. 1 as part of the discovery process.
Warren County district attorney Kate Hogan has stated that she has issued grand jury subpoenas in order to obtain reports concerning the boating tragedy. She said that she has been interviewing witnesses and subpoenaing records that she needs to decide whether she will empanel a grand jury.
In July, the National Transportation Safety Board issued its final report of its investigation, concluding that the probable cause of the accident was the tour boat's insufficient stability, a sharp turn undertaken by the captain and the resulting involuntary shift of passengers to the port side of the vessel.
The NTSB said the stability of the 40-foot tour boat was insufficient because it was carrying four times the alleged passenger weight it should have been. The boat carried 48 persons where post-accident stability calculations demonstrated that it should have been permitted to carry only 14 persons. Contributing to the cause of the accident was the failure to reassess the vessel's stability after it had been modified because there was no clear requirement to do so, NTSB officials said.
In early February, the Warren County Sheriff's Department issued a three volume, 530-page report determining that no criminal charges would be brought by the department.
Hogan had been awaiting the NTSB report before decided whether or not to convene a Grand Jury to determine if criminal negligence contributed to or caused the accident.
Numerous lawsuits have been filed as a result of the accident with the boat's owner, Shoreline Cruises Inc. of Lake George and boat captain Richard Paris claiming that the accident was an "act of God" which could not have been prevented. Other defendants named are the Lake George Steamboat Company which owns the Mohican which Paris said caused a wake that contributed to the capsizing of the Ethan Allen, Scarano Boat Building of Albany which performed modifications on the boat, Shoreline Tours Inc. of Canada, the tour group's organizer, the Coast Guard; the boat engine manufacturer, Cummins Mercruiser Diesel Marine LLC and pump maker, Hypro LLC.
No alcohol or drug testing of Paris was conducted the day of the accident after Warren County Sheriff Larry Cleveland had Paris "blow in his face" and decided that Paris, a former state trooper and friend of Cleveland's, was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs at the time of the accident. Testing later conducted by the NTSB found alcohol in Paris's system.
Civil actions filed in the case claim that the Ethan Allen was improperly designed and operated, overcrowded, unstable and understaffed.
A federal judge has consolidated all of the actions.
Shoreline was cited by the state for failing to provide the proper number of crew members. State regulations require two crew members for commercial vessels carrying 21 to 48 passengers. Paris was the only crew member on board.
Shoreline's insurance carrier, Global Property Owners Association of Plantation, Fla., says that Shoreline carried only a commercial general liability policy which was limited to claims occurring on land.
Quirk says that he was led to believe and paid for marine liability insurance. That matter is also investigation for the insurance departments in New York, Florida and Texas.
For a review of The North Country Gazette's extensive continuing coverage of the Ethan Allen boating tragedy and Cleveland's precarious political and professional future, visit the sitemap and enter a search for Ethan Allen, Lake George boating accident and/or Larry Cleveland. 9-28-06
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© 2006 North
Country Gazette
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