Hagg Lake: Where Washington County Officials Failed Us

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Carla Axtman, GoLocalPDX MINDSETTER™

Hagg Lake

"Hagg Lake near dam." Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons - [Live Look]

At the end of a long road in Washington County, nestled near the base of the Coast Range just outside of Forest Grove, lies Henry Hagg Lake.

The reservoir and recreational area features numerous picnic spots, a couple of boat launches, a fully stocked lake for fishing, 13 miles of hiking/mountain biking trails, and observation decks for viewing birds and wildlife. On any given summer weekend, the lake and surrounding park are teeming with people out enjoying the many amenities.

Washington County manages the lake and collects fees for its use.

It also happens to be a fairly deadly spot for those who choose to swim there in the late summer. The inlet where the bucolic Sain Creek empties into the lake is a particularly hazardous area. Eleven of the 18 drownings that have taken place on the lake since 1980 have occurred there.

Yet, until the most recent tragic drowning deaths late last month, Washington County officials had neglected to properly post signs in the area to warn those wading in the shallow parts near shore of the steep drop off that has claimed the lives of so many.

Yes, there are life jacket stations at the lake. The latest horrific deaths there could perhaps have been avoided if the family had worn them. They wouldn’t have happened at all if the family hadn’t traveled to the lake that day, either.

But comments at news sites around the area that blame the victims and attempt to absolve the county of responsibility because “people should take care of their own safety” is utter tripe. People can’t actually take care of their own safety if they don’t understand the nature of the potential safety hazard.

That’s what the signs are for.

Carla Axtman on Politics

Sadly, the new signage didn’t happen because leaders failed to step up to do their actual job, which is to serve the public.

In fact, County Chair Andy Duyck and Commissioner Bob Terry seemed eager to do the opposite. Gaston resident Michael Medill publicly shamed the county for not taking action on signage sooner by creating his own warning signs and posting them at the lake. Duyck and Terry chastised Medill for “grandstanding.”

Duyck even went so far as to say that Medill wasn’t truly concerned about the public’s safety. Terry, for his part, patronizingly referred to Medill as “... a young man who did some self-vigilantism.”

Not exactly the attitude of people whose job it is to work in the public interest and who are, by the way, paid by the taxpayers for doing that job.

One wonders if Duyck was simply projecting or if he honestly believes that it’s in the best interest of public safety to actually not tell people that there’s a safety hazard at the Sain Creek area.

Either way, it’s that kind of disdainful, contemptuous behavior that cause so many disaffected residents of Washington County to balk in Duyck’s direction. It’s also not the way that those in an elected position should treat taxpayers who actually do something for the public good.

In fact, Medill was arrested for putting up signs that look eerily similar to those placed up a short time later by the county. He should have been lauded for his efforts and thanked at the next public meeting of the county commission.

Instead, the county tried to damage Medill’s reputation.

What we’ve watched unfold over the last few weeks is a disastrous, misguided series of attempts to mitigate some amorphous specter of litigation. But somebody clearly needed to do some grandstanding out there in order to knock out of joint the arrogance and complacency that has permeated the leadership of Washington County.

Perhaps at one time, doing the public’s work was a priority for these elected county leaders. They’ve quite obviously strayed from those principles.

Carla Axtman