Lake Mead danger disputed

Friday, June 2, 2000 | 11:16 a.m.

A report that Lake Mead National Recreation Area is the most dangerous national park shouldn't discourage visitors because a high number of searches and rescues means security people are paying attention, park officials said today.

"It should be an encouragement to everyone who comes to this park. We don't wait 24 hours until somebody can prove someone is not around," Bert Byers, Lake Mead spokesman, said.

The Wall Street Journal's ranking released today says Lake Mead is perilous for visitors because it logged 540 search and rescues and 732 serious crimes last year. That's more per 100,000 visitors than any of the other 46 national recreation areas and parks examined, the report says.

The Lake Mead recreation area encompasses 200,000 acres of surface water on lakes Mead and Mohave and 1.3 million acres of land that includes almost 1,000 miles of shoreline.

It attracts 10 million visitors annually -- half of whom are locals -- making it the fourth most-visited park in the nation's system, Park Superintendent Alan O'Neill said.

Litter, vandalism and property crimes have been ongoing and increasing problems. They are among the reasons park officials imposed an entrance fee for the first time this year. Officials have said vandals aren't likely to bother if they have to pay to get in.

Lake Mead's proximity to a large urban area changes the crime rate, too, Byers said. City problems spill over.

"We are a 24-hour-park on the border of a 24-hour-a-day town. When we come across a murder, it didn't start here. It started in town," he said. "We are very close to the urban area, and we think that is a problem also."

Byers says 528 of the 732 serious crimes reported last year were thefts, burglaries and vandalism to park property, not crimes in which people's lives or physical safety were in danger.

O'Neill says in that respect the ranking is unfair.

"We are a reflection of society. We are an urban park, and we reflect urban society," O'Neill said.

Having a large body of water as a focal point ups the ante when it comes to possibilities of injuries and death, he added. The second most-dangerous park listed is Glen Canyon National Recreation Area in Utah, another park that revolves around water.

Drownings make up about a third of the deaths logged the past two years. Eight people drowned last year, down from 12 in 1998. Two people -- both teenagers -- have drowned so far this year, reports show. They are among 11 deaths recorded, including five people who died of natural causes, one suicide and one person who fell from cliff.

Lake Mead crews conducted 48 searches and rescues this year, but figures for the Memorial Day weekend have not been totaled yet, Byers said. It could be higher.

But, that statistic should be comforting to visitors, Byers said. He recalled an incident that happened the Saturday before Memorial Day.

"A lady said a child went into the water and didn't come back up," he said. "Within minutes we had a diver in the water. A few minutes later, the little boy came walking out of the men's restroom. But we don't ask questions. We just respond."

Byers says Lake Mead officials aren't ignoring the fact that bad things happen in the park. But he says it's not fair to compare it to places such as Yosemite or the Grand Canyon on all counts, either.

The lake attracts a different kind of visitor.

"You go to the Grand Canyon or you go to Yosemite to breathe and get away," Byers said. "You come to Lake Mead to party. People come out here with big boats and little boats that go very fast. It's designed to provide that experience to them.

"And when people are having a good time, they sometimes overdo it."