Drowning victim's family pushes for new law

The family of a 5-year-old who drowned in a detention pond in a Navy housing facility in 2004 spoke out today in support of a bill they hope would prevent a similar tragedy in the future.

The measure, scheduled to be heard on Feb. 11, would require annual inspections of detention and retention ponds and water catchment areas and several safety measures, such as surrounding the ponds with chain-link fences.

Charlotte Paige Schaefers, known to her friends as "Sharkey," drowned in a rain-swollen drainage ditch in a Navy housing facility when she jumped into the murky water after a younger friend.

The Navy has since erected permanent barriers around the pond -- which was about 50-yards long at the time of Schaefers' death and can get as deep as 8-feet. In addition, the Schaefers family won a $2 million settlement from the Navy and Hunt Building Co., the subcontractor that built the Pearl City Peninsula housing complex.