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 LAKE GEORGE--Warren County Sheriff Larry J. Cleveland said he was going to release his agency's "investigative" report of the Oct. 2 Ethan Allen boating tragedy on Lake George by year's end.
Now he says it won't be released until February.
But the bottom line is that Cleveland and the Warren County Sheriff's Department won't be filing any criminal charges against boat captain, Richard Paris,74, a retired state trooper and long-time friend of Cleveland's; or Shoreline Cruises of Lake George, the boat's owner.
Cleveland has reportedly released parts of the report to Kathleen Hogan, Warren County district attorney, who will decide if the matter should be presented to a grand jury.
 The 38-foot glass enclosed Ethan Allen was hosting a group of senior citizens from Michigan on an hour-long fall foliage tour along the Lake George shoreline when it capsized and sank, killing 20 of the 47 passengers on board.
But despite Cleveland later acknowledging at a televised news conference that Paris was a known alcoholic, he said he didn't have any cause to test Paris for alcohol or drugs.
The lack of testing of Paris immediately after the accident, a decision made by Cleveland, has come under fire. Cleveland said that he didn't believe Paris was under the influence because he had him "blow" in his face and Cleveland didn't detect any odor of alcohol. It's not known how Cleveland ruled out the presence of drugs. Cleveland said no favoritism was shown in his decision not to test Paris.
While Cleveland said that he lacked reasonable cause, state law says every person operating a vessel on the waters of the state, which has been involved in an accident shall, at the request of a police officer, submit to a breath test. If such test indicates that the operator has consumed alcohol, the police officer may request the operator to submit to a more comprehensive chemical test to determine the drug or alcohol content of the operator's blood.
Cleveland had interviewed Paris almost immediately after the accident and two days after the accident, Paris went to the offices of the sheriff's department to be interviewed by NTSB investigators. According to reports, Paris told investigators that he was trying to steer the boat out of the way of a wave when it flipped.
Paris voluntarily submitted a blood specimen and urine sample on request of the NTSB, two full days after the accident.
While some media reports have said that Paris is a "recovering alcoholic" and Cleveland himself stated publicly that Paris is an alcoholic, Paris disputes that and says that while he has an occasional beer, he is not an alcoholic.
Cleveland and the Warren County Sheriff's Department have a dubious record in policing its own in alcohol-related deaths, especially the unit supervisor of the sheriff's marine unit, Lt. Robert A. Smith and essentially now fourth in command in the department under Cleveland and his long time associate, Major John Shine.
Could a cover-up occur in the Ethan Allen incident? Some people believe so.
According to the department's website, the unit specializes in providing services on and adjacent to the numerous bodies of water, including Lake George. Enforcement of the Navigation law provisions concerning boating while intoxicated is a priority function of this unit, according to the website.
Smith is the nephew of Kenneth Jones who in 1989 was a sergeant in the sheriff's department. His grandfather was the late Lloyd "Bud" Jones, a former Horicon town justice. Smith himself is a convicted drunk driver which resulted in fatal automobile accident, convicted of driving drunk in the Town of Horicon in February, 1989 with a recorded blood alcohol content of 0.19. nearly double the then legal limit of 0.10.
But although he was found responsible for the death of his passenger, Robert Wood, and despite the alcohol involvement, no charges of vehicular assault or criminally negligent homicide or manslaughter were ever lodged against Smith.
Smith, a Brant Lake resident, was then a part-time deputy with the sheriff's department who worked for special events such as the annual balloon festival and the Lake George Winter Carnival. Smith lost control of his car and crashed into utility poles on a rural road in the Town of Horicon, instantly killing Wood, his passenger.
Cleveland and then Sheriff Fred Lamy were at the scene of the accident which was investigated by the sheriff's department rather than the state police despite a member of the sheriff's department being involved. Also present was Smith's uncle, Sgt. Jones. Despite his personal involvement in the case and the fact that his underaged son, Chad Jones, 15, had reported the accident and was reportedly a passenger in the car, Sgt. Jones reviewed and approved the accident report and the filing of the solitary charge for DWI. Witnesses have stated that a short time before the accident, Smith's cousin, Chad, was in the Smith car and that large amounts of alcohol had been purchased by Smith. Alcohol and empty containers were found in Smith's car following the accident. According to sheriff's department records, the accident was reported by Jones although departmental records do not indicate from where the call was made and there are few residences near where the accident occurred. Chad Jones resides a significant distance from where the accident occurred and there were no cell phones in 1989.
