UPDATE: The Washington County Sheriff's Office says a citation written to Michael Medill incorrectly stated that $5,000 was his "presumptive fine." Medill never had a fine associated with his citation, as only a judge can set the fine amount for a crime.
Michael Medill posted eight homemade signs Saturday at Henry Hagg Lake to get the attention of swimmers and law enforcement.
"I actually went up there hoping I would get arrested," Medill, 66, said Sunday.
After Dillon Pilorget, reporter for the Forest Grove Leader and The Oregonian, and other reporters left the lake Saturday, Medill said police told him he could go. He got into his car, made one phone call, then was detained for over an hour.
He didn't get arrested, but he walked away with a $5,000 ticket for criminal mischief. Then on Sunday, authorities removed the signs.
Washington County Sheriff's deputies warned he might be cited, because Medill bolted the signs to posts and trees.
Medill said he is retired from developing and selling resorts on private beaches in Costa Rica, so he has the financial means to pursue a possible lawsuit against Washington County. The citation is his ticket to making the county do the right thing, he said.
Medill posted signs that warned swimmers of hidden drop-offs in Hagg Lake that many first-time visitors don't know about and that pose danger for even experienced swimmers. The signs include illustrations and warnings in English and Spanish.
Michael Medill received a $5,000 citation for criminal mischief for placing eight homemade warning signs at Henry Hagg Lake.
He took it upon himself to post the signs, he said, because of the August drownings of 3-year-old Jeremy Scholl and his mother, grandmother and uncle.
"For two years we've been trying to get signs up. So I just said, the heck with it," Medill said. "That's just crazy to not have signs up. That's criminal. You go up to the beach, there's always signs posted at any entrance to the beach of the dangers."
Medill said a group of Forest Grove residents started lobbying for signs after eight children nearly drowned in the lake in 2012. The kids were rescued by a family gathered on the shore for a reunion.
Those kids, along with Scholl and his family, were not wearing life jackets. After a 27-year-old Portland man drowned in Hagg Lake in 2008, a Hillsboro teen built two life vest loaner stations at Hagg Lake as his Eagle Scout project. The stations offer free day use of life vests for adults and children, with instructions for proper use in English and Spanish.
One of the stations sits at the same site where Monday's drownings occurred.
Medill said many people don't realize how important life jackets are there.
He plans to offer to pay for a lawsuit if the family of the four recent victims wants to file one. Otherwise, he will continue on his own.
"I'm set financially," Medill said, "and I like pursuing righting wrongs."
-- Molly Harbarger