<p>I remember hearing from Day 1 that swimming in that region of the gorges was illegal. However, I do agree that Cornell should do more to make students aware of the dangers.</p>
<p>well i just moved, and so we dont have newspaper subscriptions yet (would that even be in usatoday/any big ones?) and cornell daily sun doesnt have there papers around campus that i normaly read everyday…i have been checking cnn.com pretty daily for just general things. i dont even know what newspapers are available in ithaca besides that BUZZ thing that i never get and the Sun. </p>
<p>i dont think cornell.edu has it on their site, i usually check that for news too</p>
<p>Side issue: if its illegal, then do the witnesses get fined? I am sure this law is not enforced much.</p>
<p>Where can you even go to read laws? All the laws I know i think are from other people telling me verbally. Oh aside from the laws of the road I had to learn to pass the drivers testing years ago.</p>
<p>Is there no law book or something. Seriously, some things I need to know if they are legal or illegal, and i spent hours looking on many occasions…shouldnt laws be easy to find so that we can obey them.</p>
<p>The Cornell Sun doesn’t run over the summer and Doug’s death did not make national news.</p>
<p>I don’t believe this law was strictly enforced in the past and it is unfortunate. This event is a very sad one for the entire Cornell community as well as the close friends and family of our fellow Cornellian.</p>
<p>Rather than argue about the enforcement or written publication of the law…just listen to us and don’t do it.</p>
<p>no i know i didnt mean to make it a law board thing, but i just seriously dont know and would like to/need to know whether certain things are laws and hey maybe im breaking laws in other ways and dont know it. i am being serious.</p>
<p>i just had the thought that, maybe this Doug guy is a strict law abider and wouldn’t have gone in if he knew it was illegal. Scary thought really.</p>
<p>But no yeah its a sad sad incident.</p>
<p>Ya it is definitely a tragedy, it must have been just after a rainfall w/ the strong currents. I wouldn’t say don’t go to the gorges now…b/c you will and they are fun. But if u can’t swim or don’t swim well don’t jump off the waterfall. It is a horrible thing that happened to him and a great loss.</p>
<p>I do enjoy the gorges and yes, the Central NY/Southern Tier area has experienced some very strong storms with a lot of rainfall recently.</p>
<p>just cuz im bit bored and its on my mind</p>
<p>the day was sunny all day, i was outside from 11-430 and no clouds…although it wasnt as hot as the rest of the week and i know almost everday since has been overcast/rainy ye wow im bored, lol</p>
<p>Ya after it rains the water pressure increases a whole lot and it becomes really fast so people ride down the waterfall like a water slide. It’s fun, but now I also know it’s dangerous. I’ve seen all the warnings and law signs but maybe something that would be good would be a sign about how people have died. Ex: jumping off the waterfall. When I see memorials by water I just assume someone was drunk and drowned one night. If they specifically said that someone got pulled down after jumping off the waterfall by turbulent currents that are caused by underground holes it would be much more helpful.</p>
<p>Or you could just use common sense and say… gee I have no idea how deep the pool underneath the falls is, nor do I have any idea how many pounds of water are flowing over the falls every minute (but it is well into the thousands).</p>
<p>And gee… shale is awfully slippery when it is wet and has algae. Even if I don’t drown I could still slip and crack my head open.</p>
<p>Or u could be a cornellian and jump into the gorge from one platform or another. It’s wat everyone does so don’t act like it’s some obvious danger cayuga</p>
<p>Well, jumping from Lover’s Leap north of Beebe Lake is another story. I did that all the time.</p>
<p>I’ve got to agree with BigRed’s post #28. I took a look at the brochure in the link posted by Tahoe, and I don’t think it’s explicit enough about the danger. </p>
<p>Common sense should indeed prevent you from drinking while swimming and from jumping into the water when you can’t actually swim, but I don’t think it necessarily extends to pounds of pressure and undertows from hidden holes.</p>
<p>I’d like to see warnings that include the full explanation. No matter how strong and sober you are, if you get caught in the undertow it’s going to be dangerous. How could it hurt to spell this out for people?</p>
<p>if its illegal, why does cornell always have nice pictures of people hanging over the edge of say like the bridge on north/beebe lake…as if theyre promoting that aspect of the campus…lol</p>
<p>Nobody says you can’t dangle your legs and get yourself a tan.</p>
<p><a href=“Cornell Days: Image”>Cornell Days: Image;
<p>martinez…they do promote that aspect of the campus. by turning a blind eye to gorge jumping and failing to even make mention of how dangerous the gorges are during frosh orientation, they are doing just that. it makes me sick because cornell knows. this isnt the first time someone has been lost to the gorges. cornell promotes it because its a draw, one of very few draws in ithaca. people love the nature of ithaca and it would hurt cornell if people were prevented from enjoying that aspect of the campus. people look forward to gorge jumping before they even get on campus…its something that helps cornell attract students. and cayuga, i disagree, the pic comes pretty damn close to encouraging it…considering that everyone knows that bridge is used for gorge jumping…not dangling your legs. that would be like cornell showing a pic of people with empty shot glasses and saying it doesnt promote drinking. you get the idea.</p>
<p>anyway, i just hope dougs death can send a message to everyone at cornell about the gorges. it disgusts me that doug died doing something he probably didnt second guess as being dangerous or even risky. cornell has turned a blind eye to gorge jumping (and gorge swimming), and has risked a lot of lives in doing so. it wouldnt take much for cornell to make people informed about the dangers…but i dont recall them even trying to send that message at any point during my freshman year. so sad and disappointing. RIP doug.</p>
<p>yeah thats what i mean, cornell maybe shouldnt “damn near encourage” the gorge jumping most especially if its illegal, but everything u typed i was thinking</p>
<p>and i hope i dont sound rude or whtever but his death doesnt really send a msg to me, i know the risks of giong in, or doing anything i do (except for the legality risk in this case)</p>
<p>but yeah i guess those who dont think about it, it sends a msg to them</p>
<p>and i mean if the details were given of how/why maybe then it could help more, like if it is a drunk person, or bad swimmer, or strong currents it makes big differences</p>
<p>during orientation, gorge jumping was encouraged by my OL; I think my orientation group went gorge jumping collectively, while I was hungover. I’ve never done it, because I’m cautious about stuff like that and usually hungover during the day time, but Cornell definitely needs to do more to make the danger obvious. The fact that it might be illegal doesn’t really discourage people (under-aged drinking is also illegal). Knowing that people are going to gorge jump, Cornell should take measures to clearly designate spots that are particularly dangerous, so people avoid them.</p>
<p>i still cant believe that people are still thinking about swimming in the gorges after this. it makes me sick. i know the real reasons behind why doug was the only one in the gorge at the time. totally describes the type of person he is. but if this isnt a take home message, maybe it will be once one of your best friends is taken from you doing the same thing. the worst days of my life were seeing doug at his funeral this week. i hope no one else has to witness this happen to one of their friends in the future.</p>
<p>true laurstar, but dont forget death/injury is a risk in almost anything we do…
everybody needs to asses their own risk/benefit for every situation, you cant stay bubble wrapped at home all your life, risks/death is a part of life</p>