'It should not happen'

Roses dried by the sun wrap around a makeshift white cross tucked in a thicket on the banks of the Russian River at Steelhead Beach.

"In memory of Juan Carlos M. Siempre te bamos a recordar."

We will always remember.

The winding stretch of river that sweeps past Healdsburg's Fitch Mountain and wends its way through the valley to the ocean is Sonoma County's summer playground.

Each year, thousands of swimmers escape the heat on its banks. Most go home, refreshed and sunburnt.

But three people have died in apparent drownings in the river since May, and a fourth man drowned in a nearby pond fed by river water.

They were men and boys, ages 13, 20, 27 and 54. Their deaths anguish those who loved them. And they vex the river's stewards.

"I am really saddened by it. It should not happen," said Monte Rio Fire Chief Steve Baxman, who has spent his life and career on the river. "I don't know the answer. We put signs out. People too young are dying."

Drowning is preventable, "100 percent preventable," said Don McEnhill, executive director of the nonprofit Russian Riverkeeper. "What more can we do? What can we do to keep this from happening?"

On Wednesday, one day after 20-year-old Antonio Jimenez Garcia sank below the surface of the river, a family of ducklings was swimming at the spot. Their wakes were just about the only turbulence on otherwise smooth, inviting waters at Sunset Beach just west of the Hacienda Bridge.

However, an illustrated sign by a path to Sunset shows that steep drop-offs are hidden below the surface.

The sign cautions in red letters in English and Spanish: "River Warning -- Advertencia."

"I've been here a million times," said Tracy Cordova, a paralegal from Novato sunning with friends. "The water moves slow here."

But Cordova and others at the beach asked each other: if it is so shallow and so slow, what led Garcia to flail?

"People wade in, it's so cool and inviting," said McEnhill, who grew up swimming at beaches off Fitch Mountain. "It's usually a hot day. They're trying to beat the heat, walk in to the waist, 'This feels great, I'll walk in a little more.' There's this last step when the bottom drops off."

The water gets murky below four feet, which indicates the river is healthy, but also masks steep drop offs.

Eddies and whirlpools near bends can pull a person under. Deep water has strong currents.

The deaths make 2012 so far the deadliest season for drownings on the river in Sonoma County since 2008, when five people were lost.

Russian River Fire District Capt. Travis Wood said he sees nothing about the river this year that would make it more dangerous than previous years.

The flow is lower than normal, it's not particularly fast-moving, and seems clearer than it has in previous years, he said. The deaths don't seem to have a common theme.

"It's a horrible thing. I wish we could put our finger on it so we could try to do something to stop it," Wood said.

Drownings of Latinos in the first half of the last decade led to a greater push for water safety education throughout Sonoma County, with hundreds of families participating in YMCA and municipal programs. It appeared to work, with the number of drowning deaths at the river dropping from six in 2003 to one in each of 2006 and 2007.

But the latest deaths underscore the vulnerability of the Latino population, which continues to make up the largest number of drowning victims in Sonoma County.

Authorities don't know the exact factors that led to the deaths.

At least two men reportedly didn't know how to swim.

Cortez Holmes, 54, of Windsor slipped off an inner tube and under the surface on July 7 in Lake Benoist at Riverfront Regional Park.

Juan Moreno-Garcia, 27, of Santa Rosa waded into the water at Steelhead Beach on May 20 and friends said they didn't know why he went under.

Bystanders believe the current overcame 13-year-old Eduardo Nery Corona, who slipped beneath the water's surface Sunday.

Tuesday's victim knew how to swim, friends said, and they do not know why he went under.

"It looks calm, they think it's calm, and then the next minute they go over their head," Baxman said.

The recent drownings don't include the July 15 death of a 50-year-old San Mateo woman who suffered a heart attack at Johnson's Beach while competing in a triathlon.

On Wednesday, 8-year-old Tyler Klaus sat in shallow water at Steelhead Beach.

Tyler said he doesn't like going to Sunset Beach, where he feels the current is stronger.

"It can take you," he said.

His mother Lisa Klaus, 44, and her friend Rachelle Groves, 36, stretched out on towels and watched their children play where they, too, swam as children.

Klaus said she stopped going to other beaches after her daughter was almost swept away.

"It scared the heck out of me," Klaus said.

Down at the river's edge, Geneva Reade of Santa Rosa threw a tennis ball into the water, her black Labrador Jake bounding after.

The sandy bottom had nearly toppled Reade two days before.

She was trying to cross the river, carrying a big bag.

"It drops off all of a sudden and it's sandy," said Reade, who retired 10 years ago from the Sonoma County District Attorney's Office. "I just unloaded everything, kicked off my shoes."

Two men came to her aid.

About a mile downstream at Sunset Beach, four mothers watched a gaggle of 13 splashing, squealing children, ages 8 months to 17.

"I always feel like an air traffic controller, one, two, three, four, five, I'm constantly counting them," said Lisa Cholko, 42, of Santa Rosa.

News that a person drowned at their regular spot troubled the mothers, who in general feel it's the best beach for children.

"It makes you keep your eye on the kids a little closer," said Tisa Bowser, 38, of Santa Rosa.

Mara Irvin, 41, of Santa Rosa said she talked with her 7-year-old daughter on the way to the beach.

"I showed her the current," Irvin said. "She said, 'Mommy I'm scared,' and I said 'You don't have to be scared, you just have to be aware.' "

You can reach Staff Writers Julie Johnson at 521-5220 or julie.johnson@pressdemocrat.com and Kevin McCallum at 521-5207 or kevin.mccallum@pressdemocrat.com.