Family familiar with tragedy
By Jan TenBruggencate and Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writers
LIHU'E, Kaua'i — The Hantacks of Edwardsville, Ill., were a happy family, but a family that knew tragedy.
Terry and Debora Hantack's 3-year-old son was trampled to death by a horse several years ago, and she had lost an unborn child when a horse kicked her during a pregnancy.
DANIEL
On Thursday, the couple's Hawai'i vacation with their 11-year-old son, Daniel, ended tragically when the family was swept into the ocean off a rocky ledge at Lumaha'i Beach on Kaua'i. Daniel was rescued, but his parents drowned, leaving him stranded thousands of miles away from his closest kin.
An uncle was expected to arrive late yesterday to pick up the boy, who has been in a foster home under the jurisdiction of the state's Child Welfare Services. He has been receiving "appropriate counseling," said Derick Dahilig, public information officer for the state Department of Human Services.
Occasional swells continued to crash hip-deep yesterday across the rock shelf where the Hantacks had walked with their son at about 11 a.m. Thursday. One of those swells knocked the boy down but pulled his parents into the sea. Autopsies found both had drowned.
Terry Hantack, 50, worked as a licensed clinical social worker and a Christian counselor in Edwardsville. His wife, 51, was his secretary. They lived in a rural area where many residents kept horses, said neighbor Kelly Tosh.
"We all lived out of town. My niece was supposed to go work for them, work with their horses, when they flew back from Hawai'i," Tosh said.
The couple was "very protective of Daniel," Tosh said.
Young Daniel's classmates have been receiving counseling in how to cope with the latest loss, said Ed Hightower, superintendent of schools in Edwardsville, a college town of about 21,000 people.
The family was well-known in the community, and was outgoing and active, Tosh said.
"Many kids hung out at their house; their yard was a play area for all the kids," Hightower said.
He said Daniel was a popular child and a good student.
"It's a tragic situation. Our hearts and our prayers go out to the Hantack family, and we will do everything possible to help him," he said.
Jan Tenbruggencate • The Honolulu Advertiser
The deaths occurred at a popular beach made famous in the movie "South Pacific," but one that is difficult to access. It was not clear how the Hantack family reached the beach. It is possible to walk there along the shore from the west, and possible but dangerous and difficult to go down a cliff area east of the beach.
These hazard warning signs at Lumaha'i beach are among six that also warn of no lifeguard, high surf, dangerous shorebreaks and slippery rocks. The signs were installed in 2001 and are inspected quarterly.
Most visitors follow a marked path from a parking area along Kuhio Highway. It runs to a muddy trail under a canopy of hala, ironwood and false kamani trees. On that trail, just as beachgoers reach the sand, they are confronted with a panel of six warning signs in bright orange, yellow and white, with black lettering.
The signs warn that there is no lifeguard, that there are dangerous shorebreaks, high surf, rip currents, slippery rocks and waves that break on the rock ledge. This last sign has a yellow pictograph showing a wave crashing on a falling human figure standing on a ledge.
State parks chief Dan Quinn said the signs are the latest ones the state has for beach areas, and were developed by a task force created under a 1996 law. The signs, which are known as Act 190 signs, were developed following national standards in hazard warning signs, created by the American National Standards Institute.
ANSI has since recommended some changes in sign design but not significant ones, Quinn said.
The signs were installed in 2001 when the state acquired the land across which the access trail runs. They are inspected quarterly. Yesterday, the signs appeared to be in perfect condition.
A somber gray sky and passing rains marked Lumaha'i Beach yesterday, where tourists said the language on the signs seemed clear, although they confessed they didn't study them carefully.
"I looked at the pictures, but I didn't read the fine print," said Lee Gray of Augusta, Maine.
His wife, Terry, after learning of Thursday's tragedy, said she had just one recommended improvement.
"I would just post, 'You don't go on the rocks,' " she said.
Sue Kanoho, director of the Kaua'i Visitors Bureau, said the visitor industry may need to boost awareness of ocean conditions beyond clear signs at potentially hazardous beaches.
"We need to increase the awareness," Kanoho said. "Oftentimes, people see the signs and feel it doesn't apply to them."
Reach Vicki Viotti at vviotti@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8053. Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 245-3074.
