An Oakland community's grief brings quick water safety action.
The City of Sylvan Lake will pay for weekend boat patrols on Otter Lake and Sylvan Lake by sheriff's deputies, which the county dropped in 2010 for budget reasons.
The Free Press reports on the response to a Sylvan Lake accident Sunday that killed Alexander Mansour, 11, and his sister Gabrielle, 6, of West Bloomfield. Another sister, 10-year-old Adriana, is in critical condition at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak.
"I hope this is one step we can take to prevent something like this happening in the future,” the paper quotes Mayor Mike Zubrzycki as saying.
The children were hit by a boat Sunday as they were being pulled on a tube by their father, who was operating a personal watercraft on Sylvan Lake. . . .
The boat driver told investigators he saw the personal watercraft, but not the tube.
Patrols to monitor boaters' speed, sobriety and prudence are due to begin Saturday. The weekly cost is pegged at $400 to $500. A boat club on Sylvan Lake may raise contributions to help cover the general fund impact, the city manager tells the p[aper.
