Pier Safety Event Sunday At Tiscornia Beach

lighthouse-view-of-north-pier-from-tiscornia-beach

Pier safety will be the subject of an event this weekend in St. Joseph. On Sunday at noon, St. Joseph Public Safety Deputy Director Steve Neubecker says they will be on the North Pier along with the Berrien County Sheriff’s Department for a water safety presentation.

“Presentation will cover water safety, pier safety, rip currents, and life rings,” Neubecker recently told the St. Joseph City Commission. This is the first year for the event, being held with the Berrien County Sheriff’s Department. Neubecker says the goal is to help save lives this summer and beyond.

“Drowning is the number one cause of death in children ages one to four,” said Neubecker. “Nearly 750 people have drowned in the Great Lakes since tracking began in 2010.”

Everyone who shows up to take part will learn the proper way to throw a life ring and how to safely help get a person out of the lake or the St. Joseph River during a water emergency.

The county added life rings first to the South Pier at Silver Beach County Park, and the city followed on the North Pier last year after initially being reluctant over worries about liability. South Haven added them after the Michigan Supreme Court settled a lawsuit over the May 1990 drowning deaths of two Comstock High School students who were swept off the pier.