[Southsider2k12]

http://www.fox28.com/Global/story.asp?S=13026340

Two kids drown in Michigan City
Posted: Aug 22, 2010 10:07 PM CDT

Rescue efforts in Lake Michigan have turned into recovery efforts Sunday night.

Michigan City Police have confirmed two kids have drowned, but recovery efforts have slowed down since conditions are too rough.

It happened around 5:00 Sunday night near Washington Park in Michigan City.

Police say they're searching for two kids in the water, who were playing around the pier.

Crews are on scene Sunday night, but say there is a strong rip current and they're hoping conditions calm down so they can continue recovery efforts.

[Southsider2k12]

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/08...n-city-ind.html

2 teens missing in Lake Michigan rip currents in Indiana
August 22, 2010 9:27 PM | No Comments | UPDATED STORY

Authorities called off a search this evening for two teenage swimmers missing in Lake Michigan near Michigan City, Ind.

Steven Hoover of South Bend, Ind., was swimming with his two sons and a family friend this afternoon when they were caught in a rip current approximately 200 feet east of the pier, according to a Michigan City police news release.

Hoover and his son, Jacob, were able to make it to safety. But his other son, 14-year-old Scott Hoover, and 17-year-old Lorenzo Greer, were carried away from Hoover and rescuers, police said. Both victims are from South Bend.

Police said that the rough waters and their proximity to rocks made rescue attempts extremely dangerous. Several responders suffered minor injuries and one officer required medical attention.

The rescue attempt would resume when water conditions improve, police said.

Responders included life guard personnel, the Michigan City Fire Department, the LaPorte County Sheriff Department, United States Coast Guard and off-duty Michigan City police.

The National Weather Service had issued a rip current advisory for the area earlier today.

[diggler]

UPDATE: Police: two presumed dead, recovery resuming Monday morning
Michigan City, Ind.

Posted: 6:05 PM Aug 22, 2010
Reporter: Kevin Lewis

Treacherous waters and evening skies have postponed a recovery effort for two South Bend teens. The teens were swept away by a strong rip current at Washington Park Beach in Michigan City Sunday afternoon around 4:15 p.m. CST. Michigan City Police have identified the two boys as 14-year-old Scott Hoover and 17-year-old Lorenzo Greer. Police presume both boys drowned, but emergency crews have not yet recovered their bodies.

The National Weather Service had issued a rip current warning Sunday afternoon for LaPorte County, prompting life guards to clear Washington Park Beach waters. However, the two teens along with Scott’s father, Steven Hoover, and an unidentified relative were swimming in an unguarded area. Authorities say the four men were 200 feet offshore along the Michigan City pier. That’s when the rip current pulled the two teens into deeper waters. A Department of Natural Resources press release says a Michigan City police officer last saw Hoover vanish under Lake Michigan waters near the base of the lighthouse.

“The waves started to take them away. They started yelling that they couldn’t touch and then they started yelling for help,” eyewitness Chaz Torrez recalled as he saw the two teens struggle to stay afloat.

"It was horrible, just watching those two kids…, something like that is horrible,” Mishawaka resident Mike Custard said after seeing the two boys fall underwater and never resurface.

Torres and Custard were just two of hundreds of beach-goers that witnessed the event unfold.

"I jumped in the water and I tried to get one of the guys, but rescuers were yelling at me to get out. But as I got out, one was close to the rock and he was trying to get on it. He had my arm and he slipped off and then the wave came in and pulled him further out,” Chicago area resident Joshua Mancha said after he tried to save one of the teens.

More than fifty rescue crews from eight agencies rushed to the scene as local dive teams suited into wet gear and lifeguards canvassed the choppy waters. However, those efforts were scaled back after two Michigan City police officers received minor injuries when the rough water pinned them against the pier’s rock wall.

"The conditions will not permit us to get into the water at this time. We're unable to put the divers in. We had a few lifeguards that were in the water and we actually had a lifeguard in distress that we had to pull out as well,” Michigan City Police Chief Mike Swistek said.

The Department of Natural Resources and U.S. Coast Guard aided in the search with boats after divers and lifeguards were pulled out. The U.S. Coast Guard also dispatched a helicopter for aerial recovery efforts.

