What Happened on Lake George?

Oct. 4, 2005 — -- The first 911 call to the Warren County Sheriff's Office came in at 2:54:33, a hysterical woman, shouting for help.

Within "five or six to 10 minutes," rescue boats had arrived at the scene, but the worst inland water disaster in U.S. history had already claimed the lives of 20 elderly people. Their deaths, according to medical reports, were caused by hypothermia, drowning and aggravation of pre-existing medical conditions.

The response time for the official rescue boats is well above any expectation, and by the time those boats arrived, civilian vessels had already begun pulling people from the water.

According to Sheriff Larry Cleveland, who examined the toar boat "Ethan Allen" on Monday, there was no immediately visible evidence of a catastrophic failure. Cleveland cleared up a number of errors or inaccuracies in early accounts, including at least one that came from his own office:

"He told us there was some wave action that he was trying to combat," Cleveland said. He said that the operator, 74-year-old Richard Paris, is both fully qualified and fully able to pilot the boat. He has cooperated with the investigation.