There are a number of things being said about the boating crash that took Lynn Thornton”s life that need some examination.
First the Sheriff”s office and the District Attorney are presenting as fact that the sailboat”s lights were off. As the DA well knows this is an allegation and only becomes a fact if a court finds it to be a fact. If proven to be off, the lack of running lights were likely to have been a contributing cause but not the only cause.
Second is the charge that the sailboat did not have a proper watch and was for all practical purposes, invisible on that dark night. Anyone who has spent time on the water around sailboats after dark knows that sailboats are quite visible with or without lights. A 27 foot sailboat with several hundred square feet of white sail cloth reaching 40 feet in the air is readily visible after dark especially given the considerable ambient light on Konocti Bay. It seems that there were people on the shore who claim to have seen the sailboat and so should have the people on the powerboat assuming they were looking. It seems likely that the powerboat was being operated without a proper watch.
Third some people are equating being drunk at the helm of a sailboat as equivalent to being drunk at the wheel of a car. Not true. While against the law to operate any boat while intoxicated, it is not at all the same as operating a car or even a powerboat. A sailboat has the right away over a powerboat because a sailboat cannot move quickly enough to avoid a fast moving powerboat.
A sailboat typically sails at a modest walking pace and a sudden avoidance action can bring the boat to a stop. On the night of the crash, the sailboat was a “sitting duck” and whether or not the operators were drunk or sober, there would be little if anything they could have done to avoid being hit. If a drunk driver is legally stopped at a traffic light and is hit by another car, did the drunk driver cause the crash?
Finally Lake County does not always have a very positive image outside the county and is often seen as a community of “good ole boys”. Lake County is currently being heavily criticized across the US as a place where “good ole boy” law enforcement officials are protecting one-of-their-own. This negative perception in the national boating community is not going to help the county attract tourists and residents especially those whose interests include boats.
Whether the perception is accurate or not, the DA should see to it that the case is moved elsewhere and restore some confidence that boaters who come to Clear Lake can count on objective law enforcement protection. If Bismarck Dinius is guilty of causing Lynn Thornton”s death, that can be proven just as easily in another jurisdiction. Lake County gets enough bad press.
John Todd
Napa