Authorities called off search efforts around 7:30 p.m. CST. Emergency crews will switch to a recovery effort Monday morning at 6:00 a.m. CST, weather permitting.

The U.S. Coast Guard said Sunday’s rough weather kept Lake Michigan crews busy. The Michigan City Coast Guard Station also responded to an overturned Jet Ski and sailboat in distress shortly after the two teens went missing. No one was seriously injured in either of those individual incidents. The beach front had been crowded all weekend long with the In-Water Boat Show nearby.

http://www.wgntv.com/news/wgntv-rip-tide-d...0,7456248.story

_

[Southsider2k12]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/articles/2010/0...df757239249.txt

Teen swimmers still missing after search

Michigan City police officer and diver Richard Sosa (left) gets ready to search for missing swimmers Sunday, while Police Chief Mark Swistek helps carry his gear. Photo by Deborah Sederberg
By Deborah Sederberg
and Andrew Tallackson
Staff Writers
Published: Monday, August 23, 2010 9:57 AM CDT
MICHIGAN CITY — Dangerous lake conditions and nightfall caused police and rescue officials to call off Sunday’s search for two teen swimmers at Washington Park beach.

The swimmers — 17- and 14-year-old boys — went missing while swimming at about 4 p.m. and despite a search involving lifeguards, divers, boats and a helicopter were not located Sunday.

Police Chief Mark Swistek said officer Doug Samuelson, a diver, suffered an elbow injury and officer Richard Sosa, another diver, injured his hand.

Divers from the Michigan City Police Department and La Porte County Sheriff’s Department Dive Team were in the water for about an hour before the search was called off because lake conditions were too dangerous, Police Chief of Operations Tim Richardson said, with Swistek adding, “The risk was too great.”

Conservation officers and Coast Guard boat teams continued their search until dark.

A Department of Natural Resources Law Enforcement press release issued late Sunday stated Scott Hoover, 14, and Lorenzo Greer, 17, both of South Bend, were swimming with friends about 200 feet from the shoreline. The two began to quickly drift away from the beach toward the lighthouse pier.

Hoover’s father, Steven, attempted to swim after the boys, but saw them disappear in the large waves, according to the press release.

Steven Hoover and other swimmers began yelling for help as they were swept toward the beach. Two Michigan City police officers patrolling the beach responded to the lighthouse pier along with several lifeguards. One officer last saw Scott Hoover disappear in the water next to the large rocks at the base of the pier, according to the DNR press release.

An off-duty police officer, Lt. Cary Brinckman, commander of the midnight shift, attempted a rescue, Swistek said. Brinckman was near the swimming buoy about 150 yards east of the lighthouse pier, but the waves pushed him back against the rocks surrounding the pier.

The U.S. Coast Guard and DNR searched in boats, while a Coast Guard helicopter searched the area as well.

Divers will resume the search today, according to the DNR press release.

The Michigan City Fire Department had men and vehicles at the sight. Battalion Chief Willie Milsap and education officer Larry Butcher instructed other firefighters, via radio, to move some equipment from one station to another to be sure the city would be adequately covered in case of a fire.

La Porte County Emergency Services paramedics with ambulances were at the beach as well.

Swistek said several off-duty officers responded to the emergency, with assistance from the Long Beach Police Department. Pottawattomie Park Marshal Dave Kanger, a retired member of the MCPD, also helped, using a golf cart to take equipment up and down the pier and later directing traffic.

Swistek helped divers load gear onto carts.

Jan Orlich, Parks and Recreation Department superintendent, said in a separate incident, people who were operating a personal water craft when it overturned near Michigan City Senior Center were safe and back on land.

The park was crowded all weekend with the In-Water Boat Show and Lakefront Art Festival attracting visitors.

Lifeguards, who assisted in the search, especially in the initial phase, said the guarded beach had been closed all day. The red flag was flying there and at the park entrance. Signs in English and Spanish warn of rip current conditions. “Death can occur,” the signs say.

Nonetheless, visitors, including children, continued to play in the lake, some with inflatable toys, while lifeguards and divers searched for the swimmers in the water and a Coast Guard helicopter searched above the swimmers.

