Accident raises concerns about NY boating safety
Member rescues victims of Lake George tour boat tragedy
By DEBORAH A. MILES
The mood at Lake George has changed since the sinking of the Ethan Allen, a tragedy that took the lives of 20 mostly elderly people on a glorious, fall day.
The accident has cast a shadow across the 32-mile-long lake. Residents and visitors are drawn back to the spot just south of Green Harbor Bay to reflect and gaze at the crimson and russet hues cascading down the mountains. In time, people will stop talking about the rows of body bags that dotted the shoreline on Sunday, October 2.
Joyce Cloutier, assistant council leader of PEF Division 257, will look upon that day and remember the survivors. She and her husband Larry Steinhart rescued nine women after the boat made a right turn and tipped over in seconds.
“We were less than a football field away. My husband remarked how full the Ethan Allen was and I agreed. I’ve never seen that many people in the tour boat. It was unusual,” Cloutier said.
“When the boat went out-of-control, I said to my husband, ‘Larry, the Ethan Allen is going over!’ I asked him for his cell phone and made the first call to 911 at 2:54 p.m.”
AFTER THE TRAGEDY — Joyce Cloutier holds her two pugs, Lily and Jeter. The dogs were on the boat when she and her husband, Larry Steinhart, pulled nine women out of Lake George.
Taking action
Cloutier said they sped to the toppled vessel in their 23-foot Sea Ray, cut the engines and started pulling out people who were popping-up from beneath the capsized Ethan Allen.
Two of the women she pulled onboard were still clutching their heavy, water-soaked pocketbooks.
“The ladies kept saying we needed help, so I called 911 again at 3:05 p.m. to give them some sense of assurance,” Cloutier said.
“It was horrific. It was so awful for them, so awful,” she said tearfully. “I’m so happy my husband and I were there to help them. These seniors were so appreciative and a wonderful group, but you couldn’t help feeling so sad for those who didn’t make it.”
Guardian angels
The passengers on the 40-foot glass-enclosed Ethen Allen were from Trenton, Mich., a senior group called the Trenton Travelers.
Margie Kidon was one of the nine rescued by Cloutier and Steinhart.
“I’ll forever call them my guardian angels,” Kidon said.
“I swam to one boat, and a man told me not to get in but hang on.
“Larry threw out a life preserver. I swam to it and he helped me into his boat. The first thing I saw were two little dogs. I’m such an animal lover, so for a moment I forgot what had just happened,” Kidon said.
But not for long.
Cloutier said other boaters and nearby residents also helped police and rescue workers pull people out of the water, and by 5 p.m. they could account for all of them. Bodies were laid along the shore and the area blocked by police. Those who survived were in a state of shock and treated by emergency medical workers who transported them by ambulance to Glens Falls Hospital.
Beyond capacity
“This could have been avoided,” Cloutier said. “It is my belief, way too many people were on that boat. They were not instructed about where the life preservers were located. They had no idea. I just hope New York state learns from this experience and prevents this from happening to others. That’s my priority.”
Cloutier, a program operations specialist at the Family Care Program for the state Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities in Albany, also wrote to Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno and Senator Neil Breslin urging them to put boating safety on their agenda for the next legislative session.
Two serious boating accidents occurred in the 19th century on the lake, but neither approached the Ethan Allen in terms of its death toll, according to Peggy Edwards, the Lake George town and village historian.
“It will take time to heal from this tragedy,” Cloutier said and repeated, “I’m just so glad we were there to help. It was meant for us to be there.”
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