[LDR4]

I have been reading some of these posts regarding this terrible accident over the past few days and have resisted writing my own because I was sure that all of this would eventually die down and did not want to add fuel to the fire. Unfortunately there are way to many people with way too much time on their hands (see turtleboy) that have already been able to conclude the cause of this accident was excessive speed and therefore find it acceptable to use this forum as a place to become Judge and Jury and convict someoneone of something that she has not even had a chance to defend herself of.

Yes I opposed the speed limit bill. I also do not have a boat that will go above 30 mph so it does not, and will not affect how I boat on the lake. I am against the bill because I think that the effort and money that has been put into this debate (by both sides) would be much better served being directed towards things like increased Marine Patrol presence on our lakes (all of them not just Winni) and stricter boater education requirements.
People are going to exceed 45 mph and 25mph whether there is a speed limit in force or not, and the Marine patrol does not, and will have the resources to effectively prevent that.
I don't know whether that boat was doing 20 mph or 50 mph that night. The only people that do (or will) are the people who survived the accident and the officials charged with the responsibility of determining the cause.

There will be plenty of time for everyone involved in the speed limit debate to get in their "I told you so's" once all the facts are determined.
This is still the United States, and we are still all "Innocent until proven Guilty"

Until we hear from those parties, I would suggest that we put this discussion on hold and pray for those recovering and for Stephanie and her family.