Do Not Let Your Number Come Up

Usually, there’s no warning. One minute you are in the boat or the raft, then the wave or the crash comes and suddenly, you are under water. People who have almost drowned report that time does odd things as you struggle for your life. It slows way down or speeds way up. Sometimes, the view under water is vivid and colorful, other times, black and white.

When you are drowning, the mind struggles with disbelief: How can this be happening to me? And the relief when you surface and fill your lungs with glorious air - well, nothing adequately describes that happiness.

Too many young people have died in the water this spring in the Inland Northwest. One is too many and yet six are dead by drowning - two teens in Rock Lake, a young man in Fishtrap Lake, another young man in the Spokane River and two children in Red Rock Lake.

The life jacket sermon comes here. Everyone has heard the mantra: Wear a life jacket, wear a life jacket, wear a life jacket. On rivers, always. On lakes, sometimes, especially if you are a child or an adult who can’t swim well, or if you are engaging in water sports.

Effective July 25, a new Washington state law requires children under 12 to wear life jackets if they are traveling in boats 19 feet or shorter. This is a good start because it often takes enforced laws to save lives. Spokane County requires people to wear life jackets on the Spokane River; the city of Spokane and the state of Idaho do not. They should.

It’s also essential to know and appreciate the power of water, especially rivers. The Spokane River is complacent in one stretch, then it roars to life, and then just as quickly calms down. It’s cold, too, almost all year round. In spring, the river is especially wild, as if reclaiming in places the river it once was, before the dams came. Above all, it doesn’t easily forgive stupidity.

Tom Mattern, a Spokane County sheriff’s deputy who has done water rescues for more than a decade, was feeling some relief in recent years because the numbers of drownings, and rescues, had decreased.

Maybe the life jacket law helped. Maybe public awareness has grown. Maybe it’s the fact that those bulky, orange life jackets have evolved into sleeker, more comfortable designs. So more people, especially young men - who are often at most risk for drowning - will wear them. Yet, summer hasn’t officially arrived yet and the number of drownings continues to rise. Mattern won’t be out of a job anytime soon.

Be careful out there. You’re worth it.