River drowning raises old questions on signage

Lincoln County appears willing to put up a warning sign about the dangers of jumping into the Kootenai River on the trail that leads to the Swinging Bridge.

Kootenai National Forest is also entertaining the idea but seems to have many more questions, especially those that revolve around liability.

Sam Sylvester, 22, drowned on July 25 after jumping into the river from rocks on the north side and getting caught in the current. Although exact numbers are not available, the number of drownings from that particular spot could number up to a dozen over the past two or three decades.

Terry Crooks, who works with David Thompson Search and Rescue in Libby, asked county commissioners Wednesday to consider signage.

“There’s a lot of frustration. People keep asking us, why isn’t there a sign? So, we’ve talked about this before Š we never seem to get it together,” Crooks said.

The issue is complicated a bit because the county, Forest Service and Kootenai Tribe all have an interest in the Kootenai Falls area.

“The families are getting frustrated; they want to put up signs and people are saying, ‘we’ll pay for it and just want to go do it,’” Crooks said.

Family members of river drowning victims have suggested a type of memorial.

“Some people want to do some type of memorial and we don’t think that’s the answer at all,” Crooks said. “The talk on the street is, well, if there’s a sign with pictures of those who died or names of those who died, that would just be a challenge for others to try to beat that and not understand what they’re dealing with here.”

Crooks presented commissioners with an example of a sign that he’s suggesting. It included a theme of “beautiful but deadly.”

“I’m thinking of a sign the size of a folder on a post there on the trail on county property, maybe,” Crooks said. “That would take care of it, be quietly done and it is there.

“Something really needs to happen,” he added. “People just don’t understand what’s going on.”

Commissioner John Konzen embraced the idea and took it a step further, suggesting that the information be included on a sign that the county is creating with other information, such as a map and other points of interest in the region.

“You cannot be there every second of the day,” Konzen added. “People have to make responsible decisions. We’re not going to stop them.”

The spot from where jumps have occurred is located on rock outcroppings on the north side – across the bridge and to the right – which is controlled by the Forest Service.

“From a liability standpoint, it’s a struggle,” Kootenai National Forest supervisor Paul Bradford said. “So, if you put a sign that says there are hazards here, what do you do to patrol that? You have a half-mile of river there that’s extremely dangerous.”

Bradford said the Forest Service has signage under consideration.

“We’re looking at what the appropriate wording would be,” he said. “We’re willing to put up some sort of sign but again, it comes back to a liability standpoint. We don’t want to do anything where we wind up incurring liability. Because folks will try to continue doing this.”

Bradford later quipped, “An extreme case would be to take the bridge out.”

“That would be extreme,” Konzen replied. “You would definitely cut off the access.”

Bradford said he wasn’t really serious about taking out the bridge but was making a point about potential jumpers from getting to the other side.

“Well, you don’t shut down highways because people get killed,” Konzen said. “You don’t overreact to it.”

Windom resigns

In other news from the meeting, Lincoln County District 1 commissioner Rita Windom announced Wednesday that she will resign for health reasons on Sept. 30.

Windom submitted a letter of resignation at the board’s regular Wednesday meeting. Windom’s seat is not scheduled to expire until January after the November election.