A few days before this happened, I went under these cables; they were maybe
4' below the bridge structure; bridge clearance is maybe 8' at high tide.
At the time, I noted how poorly marked they were, hard to see even in
daylight.
You can see photos of the bridge: http://tinyurl.com/y7snrz
http://tinyurl.com/u9vdl

I didn't report the hazard...

Sal's Dad


http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/ne...121boater.html
District Attorney Geoffrey Rushlau said on Monday that his office will
determine whether criminal charges should be filed in connection with an
apparently fatal boating accident in Bath, now that the Maine Marine Patrol
has completed its investigation of the incident.

The body of Richard Drouin Jr., 39, of Auburn has not been recovered since
the boat he was in capsized on Oct. 27 in the Kennebec River, near the old
Carlton Bridge.

Richard Drouin Sr., 68, and Phillip Stevens, 39, also of Auburn, were
rescued by Bath Iron Works employees.
State investigators said the elder Drouin was operating a 16-foot motorboat
after sunset when it hit metal cables in a channel between spans of the
bridge.

The boat, which was heading upriver, capsized and all three men were tossed
into the river.

Sgt. Paul Joyce, a field supervisor for the Maine Marine Patrol, said the
boat was not in the main navigation channel at the time of the accident.

Divers and crews in airplanes searched the area but were unable to find
Richard Drouin Jr.'s body.

Herb Thomson, a spokesman for the Maine Department of Transportation, said
Drouin's boat hit a suspended cable system that supports staging being used
as part of a lead paint removal project on the Carlton Bridge.

The Aulson Co. of Methuen, Mass., was hired last year to remove lead paint,
repair railroad tracks and lift spans, and paint the bridge, which was part
of Route 1 but is now for trains only. Thomson said the $11.3 million
project is 85 percent complete.
Another boater came forward during the investigation and said his craft had
hit a cable in the same river channel three hours before Drouin's boat did.

Richard L. Collins, a Virginia-based consultant who owns a seasonal home in
Phippsburg, said he and his wife were going downriver after having dinner in
Bath when he noticed that the main navigation channel was blocked with
scaffolding that looked like a suspension footbridge.

He said he pulled his boat into a side channel and it "stopped dead in the
water" after striking a submerged cable. Collins said a construction worker
apologized after his boat stalled.

Joyce said it will be up to Rushlau's office, which handles Sagadahoc
County, to decide whether criminal charges will be filed against the boat
operator or the bridge contractor.

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