In The News
Funeral Plans Announced In Lake St. Clair Drowning
Local 4 News / May 31, 2006: Funeral arrangements have been announced for the 18-year-old daughter of Macomb County real estate broker Ralph Roberts.
Visitation for Kolleen Roberts will be held from 4 to 9 p.m. Thursday and 2 to 9 p.m. on Friday at Wujek-Calcaterra and Sons located at 36900 Schoenherr Road in Sterling Heights, Local 4 reported. The funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at the funeral home.
Kolleen Roberts was knocked off her Jet Ski Monday on Lake St. Clair and hit her head, Local 4 reported. The girl drowned, despite wearing a life jacket, the station reported.
Ralph Roberts told The Macomb Daily that his daughter and a friend were riding in the area around Strawberry and Grass islands. Her friend came back to shore in the area just south of the city park in New Baltimore and Kolleen was still in the bay, the paper reported.
Macomb County Sheriff Mark Hackel said Kolleen Roberts “probably” was ejected from her watercraft, the paper reported.
“Everything came together at one time from the wrong direction for her,” said Hackel in the paper’s report. “Nobody happened to be around her at the time.”
Kolleen Roberts’ body was found by boaters in Anchor Bay, near the North Channel. She was brought to the Macomb County Sheriff’s Marine Patrol Headquarters and then transported to Mount Clemens General Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, the paper reported.
Investigators found no evidence of alcohol use. Hackel said the accident was a fluke and a dreadful start to the summer boating season, the paper reported.
Kolleen Roberts had completed a boater-safety class six years ago and scored 100 percent, according to Hackel.
“As a matter of fact she was one of the kids from Algonquin (Middle School) we took for a ride on one of our boats in appreciation for her accomplishments in the classroom,” Hackel said. “Her death is a tragic loss that affects hundreds of people.”
Kolleen Roberts was a 2005 graduate of Chippewa Valley High School and was recently attending Albion College. Her father said she was a great kid and was never a problem, the paper reported.
“God obviously had a larger calling for her than us,” said Ralph Roberts in the paper’s report.
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Drowning Spotlights Need For Water Safety
by Edward L. Cardenas and Steve Pardo, The Detroit News / June 1, 2006: Kolleen Roberts knew enough about boating safety to score 100 percent on a seventh-grade exam and earn a tour of the Macomb County Sheriff’s boathouse.
But that knowledge wasn’t enough to help the 18-year-old from Clinton Township. She was thrown from her personal watercraft Monday in Lake St. Clair, struck her head on the craft and drowned despite wearing a life jacket, police say.
Roberts’ death — the first boating fatality on the lake since 2004 — underscores the need for safety as the summer boating season gets under way, authorities say.
Although Roberts was not believed to be drinking or operating the craft irresponsibly, Macomb County Sheriff Mark Hackel said personal watercraft can be dangerous because they can reach speeds exceeding 50 mph to 60 mph in a short period. “It’s very easy to become distracted and disoriented,” he said.
“This was one of those situations where everything came together in the wrong direction for her,” Hackel said Tuesday. “No one was around to keep her head out of the water.”
Thanks in part to mandatory safety training, the number of accidents and fatalities on Michigan waterways has been going down over the decades — even though more boats and personal watercraft are on the state’s lakes and rivers.
For example, in 1968, 94 people died in Michigan boating accidents.
Now there are twice as many registered boats, including 173,935 personal watercraft registered in Michigan as of March, and 29 people died last year.
Personal watercraft accounted for 49 of the state’s 178 boating accidents, including four fatalities, said Lt. Creig Grey, marine safety specialist for the state Department of Natural Resources.
Grey credits increased safety classes as a reason for the decline. Since 2001, about 166,000 people have taken boating safety classes.
Tony Rader, a member of the Michigan Raiders, a Muskegon-based subgroup of the American Watercraft Association, said users need to remember that personal watercraft can be trickier to stop than other motor vehicles.
“There are no brakes to slam on and lock up,” Rader said. Kolleen Roberts’ father, Warren Realtor Ralph Roberts, said his daughter was well-versed in safe boating and shared her knowledge with others.
Roberts, an Albion College student, set out on a 2000 Sea Doo personal watercraft Monday at her family’s New Baltimore cottage on Lake St. Clair.
Roberts left the cottage with a friend on a separate watercraft about 11 a.m., police said.
