Nancy Rollins
February 1, 2008Grand Isle voters to elect mayor
February 6, 2008The Terrebonne Parish Council’s Policy, Procedure and Legal Committee on Jan. 22 decided to postpone voting on an ordinance to require the erection of fences around swimming pools until next week’s meeting.
Saying that action on the ordinance was needed, Councilwomen Teri Cavalier and Arlanda Williams wanted to vote immediately, but Councilman Billy Hebert – sitting in on his first council committee meeting – said he wanted to gather more information.
“Not having a pool ordinance is not in the best interest of children,” Cavalier said.
“Something needs to be put in place,” Williams said.
The ordinance would require a fence or barrier at least four-feet high around in-ground or above-ground pools more than 24 inches deep.
Hebert expressed concerned about the cost for homeowners of erecting a fence. He said a new product is available, which raises an alarm if a child falls into a pool. The product is capable of distinguishing between an inanimate object and a human being.
Hebert said he does not believe the latches on gates mandated in the ordinance would provide adequate protection. Self-latching devices have to be attached on the pool side of the fence.
Cavalier asked what would happen if the alarm, which Hebert promotes, went off when no one was home. She also questioned whether the price of building pool fences is costly. Hebert gave a figure of $8,000.
“We looked at the property rights of owners versus the interests of children,” she said. “We looked at different ways to prevent (children) from getting into pools.”
“We looked at something not restrictive,” she said, “but if a neighbor doesn’t have (a barrier), you would have a way to force him. This ordinance is the best for the parish. It doesn’t infringe on property rights but still protects children.”
Councilman Alvin Tillman supported the motion to delay the vote, saying the council has new members and Hebert needs time to gather information.
“But I don’t want to see this get bogged down,” he said.
Gray resident Lucretia McBride told the committee she believes the wording of the ordinance is vague because the language describing the fencing is not sufficiently precise.
The ordinance requires either a fence around the pool or one around the yard.
McBride said a barrier around a pool is called an isolation fence and one around the yard is a perimeter fence. However, the ordinance does not use those words.
A study done in Los Angeles County found isolation fencing more effective than perimeter fencing at preventing access to pools by unattended children, she said. An article about the study was published in the March 2001 issue of the American Journal of Public Health.
Gray resident Nancy Newsom, whose 2-year-old grandson Hayden Davenport accidentally drowned in a swimming pool on Sept. 19, told the committee that people she has spoken to in Terrebonne Parish mistakenly believed the parish already had a pool fence ordinance on the books.
“The pool ordinance won’t save all children, but it will save some,” she said. “Our children depend on us. Don’t let them down.”