[Southsider2k12]

http://cbs2chicago.com/topstories/missing.....2.1873867.html

Search Resumes For Boys Missing In Lake
Teenage Boys Were Swept Away By Rip Current Off Michigan City Shore
MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. (Sun-Times Media Wire) ―

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Two teenage boys who were swept away by a rip current while swimming in Lake Michigan off of Michigan City, Ind. remained missing Monday.

Divers resumed their search for the boys on Monday.

The father and a brother of one of the missing boys were also caught up in the rip current, but were able to make it to safety.

Police received an emergency call at 4:14 p.m. Sunday about four people in the water about 200 feet east of a pier on a beach in Michigan City, Ind., in need of assistance, according to Michigan City police.

A father, his two teenage sons and a friend of one of the sons were caught in a rip current, police said.

The father and one of his sons were able to make it to safety, however the man's 14-year-old son and a 17-year-old friend of one of the boys were carried away from rescuers in rough waves, according to police.

The rough conditions and the proximity to the rocky pier made rescue attempts extremely hazardous, police said.

Several emergency responders received minor injuries, including one officer who needed medical treatment for an injury sustained while rescuing a lifeguard.

Recovery efforts for the two boys, who are both from South Bend, Ind., were halted due to the rough conditions, police said. The recovery efforts resumed on Monday.

On-duty and off-duty Michigan City Police officers, Michigan City Fire, members from the La Porte County Sheriff's Department, the U.S. Coast Guard and EMS personnel were involved in the rescue and recovery efforts.

(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2009. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

[Southsider2k12]

http://www.wsbt.com/news/local/Search-cont...-101333824.html

Lorenzo Greer, 17, is one of the teens from South Bend believed to have drowned in Lake Michigan Sunday. (Photo provided)
By WSBT News1

Story Created: Aug 23, 2010 at 5:49 PM EDT

Story Updated: Aug 23, 2010 at 5:54 PM EDT

MICHIGAN CITY — It's now been more than 24 hours since two South Bend teens got caught up in rip currents in Lake Michigan. They are presumed to have drowned. They've been identified as 14-year old Scott Hoover, who was going to start school at Jefferson Intermediate School on Wednesday. He attended Mishawaka schools last year. 17-year old Lorenzo Greer would have started school on Wednesday at Adams High School.

Candelaria Patterson clings to her son’s picture as she wipes away her tears along the shores of Lake Michigan, knowing that somewhere out there in the water is her boy’s body.

“I just want my baby home. It’s not going to happen, it’s hard,” Patterson said.

Lorenzo Green was her firstborn, who was about to begin the school year with goals and dreams that are now washed away.

“He wanted to get a driver’s permit, and soon a car,” she said.

In the meantime, a search by air and water continues for 17-year-old Greer and his 14-year-old friend, Scott Hoover. The two didn’t make it out of Lake Michigan Sunday while swimming with Hoover’s dad and another teen. Steve Hoover and the other boy were able to scramble out of the water to safety. Greer’s dad says he doesn’t blame the other father for what happened.

“I never thought he’d drown in the water because he’s a good swimmer,” said John Greer, Lorenzo’s father. “I just hope they find him. I don’t want him to be stuck out there for months at a time and I hope they find him in days so he can be decent when he gets buried.”

The search for the bodies was hampered by dangerous water conditions that made it tough for divers.

“The surface was trying to pull us back out from the surface,” said Shawn Brown, a diver. “The visibility was very poor due to the water being stirred up.”

Among rescuers, there is a sense of urgency and frustration that the warnings about Sunday’s rip currents went unheeded.

“Everything was prime for drowning because of the conditions. We’ve said it over and over: You can’t out-muscle Lake Michigan, said Officer Gene Davis with the Indiana DNR.

[

[diggler]

Anatomy of rip currents, tips to stay safe

A sunny day at the beach can turn deadly when rip currents form.

Reporter: Jeff BlevinsPosted: 7:34 PM Aug 23, 2010

It's been a record year for water rescues on Lake Michigan, with rip currents playing a big role.

Sunny skies and Lake Michigan, it’s usually a great combo for a weekend getaway. A sunny day at the beach can turn deadly when rip currents form.

