b'I n 2018 this publication took a drastic editorial turn in response to the Editors Prologuedevastation that Hurricane Harvey brought to the Coastal Bend, specifi-cally Port Aransas, Mustang Island and North Padre. With our tourism audience cut in half, along with our base of advertisers and delivery lo-cations, this editor faced the challenge of reviving my journalism skills, and to first apply them to the hurricane story itself. Our distribution shifted significantly to reach an audience of local residents in addition to visitors, and with the welcomed praise of lifelong Coastal Benders over the quality and depth of our content has come a responsibility to continue to deliver honest, unbiased reporting.Anyone familiar with the old Texas Coastal Bend Tour Guide remembers our close association with Schlitterbahn Corpus Christiwe strongly supported the proj-ect with positive reporting through its long construction process, and we published a full, two-page map of the park, at our cost, in the sole interest of promoting Schlit-terbahn and guiding their visitors to all the great places and activities in the Coastal Bend. Even when Jeff Henry and Schlitterbahn were being openly and aggressively criticized for running late on construction and missed opening dates, we stuck by them in the interest of our tourism economy, and it is a choice that I do not regret. The Original Schlitterbahn Family Water Park opened in New Braunfels in 1979 with When I first heard of the August 2016 incident at Kansas City Schlitterbahn,four water slides built around the parks iconic German castle guards tower replica.in which a 10-year-old boy died on the Verrckt waterslide, I immediately thought of the Travel Channels Xtreme Waterparks series that tracked the progress of thefellow Texans love Schlitterbahn and have made wonderful family memories at its slides construction and testing. While reality shows are not known for accuratelyparks. And to be sure, it is in no way in this publications direct business interests to portraying reality, the drama that played out on the show surrounding the testing ofgo after Jeff Henry and Schlitterbahn by fully reporting what is alleged in Kansas. the ride seemed in no way conjured upas one test raft after another, loaded withIt is also not in the best interest of the Coastal Bends tourism economy for Schlit-sandbags to simulate human riders, flew off the slide after ascending its second hill,terbahn Corpus Christi to close or fall into decay.the mental image of who those sandbags represented stayed with me. However, sometimes we must consider the bigger picture, and I believe we are Then I learned how Caleb Schwab died. If the Schlitterbahn corporate expla- at the end of an era when monied corporate interestseven ones that started off as nation is to be believedthat the drama on Xtreme Waterparks was fabricated fora small, family businesscan prey on the public, their own customers, by willingly entertainment purposes, that Jeff Henrys worries about dying on his own ride wasendangering their lives for profit, and then getting away with it. An era of account-acting, and that Calebs death was a freak accident that could not have been fore- ability is in full swing and we are responsible to play our part, but the motive starts seenthen all that video of the ride malfunctioning in the precise way that causedwith the fact that we love our childrenand its our duty as adults to protect them.the boys death must be the worst case of bad luck coincidence in the history ofCaleb Schwab was a wholesome, all-American kid who loved his family along humanity. with baseball, and yes, spending summer days at Schlitterbahn. But when I think But its not. While I had no intention of covering this story until the case goesabout his 12-year-old brother witnessing the decapitation of his little brother in to trial, the assertions claimed in the indictment of Jeff Henry, his lead designerT he Henry family moved from Houston to New Braunfels John Schooley, the Kansas City park General Manager, 29-year-old Tyler Miles, alongfront of him, it was all the motive I needed to do the right thingand tell you what I with Henry & Sons Construction and Schlitterbahn Kansas City, are so outrageouslearned about Jeff Henry and Verrckt.and egregious that they cannot be ignored. In addition to Henrys statements about the danger of the ride as it was being built and tested, we learn that neither he norThe Mad GeniusSchooley possess any engineering education or certification whatsoever, that they violated virtually every industry safety standard that applied to the project, that they failed to maintain and repair the ride on an ongoing basis, that they followed a standing policy to cover up injuries on Verrckt, especially the kind that led to thein the late 1960s to purchase Camp Landa, a popular va-boys death, that they were willing to coerce and intimidate a 17-year-old whistle- cation spot located on the Comal River that offered 34 blower while lying to police, and that they were willing to conceal and destroy evi- cabins and tubing on the river. By the late 1970s the wa-dence during the course of the death investigation. terpark concept had taken hold in America, including the This story is not about Schlitterbahn Corpus Christi, per se, or any of the com- opening of Orlando-based Wet-n-Wild in Arlington, Texas, panys Texas parks, but it affects them all. The lender that holds $174 million inwhen Schlitterbahn was born. Translated slick road, the Schlitterbahn corporate debt issued an official statement this spring warning thattedious foreign label identified the new park with New the Kansas criminal indictments could result in default, putting three of the com- Braunfels German heritage, and the Henry family went panys remaining parksin New Braunfels, South Padre Island, and Kansas City to work on what would become one of the states favorite into foreclosure. The Corpus Christi park was purchased at auction by Internationalsummer playgrounds. Bank of Commerce after being foreclosed upon and is currently operating under theJeff dropped out of high school to work on Schlitterbahn full timeand while Schlitterbahn name. no responsible adult would encourage a youngster to follow such a pathit really I know that some of our readers will find distaste in our presentation of thisdid end up well for Jeff. In 1979 Schlitterbahn opened with four water slides built story, and the fact that we are presenting it at all. I also know that millions of myaround a six-story replica of a German castles guard tower that could be easily seen TheCooasastalBend.c THE COASTAL BEND MATHE CGAOZINEASTAL BEND MAFEATURED: The StGAZINEories that MattEarly Summer 2018ered 35TheC talBend.comom 81'