Michael McCown sent his 8-year-old daughter Linnie to a summer camp in central Texas trusting she would be safe.
But that trust was tragically broken when Linnie and at least 26 other campers and counselors were killed after a catastrophic flood swept through Camp Mystic on July 4.
On Wednesday, McCown and several other parents sat before a Texas state Senate committee and called for stronger safety standards at youth camps in Texas.
“We did not send Linnie to a war zone; we sent her to camp,” said McGown, who remembered his daughter for her gentle, playful manner. “No parent should ever go through what we are living through now.”
Parents of several children who were at Camp Mystic, a nearly century-old camp for girls which largely sits in a flood-prone area, testified at the Texas Capitol on Senate Bill1, which aims to improve safety for youth camps across the state. It was the first time many of the parents spoke publicly about the death of their children and the lack of sufficient safety measures to prevent their deaths.
Among the bill’s provisions are a requirement for camps to have emergency rooftop ladders in every cabin in the floodplain and flash flood evacuation plans. It also seeks to create a line of succession for local officials in the event they are absent when disaster strikes and to streamline how the justice of peace reports deaths.
“I told her camp was the safest place she could be and she would make new friends and learn new things. I lied to her. She not only wasn’t safe, she died,” said Carrie Hanna, mother of 8-year-old Hadley Hanna.
CNN has reached out to Camp Mystic for comment.
At the hearing, parents shared stories of their children and their grief, and expressed support for the bill with many of them saying it would prevent future camp families from their children dying in a flood.
Cece Williams Steward, whose 8-year-old daughter Cile has not been found since the flood, said she has “unwavering support” for Senate Bill 1.
“I was assured that her safety and the safety of all the young girls was paramount. … That assurance was betrayed. Obvious common sense safety measures were absent. Protocols that should have been in place were ignored,” the mother said.
Steward, who said three generations of women in her family had attended Camp Mystic and this was Cile’s first year going, said summer camps in the state must be properly equipped and held accountable to protect children in the future.
“She was stolen from her family, from her future, from the world she lit up with her independence and spunk,” she said.
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