BOGALUSA, La. — It was a November afternoon in 2021 when Eric Josh Williams and his boss, Joe Newby, took out a boat in the Pearl River. The men never made it home.
There have been several boating accidents blamed on low head dams and sills along the Pearl River. For years, there have been efforts all the way at the state level to figure out what to do to make them safer.
"First day I met my husband," Kimberly Williams said holding a picture of her and her late husband from 2016.
She and Eric Josh Williams were both living in Illinois when they met.
"We were inseparable," Williams said.
As their relationship grew, so did their dream of a life together.
THEY VISITED LOUISIANA AND DECIDED TO STAY
"We came down here to Louisiana for a cruise one time and we fell in love with Louisiana and decided to move here. We sold everything we had and decided to move here on a whim. He proposed to me here and we got married here. This was where we were happy, this was our happy place," Williams said.
They moved to Holden and got new jobs.
"He got on doing HVAC with a very nice man, Joe Newby, and they worked really hard together.
They all enjoyed being out on the water.
JUST RUNNING A BOAT
"It was the Monday after Thanksgiving weekend in 2021. Josh called me at work and said Joe needed help running a boat to make sure it was in working condition," Williams remembers.
The men launched the boat at Pools Bluff near Bogalusa around 3 p.m. that day. Williams said they had never been there before.
"Never. Neither Joe or Josh. They were just running a boat. They were just testing it out," she said.
They were both experienced boaters so she wasn't worried until her husband never called.
"I got out of work at 5:15 and he never not answers my call. I called and he never answered," she said.
'EVERYONE KNOWS IT'S THERE UNTIL SOMEBODY DOESN'T'
A search for the men began.
"Washington Parish Sheriff's Office and Wildlife and Fisheries called me," said Mark Michaud.
Michaud is a retired Slidell police officer and founder of Southeast Louisiana Underwater Search and Recovery. He uses underwater sonar technology to search for missing people.
"I've worked several searches on the sills and low head dams,” he said.
Sills and low head dams are concrete walls that maintain water levels on rivers. There's one at Pools Bluff in the Pearl River. On one side it can look like a waterfall, but on the other it resembles an infinity pool, making it hard to spot unless you know it's there.
"It's one of those things 'oh everyone knows about that' until somebody doesn't," Michaud said.
If the river is low, the water level drops several feet at the dam. It's earned the nickname, 'drowning machine.'
"As the water hits, it does a washing machine kind of movement," Michaud said.
"I was just like, 'why is this here?'" Williams asked.
The low head dams and sills in the Pearl River were completed by the Army Corps of Engineers in 1956 for commercial navigation.
"That was almost 70 years ago when these sills were built. Since that time, the commercial industry does not use the waterway as much, but it is a draw. It's a high use area of recreational fishermen and boaters," said Corporal Michael Marques with the Dept. of Wildlife and Fisheries.
LDFW has responded to several accidents due to low head dams on the Pearl River at Pools Bluff and Bogue Chitto. According to the National Weather Service, between 2018 and 2022, 149 people died nationally due to incidents caused by low head dams. In 2020, 29 year old Michael Golden from Covington fell in the Bogue Chitto sill and died, officials reported. In 2015, Terry O'Keefe and Jonie Morgan from Folsom were killed at the same sill while boating with Morgan's three kids.
"Even a life jacket may not keep you afloat enough to make it through," Marques said.
NO FUNDING TO MAINTAIN STRUCTURES
For years, many have called for the removal of the dams, but that would take an act of congress since they are under the Army Corps of Engineers' control.
"We need federal help undoing what was done 50 years ago," said State Representative, Malinda White of Bogalusa.
Congress officially de-authorized the project in 2016 meaning there's no funding dedicated to maintaining the structures. Now White wants to figure out whether the dams should be removed and what impact that would have. Last year, the state put up $1 million for a hydrology study that's being split between Washington and St. Tammany parishes. Next month, the St. Tammany Parish Council will consider spending an additional $166,000 on the study.
"It does matter how much water is flowing through there. The concern would be the flow of the river during really low times that could cause problems environmentally," White said.
Michaud worries what could happen to the Pearl River canal if the dams were removed.
"Now there's a whole life on that river. You don't have to worry about the high water in winter, low water in summer, there are permanent camps on that river," Michaud said.
He believes there should be a closer look at better signage instead. The only warning of the dam is two signs on either side of the river. They appeared covered by limbs and weeds in 2021 when the fatal accident happened.
"That's the most devastating part of it. That's when I got angry. When you see the signs, it was completely covered in vegetation," Williams said.
Williams wonders if clearer signs could have prevented the accident. Newby's body was found in hours. Williams waited days for her husband.
"We were out there for nine days," she said.
Michaud's sonar technology spotted his body. After he was recovered, Williams began asking questions.
"I've been fighting ever since I realized the signage was not appropriate. I wanted to put signs out there and I was told to not move forward with that because of the liability issues," Williams said.
While fighting for better signs, she's also suing the Army Corps of Engineers.
"I want them to make it safe. They messed up. Period. I don't even know why we’re going to court over it because its blatant. It’s clear," Williams said.
We reached out to the Army Corps of Engineers for a response on Williams' lawsuit and to ask about possible efforts to modify signage, but we have not heard back.