the indemnity clause of the waiver includes claims of negligence.

ludey wrote on 06/28/16 at 4:53pm:


A good theory is the reason it's not happening in other bodies of water to this degree is the water treatment that is performed at WWC.

It kills or filters out the natural predators of this amoeba (small fish, flies, worms, etc..), but the treatment process isn't significant enough to kill or filter out the amoeba's themselves. This allows the amoebas to proliferate in the water unchecked.

These amoebas are 8-15 microns in size. So they are very small. Much smaller than the predators that feed upon them.

I think the solution is in the water source. If the water source does not contain these amoebas or they are removed by adequate filtration, then the problem can not exist. In some cases they have been shown to be resistant to chlorine.

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No offense to WWC employees in general, but the majority of those folks in the water or raft guide/river guides are young folks who don't know squat.  If anything those guys plus the thousands of kayaker's are a good thing for USNWC because none of them have ever died from an amoeba.  The Catawba river is dirty as hell and tons of prople are in there all summer.  The USNWC has insurance. This will pass. It will sting financially but it will pass.  I believe this case will go the route of a civil trial and it will be hard to prove that USNWC is the place where the meningitis originated from but that will be up to a jury unless they settle. It will be hard to overcome the waiver from the perspective of negligence or pseudo wrongful death, etc. IMO....sincere thoughts on the loss of beautiful person.  I hope all parties can move forward.

I agree.  Makes me angry that the news would report statements like this with no substantial evidence that it is true.  Anything to sell papers or get someone to watch tv.

forkit wrote on 06/29/16 at 2:25pm:


It was probably our dirty mountain bike tires that introduced the amoeba in the 1st place...it's always the mountain bikers fault

trails just closed so could be pretty sparse

TrillWill wrote on 06/30/16 at 1:09pm:

TrillWill wrote on 06/30/16 at 1:09pm:


Apparently not

Wonder how many $9 Hop Drop and Rolls will be sold tonight

Advocat wrote on 07/01/16 at 12:50pm:


If the trails were open there would have been a few more perhaps.

I was able to show up and get a table with no wait.  There were some folks out there...   


When I go there and when I left the news crews were hanging out at the entrance and out by the East Main entrance.  They are such vultures. 


On a side note:
I wish they would bring the bluegrass music back for most if not all of the river jams.  That music just fits the vibe.  Last nights band was too "county fair" for me.