love this city!! haha not really

[Angela]

Sunday, August 15, 2010
...Update: 7:45 p.m. Divers called off their underwater search for an apparent drowning victim. Emergency radio traffic indicated the rough water
conditions were too dangerous for divers to continue. Authorities
remained on the scene continuing their visual search

[Angela]

Maybe the city of Ludington (ATTN: Shay & Henderson) will open their eyes and bring the lifeguards back to the beach. WTF?? seriously the city wanted to save a mere $22,000 a year by not having lifeguards but yet they get a new fire/rescue ...boat that costs way more than a few lifeguards? AND they raised our taxes - FOR WHAT??? gee I really love this city!!! oh.......ya the bridge at the waterfront playground is still broken - caution tape gone - rusted metal pieces sticking up could hurt a child - actully saw a child run right off it cuz they didnt know the bridge was gone!!! How hard is it for the city to fix this??? from my observation its loks to be an easy fix, but they are too busy paying Larson's Landscaping to make the grass nice & green - who cares if a kid brakes their leg or something - or if someone drowns - at least we got a shiny new fire boat & green grass!!!

[Dave]

To be fair, I don't think the boat was payed for by the city, at least not entirely... think it was via the stimulus bill mostly. That said, makes me wonder why they couldn't use that boat to search (i'm only assuming that they didn't because to this point I haven't heard that they used it). Some would say that with the conditions the way they were today that even with lifeguards out there it probably wouldn't of made a difference. Maybe so, but i'd still rather have them there regardless... even if they were not able to save someone today there is always next time that something happens.

[XLFD]

The boat was a 'gift', and it was used for the search efforts, as can be seen at the LDN homepage. There would have been three lifeguards on patrol at the time with rescue equipment, and conditions couldn't have been too bad, because the beach was not closed, as it was the other day, or if conditions were worse, wasn't the City negligent in not closing it?

A response to this without lifeguards involved Anthony getting in enough trouble for someone to start dialing 9-1-1. The time it took to convey the facts of the matter to the dispatch, the pause between that time and when the call to rescue agencies were made (and sometimes this is longer than you may think), the call to rescue agencies conveying the facts, and the time for them to respond with proper apparatus.

[Willy]

XLFD is right it was used in the search. I took a photo of it that night.

[Dave]

That being the case, i'm glad that they are able to find a use for the boat... that's the thing i'm wondering about the most, if they are going to be able to use it enough to really make it worth their time.

[XLFD]

It can have a variety of applications, and with the US Coast Guard Station moved out, supplements many of the needs of the maritime areas. I can think of at least three times during my eight year service in the LFD that this would have been an invaluable apparatus to have use of.

Its going to be interesting to see how the LPD is going to utilize this vessel, as I think the water cannon would make a good non-lethal force weapon to use to nab villains on the high seas.

[XLFD]

Haven't seen you around most of the summer, Angela, I missed your commentary. Hope it means you've had a good summer.

[Angela]

ya its been good, been keeping a low profile, busy with the kid & now I'm working nite shift so I dont have as much time to get online

[Sweater Cows!]

My kid told me about that broken bridge today.

[Angela]

maybe they should have used some of this "stimulus" $$$ for lifeguards. I dont think there was as much stimulus $$ as the city says they got, I think alot of the $$$ came from tax dollars - I dont have the proof - but I think this whole thing is a little fishy if you ask me. anyways I'm sure having a lifeguard there could have made a difference. they are trained to save plp in these kind of conditions & the victim wouldnt have to wait for a phone call to be made, plp to get in their cars & then come to the beach to try to save them - RESPONSE TIME is a big thing when u drown - or maybe there would have been the red flag up w/ the black square in the middle - meaning NO SWIMMING - when they had that up (when I was a kid) nobody got in the water cuz the lifeguards made sure of it.

[masonco]

I think the stimulus money had to go towards the boat. It was not to go for life guards or whatever. And no there was not as much stimulus money in this area as was expected.

I've heard many horror stories about people going there when there are high winds to "challenge Mother Nature". More kids have been swept off the rocks and think it was funny.

If lifeguard was there...they would not listen anyway. There was a drowning in Muskegon today too.

[Angela]

when I was a kid (which wasnt too long ago), we listened to the lifeguards! they told us off the rocks, we got off the rocks. the drowning is Muskegon was in an area that has never had lifeguards - kindof like the 1st curve area at the statepark