THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 23, 1996 TAG: 9608230064
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON FRANK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 66 lines
Residents of East Ocean View gathered along the shoreline of Pretty Lake early Thursday evening near a memorial of flowers left for 5-year-old Alex Harris, whose body was pulled from the water at about 4 p.m. by U.S. Navy divers.
They talked about Alex, who had Down's syndrome, and how he wandered away from the Ocean View Recreation Center on Wednesday afternoon while visiting a playground with his grandmother.
``He was very friendly, just a sweet, sweet kid,'' remembered Tonia Etheridge, 27, whose 3-year-old daughter Jasmine attended King's Kids preschool with Alex. ``He always ran up and grabbed my legs when I picked my daughter up.''
But they also talked about how Alex's death - the second drowning of a child in Pretty Lake this month - should finally bring some attention from city officials to the dangerous, unprotected waterfront at the end of 20th Bay Street in East Ocean View.
``If there was only a lifeguard,'' said Robin Giddens, who lives next to the beachfront where both Alex and 9-year-old Dante Lancaster drowned. ``They need to make sure there is supervision for these kids.''
Dante drowned Aug. 6 while crabbing with several other neighborhood children, according to several people who live near Little Creek and came Thursday to look at the site of the deaths. A flower memorial for Dante also has been placed on the beach.
Besides adding lifeguards, Giddens suggested that the city should ``completely fence in'' the playground at the Recreation Center where Alex had been playing Wednesday before wandering away.
Larry Hill, spokesman for the Norfolk Police Department, said that Alex's body was spotted floating about 25 yards from shore by a diver with one of the Little Creek-based U.S. Navy SEAL Teams.
The discovery came after divers and search teams had searched the waters of Pretty Lake Wednesday night and Thursday morning. Only a sneaker believed to belong to the boy was found Wednesday.
A helicopter from the Virginia Beach Police Department also flew over the area Thursday, and a specially trained water search dog was brought to Pretty Lake from the Yorktown area.
Hill said police distributed about 200 fliers with pictures of Alex during the two days of the search. He credited the nearby community for helping to look for Alex.
One of those who participated was 28-year-old Abraham Nieves, who lives on 21st Bay Street.
``I stayed out here until 4 in the morning looking,'' Nieves said. ``These kids should not be allowed in the water out there. Period.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Alex Harris
Color photo by MIKE HEFFNER\The Virginian-Pilot
The body of Alex Harris was found near a memorial to 9-year-old
Dante Lancaster, who drowned Aug. 6.
B\W Photo by MIKE HEFFNER/The Virginian-Pilot
A Navy SEAL diver holds the body of Alex Harris as a Norfolk police
search boat arrives Thursday afternoon. Alex, who had Down syndrome,
wandered away from the Ocean View Recreation Center on Wednesday
afternoon.
KEYWORDS: DROWNING OCEAN VIEW JUVENILE by CNB