Wednesday, August 20, 1986
City/Area
University Daily Kansan
9
Accidents, drownings force closing of local rock quarry
By Rachelle Worral
Staff writer
Daredevils searching for excitement will be unable to satisfy themselves by leaping from the 40-foot cliffs at the rock quarry at 95th Street and Cedar Creek Road off Highway 10, about 20 miles east of Lawrence.
Since June 28, said Lt. B Miller of the Johnson County sheriff's department, the department has been arresting anybody trespassing on the private property. About 50 people have been arrested and charged with criminal trespassing since that time.
"Alcohol and drugs were the biggest problems," Miller said.
Deputy Greg Hill of the department said, "We're keeping a close eye on it because of all the drownings."
About four persons have been killed while at the quarry in the past five years. Miller said he wasn't sure of the exact number. The most recent death occurred in June.
The dirt and gravel road up to the quarry is now blocked by a barbed-wire fence and aluminum gate bearing a "No Trespassing" sign. Two free-standing signs behind the fence give further warnings to keep out.
The road up the hill to the quarry is too uneven and rough for cars. On a wire barrier about 50 yards past the
gate another "No Trespassing" sign hangs.
People open the gate and go past the four signs warning people to stay away. Hill said. They then tell him, "We didn't see any signs." Most of the trespassers are in their late teens to early 20s.
The littered trail up to the quarry leads to a spring water fed, aqua-colored swimming hole with a diameter of about 250 feet. The cliffs surrounding the water are about 40 feet high.
Snorkelers and scuba divers found about four cars at the bottom of the quarry last summer. Miller said that many cars had been recovered over the years from the quarry and most of them had been stolen, stripped and pushed over the cliffs.
"They (thieves) were just preying off people that go inside the quarry," he said.
Charlie DeCoursey, Kansas City junior, said that he swam at the quarry a lot when he was in high school, but that he had not been since last summer. Decoursey said that a friend had his car broken into while they were at the quarry.
The attraction to the quarry was the cliff diving. he said.
"It thought it was fun. I don't think it was very dangerous," DeCoursey said.
There are underwater caves, but DeCoursey said he had never tried to swim in them. Stories about swimmers drowning in the caves were a deterrent.
Although he lives near the quarry, Rogers said, he had only been a few times and had never jumped from the cliffs. The one time he he did take his children, they went to pick up aluminum cans.
Johnny Rogers, who lives near the quarry, said that in the past, sometimes more than 200 people would go to the quarry in one day.
The owner of the quarry, Robert J. Anderson of Kansas City, Mo., said the quarry had been around for about 15 years. The rock was used for the construction of Highway 10 from Lawrence to Kansas City.
Attempts at keeping people off the property have been made for years, Anderson said. But signs and fences have not deterred trespassers.
Persons jumping from the cliffs needed to be strong swimmers. Miller said, because they had to swim about 150 feet after jumping before they could touch bottom.
Brian Shulda, of Shawnee, said he
The rock quarry near Kansas Highway 10 has been closed because of drownings and accidents.
Wilfredo Lee/KANSAN
used to jump from the cliffs and was disappointed when he drove to the quarry in mid-July to find no one was there and police had become serious in patrolling the area.
"It's pretty dangerous I guess if you don't jump in the right place," Shulda said.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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