200607 - English Language Learning

RD I JULY 2006That same day, the Poleyeffs madetheir way down to the 29th Streetbeach. Eugenie Poleyeff loved to swim.So, as her husband enjoyed the sunnyday, Eugenie joined a number of othersalready in the water.But no one at the 29th Street beachknew that a riptide was rushing withdeadly force under the surface. A riptideis a narrow slice of rapidlycoursing water that movesaway from the shore—and Eugenie had theextreme bad luckof swimming rightinto this perilouscurrent. The powerfulriptide immediatelypulled herout to sea.As Eugenie cried outfor help, it was ZacharyBreaux, building sand castleswith his daughters, who heardher screams. The young father shotinto the water, while his wife rantoward the boardwalk to find a lifeguard.Zachary’s daring leap intothe sea made perfect sense to his family:In 1988, the excellent swimmerand former Eagle Scout had saved adrowning man off the coast of Italy.But the riptide proved too strongeven for him: Zachary was also overcomeby the ocean’s force. Horrifiedbystanders gathered at the surf’s edgeand watched the two swimmers thrashin the ocean. Incredibly, a group ofRobin Gerber is a lawyer in Washington, D.C.,and author of Katharine Graham: The LeadershipJourney of an American Icon.110men were able to snatch the pair andbring them to shore. A few of the menwere still administering CPR when alifeguard ran up from a beach eightblocks away. But it was too late. Eugenieand Zachary both died.The Poleyeff and Breaux familiessued Miami Beach, arguing that thecity had control over the area. Thecity should have warned swimmersof rip currents, theyclaimed. And whyweren’t lifeguards onduty? Anyone couldsee people wereswimming. Didn’tMiami Beach havea duty to provideocean-lovers with asafe place to swim?After all, the cityseemed to be encouragingpeople to swim by supplyingpublic showers andwatersport rentals. At every otherbeach where the city offered theseamenities, there were also lifeguards.The day of the drowning, the lifeguardat the 21st Street beach, just eightblocks away, had even posted riptidewarning flags. This tragedy could havebeen avoided if Miami Beach hadshown reasonable care.The city saw its responsibilities differently.Miami Beach’s lawyers certainlydid not think licensing beachequipmentrentals increased the city’sresponsibility for swimmers. And theattorneys were adamant that the citycouldn’t protect against riptides,events that occur suddenly, randomly,