May Steve rest in peace, and may family and friends find comfort and support.  My heart goes out to family and friends.  I attended a benefit for Steve at Swede Point Park near Madrid on 9/21/02, and had a chance to meet friends and family.  I learned that Steve and Larry had been at a memorial service by the river that day.  They started from Sycamore Access near Saylorville, and portaged around Center St. dam.  They were told by some onlookers that the Scott Ave. dam was runnable.  Larry and Steve had considerable discussion about the Scott Ave. dam, and even went up on shore to look at it.   Steve made the decision to try and run the dam, a tragic misjudgement.   However, had the dam been engineered for safety he would not have died.

I want to say this: The time  has come to develop safe water trails in Iowa.   Other areas of the country have been moved by the death of a devoted paddler to provide safe passage through dangerous dams, or provide portages around them.  (Steve Weliver cites Englewood, Co. as an example)  An angled extension at the base of the dam would "drownproof"  the dam at Scott Ave. 

I pledge to work with the family and friends of Steven Nourse to eliminate the danger at this low head dam and others along the Des Moines, including the Cornbelt REC dam near Humboldt, Ft. Dodge, Lehigh, Fraser, and Boone Waterworks.

Obituary

STEVEN NOURSE
Woodward
Published on 08/20/2002

Steven Ray Nourse, 45, of Woodward drowned Saturday while kayaking on the Des
Moines River near Pleasant Hill. Services will be at 11 a.m. Thursday at Westover Funeral
Home, with burial at Elmwood Cemetery in Minburn.

Mr. Nourse was born in Des Moines and had lived in Guthrie Center and California before
moving to Woodward 10 years ago. He had farmed near Guthrie Center and worked as a
landscaper for Turf Services in Granger. He was a member of Perry Baptist Church and a
charter member of the Central Iowa Blues Society. He enjoyed nature, artistry, music and
playing horseshoes.

He is survived by two daughters, Erin Nourse of Woodward and Sunni Nourse of
Urbandale; his mother, E.J. Nourse of Grimes; a sister, Julie Mankel of West Des
Moines; and two brothers, Dennis of Elm Creek, Neb., and Pat of Keller, Texas.

Friends may call after 4 p.m. Wednesday at the funeral home, where the family will be
present from 6 to 8 p.m. Memorial contributions may be made to the Steven Ray Nourse Memorial Fund at Charter Bank in Grimes.

I paddled from SE 14th St. to Yellow Banks today,  8/17/02.  My wife will vouch that my purpose was to
seek comfort in the river and to search for Steve's body.  I left a paddle and a water trail sign at the
Scott Ave. bridge memorial site earlier in the day.  They were stolen by some pretty cold-hearted thieves.

I saw the Crime Scene Unit as I was coming into Yellow Banks. I was told by a
boater that the body was found across from Yellow Banks about 1:30 today.

Media reports confirm that his body was recovered near Yellow Banks.  Police and fire dept. rescue crews
spent more than 240 hours seeking to recover the victim's body.

These were my ongoing observations as this tragedy unfolded

As of 8/16/02, the vigil continues during the evening.  We will let nature take its course, and hope the body is recovered quickly.  There was a well-written, sensitive front page story in the Des Moines Register about the family and friends keeping vigil riverside 8/16/02.

I was at the river when the media and the police came down to see if indeed the victim's body was at the surface.  Steve was described as wearing dungaree cutoffs.   One of the fishermen said that he had (earlier) seen the body from a much closer vantage point, and had actually seen the face and arms.  The media and the authorities spent considerable time on site with powerful cameras and spotting equipment, and could not confirm that a body was visible at that time.

There was a board  caught in the boil which had a section that was blue in color.   I took a close-up with a 20x zoom camera.  The object was clearly not a person.

The water below the dam is actually running uphill, and I doubt any large objects caught in this "hole" will move downstream unless there is a huge increase in the flow of the river.  I don't know what the resolution will be, but the body may be entangled in debris at the bottom of the river.   

I hope there is a memorial service soon for Steve.  I hope many paddlers attend to pay their respects, express their grief and loss, and resolve to work harder to make Iowa's waterways safer for all.

The city of Des Moines needs to either provide safe passage through Scott Ave. dam with a boat chute
OR do more to warn people off this dam (put a chain across the river
with a sign that says DANGEROUS DAM, NO BOATS BEYOND THIS POINT)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

8/13/02

A community has been gathering along the riverbank at Scott Ave. in Des
Moines, just below the dam. There are 40-50 people keeping vigil since
Steve Nourse drowned trying to run the Scott Ave. dam on August 10.

These are people, from Woodward and Perry, who lost a dear friend and
loved one in the river. They are grief stricken, and alone.

I've been down to the river to grieve with them several times today.
They are sure that they have seen the kayaker's body in the
turbulence just below the dam. They have described the denim cutoffs he
was wearing. The media and the police came down to see, and the river
had pulled the body under.

These are friends and loved ones of a man who loved the river. They
are part of our paddling community, but no one has made an effort to
offer comfort. They were told by the police to go home, yet they stand
and watch.

They seek closure, they want to take their loved one home, but the river
will not give him up. Shouldn't we, as fellow paddlers, reach out to
them. We can stop by and offer our condolences. I have asked the
police and the Red Cross to reach out to those who are in such emotional
pain they can barely stand it. Where is the sympathetic community, the
helping hand to those in need?


All of us paddle knowing that water is dangerous. We have all run a
stretch of water that looks doable. If we were taken by the river in
another community and our friends stood vigil at the place where we were
caught in the river, would that community show sympathy and kindness.
We hope so. We should do the same.

Kayaker presumed drowned

By J.R. MENDOZA
Register Staff Writer
08/11/2002

Des Moines Fire Department officials said a man was
presumed drowned Saturday
night after his kayak overturned on the Des Moines River.

The man's name and age were withheld by authorities. Dan
Burke, district chief, said
rescue crews were working to recover the victim's body.

Larry Goodman of Perry said he was kayaking with the
victim about 7:30 p.m. as
they approached the Scott Avenue dam. Goodman said he was
about 25 to 50 yards
behind his friend when he lost sight of him.

"He just went over the dam," Goodman said.

Goodman said he didn't think his friend wore a life
jacket. Goodman reached the shore
and called for help.

"I went around and started looking for him," Goodman said.

A yellow kayak could be seen against the east side of the
dam rotating in the churning
water. A rescue team arrived and used a boat to approach
the dam, but pulled back
because of the strong current.

"We don't get very close," Burke said. "The same forces
that put the individual
underwater will act on our boat."

Burke said there was a slim chance the man could have made
it out of the river
unharmed. Police and fire teams moved downstream to
continue the search. Burke
said the lack of daylight would hamper search efforts.

Goodman said he and his friend often went kayaking, but
had never been on that part
of the Des Moines River before.

"We've never done this stretch before," he said. "He's
good. He wanted to run it and
said he was going to go for it."