COLUMBUS, OH - State boating officials said Ohio's recreational boaters enjoyed a relatively safe July Fourth holiday weekend on the state's waterways - traditionally the busiest boating period of the year.
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) reported about a dozen boating accidents between Friday, July 2, and Monday, July 5, including one fatality on Lake Erie. Last year, ODNR reported 15 boating-related accidents with no fatalities during the three-day July Fourth holiday.
To date, the 2004 boating seasons is one of the safest in recent years with only three fatalities reported, according to the ODNR Division of Watercraft. Last year, nine people lost their lives in boating-related accidents between January 1 and July 5. In 2002, 15 people died in separate boating accidents during the same period.
Last weekend's lone fatality claimed the life of Chance Houser, 22, of Sheffield Township in Cuyahoga County. Houser was a passenger on a 25-foot powerboat, operating on Lake Erie near the mouth of the Vermilion River in Lorain County, when he reportedly jumped in the lake to retrieve a lost anchor line and apparently drowned.
Investigators said Houser was not wearing a life jacket. Members of the U.S. Coast Guard, ODNR Division of Watercraft, and Vermilion and Lorain police departments searched for Houser until mid-day Sunday. The search was discontinued after lake conditions made an immediate recovery unlikely.