A year later, victims of Ethan Allen mourned

October 1, 2006 -- LAKE GEORGE, N.Y. (AP) - On a wet, gray day, survivors of the boating accident that killed 20 tourists a year ago gathered Sunday by the lake shore to remember the dead.

The victims, most of them elderly, were trapped under the dangerously heavy Ethan Allen when it flipped on a calm, sunny day shortly after starting a fall foliage cruise.

The accident inspired changes in federal weight rules that could affect every commercial passenger boat in the United States. The National Transportation Safety Board found the boat was only safe for a maximum of 14 passengers, not the 48 aboard when it capsized. The boat originally had been certified to carry 50.

On Sunday, families of the victims and community members dedicated a granite monument to the disaster. As the name of each victim was called, flowers were placed nearby.

"Perhaps it will be a closure for some of them," said Lake George Mayor Robert Blais.

A woman from Ohio, Wilma LeJeune, 78, of Toledo, was among those who died. Most were from Michigan, and the monument includes the state's flower, an apple blossom.

Several lawsuits are pending against the boat's operator and pilot, the tour organizer and others.

One survivor who returned Sunday was Jean Siler, 77, of Trenton, Mich. "It's an opportunity to say thank you to this community that's so wonderful to us. Really wonderful," she said.

She said the accident still affects her sleep. "I fall asleep and then I feel myself in the water and trying to get to the surface and that wakes me up."

She doubts she will ever get on a boat again.

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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