SiouxLand

Posted by: dave jar on February 19, 2010 9:47PM EST This is the key part of the statement: "Police officers and River Watch volunteers have saved over fifty people in recent years who were either in the water, or on the edge of or attempting suicide in the river. Some cases are nearly identical to this case." Will it put an end to the irresponsible serial killer theory? Not likely.

Posted by: realtorick on February 20, 2010 4:45AM EST A while back, I spent a moment with Chief Kondracki. I asked him to join my team, get on board, about doing something POSITIVE, about making the Downtown waterfront SAFE!!! He said he would, but he asked for my patience and support. One thing at a time. He was pushing for the Alcohol intoxication ordinance. He also asked for my support and promised to come out and support my cause after it passed. Well the chief got what he wanted! I have twice tried to meet up with him in the past 2 years, about his promise. Both times he only ALLOWED ME TO MEET WITH A STAFF REPRESENTATIVE, AND DODGED ME! Now it is time to do something POSITIVE about safety on our downtown developed river front vs a defensive announcement to deflect the growing discontent, and rampant rumors of serial killers, etc. Now for a THIRD TIME can I get my question answered? WHAT HAPPENED TO MY SUPPORT reguarding safety in Riverside Park, the levy, and the River walk. Rick Hamilton(608) 792-3712

Posted by: realtorick on February 20, 2010 4:49AM EST A while back, I spent a moment with Chief Kondracki. I asked him to join my team, get on board, about doing something POSITIVE, about making the Downtown waterfront SAFE!!! He said he would, but he asked for my patience and support. One thing at a time. He was pushing for the Alcohol intoxication ordinance. He also asked for my support and promised to come out and support my cause after it passed. Well the chief got what he wanted! I have twice tried to meet up with him in the past 2 years, about his promise. Both times he only ALLOWED ME TO MEET WITH A STAFF REPRESENTATIVE, AND DODGED ME! Now it is time to do something POSITIVE about safety on our downtown developed river front vs a defensive announcement to deflect the growing discontent, and rampant rumors of serial killers, etc. Now for a THIRD TIME can I get my question answered? WHAT HAPPENED TO MY SUPPORT reguarding safety in Riverside Park, the levy, and the River walk. Rick Hamilton

Posted by: Newmanator on February 20, 2010 5:06AM EST i would like to voice my opinion and completely disagree, the patterns are way to common for these to be accidental , until a woman or a non college male drowns i will always believe that someone is responsible for these deaths, i understand that the law enforcement feels the need to cover it so they dont scare the public and cause a frenzy, its becoming a normal event, its late winter what do ya know another college kid found in the river, the police just need to take this more seriously and look to preventing and accepting that some thing very wrong is going on

Posted by: dave jar on February 20, 2010 11:45PM EST Slurring the police department doesn't help at all. One of these drownings could be a son or a brother or a cousin or a friend of someone in the La Crosse police department. To say they would rather have someone they know die, rather than investigate, is just ridiculous on its face.

Posted by: doctor9 on February 23, 2010 9:51AM EST "Police officers and River Watch volunteers have saved over fifty people in recent years who were either in the water, or on the edge of or attempting suicide in the river." I do not believe the preceding statement. Not one bit. This should be easily verifiable. If we interview all 50+ "rescued" people, will they all admit that they were suicidal and/or in the water? I SERIOUSLY doubt it. The Riverwatch people and the chief are bending the truth to the breaking point. I am not saying that there is a killer. I AM saying that Riverwatch is wasting their time. This latest death is proof. Up until Riverwatch started, there was about one death a year. Now the chief would have us believe that the number would have jumped to 50+ in the last couple years alone if not for them. This is just plain unbelievable.

Posted by: W on February 24, 2010 7:53AM EST If there is no seriel killer, than shame on you La Crosse for not putting up a fence a long time ago. A simple one time cost..no ongoing monies to police. Seems like a viable resolution to an ongoing problem. Lets stop this, not continue it....

Posted by: EdHead on February 24, 2010 11:25AM EST Before condemning Kondracki for ignoring you, I'd be interested to know what your ideas were Rick. However, your first mistake was to assume that Kondracki was interested in making the riverfront safer. I'm sure he is, but in this case he merely used this as an opportunity to "powergrab" [for lack of a better term]. Ordinances have been in place all along to deal with this issue but he wasn't interested in enforcing these. He wanted something that would draw more attention to the drunks his dept. has to deal with. Doctor 9: It's fairly easy to claim that Riverwatch and/or the LaX Police Dept. are inflating the number of people "saved" or wasting their time. I'd be interested in knowing what proof you have that they are inflating their numbers. Or, is it just a general mistrust of the dept.