A Long Island mom who survived a boating crash that killed her daughter,has a simple plea for boaters this Labor Day weekend: remember her story before doing anything risky on the water.
"Just thinking about my daughter not being here, it kills me every day," said Gina Lieneck of Deer Park.
Lieneck joined Islip officials on a dock in Bay Shore Thursday as they announced expanded patrols by the town's harbor police this holiday weekend.
"We will be undertaking a real crackdown this weekend to ensure that boaters are safe," said town supervisor Angie Carpenter.
Lieneck's family boat was returning from Fire Island when it was rammed by another in August of 2005.
The operator of the other boat was initially charged with BWI, but charges were later dropped because of a lack of evidence.
Lieneck remembers little about the crash. Both she and her husband were critically hurt. Their 11-year-old daughter Brianna was killed.
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Brianna's older sister tried in vain to revive her that night and Gina Lieneck says her surviving daughter still suffers from the trauma of that day.
"We have no choice but to think about it every day because we are missing a part of us," Lieneck said.
Since the tragedy, Gina Lieneck has lobbied for one thing: mandatory licenses for all boaters.
"I don't feel you should be able to just buy a boat and get on the water tomorrow," Lieneck said.
The lack of oversight, Lieneck said, puts inexperienced and sometimes irresponsible skippers on the water, leading to speeding and drinking.
To date, however, neither federal nor state lawmakers have made Lieneck's goal a reality.
Many boaters oppose the license idea, but Karin Danza, a veteran boater from Bay Shore, believes it's just common sense.
"You don't have to be experienced and you can just go. It doesn't mean you know what you're doing," Danza said.
With 64,000 registered boats in Suffolk County alone, one official said Great South Bay can resemble the Long Island Expressway on a holiday.
Veteran boater Dan O'Keefe's plan to stay safe this weekend is to keep his boat in port.
"I was out today and they can have the rest of the weekend," O'Keefe said. "It's not fun."
