EVERETT – The girls might not have opted to wear the life jackets, but they never had the chance to decide.
Jennifer Buchanan / The Herald
Jackie Duong, 12, and Jenny Do, 11, drowned in Silver Lake on Saturday. They weren’t wearing life jackets.
Free life jackets are generally available from Memorial Day until Labor Day at the lake, but last summer more than 100 life vests were stolen from the cabinet at Silver Lake. As a result, the cabinet was locked over the Memorial Day weekend.
Mourners have placed flowers, food, cards and school pictures of Jackie and Jenny on the beach at Silver Lake just yards from where the girls were pulled from the water. Their deaths are sad reminders of why the cabinet was built in the first place.
“A life jacket doesn’t take the place of parental supervision. Life jackets can make the difference. It can only take a second to drown,” said Shawneri Guzman, president of Snohomish County SAFE KIDS, the nonprofit group that started the life jacket loaner program about five years ago.
Volunteers built cabinets at five locations in the county, including Silver Lake, Kayak Point County Park, Lake Stevens, Martha Lake and Twin Lakes. Jackets are available to swimmers in sizes from infant to adult.
About two months ago, vandals nearly destroyed a similar life-jacket station at Lake Stevens, which must be repaired before it can be ready for the summer.
“Last summer, I went to the lake and could count 10 to 20 life jackets being used by kids,” said Robert Marshall, fire prevention specialist for Fire District 8 in Lake Stevens.
Organizers are working on a plan to reduce the number of vests that disappear each year at Silver Lake. The jackets are obtained through the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office as part of a state program. SAFE KIDS members rely on grants and community donations, and can’t afford to replace the missing vests, Guzman said.
“Anyone who isn’t a strong swimmer should be wearing a life jacket,” said sheriff’s Lt. Rodney Rochon, commander of the sheriff’s marine services unit.
Signs in Spanish, Russian and possibly other languages, as well as English, will be posted at the cabinets. The group also plans to print the word “loaner” on each jacket.
The Silver Lake cabinet is the worst for missing jackets in the county, but it also has the greatest need, Guzman said. “That lake seems to claim a life a year,” he added.
A funeral service for the girls will be at 3:30 p.m. Sunday at Evergreen Funeral Home, 4504 Broadway in Everett.
Reporter Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463 or hefley@heraldnet.com.
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