Justice for Gavin

On June 28th, 2014. Sixteen -year old Gavin Paul Brooks passed away while visiting High Falls Water Park in Geraldine, Alabama. This park is one of the neatest waterfalls in Alabama and is located a few miles north west of Geraldine Alabama. Located on town creek, it has a 25-foot span and Height of 35 feet. It has a natural Arch that that has been a meeting place for many locals over the years. During a visit to high falls it is common to see people engage in swimming, however, a more common sight, entails observing people dive from the falls natural land formations. Although the dangers associated with engaging in such actions, prose a multitude of risks, still, participant’s actions cease to be supervised by the park administrators. In addition to the absence of administrative supervision among park visitors, there is also no certified water safety official employed at the park to maintain the safety of the parks visitors whom engage in swimming and/or diving from the falls natural rock formations. As a result of absence of administrative supervision people are increasingly susceptible to encountering the risk of injury as well as death. In relation to the passing of sixteen- year old Gavin Paul Brooks during his time at high falls, sheriff jimmy Harris said, “It’s just a tragic thing that we’re used to down here, we have injuries, people fall off two or three times a year or more,” Due to the alarming severity of these statistics, it is evident that the managerial structuring of high falls park water park, located in Geraldine, Alabama is in dire need of transformation. Furthermore, if you wish to help us achieve these alterations while granting justice for Gavin support us by signing this petition to establish what is listed below;

1. Establishing a means of Supervision; either by park administrators, or certified water safety official(s). Forming this would ensure individual(S) actions are monitored, and would assist in maintaining the safety of the parks visitors. For example, a certified water safety official would be there to administer immediate aid in situations that are presented to be lifethreatining or hazardous. If this were implemented it would assist in the reduction of annual injuries and reported deaths encountered at high falls.

2. Implementing safety precautions such as utilizing natural chemicals to break up some of the algae on high falls without interrupting the falls, natural ecosystem. Employing this precaution, would help prevent visitors from slipping and/ or falling on the rocks. Additional forms of precautions would include launching warning signs, throughout the park. This would ensure that visitors are aware of all probable dangers that some actitivies in the park can prose. By people becoming more aware, they will be more conscious of not only their surroundings but also the activities in which they participate in while visiting the falls.

3. A method to increase satelitte reception at highfalls, as a result of their being little to none. For example, when emergency situations arise, visitors are unable to request help at the moment the incident occurs or immediately following. Increasing satellite reception at the falls, would aid by increasing the response time for emergency response teams and law enforcement officials; when responding to incidents at the park.