Rip currents are strong currents that flow away from the shoreline, and can easily pull even the strongest swimmers away from the beach.

As waves break on the sand bar near the shoreline, they cause an increase in the water level over the bars compared to the channel between the sand bar and the beach.

This causes a pressure gradient, which creates a current along the shoreline, called a feeder current. These feeder currents converge and then move away from the shore, usually through low areas or breaks in the sand bar.

Many people panic, or try to fight the current by swimming back towards the shoreline, which can cause fatigue very quickly. Instead, the best way to get out of a rip current is to swim parallel to the shore until you are out of the current.

If you are unable to swim away from the current, try to just float, or calmly tread water until you are out of current's pull.

There are a few signs you can watch for to identify a rip current:

* A channel of choppy, churning water

* An area with a noticeable difference in water color

* A break in the incoming wave pattern

* A line of foam, seaweed, or debris moving steadily away from shore

Of course, the best way to stay out of a rip current is to stay out of the water when the warning flags are posted.

In the past 10 years there have been more deaths in Michiana due to rip currents than from tornadoes, strong winds, and flooding combined.

[Tim]

^^^

Here's one more sign -

"Death can occur" - which apparently was posted at the beach.

Obviously this is a horrible tragedy for these families. But between this story and the recent story about two people dying from being hit by a train they ignored when driving around signal markers there's a clear lesson here. These signs are put there for a reason. My hope would be that the next time someone tries to drive around railroad crossing markers or go into the lake despite warnings they're remember these two tragedies - and think better.

[Southsider2k12]

http://www.southbendtribune.com/article/20...40302/1129/News

Deadly summer on lake this year
Two South Bend teens latest of 68 drownings

By KEVIN ALLEN
Tribune Staff Writer

MICHIGAN CITY — There's a tragic sidebar to this hot summer, which has warmed Lake Michigan to near-bathwater temperatures.

It's been a particularly deadly summer for drownings.

A total of 68 people have drowned this year in "the big lake" — the most in at least eight years, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. The latest victims are two South Bend teenagers — Scott Hoover, 14, and Lorenzo Greer, 17 — who died in rip currents Sunday off the beach here at Washington Park.

At least three of this year's Lake Michigan drownings have occurred off of Indiana's lakeshore. No one drowned along the state's portion of Lake Michigan last summer, said Gene Davis, a conservation officer for the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.

In southwestern Michigan, at least six people have drowned in Lake Michigan off beaches in Berrien and Van Buren counties, according to accounts in local newspapers. That number is up from two drownings last summer.

Davis said he believes the spike in Lake Michigan drownings is mostly the result of hotter weather and warmer water drawing more swimmers to the lake.

"Last summer was one of the coolest summers on record," he said. "This summer it's the exact opposite."

The average daily high temperature in South Bend this past July was 2.6 degrees higher than normal, according to the National Weather Service. The average daily high so far in August has been 3 degrees higher than normal. Temperatures have hit 90 degrees on 10 days and come close, reaching 89 degrees, on six other days.

But Chief Rebecca Polzin, the officer in charge at the Coast Guard station in Michigan City, said there is more to these tragedies than just balmy weather.

Polzin and other authorities expressed some frustration with swimmers who ignore rough-water warnings as they continued to search for Scott and Lorenzo on Monday afternoon, more than 24 hours after the boys disappeared beneath the water's surface.

Washington Park lifeguards had displayed red warning flags Sunday, closed the beach's designated swimming area all day and told swimmers along other parts of the beach to stay out of the water, authorities said.

WSBT-TV reported that Scott and Lorenzo were swimming with Scott's father, Steven Hoover, and another teen. Davis said they were swimming about 200 feet east of the lighthouse pier that juts into Lake Michigan. He said Hoover nearly drowned trying to save the two boys.

"The red flags mean people aren't supposed to be in the water at all," Davis said. But, he added, officers cannot arrest or ticket people who choose to swim despite the warnings.

"There's no way to keep people out of the water the whole length of the beach," he said.

Davis said conditions were prime for drowning Sunday.

A strong wind was blowing out of the north, causing waves to build over the full length of the lake. When those 6-foot waves crashed against the lake's southern shoreline in Indiana, they created rip currents, Davis said.

