The Joplin Globe, Joplin, MO

Joplin Metro

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August 1, 2007

Family of drowning victim hires lawyer

By Greg Grisolano

ggrisolano@joplinglobe.com

The parents of a Joplin boy who drowned last month at an area water park have hired a lawyer who specializes in malpractice and wrongful-death litigation to represent them in civil court.

On Wednesday, Joplin attorney Edward Hershewe said he is representing John and Lauren Cory, whose 6-year-old son, Ethan, drowned while on a field trip to the Swimmin Hole, a private water park in rural Joplin.

“We have just started the investigation process,” Hershewe said. “That is the location of witnesses and determining how this harm was caused.”

Authorities said their investigation concluded that the death was an accidental drowning, but cited a “lack of supervision” on the part of the Boys & Girls Club of Southwest Missouri in Joplin and the Swimmin Hole.

“This young boy had zero supervision,” Newton County Sheriff Ken Copeland has said. He criticized everyone from the lifeguards to the chaperones who accompanied the children.

Copeland said four chaperones with the Boys & Girls Club were stationed at different areas in the water park, but the investigation determined that the children were not assigned to a specific chaperone, nor were they assigned to a “buddy system” with other children.

“This child and the other 33 who were with him were allowed to run at will and do what they wanted to do,” he said.

Two lifeguards and three water safety personnel were on duty at the park at the time of the drowning, according to owner James Burt.

Hershewe, whose law firm has established a record of success in malpractice and wrongful-death cases, said his office is examining the Sheriff’s Department findings.

“At first appearance, from the information in the paper and out in the public, nobody was really keeping an eye on the children in general and particularly this child, which would be a breach of the standard of care,” he said.

The sheriff’s investigation determined that no criminal charges would be filed in the case, because the Swimmin Hole is a private water park and is not regulated by county or state laws.

The lack of regulations, Hershewe said, should have made the Boys & Girls Club more vigilant when taking the children on a field trip.

“It’s more incumbent (on the children’s supervisors) if they were not regulated to investigate these activities,” he said.

Hershewe said his office is subpoenaing witnesses, including between 40 and 60 people who were attending a corporate party for the Olive Garden restaurant on the day of the accident. In addition to the party, the park was open for regular summer business.

While the Joplin Boys & Girls Club has declined to comment since the accident, the Boys & Girls Clubs of America did provide a list of guidelines it recommends for taking children on field trips. Those guidelines include a child-to-chaperone ratio of 8-to-1, a lifeguard-to-swimmer ratio of 1-to-25, and a spotter-to-swimmer ratio of 1-to-10.

A message left for Burt was not returned Wednesday. Calls to Skip Drouin, executive director of the Joplin Boys & Girls Club, and Rodney Blaukat, president of the club’s board of directors, were not returned. John and Lauren Cory could not be reached for comment.





Background



On July 17, Ethan Cory’s body was pulled from about 5 feet of water — the shallow end of a pool that sloped to a depth of 12 feet at the Swimmin Hole private water park. Ethan, who was just under 4 feet tall, was part of a group of 34 children ages 5 to 7 from the Boys & Girls Club of Southwest Missouri in Joplin who were on a field trip at the Swimmin Hole.

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