This is always so hard to read about.
A state district judge has ordered Camp Mystic, a Christian girls’ camp where 27 people died during last summer’s deadly flood in the Texas Hill Country, not to alter, demolish, repair or remove structures affected by floodwaters. It comes at the request of the parents of Cecilia “Cile” Steward, an 8-year-old girl who’s still missing after being swept away at the camp.
The Stewards are among a dozen families suing Camp Mystic and its leaders for negligent behavior during and leading up to the Fourth of July flood. They argue the ruling is necessary to avoid the destruction of evidence as the camp plans to welcome more than 800 campers back to its property on the south fork of the Guadalupe River this summer.
Judge Maya Guerra Gamble, who has been assigned to the Stewards’ case, issued a similar order last month.
“I don’t think there’s any language in there that stops law enforcement if they need to go on the property, whether for an investigation regarding this or something that happens in the future,” she said. “What I do see is that you can’t use it as a camp and you can’t alter any of the structures or any of land that was affected by the flood until some future time.”
The order does, however, allow some of the camp’s staff to return to and reside in one of the affected structures, known as “Sugar Shack.”
It also states the camp’s leaders “owed a duty of care to Cile Steward and other minor campers, which they breached by operating Camp Mystic in a high-risk zone without adequate flood protections.”
See here for the previous update on this lawsuit. The Trib carried several AP dispatches from the hearing – here, here, here – in which the various members of the Eastland family and other camp leaders who testified offered little in defense of themselves. I look at the picture of Cile Steward’s parents in that KUHF story – she’s crying, he looks absolutely haunted – and it just guts me. Cile’s mother, CiCi Steward, is quoted at the end of the story reiterating their call for the state to deny the camp a license to operate this summer, in line with one of the demands of their lawsuit. I have a hard time arguing with that.