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3 Drown, 4 Missing in Lake Michigan

Posted on: Saturday, 5 July 2003, 06:00 CDT

Three people drowned and four others were missing and presumed drowned in Lake Michigan's choppy waters, officials said early Saturday.

The incidents happened along a three-mile stretch of shoreline just north of the Indiana state line Friday afternoon. Morning storms had kicked up waves and created a strong current and undertow in the area, Barrien County Sheriff's Lt. Ed Sherrick said.

Bruce C. Chapman, 57, and his wife Judith, 66, drowned off Cherry Beach, bordering Warren Dunes State Park, about 15 miles south of St. Joseph. Mark Weiss, 59, of Chicago, drowned off neighboring Harbert Beach.

Three other swimmers from Illinois were missing off Warren Dunes State Park, and a swimmer from Oregon was missing from nearby Bethany Beach, Sherrick said. Their names were not immediately released.

A 12-year-old Chicago boy swimming at Warren Dunes State Park also had to be rescued from the water Friday and was treated at a hospital.

Sherrick said he did not know if swimmers in the area had been warned about the dangers Friday.

"It wouldn't matter much if you were an Olympic-caliber swimmer," he said. "If you get out there and you don't know what you're doing, there's not a lot you can do."

Warren Dunes State Park, with about two miles of shoreline and sand dunes rising 240 feet over Lake Michigan, is visited by more than 1 million people annually.

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