Convicted baby killer Mary Beth Tinning and Richard Paris, captain of the Ethan Allen tour boat, have a lot in common.

But there's one important difference.

Mary Beth Tinning, formerly of Schenectady, has served 20 years in prison and will serve at least two more years for being responsible for the death of her infant daughter.

Richard Paris of Lake George has the blood of 20 elderly Michigan tourists on his hands and he's going to be mowing the lawn at his church this spring and summer to "pay" his penalty for his role in their deaths.

The system found criminal negligence on the part of Mary Beth Tinning. So far, no criminal negligence has been found in the Ethan Allen deaths.

In our view, once again Warren County Judge John Hall has played the political game. There should have been no deal cut, no leniency. Paris should have been sentenced to the maximum 15 days in jail rather than being allowed to enjoy his freedom, the sunshine, to breathe in the fresh air that the victims of the Ethan Allen have been denied. What kind of punishment is this, wasn't he already cutting the grass on church grounds?

Mary Beth Tinning has been held accountable and severely punished for her crime. Paris' long time friend Warren County Sheriff Larry Cleveland shielded him from being promptly chemically tested for possible alcohol and drug use which could have immediately established criminal negligence. This decision of Cleveland to not administer a chemical test of Paris contradicted all established procedures in accidents which result in death and allowed Paris and Shoreline to walk away from the deaths of 20 people and the traumatizing of 27 more with a $250 fine and 210 hours of community service for Paris.

Cleveland inappropriately decreed almost from time the boat flipped over, and publicly less than 24 hours after the accident, before any formal investigation had even begun, before the boat had even been raised from its watery grave, that it was an accident, that no criminal conduct had occurred. Such a statement and prejudgment by Cleveland was virtually reckless, the same as his "blow in my face" testing of Paris for alcohol impairment.

Tinning was tried and convicted of criminal conduct. Paris and Shoreline weren't---so far----instead only being found guilty of violating state Navigation Law that requires at least two crew members on such tours.

Now the investigator in charge of the National Transportation Safety Board's investigation has come forward and says that evidence was withheld in NTSB's final report, evidence which could be sufficient for a finding of probable cause to effect charges of criminal negligence. The lead NTSB investigator says that the NTSB investigation was seriously flawed and findings politically controlled and manipulated. The fingers of accusation also point directly back to Cleveland and the Warren County Sheriff Department with serious questions raised about how their investigation was conducted, the inexperience of the sheriff's department personnel involved and why Cleveland refused to allow other more knowledgeable and experienced people and agencies to have a role in the investigation-the findings of which he had predetermined less than 24 hours after the boat sunk. www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/2007/032907EvidenceWithheld.html

The scales of justice are profoundly unbalanced in the Ethan Allen case, for the families of the victims and the survivors. Justice has not been served. Instead of helping to bring closure, Paris' cavalier attitude only makes the wounds deeper.

The convicted murderer of 3-month-old Tami Lynne Tinning who was suspected of all but one of the deaths of her nine children, all of whom died before age 5 beginning in 1972, was denied parole this past week. The parole board said that Tinnining had "little insight into your crime and display(ed) little remorse. You have absolved yourself of responsibility".

In the decision denying Tinning parole, one commissioner wrote that the "victim was vulnerable and totally reliant on you for love, care and safety. Your actions exhibited a depraved indifference to human life".

That lack of remorse is also present in Richard Paris who pleaded guilty "just to get it over with". He was responsible for checking the bilge of the boat before it departed that fateful day but admits that the last time he checked it was four hours before departure. He was responsible for allowing 47 people on the boat, seriously overloading it but apparently dollars and ticket sales took precedence over safety. Paris says that while he's sorry for the accident, he doesn't believe he was responsible for it.

In our view, the actions of Paris and in particular his employer, Shoreline Cruises Inc. and its owners, the Quirk family, exhibited a depraved indifference to human life. The 47 passengers, some with walkers and canes, were totally reliant on Paris and Shoreline while on that boat for their care and safety. The boat was overloaded, there was only one crew member, there was an unexplained gap in the raw water pump, the bilge was last checked four hours before departure, the passengers weren't advised to don lifejackets, there was no safety briefing-all of those factors were the responsibility of both Paris and Shoreline---and in particular, retired marine engineer Hugh Quirk who also operated the boat that day, albeit he claims it was his first time on the Ethan Allen.

Quirk admits to having discussed with Paris the number of people on the boat but yet Quirk, an owner of the company, a marine engineer, responsible for knowing that state regulations required two crew members, failed to assure that there were two crew members. Now there are allegations coming forth that Quirk and Paris may have argued about the number of people onboard just prior to the boat leaving the dock on its death cruise and that Quirk allowed the boat to depart and he stayed on shore.

Paris is in self-denial, refusing to accept responsibility, just like Mary Beth Tinning. He wants to blame someone else, always the easy way out, trying to point the finger at the Lake George Steamboat Company and the Mohican but that on its surface isn't even remotely plausible. The same conditions that sunny day on a calm lake had existed many times, the Mohican and Ethan Allen along with many other boats had passed each other on the lake many times and the wake from the Mohican had never swamped the Ethan Allen previously nor any other tour boat, causing it to capsize and dump its passengers to a watery grave.

Paris said that as far as he was concerned, "I did nothing wrong. It was strictly an accident". There were a lot of things that he did wrong and when one reviews the evidence, all of the evidence, it clearly was no accident. While it wasn't premeditated, there appear to have been either some big time cover-ups or else a terribly shoddy, flawed investigation as the evidence is there that the accident was preventable.

Paris said that "if it's boiled right down, it was not my fault……This thing, they had to come up with something to satisfy the people out in Michigan".

One has to wonder if Paris is the fall guy in the whole situation, quietly acquiescing to be the whipping post for the public in order to cover for the Quirk family.

If Kate Hogan and the Warren County District Attorney's office could bring criminal charges for callous indifference to human life, after his most recent public comments and actions, Richard Paris would no doubt get a lengthy jail sentence as well as the owners of Shoreline Cruises.

While the death penalty for murder has been ruled unconstitutional in New York, the 20 elderly people aboard the Ethan Allen on that sunny day on Lake George in October 2005 died at the hands of Richard Paris who was responsible, along with his employer Shoreline cruises Inc. for the safety and welfare of the 47 passengers.

While the families of the victims and the survivors are still struggling with their anger, grief and disbelief that such a senseless, easily preventable tragedy occurred, rather than provide closure, Richard Paris has only fueled the outrage. June Maxam 4-1-07

© 2007 North Country Gazette