We are sweating air temps in the high 70's and low 80's with our water temps still below 50df. Add to that combination Booze, Brew, Dope and idiots like the ones below and we are in for a busy season.
Job Security to the max.
Disaster at dam averted
Posted: Friday, Apr 23, 2004 - 06:37:11 am PDT
By BRIAN WALKER
Staff writer
Avista: Kayakers risked certain death
POST FALLS -- Avista Utilities and the city are on knothead prowl on the Spokane River.
This week, they caught some.
Two kayakers in their early 20s were spotted in the irrigation canal at Falls Park and admitted they were heading toward the north channel of the Post Falls Dam.
"They were intending to shoot through the spillgates and a third guy was going to film them," said Dave Ayres, Avista's marine safety coordinator. "Some people have bigger paddles than common sense."
Ayres said the kayakers, whose names were not released, would have been lucky to survive. There are currently 12,000 cubic feet of water per second spilling through the dam.
"At that time, we had all nine gates of the north channel open," Ayres said. "If they would've gone through one of the smaller tainter gates, they would've been broadsided at a 90-degree angle by flow from a larger sector gate. There's no way they would've been able to stay upright."
Ayres said one of the kayakers was from California and the other from Oregon. He said they may be attending college in the area.
"They were argumentative with the officers who responded," Ayres said.
Avista opens the spillgates roughly from March through June.
The kayak incident is a reminder that entering the river below the Spokane Street bridge is illegal this time of year for safety reasons.
Despite the Q'emiln Park boat launch being closed, warning signs in parks and a boater safety cable, adventurists still are sold on taking risks.
"As the weather gets warmer, we'll continue to get calls," Ayres said.
The dam has been deadly in the past. In the latest incident in 1989, three boaters were killed on the south channel.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I was involved with the 89 incident. One survivor and 3 dead. Two we got fairly fast but the last kid was a couple of weeks and several miles down stream. Stupid stunt.
Here is a sat pic of the North Channel Dam.
http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?t=1&s=10&x=2517&y=26419&z=11&w=1
Here is a pic of the South Channel Dam where the 89 incident happened. The dam is the short thicker line to the left of the boat docks and safety barrier.
http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?t=1&s=10&x=2516&y=26416&z=11&w=1
This is both dams and the power plant in the middle.
http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?t=1&s=11&x=1258&y=13208&z=11&w=1
These people need a "DO NOT BREED" stamp on their forehead.
Gary D.
Job Security to the max.
Disaster at dam averted
Posted: Friday, Apr 23, 2004 - 06:37:11 am PDT
By BRIAN WALKER
Staff writer
Avista: Kayakers risked certain death
POST FALLS -- Avista Utilities and the city are on knothead prowl on the Spokane River.
This week, they caught some.
Two kayakers in their early 20s were spotted in the irrigation canal at Falls Park and admitted they were heading toward the north channel of the Post Falls Dam.
"They were intending to shoot through the spillgates and a third guy was going to film them," said Dave Ayres, Avista's marine safety coordinator. "Some people have bigger paddles than common sense."
Ayres said the kayakers, whose names were not released, would have been lucky to survive. There are currently 12,000 cubic feet of water per second spilling through the dam.
"At that time, we had all nine gates of the north channel open," Ayres said. "If they would've gone through one of the smaller tainter gates, they would've been broadsided at a 90-degree angle by flow from a larger sector gate. There's no way they would've been able to stay upright."
Ayres said one of the kayakers was from California and the other from Oregon. He said they may be attending college in the area.
"They were argumentative with the officers who responded," Ayres said.
Avista opens the spillgates roughly from March through June.
The kayak incident is a reminder that entering the river below the Spokane Street bridge is illegal this time of year for safety reasons.
Despite the Q'emiln Park boat launch being closed, warning signs in parks and a boater safety cable, adventurists still are sold on taking risks.
"As the weather gets warmer, we'll continue to get calls," Ayres said.
The dam has been deadly in the past. In the latest incident in 1989, three boaters were killed on the south channel.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I was involved with the 89 incident. One survivor and 3 dead. Two we got fairly fast but the last kid was a couple of weeks and several miles down stream. Stupid stunt.
Here is a sat pic of the North Channel Dam.
http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?t=1&s=10&x=2517&y=26419&z=11&w=1
Here is a pic of the South Channel Dam where the 89 incident happened. The dam is the short thicker line to the left of the boat docks and safety barrier.
http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?t=1&s=10&x=2516&y=26416&z=11&w=1
This is both dams and the power plant in the middle.
http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?t=1&s=11&x=1258&y=13208&z=11&w=1
These people need a "DO NOT BREED" stamp on their forehead.
Gary D.
