This past Sunday morning I went down to Tiscornia Beach at Discovery Park to do an interview with Univision about Water Safety. There was a recent drowning on the American River near Auburn and the local media was interested in doing a story and hopefully preventing future drownings.

Typically this time of the year I will try and do some outreach to the public regarding the dangers of our waterways and what we can all do to prevent this unnecessary loss of life. While being interviewed by the Univision crew I noticed three very young girls, playing in the water. None of them had life jackets on. The new County and City Ordinance require that all children under the age of 12 to wear a life jacket, if they are in our waterways. (It’s a good idea for kids to wear them in swimming pools too!)

I know this is controversial and a lot of you think there is too much government in our lives. I agree with this point on many levels. But I think this ordinance was written to educate people about just how dangerous these local rivers and lakes really are! The ordinance was not meant to raise more money for the City or the County. In fact I doubt that there has ever been any citations written since the ordinance was enacted.

But with that said, I can honestly say that I use this ordinance to educate people. This Sunday morning I was able to educate these girls father! Unfortunately for him, they filmed me talking to him, explaining to him just how bad these waters really are, how cold the water is right now, and that how I have been part of body recoveries of young girls his daughters age, at this exact same place, more than I care to remember. He wasn’t happy that he was being filmed and he got mad at the news crew.

It is not my intent to ever humiliate anyone. But the sad fact is his girls were out in the water, water that is very cold that you cannot survive in for very long, and they were near the dangerous drop off where this beach is notorious for drownings. The good news is that his girls did put on life jackets and all of the other kids I saw that morning wore them too.

I obviously never want to see anybody drown. But if you are an adult and you make a stupid decision, it is a little easier for me to live with that. It is the kids that I really am concerned about! In almost every drowning incident, involving a child, there always seems to be lack of an adult supervising them. It only takes a minute for a child to drown. Besides wearing life jackets, there is nothing more important than having a responsible adult supervise children that are swimming. And this is just as important in swimming pools and spas.

History tells me that we will continue to see more drownings. And the sad fact is that some of these will be innocent kids, who should not have drowned. Please do not let your children or anybodies kids out in our waterways without wearing a life jacket. Many of our local swimming areas have loaner life jackets available and so do many of our fire stations. You can also purchase them at most sporting goods stores. The new styles of life jackets are easier to wear and even more fashionable!

I have never responded to a drowning where the victim was wearing a life jacket. I am not saying it never happens because it can! However the odds are greatly in your favor that you won't drown if you wear one! Be safe!