To all you cliff jumpers out there - Be careful.

A 20 year old navy kid drowned at the place I usually go cliff jumping on Sunday. I was there last Wednesday and we didn't jump because the waters were so high. The house next door to me is rented out to Navy people, and since the guy worked at the Navy plant a few mins away, I though they might know each other, but I never bothered to ask. Today my mom got talking to one of them, and they were all the guys out swimming with him, and they girl who she had talked to was the one who came up with the idea to go there, and her sister was dating the guy. Scary stuff guys, make sure you know what's up with where you're jumping


Article:

HADLEY — News that a swimmer was missing and presumed drowned in the Hudson River between Lake Luzerne and Hadley had Hadley Supervisor Arthur Wright thinking about the loss of his own brother in those waters 34 years ago this week.

His brother, Ronald Wright, was 18 and had graduated from high school the week before he drowned on the Fourth of July in 1975. “This latest news just brings up all those bad memories,” Wright said.

Divers from three agencies were searching the river Monday for a man who disappeared in the water while swimming with a group of friends on Sunday.

Investigators identified the sailor as Jesse M. Lyon, 20, of Soda Springs, Idaho. They said he was stationed in the area with the United States Navy.

The search Monday failed to recover Lyon. Police are expected to continue the search today, and may bring in a Side Scan Sonar unit to assist in locating the body.

Warren County Sheriff Bud York said the man disappeared under the water at about 4:30 p.m. Sunday in the area of the bridge at Rockwell Falls.

York said nine sailors were swimming from the Saratoga County side of the river to the Warren County side when the man went under and disappeared. The others made it to shore and called authorities.

A search of the area was ended Sunday night because of darkness and resumed early Monday morning with divers from Saratoga and Warren counties as well as the state police.

Authorities said Lyon was a Navy sailor based at the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory-Kesselring site in Milton.

Wright said the area where the sailors were swimming is known as a deadly location by local residents, but its rapid waters and the cliffs and bridge are touted on Web sites for their adventurous features.

Several videos on YouTube show swimmers jumping from the bridge or swinging from ropes and landing in the rushing water below.

“I would say 95 percent of the people who swim in there are from out of town,” Wright said. “Most local people know someone who has drowned there.”

He said the shore of the river is privately owned, mostly by National Grid Power Corp.

“Fences are put up, and the kids cut holes in them. Signs that warn of dangerous waters are torn down. That whole area had graffiti because the kids just don’t care. They think they are indestructible,” Wright said.

He said the large amount of rain that has fallen over the past two weeks has swelled the river and made it flow faster.

“There’s one part of the flow that the kids call Alka-Selzer because it’s so wild,” Wright said. “The water is just roaring right now because of the rains.”

Link: http://dailygazette.com/news/2009/jun/30/0630_swimmer/