Trial set on boat wake's effect in fatal capsize

3/9/2010

ALBANY, N.Y. — A federal judge has set a trial to determine whether another boat's wake contributed to the 2005 capsizing of a tour boat on Lake George that killed 20 passengers, including six from the Toledo area.

In a ruling yesterday, U.S. District Judge Thomas McAvoy says there's a question of fact to be determined at trial June 10. He refused the Lake George Steamboat Co.'s request to dismiss liability claims that its tour boat's wake contributed to the Ethan Allen's capsizing.

The 40-foot Ethan Allen carried 47 passengers and the captain when it suddenly tipped over in clear, sunny weather.

Claims against the boat owner and operator and a tour organizer have been settled.

Nineteen of those killed were from Michigan, and Wilma LeJeune, 78, was from West Toledo.

Among the dead were five Bedford Township residents: Beverly Becker, 78; Virginia Ciesinski, 82; JoAnn Manore, 74; Joyce Rochowiak, 69, and Viola Urbaniak, 89.