HAINES FALLS, N.Y. (AP) — Local officials are calling for safety changes at a popular waterfall in the Catskills after two women died there on separate occasions this summer.
Hunter Town Supervisor Daryl Legg tells the Kingston Daily Freeman (http://bit.ly/1B8tuNL ) that the state Department of Environmental Conservation is making some short-term fixes at 260-foot-high Kaaterskill Falls. He said the agency had a ranger near the lower falls to talk to visitors.
Concerns were raised about safety at Kaaterskill Falls and support for emergency responders after two deaths this summer. In July, 23-year-old Ariana Bedka of Wappingers Falls fell to her death on the Kaaterskill Falls trail. A month earlier, 54-year-old Josephine Torlish of Beacon fell and suffered fatal injuries.
DEC spokesman Rick Georgeson told the Freeman the agency expects to have safety fencing installed by fall.
