By The Way I See It

Summer fun need not be offensive or deadly

May 21, 2018 | 10:30 AM

KAMLOOPS — The news that two personal water crafts collided did not surprise me. I was happy to know that both parties got away with minor injuries, but truth is, the river ‘highway’ is seeing some crazy stuff come the warm months, which increases the risk of such unsettling events. This one took place on the South Thompson near Valleyview.

Every summer since we made Kamloops our home, I had the opportunity to witness all sorts of things while hanging out at the beach – mostly at Pioneer Park. Lots of boats with too many people on board, the majority of them not wearing life jackets, many of them drinking and approaching the shore just to use the bushes as an outhouse. Not pretty. I got offered drinks more than once, my dog too, and the kids got to see people go back and forth from boats to bushes, drinks in hand – stumbling and loud, often swearing.

Then there are the countless personal water crafts (PWCs) that go as fast as the wind, turning and jumping. Life jackets seem optional. Someone pointed out that most of the people riding PWCs know how to swim and the river is not as dangerous as other rivers. Debates aside, rules are there for a reason. Reinforcing them would only make sense. Same for speed limit.

There are inflatable devices too, pulled by boats and loaded with people, mostly wearing their swimsuits and again, mostly no life jackets. Drinks and laughing galore, the scene looks happy. Without being a fatalist, all I can think is ‘what if?…’ Would everyone there be able to keep their cool and swim to shore or wait until someone will quickly arrange for them to be picked out of the water? True, the river is not a dangerous one on a calm summer day, but the shock of being thrown in the water from an inflatable tube or an ‘island’ (fitting multiple people and their drinks) moving at high speed, and possibly bumped on the head by objects or flailing arms and legs, that can change everything. It would be a terrible thing if something tragic would happen. Even more so, because it is preventable.

The way too many young people, teenagers included, drink (at the park and otherwise) is another issue altogether. Some of them choose to combine drinking with jumping off the piers of the bridge, an activity clearly forbidden via big signs. Yes, I know that many people have done it over the years and some will say it’s no big deal. Hopefully not, ever.

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The garbage left on the beach is another growing problem, literally. There are beverage and food containers plus leftovers (we once found almost a whole fast food meal deserted in a pile of everything, a towel or two included). There could be other stuff in there too, such as syringes, which is why whoever wants to clean things up must be extremely cautious. I recently found one, needle pointing upwards, barely visible to passersby. It’s complicated, I know. It’s a whole mix of people and their ideas of fun. What I also know is that alcohol alone can transform fun into disaster in a matter of minutes (seconds?).

The place I am talking about is not an isolated spot outside of town that only a select few know about it. It’s central and beautiful. It’s not the only place where all this happens, either. PWCs and boats aside, the river shores are too often a place of booze and drugs (legal and not.) Would more police and by-law patrols help? Possibly. If rules are to be minded they have to be strongly reinforced.

This is not about killing summer fun with rules and ‘don’t’. Safe fun need not be boring, and it isn’t. Summer fun is a matter of keeping beautiful places beautiful for everyone to enjoy, in all possible ways. As simple as that.