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Fighting For A Gate At Big Rapids Hemlock Park

Home Page > Politics
April 7th, 2009
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 On Monday April 7, 2009, Recreation Director Jill Buse presented the park and recreation boards recommendation to not put a swinging gate on the entrance of the playscape at Hemlock park.

   In her presentation, Buse presented a list of things from the National Playground Safety Institute, that should never be found on a playground. On that list was "swinging gates and doors". Her boards recommendation was to have benches placed outside and around the Playscape area with an engraved memorial, that would be dedicated to little two year old Jacob Porter, who drowned in the Muskegon River in May of 2008 while playing at the Playscape in Big Rapids Hemlock park. It was a difficult decision but we have standards to follow, said Buse.   

   According to Sue Porter (on the left), the mother of little Jacob Porter. There is more protection placed around the creek in the Playscape area, than around the river itself. "I don't see this as a solution, and I will fight till my dieing breath to make sure this does not happen again to another child" said Porter.  

   Also concerned about the safety around the playscape, was Gary Fitch from the Muskegon River Water Safety Project. Fitch expressed that having benches around the Playscape area, would not of saved little Jacob Porter's life... Because, the only other person in the area around 8:30 a.m. that day, besides Jacob and his father, was a city worker mowing the grass. Fitch said, by engraving, little Jacob Porter's name into a bench was not a solution and this would just look like the name of someone who made a donation to purchase the benches themselves. According to Fitch, "the gate issue on Playscape left without an effective solution is unacceptable" Fitch went on to say that it is better for a child to have a pinched finger from a gate, than for a child to drowned in the river. Until recently with the loss of the lives of three children, safety did not seem to be an issue at Hemlock Park in Big Rapids.


   In May of 2008, Tim Porter called 911 after little two-year old Jacob wandered from the play area and fell into the Muskegon River. He was found a quarter mile down the river, which was a cold 56 degrees making it almost impossible for little Jacob Porter to survive. The powerful currents in the river, also took the lives of the Simmons sisters of Muskegon in May of 2006.  

   The "gate" in question, would keep small children from leaving the Playscape area and venturing to the Muskegon River.


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