4 Dead at Wis. Horse Show
Pastor Dale Morgan
4 Dead at Wis. Horse Show*
Friday October 12, 2007 11:46 PM
By SCOTT BAUER
Associated Press Writer
MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Carbon monoxide from an old portable propane heater
killed two children and their grandparents as they slept in a
combination camper-horse trailer ahead of a horse show, authorities said
Friday.
The four were discovered by other family members who came to wake them
on Friday morning around 7:30 a.m., just as the World Clydesdale show
was starting at the adjacent Alliant Energy Center.
Dane County Coroner John Stanley identified the victims as DeVere Clay,
68, his wife Barbara, 57, and grandchildren Erin Briney, 10, and Hope
Briney, 13.
Don Langille, a spokesman for Clydesdale Breeders of the U.S.A., said
the four were longtime Clydesdale breeders and exhibitors who were
well-known to everyone at the show.
``The majority of exhibitors will be saddened because they know
everybody here, everybody grieves and they all grieve together,''
Langille said.
Two men at the stable where the family's horses were being kept at the
Madison show declined to comment Friday.
Police said a ``dangerously high'' level of carbon monoxide was detected
in the trailer, which was blamed on the propane heater so old they could
not detect the make or model.
The trailer, about 20 feet long, was parked in a parking lot with dozens
of other horse trailers behind the Alliant center and only feet from a
fenced-in horse-showing area.
The Clays normally slept in the barn where their horses are kept, but
decided it was too cold on Thursday night and stayed in the trailer
instead, said Calvin Larson, with Larsons Clydesdales of Ripon, who said
that he has known the family for decades.
People showing horses in competitions often sleep in a trailer parked on
the grounds, or in the stables with their horses, so they can be close
by in case something goes wrong.
Only portable space heaters with a sensor that shuts off the heater in
case a dangerous level of carbon monoxide accumulates should be used,
said Patty Davis with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
In 2004, there were 162 deaths nationwide caused by carbon monoxide
fumes where there was not a fire, she said. Of those, 34 involved room
or space heaters, she said.
Ted Ballweg, sales and marketing director for the Alliant center, said
the competition will proceed as planned. Between 10,000 and 15,000
people were expected to attend, he said.
Other exhibitors planned to help show the horses the family had brought,
said Maureen Castagnasso of Meadowview Clydesdales. The horses were in
stables and not the trailer overnight.
It's the first world competition for Clydesdale horses in the U.S. in
more than 100 years, Ballweg said. The world competitions are typically
held in Scotland or Canada, he said.