AP News, May 26th, 2007
Sarah Bonham and her friends have jumped off 40-foot-high sandstone cliffs into Summersville Lake countless times during camping trips and church youth functions.
To many teenagers, the summertime rite is as common as tanning and fishing. As of Friday, it's no longer allowed.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Huntington District banned jumping and diving from cliffs at 19 lakes in southern West Virginia and surrounding states.
"I think it's disappointing," said Bonham, 19, of Cross Lanes. "People can get hurt by anything. As long as you're smart about it and you're a strong swimmer and use common sense, it should be OK."
But the corps considers it risky behavior, noting that since 1993, 69 people have died in water-related accidents in the district, including seven last year.
Failing to heed the ban in parts of West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio and Virginia could result in penalties of up to $5,000 and unspecified prison time.
"This is not an activity that is going to be encouraged and allowed on corps property," Huntington district spokeswoman Peggy Noel said.
The move comes on the heels of a 2006 nationwide corps ban on kite tubes _ inflatable devices designed to become airborne when pulled behind high-speed boats.
The cliff-diving ban effects the following lakes: West Virginia's Beech Fork, Bluestone, Burnsville, East Lynn, R.D. Bailey, Summersville and Sutton; Kentucky's Grayson, Dewey, Fishtrap, Paintsville and Yatesville; Ohio's Alum Creek, Deer Creek, Delaware, Dillon, the North Branch of Kokosing River Lake and Paint Creek; and Virginia's John W. Flannagan.
No other corps districts in the country have similar bans, said David Hewitt, a corps spokesman in Washington, D.C.
The National Park Service this year banned cliff diving and rope swings in Missouri's Ozark National Scenic Riverways in an effort to cut down on rowdy behavior.
And in the foothills of the Ozark Mountains in Oklahoma, the corps has blocked access to the highest cliff at Lake Tenkiller, where several deaths have occurred. Access to a shorter cliff is not restricted, said Lt. Randy Smith, an Oklahoma State Park ranger.
"This is a much-needed law," Sgt. Dave Wallen, district supervisor of Kentucky's Department of Parks' ranger division, said of the cliff-diving ban. "I think once after a few people have to go to court and pay a hefty fine, I think the word will spread pretty quick that we're not going to put up with it."
Bonham said the ban likely wouldn't keep everybody from cliff diving, and that it may eventually have an undesired effect at Summersville Lake.
"It's where people always go to jump off the rocks, so they're going to lose a lot of business," she said.