Then Warren County district attorney H. John Hendley, who had a known relationship with Shoreline, failed to present the matter of Smith's fatal accident to a Warren County Grand Jury and no additional charges were filed against Smith for the death of Robert Wood.
For nearly seven months, Smith's DWI charge languished in the hands of Warren County Court Judge G. Thomas Moynihan, waiting for a transfer to another court for adjudication after Horicon Town Justice Douglas Wilson recused himself because he was related to the victim.
Only after The North Country Gazette questioned the status of the matter during the 1989 primary race between Hendley and his challenger William E. Montgomery III, did Moynihan finally transfer the case----to Queensbury Town Court, the same court where the brother of Smith's attorney was the town justice.
Hendley was a known frequent bar patron of Shoreline Restaurant during his tenure of district attorney. He was defeated by Montgomery in the 1989 election. Hendley himself was recently convicted of driving while his ability was impaired after he created a July disturbance at Carl R's, a Queensbury restaurant, trying to force his way inside after it closed and refusing to leave the premises. The restaurant is owned by Carl DeSantis, formerly chairman of the Warren County Republican committee.
Smith was represented by Robert J. Muller, brother of Queensbury town justice Michael J. Muller. Smith appeared before the other Queensbury town justice, William Bacas in December, 1989, just days before Hendley was to leave office. Smith was sentenced to a $350 fine and three years of probation.
Before his three years of probation were over, Lamy and Cleveland had elevated Smith to a full-time position as communications officer in the sheriff's department although records indicate that he never took the civil service test for that position and he was appointed over the 29 people who had taken and passed the civil service exam, allegedly in violation of Civil Service Law.
By early 2000, Cleveland had promoted Smith to sergeant, bypassing the top two candidates on the civil service list and despite the fact that he has been convicted of driving drunk and causing the death of his passenger.
Smith has now been promoted to the position of patrol lieutenant in the law enforcement division by Cleveland who became sheriff in 1999 when Lamy left to become one of three commissioners with the state's Commission on Corrections. The other patrol lieutenant is C. Shawn Lamouree whom Cleveland has named the unit supervisor of the department's scuba team. Smith is the unit supervisor of the marine unit.
When the National Transportation Safety Board released its toxicology report of Paris in early November, it failed to indicate with certainty if Paris was impaired by drugs or alcohol at the time the boat sank.
However, the NTSB said that he had consumed alcohol the night before the accident.
The report indicated that Paris' urine tested positive for alcohol consumption within 46 hours after the accident, indicating that he had consumed alcohol within the 80 hours previous to the testing.
Paris wasn't tested until 46 hours after the accident and submitted to testing on request of the NTSB.
The report shows that Paris' urine tested positive for ethanal glucuronide which is an enzyme toxicologists say can confirm alcohol consumption up to 80 hours after the body eliminates it.
Cleveland had said that Paris had told NTSB that he hadn't imbibed alcohol since the previous Thursday, about 80 hours before the accident but in a press release issued by NTSB , the agency said that Paris had told them he had ingested alcohol the night before the accident.
Cleveland says he can't explain the conflict.
Many have questioned why Paris himself didn't request to be tested immediately after the accident for his own protection. Paris says he was not impaired.
At first, Cleveland had said the report was 100 pages, would be free to requestors and would be released by the end of this year.
But now he says the report won't be made public until February because it suddenly grew to over 500 pages, will have to be printed and bound by a commercial printer and it's likely he'll be demanding $140 a copy.
Cleveland now says the report will contain 100 pages of narrative, 20 death certificates, 80 pages of witness statements and 30 pages of statements of Ethan Allen survivors in addition to police reports and other documentation.
The NTSB investigation is still ongoing and according to a spokesman, will take up to a year to complete and is focusing on both mechanical and human factors.
Although the Ethan Allen had been certified by the state for a capacity of 50 passengers, the NTSB has determined that the boat's twin sister, the de Champlain, did not pass a stability test and that the weight of the passengers combined with modifications which had been made to the Ethan Allen, adding weight to the boat, likely exceeded the boat's capacity and were contributing factors to the capsizing in addition to a sudden shift in the passengers' weight on the boat's seats and a wake reportedly caused by another boat. 12-31-05
June Maxam is the publisher of The North Country Gazette, co-publisher and editor of The Empire Journal and co-managing editor, copy/layout editor of Diogenes, magazine of the National Judicial Conduct and Disability Law Project.
© 2005 North
Country Gazette
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