Teen boy from LV drowns at lake

Monday, June 20, 2005 | 11:14 a.m.

John Stack, a 17-year-old Las Vegas resident, drowned Sunday at Lake Mead while swimming with two other teenage boys, officials said.

Stack and his friends had decided to swim to an island about 100 yards away from shore in the Government Wash area of Lake Mead and it turned out to be more difficult than they had expected, Roxanne Dey, spokeswoman for the Lake Mead National Recreation Area said.

Wind whipped up the waves, making the swim more strenuous, she said, and they decided to turn back toward shore.

The National Weather Service reported that winds at the lake were blowing at 12 mph at 6 p.m. and had increased to 15 mph by 7 p.m.

Stack's friends made it to the shore but he never showed up. Authorities were called at 6:23 p.m., and divers recovered Stack's body in about 13 feet of water at 7:53 p.m.

A Clark County School District spokesman this morning said their records indicate that a 17-year-old named John Stack is a student at Las Vegas High School, but school administrators were not immediately available to confirm that the student is the drowning victim.

Stack's death was the third drowning fatality this year, which has seen 10 total people die on the lake, the same as this time last year, Dey said.

Officials last year recorded 23 deaths at the lake, the same as 2003, she said. Of those, 11 were drowning deaths, up significantly from the four drowning deaths in 2003, Dey said.

"Swimming in Lakes Mead or Mohave, or any natural body of water, is not like swimming in a backyard pool," Dey said. "In natural bodies of water like Lake Mead, there is nothing to hold onto when you get tired or when weather conditions change."

That's why Park Service rangers continually urge people to wear a life jacket when swimming in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Dey said.

Another death occurred last month at Lake Mead.

A 48-year-old Henderson woman, Kimberly Jean Huntley, was found on May 26 in an wash near Callville Bay. Authorities believe Huntley died from exposure.