Life vest donors whose son died in Sain Creek ‘saddened’ by losses from Hagg Lake kiosks

Vests purchased with funds from Newberg couple and others missing

By Nancy Townsley

The Forest Grove News-Times, Jul 28, 2010, Updated Jul 28, 2010

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When Jim and Diana got the frantic cell phone call from their daughter Amy on Aug. 9, 1998 — its signal from the forested shores of Henry Hagg Lake breaking up badly — they knew immediately it wasn’t good news.

Their son, Jeremy, who would have been a senior at Newberg High School the next fall, had started to swim across the cove near the Sain Creek campground at the popular summertime watering hole with a couple of friends from his church’s youth group.

His buddies came ashore on the other side, but 18-year-old Jeremy, who wasn’t wearing a life jacket, never resurfaced. His body was found by emergency personnel later that day, his parents’ wedding anniversary. The Endicotts plan to head to the lake again a week from Sunday, as they do every year, to toss a rose into the water and remember the adventurous teen with the big smile and gregarious nature.

“Teenagers believe they’re invulnerable,” Jim Endicott said last week. “They don’t always take the right precautions because they don’t think something like that is going to happen to them.”

Jim and his wife will never know whether Jeremy, a strapping soccer player at Newberg High, suffered debilitating cramps in the water or simply tired and went under.

What they do know is that they want to try to keep other families from suffering the kind of anguish they have.

“Most drownings probably happen to kids who are much younger than Jeremy,” Jim Endicott said. “I guess the bottom line is, if your child is near the water, keep a sharp eye on them.”

‘Kids Don’t Float’

Two months before the Endicotts made their annual pilgrimage back to Sain Creek cove last summer, Hillsboro resident Kyle Giesbers was putting the finishing touches on his Eagle Scout project — two kiosks built and designed to hold personal flotation devices on loan to swimmers and boaters at the lake.

Giesbers’ efforts were the last step before the launch of a new “Kids Don’t Float” life jacket initiative, administered by the Washington County chapter of the Safe Kids Coalition.

The program entered its inaugural summer season in 2009, said Ken Bilderback, volunteer public information officer for the Gaston Rural Fire Department. Kiosks are located at Boat Ramp C and the Sain Creek picnic area.

Funded with a grant from State Farm Insurance, the chapter includes representatives from the county Sheriffs Office, Forest Grove Fire & Rescue, Gaston Fire, Hillsboro Fire, Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue, Washington County Fire District 2, Metro West Ambulance, AAA of Oregon and other agencies.

After a smooth start, the program — which loans out a couple dozen PFDs in various sizes, from child to adult — “experienced a rash of thefts” last July, noted Bilderback.

“More than 20 PFDs disappeared within a couple of weeks,” he said. The vests, clearly marked with “Property of Safe Kids Hagg Lake” stencils, vanished from both loaner stations.

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