Flood Channel Dangers

Regarding the lawsuit against the owners of property near where the boy entered the river area (“Parents File Another Lawsuit in Drowning Death,” Times Valley Edition Feb. 17), I am a parent of two young boys, I was raised in the Valley and at present I live right across from the Los Angeles River in Sherman Oaks.

When I was 15 years old, my friends and I used to play near, and even in, the flood control channels on a regular basis-- except when it rained. Because everyone knew that, regardless of signs, fences or other warnings, cold swiftly moving water is dangerous and deadly.

Prior Times stories characterized the 15-year-old as a bright student, which leaves me to ask why he would endanger himself like that. While there may be merit to the parents’ actions against the city for lack of rescue preparedness, any actions against the property owners are absurd.

It’s time for these parents to sit down and come to grips with the fact that the people best positioned to have avoided something like this (aside from the victim) were the parents themselves.

TODD BERNSTEIN

Sherman Oaks