Re: UPDATE: 2 Yr. Old Who Fell to Death from Chimney Rock



JonesieCat wrote:

"tiny dancer" <tinydancer357@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:8km0k.8597$vP5.6829@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A bit more and a photo of the child at link below:

May 31, 2008


Chimney Rock toddler death spurs safety study

Nanci Bompey

The state Park Service plans to examine trail safety at Chimney Rock Park following the death of a 2-year-old boy who fell from a cliff.

The Park Service is setting up a task force to look at facilities, signs and public information, spokesman Charlie Peek said Friday.

Park officials also hope to interview the family of Giovani Chávez to learn more about what led to his May 24 fall from a from a boardwalk section of the Skyline-Cliff Loop trail.

Speaking out for the first time since the accident, the boy's mother, identified as Bibiana Chávez by the state, told the Spanish newspaper La Voz that the Memorial Day weekend trip to the park was the family's first visit to the North Carolina mountains.
The family speaks little English, which state officials have said has slowed their investigation.
"There were about 15 of us. We were walking nearly single file in an area maybe a meter wide (39 inches)," Chávez told the newspaper.
"He had a hold of my hand when he wanted to join his cousins who were walking in front and pulled at my hand. His foot slipped, and he fell between the rails. He disappeared below, and that was the last time I saw my son until I saw his body at the hospital."
Chávez said that at no time was her son out of her control.
She said the toddler was holding her left hand on the outside of the trail while her other son, 3-year-old Kevin Chávez, held her right hand as he walked on the slope side of the trail.
That section of trail was lined with a handrail and middle rail. Parks officials said Giovani fell more than 100 feet.
Chávez said she did not see signs warning in Spanish of trail dangers and that there were areas where there was no fence and the wooden railings had large gaps beneath them.
The park has warning signs in English and Spanish that hikers should take safety precautions.
Aura Camacho-Maas and her husband, John, were hiking near the group when the boy fell and helped to translate for the Spanish-speaking family.
The couple have also voiced their concerns about the safety of the trail to park officials.
Camacho-Maas said she talked on the phone to Chávez on Thursday.
"I just can't imagine what they are going through," she said. "This mother is going to blame herself for the rest of her life."

http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200880530129


This woman had TWO toddlers with her? And she says the dead one was never "out of her control?" Hallo? Anybody who thinks that holding on to squirming child's hand means she has control is, well, silly. It's like leading a haltered horse by a rope. It allows you to lead it, but don't be thinking it can't change that arrangement in a nanosecond if it so chooses.

Still, if that park was part of my own personal back yard, and I saw some woman with one toddler, let alone two, intending to walk that trail, I'd be turning them back so fast it'd make your head spin. No way would I let them pay me to do it, even if I warned them of the danger extensively! - it just wouldn't be an option. Allowing tiny kids on the 39" ledge? A no brainer. Whether a state-run thing, or private. If you're gonna charge people, you gotta make it safe - because a certain amt of safety is implied. If you don't charge them money, and you tell them the consequences might mean death, okay, different story. This woman likely (maybe - not sure) used terrible judgement. But even if that's true, to allow such a person to pay for something so dangerous - the state has used terrible judgement too, IMO.

The signs at Hanging Rock & Pilot Mountain State Parks say something like, "This area contains high Ledges and Water that could be associated with serious injury or death". This even for the most innocuous trail if there are cliffs in the area, no matter how far of the trail.

WM

jc


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