At some point, the two became separated, and Roberts’ friend later returned.
Ralph and Kathleen Roberts called the Macomb County Sheriff’s Office when their daughter did not return after being gone for nearly two hours. Shortly before they called, a couple in a sailboat near the North Channel discovered Roberts’ unmanned watercraft floating and Roberts’ body in the water, Hackel said.
An autopsy Tuesday determined she had drowned after being thrown from the watercraft and striking the side of her head.
Weather conditions on the lake Monday were calm, with a breeze of about 5 mph and waves of less than a foot, according to the National Weather Service.
But Angela Nikkel, a 20-year-old Clinton Township resident who visited the lake Monday, said conditions were less than ideal.
“The waves were horrible out there yesterday,” Nikkel said. “It was really rough out three. I could see how someone would get hurt.”
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Daughter of Macomb broker drowns
by Dan Cortez, Staff Writer, Free Press / May 31, 2006: The 18-year-old daughter of prominent Macomb County real estate broker Ralph Roberts drowned Monday afternoon when she fell off a personal watercraft on Lake St. Clair, police said.
Kolleen Roberts of Clinton Township was pulled from the lake after a man on a sailboat spotted her unconscious in the water about 12:30 p.m. She was later pronounced dead at Mt. Clemens General Hospital. Her death was the one fatality during one of the busiest opening weekends in recent memory at Metro Beach Metropark in Harrison Township, said Macomb County Sheriff Mark Hackel.
Roberts was an avid boater and completed a safety course — in which she received a perfect grade — through the sheriff’s office in 2000. She was expecting plenty of friends to be out with her Monday afternoon at her parents’ cottage on the lake in New Baltimore.
“We were getting ready for about a dozen of her friends to come out,” said her father, a Clinton Township real estate broker. “She took friends tubing. She wouldn’t let them ride until they were taught.”
Hackel said she was doing everything right Monday when she was riding a 2000 Seadoo personal watercraft.
“She did everything you can imagine,” Hackel said. “This was one of those situations where everything came in the wrong direction for her. Nobody else happened to be around.”
He said Kolleen Roberts likely was knocked off the watercraft after hitting a wave and hit her head on the watercraft before falling into the water. An autopsy Tuesday found a laceration and bruising near her right ear.
After the sailboat operator found her, a second boat stopped to help and took her body to the dock of the marine division of the sheriff’s office.
When her heart could not be restarted, she was taken to the hospital. Minutes after Roberts’ body was recovered, her family called the sheriff’s office because she hadn’t returned to shore with her friend.
Roberts, a 2005 graduate of Chippewa Valley High School, had been staying at the cottage with her family and friends. She had just completed her freshman year at Albion College and had planned to become an athletic trainer.
“She just made our life so complete,” her father said.
Hackel said there is no indication alcohol or drugs were involved in the incident, although toxicology results will not be complete for a couple of weeks.
Visitation will be from 4 to 9 p.m. Thursday and from 2 to 9 p.m. Friday at Wujek-Calcaterra & Sons, 36900 Schoenherr Road, Sterling Heights. The funeral will be Saturday at 11 a.m. at the same location.
The family suggests memorial donations to the Kolleen Roberts Scholarship Fund, 30521 Schoenherr Road, Warren 48088. Tributes may be posted at www.kolleenroberts.com.
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Daughter Of Prominent Businessman Drowns: Investigators Piecing Together Details Of Death
Local 4 News / May 30, 2006: A young woman is believed to have drowned Monday in Lake St. Clair, said Macomb County Sheriff Mark Hackel. The victim was identified as Kolleen Roberts, 18, daughter of businessman and Realtor Ralph Roberts.Â
Investigators are still trying to learn details of her death.Â
Hackel said some passing boaters spotted the woman floating in the water near New Baltimore and pulled her onto their boat. It appears she had been driving a personal watercraft and was wearing her life jacket, Hackel said.Â
Roberts was enrolled at Albion College and was a graduate of Chippewa Valley High School.
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Teen Drowns in Lake St. Clair
Reported by Anu Prakash, Action 7 News, WXYZ TV / May 30, 2006: A tragedy on Lake St. Clair claimed the life of a teenage girl, Memorial Day weekend. The victim is the daughter of prominent Macomb County Realtor Ralph Roberts. Investigators said 18-year-old Kolleen Roberts was riding a jet ski on Lake St. Clair with a friend, Monday, but they became separated and the friend went back to shore.