"You have to respect the water," the Coast Guard's Polzin said. "When the lifeguard or the Coast Guard or the DNR is telling you not to do something, there's a good reason."

Still, Polzin said, the sight of officers searching for the two bodies Sunday afternoon wasn't enough to deter people at Washington Park from continuing to swim in the lake.

"While we were doing this search Sunday, there were still kids swimming in the water," she said. "For some reason, it's a hard message to get across."

Lt. Junior Grade Casey Steuer, who is stationed at the Coast Guard Sector Lake Michigan in Milwaukee, said the Coast Guard is working to raise public awareness of Lake Michigan's strength with more press releases, social media and even announcements at Major League Baseball games in Chicago and Milwaukee.

Steuer said the lake's victims this summer have been of all ages, and the deaths aren't isolated to beachgoers. Some of the drownings have occurred while people capsized in kayaks or were swimming off boats. The only common thread among the 68 drownings is none of the victims were wearing personal flotation devices, he said.

He said some people might think of Lake Michigan as a gentle inland lake or as safe as a pool.

"In reality, it's a freshwater ocean," Steuer said. "It's a very dangerous body of water."

As a matter of fact, rough water continued to stymie the search operation Monday afternoon.

Divers from the LaPorte County Sheriff's Department attempted to search for the bodies along the boulders that line the east side of the pier, but they had to stop because of strong currents and waves that pounded against the rocks.

Davis said they plan to resume the search today, but if the lake doesn't calm down enough for divers to search safely, "We might have to wait for nature to take its course."

Staff writer Kevin Allen:
kallen@sbtinfo.com
(574) 235-6244

[diggler]

Heard it was the 8th and 9th drowning victims of the season for this area...which is a record. What usually happens in tragic cases like these, is that first they send in a whole army of search and rescue or recovery personnel...Coast Guard divers, choppers, patrol boats...everything. Then a few days later, somebody walking their dog along the beach spots a floating body....and thats how the poor drowning victims eventually get found. These lakes if they can swallow up the Edmund Fitzgerald....then they sure as hell can swallow up foolhardy swimmers as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgI8bta-7aw

_

[Ang]

You don't have to be a swimmer to get sucked into the lake. Remember poor Kyle Cuma? About 10 years ago, he and a friend were walking along the pier out to the lighthouse when a wave crashed up and pulled him right off the pier. Divers and rescue personnel searched for a couple days, then just as they called off the search, he appeared floating in the water at almost the exact spot he was pulled in.

[Southsider2k12]

I just drove through the lake front, and the recovery operations are against underway. There were at least a dozen boats in the water, starting at about the harbor and the lighthouse, and working as far east as you could see up the lake front. Lake, Porter, and LaPorte Counties all have people out there, as well as many towns and townships in the area to try to end this nightmare for the family. The poor family is sitting out there waiting for some word. Prayers for all of the people, family, and friends involved.

[ChickenCityRoller]

This morning they found one of the bodies wedged in the rocks by the lighthouse.

[diggler]

Body of teen pulled from Lake Michigan

Believed to be 14-year-old Scott Hoover; body of 17-year-old still missing

Published: Tuesday, August 24, 2010 10:48 AM CDT

MICHIGAN CITY — A body believed to be 14-year-old Scott Hoover was recovered in Lake Michigan early this morning.

Indiana Department of Natural Resources rescue workers located the body just after 8 a.m. below the lighthouse, wedged into the pier’s rock wall 17 feet under the water, according to a DNR spokesperson.

Rescue workers are still searching for the body of 17-year-old Lorenzo Greer.

The teens were swept away by a strong rip current at Washington Park Beach Sunday afternoon.

The South Bend teens were in Michigan City, having one more getaway before school starts next week, according to Lorenzo’s mother Candelaria Patterson.

Greer was to start his junior year at South Bend Adams High School Wednesday.

The two were swimming with friends about 200 feet from the shoreline Sunday. The two began to quickly drift away from the beach toward the lighthouse pier.

Hoover’s father, Steven, attempted to swim after the boys, but saw them disappear in the large waves, according to the press release.

