Three Agencies Pull Children From Camp

Officials from three probation departments were removing youngsters from Camp O’Neal Friday in the wake of new allegations by state licensing officials that two camp counselors who drowned along with three teen-agers in Convict Lake last weekend lacked required first-aid and water-safety credentials.

“All we are citing right now is lack of care and supervision based on the fact that they had people who were not competent to perform the duties they were supposed to,” said Bob Gonzalez, licensing program supervisor with the state Department of Social Services office in Riverside.

“They were supposed to be (trained) with first aid and water safety,” he explained. “They were right next to a body of water and the people weren’t appropriately trained.”

Bobbi Trott, director of Camp O’Neal, located in the Eastern Sierra in Mono County, said through a newly hired public relations firm that the charges are “unfounded.”

Benjamin Epstein of the Professional Image of Newport Beach said Trott believes that counselors Randy Porter and Dave Meyers--who died Monday when they fell through the ice on Convict Lake trying to save the teen-agers--had completed state-required first-aid training. Epstein said a delay in the documentation of the training may explain why the state licensing inspector could find no evidence of it in employee files.

Trott also said in a prepared statement that Porter, on the job for the first day Monday, told her he had received water-safety training.

Trott acknowledged that she did not believe that Meyers, who had worked as a counselor at the camp for four months, possessed credentials in water-safety training.

“But there was never any plans to have any water activity,” Epstein said. “They planned to go on a hike, not to go swimming.”

The state licensing report citing Trott for allowing the two counselors to work without proof of proper training was issued Thursday evening. The report noted that the youths who fell through the ice to their deaths had been part of a group of 16 youngsters under the supervision of Porter and Meyers and that they had strayed from the main group near the lake’s edge and wandered out onto thin ice. The report expressed concern over the length of time the small group was allegedly unsupervised.

Licensing officials “will continue to investigate this part of the incident,” says the report, “to ascertain time . . . for this unsupervised group to reach the area of . . . death.”

Two of the teen-agers who died were placed at the camp by Tulare County probation officials who normally provide about half of the 34 troubled and delinquent youngsters housed at Camp O’Neal. Tulare County probation officials sent a van to the facility Friday to remove the remaining half-dozen youngsters at the camp who are under their jurisdiction.

“The state has issued citations,” said Don Fielding, deputy chief of probation in Tulare County, “and we feel that (removing the youngsters from the camp) is a judicious approach to make sure the minors are fully protected.”

Probation officials in Fresno and Merced counties also removed youngsters Friday. But some agencies who placed children at the camp were taking a wait-and-see attitude, and one probation official expressed confidence that the camp would be cleared of any culpability in the tragedy.

Gary Paytas, supervising probation officer for San Bernardino County, said his department had not found the camp negligent in the deaths and that the seven youngsters placed at the facility by his office will remain there pending the outcome of investigations by state officials and Mono County sheriff’s deputies.

“The investigation by this department has indicated there was no negligence,” he said, adding, “The investigation by state licensing--it is our understanding--has indicated there is no negligence.”

But Kathleen Norris, public information officer for the state Department of Social Services, said licensing officials have just begun their investigation and have made no such indication.

Norris has termed Camp O’Neal’s problems in meeting licensing standards over the last two to three years as “chronic” but said the facility has shown some improvement during the last year. The camp has been repeatedly cited for failure to provide adequate care, including proper supervision, staffing and clothing.

Times staff writer Cathleen Decker contributed to this story.