A short time later Kolleen’s parents called for help because she was missing.Around 12:30, Robert’s body was discovered in the lake by a couple who noticed an unoccupied personal watercraft. When they got closer they saw Roberts unconscious in the water. The couple radioed for help, but efforts to save her were unsuccessful.
Macomb County Sheriff Mark Hackle said Roberts was an avid boater and was wearing her life jacket.
“She did everything you could imagine and all the stuff we like to talk about and teach, but unfortunately sometimes, if you hit a wake the wrong way and we’ve seen it before. I think what had happened was, it probably ejected her from the watercraft. The way it appears, she may have hit her head on the watercraft, become unconscious and then because nobody was able to render aid at that immediate time, she drowned in the waters,” he said.
Roberts was a student at Albion College.
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Drowning victim identified
by Edward L. Cardenas, The Detroit News / May 30, 2006: The 18-year-old woman found dead near Metro Beach Metropark yesterday has been identified as Kolleen Roberts of Clinton Township.
Her father, Macomb County realtor Ralph Roberts, said she was riding a personal watercraft when she was somehow injured.
Passing boaters saw her floating in the water about 2 p.m. yesterday and puller her aboard, Macomb County Sheriff Mark Hackel told The News. Attempts to revive Roberts were unsuccessful.Â
Kolleen Roberts had just completed her freshman year at Albion College and hoped to become an athletic trainer. She aced a boating safety course in seventh grade administered by the sheriff’s department, her father said.Â
“My daughter was absolute angel,” an emotional Roberts today told The News.Â
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Eighteen-year-old woman dies in watercraft accident
by Joe Swickard, Staf Writer for the Free Press / May 30, 2006: Kolleen Roberts, who had just completed her freshman year at Albion College, was killed Monday in a personal watercraft accident on Lake St. Clair, her father Ralph Roberts said Tuesday morning.       Â
The 18-year-old Clinton Township woman was staying at a family cottage with her family and school friends. Her father said she took the craft out in the morning and was fatally injured about noon.Â
Ralph Roberts, a Macomb County real estate broker, said his daughter had successfully completed water safety courses given by the Macomb County Sheriff’s office.Â
A 2005 graduate of Chippewa Valley High School, Kolleen Roberts planned on becoming an athletic trainer.
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By Cortney Casey Â
C & G Staff Writer
    HARRISON TOWNSHIP — Kolleen Roberts was well educated on water safety.
    She successfully completed the Macomb County Sheriff Department’s boater safety course in 2000, scoring 100 percent on the course’s test and earning herself a visit to the Marine Division, an honor reserved especially for high-achieving students. She knew how to operate a personal watercraft and wore a life jacket while on the water.
    But all the education in the world couldn’t save Roberts, 18, after she apparently was rendered unconscious and ejected into the water while riding her personal watercraft on Lake St. Clair May 29.
    “Everything came together in the wrong direction for her,†said Macomb County Sheriff Mark Hackel.
    According to Hackel, an autopsy conducted May 30 showed that Roberts, a Clinton Township resident and the daughter of prominent Warren Realtor Ralph Roberts, had sustained a head injury and a laceration near her ear.
    Investigators believe Roberts somehow struck her head on her 2000 Sea Doo’s steering device, sustaining a concussion and losing consciousness as she was ejected into the water, though, Hackel said, there was no forensic evidence on the watercraft, like blood, to prove that that’s what happened.
    The cause of the death ultimately was drowning, he said.
    Occupants of a sailboat noticed an unmanned personal watercraft floating near New Baltimore around 12:30 p.m., then spotted Roberts, clad in a life jacket and unmoving, a short distance away.
    After unsuccessfully attempting to pull her on board, Hackel said, the couple radioed for assistance. A nearby salvage boat operator arrived, helped pull Roberts on board his vessel and brought her to the sheriff’s Marine Division, where officers and paramedics attempted to resuscitate her with CPR and automated external defibrillators.
    Shortly after her arrival at the Marine Division, Hackel said, Roberts’ parents called, worried because a friend who originally was accompanying her had returned to shore and was uncertain of where their daughter had gone.
Roberts was transported to Mount Clemens General Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, said Hackel.
    He said police do not have an estimate of what time the accident actually occurred, and believe there were no witnesses.
    Hackel described Roberts, who had just completed her first year of college, as “a very physical, very active kid†who had done everything right.