Steven Hoover and other swimmers began yelling for help as they were swept toward the beach. Two Michigan City police officers patrolling the beach responded to the lighthouse pier along with several lifeguards. One officer last saw Scott Hoover disappear in the water next to the large rocks at the base of the pier, according to the DNR press release.

An off-duty police officer, Lt. Cary Brinckman, commander of the midnight shift, attempted a rescue, Swistek said. Brinckman was near the swimming buoy about 150 yards east of the lighthouse pier, but the waves pushed him back against the rocks surrounding the pier.

http://thenewsdispatch.com/

[Southsider2k12]

http://www.southbendtribune.com/article/20...29786/1129/News

Update: Underwater search called off, one teen still missing
By KRISTIN BIEN
WSBT-TV Reporter

MICHIGAN CITY — It has been 48 hours since two teens were overcome by a rip current while swimming in Lake Michigan. Only one of their bodies has been found.

Now, the underwater search has been called off as the family of the other boy still waits for closure.

The body of 14-year-old Scott Hoover was recovered Tuesday morning along the rocks at Washington Park Beach. Crews are still looking for 17-year-old Lorenzo Greer.

Searchers entered the water early in morning, hoping to find both the boys.

"We opted to start looking at the [rock] wall again, the last known location of the victim was right next to the wall," said Bob Cauffman, a Department of Natural Resources conservation officer and diver.

And sure enough, that is where they found Hoover. The discovery meant one family would have closure.

"You never get used to it — you accept it," Cauffman said.

But Greer's family is still waiting.

"He is my first son, my only boy. I want to have a good funeral for him," said John Greer, Lorenzo's father.

Nearly a dozen of Lorenzo's family members gathered along the shore Tuesday, their eyes glued to the search. Celina Patterson was there to support her mother, and wait to bring her big brother home.

"I am trying to keep her strong and I am trying to be strong too,” Patterson said. “So it is kind of hectic, you could say."

The family watched as boats slowly searched the lake and pulled divers along the bottom. A helicopter scanned the water from above. But by afternoon there was still no sign of the teen, and the underwater search was called off.

"We will revert to utilizing a surface search along the water on top,” said Lt. Jerry Shepherd, a DNR law enforcement officer. “While waiting for a body to come up, we will also do shoreline searches from an ATV looking out into the water as well as being in boats."

Searchers say that while the underwater search is over, they will keep looking — however long it takes.


The family of Lorenzo Greer will hold a candlelight memorial at 7 p.m. Thursday at Battell Park — 301 West Mishawaka Avenue, Mishawaka.

[taxthedeer]

I know what these families are going through. I lost my older brother to a drowning accident in 1985 when he was in college. He was 20. I was 16 at the time. I'll never forget that morning when I woke up that morning to go to school and my parents told me what had happened. My older sister was also killed in an accident two years earlier.

[Southsider2k12]

http://www.southbendtribune.com/article/20...5/-1/googleNews

Family, friends mourn drowned teenager
Body of boy, 14, recovered from lake.

By KEVIN ALLEN
Tribune Staff Writer

MISHAWAKA — In physical terms, Scott Hoover wasn't a big kid. The 14-year-old stood about 5-foot-2 and weighed no more than 95 pounds.

But he made a big impression on the people he knew during his short life, which ended tragically when he and 17-year-old Lorenzo Greer drowned Sunday in Lake Michigan off Washington Park Beach in Michigan City.

While Scott struggled with learning disabilities — he was diagnosed with bipolar and attention deficit hyperactivity disorders — he also had a remarkable knack for connecting with all types of people, whether it was a senior citizen down the block, workers at a nearby sheet metal business or a stranger at Walmart.

He was sharply intelligent when working with his hands. One time, with no apparent instruction, he resurrected his family's lawn mower by swapping in an engine from another mower that had broken down.

And, in many ways, he was a regular teenage boy: He fought with his brothers and sisters, as siblings do. He caught fish and kept them in a backyard pond. He tracked mud into the house. He loved animals, proudly showing off his pet lizard and turtle.

"He had that love for life — wanting to be in the dirt, be with the animals and just always be out there," his mother, Tanya Lambert, says while sitting in the living room of her home near Battell Elementary School.

