What’s Left Out, Again

Friday it was reported that four boaters (two adults and two boys) went over a 150-foot dam on the Colorado River near Bay City, TX. The implication to most people – especially from the video on TV – was that the fall was 150 feet. I wondered why the injuries were so slight. I didn’t think the elevation by Bay City could be that high. Turns out, Bay City is at about 50 feet elevation. For a dam to be 150 feet high there, the poor Colorado River would be backed up for – well, I can’t do the math.

Today it was reported that the dam was 20 feet high. (Apparently it is 150 feet wide.) That’s still quite a fall, but still doable, as evidenced by the outcome. Of course, now they’re trying to eliminate accountability for the adults by suggesting that they “lost control.” Duh! They got too close to the dam. It seems that the media used some more of their HYPE. The lesson is (as Peter McWilliams said, there is a lesson in everything): Be skeptical – very skeptical – with what the media “reports.”