    Roberts reportedly was wearing a combination of a Type III and Type IV life jacket, acceptable for riding a personal watercraft. Type I life jackets are designed specifically to turn unconscious wearers face-up, while Type III are not, he said.
    But, Hackel said, boaters rarely wear Type I jackets due to their boxy, bulky nature. Many people avoid them because they’re uncomfortable and unfashionable, he said.
    “I don’t know too many people who wear one of these,†he said, gesturing to a Type I jacket during a May 30 press conference.
    Hackel also noted that it’s very easy to suddenly be unseated from a jet ski because of violent wake from other vessels, or from striking wake at just the wrong angle or speed.
    Memorial Day weekend is considered the official start to the boating season, and Hackel said this year was one of the busiest ever. Cars were backed up down Metropolitan Parkway and on the freeway to access Metro Beach Metropark, as visitors scrambled to get near the water.
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| ROBERTS KOLLEEN | June 03, 2006 |
| October 17, 1987-May 29, 2006. Eighteen year-old Kolleen Roberts of Clinton Township passed away on Monday, May 29, 2006, doing what she loved best—jet skiing with friends and family near her family’s summer cottage on Lake St. Clair. Visitation for Kolleen will be held on Thursday, June 1, from 4-9 p.m. and Friday, June 2 from 2-9 p.m. with funeral on Saturday, June 3, at 11 a.m. at Wujek-Calcaterra & Sons, Inc. 36900 Schoenherr at Metro Parkway (16 Mile Rd.). Kolleen lived an active life, illuminating the lives of those she touched and enhancing the communities in which she lived. As a freshman at Albion College, Kolleen was a member of the girls JV basketball team and worked as a volunteer with Albion College Habitat for Humanity, helping to provide affordable housing for less fortunate families in and around Albion, Michigan. Her goal was to eventually become an athletic trainer. Kolleen and her dorm mates spent the entire fall semester learning to knit, and then she took the time to make Christmas gifts for all of her family. Throughout her brief life, Kolleen strived toward excellence in education, athletics and community service. At Ottawa Elementary School in Clinton Township, she served on the student council. At Algonquin Middle School, Kolleen excelled in basketball, volleyball, and track, and was voted 8th grade class president. During her high school years at Chippewa Valley, Kolleen (nicknamed KoRo by teammates) served in the student government during her freshman year and competed in a variety of sports, including basketball (all four years), volleyball, soccer, track and softball, playing a total of six years of AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) basketball and two years of AAU volleyball. In the midst of a packed schedule she made time to coach an elementary school basketball team. Kolleen was named to the All Academic Team, the 2004 All Macomb County Class A Second Team, the 2004 Detroit Free Press All East Second Team, the 2004 All East Girls Basketball Team, and the Macomb Coaches Association 2004 All-County Basketball Team, and received an All Metro Honorable Mention in 2004. In 2005 Colleen’s classmates elected her Most Athletic Girl. Though Kolleen was a dedicated student, athlete and community leader, she also had a passion for the finer things of life—her friends, her family, her dog Grant, listening to country music, collecting all kinds of athletic shoes, cooking and inventing her own recipes, exchanging instant messages with her younger brother and sister, cheering on the Detroit Pistons, boating and tubing at her family’s lake house, Quizno’s, and Chicken Marsala and pizza at J. Baldwin’s. Kolleen is survived by her father, Ralph Roberts, her mother, Kathleen Roberts, her younger brother, Kyle (13), and her younger sister, Kaleigh (10). Dear granddaughter of Dorotha (the late Ralph E.) Roberts and Wallace and Sally Paczkowski. Loving niece of Jeff (Kathy) Roberts, David (Marcella) Roberts, Mark (Mary Ellen) Paczkowski and John (Roxanne) Byers and cousin of Jessica Roberts, Benjamin Paczkowski, Eric Roberts, Lauren Byers, Max Paczkowski, Christopher Roberts, Trevor Roberts, Ian Byers and Luke Roberts. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Kolleen Roberts Scholarship Fund in care of The Platinum Foundation. Checks should be made out to The Platinum Foundation and either delivered to the funeral home or mailed to: Kolleen Roberts Scholarship Fund, 30521 Schoenherr, Warren, MI 48088. Kolleen’s friends and loved ones are invited to visit and post their tributes, photographs, and fond memories of Kolleen at www.kolleenroberts.com | |
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