"He would always go up to people and introduce himself and say, 'Hi, my name's Scott. How are you?' They would always gravitate toward him, even the people that you would look at and think they're not a friendly, approachable type. He would always go up to them and always put a smile on their face. Someone told me once that he was a little politician."

Scott charmed the workers at nearby Michiana Sheet Metal, located where the railroad tracks cross Division Street.

"If we were here, he'd walk in and give everybody high-fives," says Rick Schaphorst, his eyes moist while sharing stories with co-worker Ed Montgomery. "The first time I saw him here he picked up a broom and started sweeping. He said, 'I'm not afraid to work.' I said, 'When that kid gets old enough, we need to hire him.'"

"He was always asking questions," Montgomery says with a smile. "'What's this? What's that? How's this work? How's that work?' He'll definitely be missed."

The workers had Scott in for pizza and Buffalo wings a couple of weeks ago as a sort of going-away party, because the teen was moving in with his father, Steven Hoover, in South Bend.

Today would have been Scott's first day of eighth grade at Jefferson Intermediate School. He was a seventh-grader last year at John Young Middle School in Mishawaka, where he has lived with his mother and stepfather, Jason Lambert, and their five other children.

"He's 14, a boy," Tanya Lambert explains. "He wanted to do, you know, dad stuff."

Scott was swimming with his father, his 14-year-old stepbrother Jacob Lambert and Lorenzo on Sunday in Michigan City.

The four of them were standing in chest-deep water shortly after 4 p.m. when a rip current pulled Scott farther away from shore.

Scott panicked and Hoover tried to pull his son back toward shore, but the current swept Hoover west toward the lighthouse pier, according to Jacob.

Then Lorenzo swam toward Scott and tried to bring him out of the water onto the boulders that line the east side of the pier.

Lorenzo drowned trying to save Scott.

The Lamberts say "Ren" was like another son to them. He was best friends with Jason Lambert's 16-year-old son, Steven, at Adams High School and had been living with the family this summer.

"I think the way Ren went out of the world says it all," Tanya Lambert says. "He was a hero."

Divers from the Michigan City police and LaPorte County sheriff's departments recovered Scott's body about 9:15 a.m. Tuesday. They found him beneath 17 feet of water, about 100 yards from where he was last seen alive, according to Gene Davis, a conservation officer for the Indiana Department of Natural Resources

Authorities will continue to search for Lorenzo today.

Tanya Lambert says she felt mixed emotions when she learned divers had recovered Scott's body.

"To know that they found him was almost like reliving hearing he had died," she says. "I knew they weren't going to find him alive. Lake Michigan just doesn't give people up like that very often. But in not having a body recovered, you can still have some little bit of fantasy, as weird as that may sound."

A steady parade of family, friends and neighbors streamed into the Lamberts' home Tuesday, bringing food and offering comforting words.

"I appreciate the phone calls so much," Tanya Lambert says. "It's like a recorded tape: 'Oh, we're so sorry. We can't imagine. If we can do anything, call and let us know.'

"They probably know I wouldn't actually go to one of them and ask," she says, "but the fact that people are reaching out means so much. It's nice to know we're not alone during this tragic time we have to go through."

A memorial service for Scott is scheduled for 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday at Deer Run Church of Christ, 2730 S. Ironwood Drive in South Bend.

Staff writer Kevin Allen:
kallen@sbtinfo.com
(574) 235-6244

[Southsider2k12]

The underwater dives have been called off in the search for the last victim from Sunday. They are now waiting for the body to resurface before it is recovered.

The U.S. Coast Guard Station in Michigan City is asking anyone who might spot the last young man to call them at (219) 879-8371, or the Michigan City Police Department, or the DNR office in Michigan City.

[MCRogers1974]

Body of second South Bend drowning victim found in Lake Michigan

Authorities found the second of two boys who went missing off a Michigan City beach on Sunday.

The body of 17-year-old Lorenzo Greer was found about 2 miles east of the Michigan City pier and about one-quarter mile off the beach, according to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.

The other boy, 14-year-old Scott Hoover, was found Tuesday morning.

The two boys, both from South Bend, were swimming with Hoover's father and brother when the two boys went missing.

http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/laporte...fdf14794e1.html

[diggler]

Wow, that be near the New Buffalo area.