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Bryan and Kim Dion filed notice stating the city of La Crosse and the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse are both at least partially responsible for their son's death. Jared Dion, a UW-La Crosse student, drowned in the Mississippi River in April.
The Dions would like $250,000 from each party.
After Jared went missing, the Dions came to La Crosse to help find their son, staying at UW-L for day after agonizing day. He was found in the river five days after he disappeared from downtown on a late Friday night.
Just days after her son's funeral, Kim Dion came back to La Crosse to attend a town hall meeting where city leaders were trying to quiet serial killer rumors.
"That was my son, and I have a right to believe any story I hear ... ," Kim shouted near the end of the meeting.
She had been there all along. The mother of Jared Dion. Some who had gotten up to say that students should be held responsible for their actions, quickly sat down out of respect. How could they know this woman's pain?
Later, the Dions told a Milwaukee TV station that they still thought foul play was involved.
Apparently, they have changed their minds.
"I think that during the initial stages of the investigation, the Dions, as well as a large part of the community of
La Crosse, believed there was something more
sinister involved," said the Dions' attorney, James Gende, whose office is in Waukesha, Wis. "They were listening to all explanations."
And now what do they believe?
"The family is pursuing the parties they feel are responsible," he said.
And what do they hope to accomplish with this pursuit? Do they have any hope of winning?
"Every time you take on the system, it's a difficult case," Gende said. "There will be many forces aligned against the Dion family, but we hope that through this process, not only will the family raise awareness of binge drinking and the danger it presents to students, but that the community and university will work in conjunction to make sure this tragedy never happens again."
That's a truly wonderful pursuit, but here's the thing: The community and the university are already working together. The town hall meeting was a start. Since then, the mayor has appointed a task force full of community leaders to come up with solutions. The police department has assigned more officers to patrol downtown on weekends.
Council members have discussed a railing along the waterfront. The leaders of the three local colleges are pushing to drop the second weekend of Oktoberfest. One council member suggested gates for the levee that would be put up immediately and could be locked at night. Except they voted to postpone the gates, because it might help someone sue the city.
Imagine that.
If you put up gates, then you must be admitting you were at fault. In other words, potential lawsuits like the one the Dions have just set in motion, are slowing down the effort to "make sure this tragedy never happens again."
No matter how you try the story on, it feels like a family is trying to salvage a cash settlement out of the pieces of their broken lives. Which is fine. That's the lawsuit-happy society in which we live in.
But to say the university is promoting binge drinking by having a Safe Ride bus from campus to downtown? How many lives have been saved by that bus route — people who hadn't put themselves in danger with excessive drinking?
Perhaps the city or the university admitting some percentage of responsibility would somehow make it better.
Or, more likely, it will be a long and painful fight. And in the end, no matter what the outcome, the Dions will never come out ahead.
Matt James can be seen at 10 p.m. Sundays on WKBT-Ch. 8. He can be reached at mjames@lacrossetribune.com.
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