Central Valley Pond pool remains closed after swimmer's death

Central Valley n Woodbury Town Councilwoman Gerry Gianzero returned home from a vacation trip Tuesday and listened to the dozen messages left on her answering machine. Most of them pertained to the death of a 20-year-old Monroe resident at Central Valley Pond. Mark G. Persing drowned Saturday afternoon at that Town of Woodbury public swimming facility. “It was a horrible tragedy,” said Gianzero. Due to a deed restriction, Central Valley Pond is open only to residents of the Town of Woodbury and their guests. Persing was a guest of a female resident of Woodbury who had a pass to the facility. He signed in as a visitor and checked the “swimmer” box. Persing’s host alerted a lifeguard at about 3:30 p.m. when Persing failed to surface after diving off a platform in the middle of the pond. “Lifeguards got him out and began administering first aid,” said Woodbury Town Supervisor John Burke. “The police were called, were there in three minutes and administered further aid. “An ambulance arrived soon after the police and took Persing to Arden Hill Hospital (Orange Regional Medical Center in Goshen),” Burke added. Persing was pronounced dead at the hospital at about 4:15 p.m. “The town sends the sincerest condolences to his family and friends,” said Burke. Central Valley Pond was secured constantly after the drowning on Saturday afternoon until 8 p.m. Monday. During that period a thorough review was done by the police, a search of the water was made by the Mombasha Company dive team, crisis counseling took place and the state and county health departments conducted a review. The facility was closed at the time of the drowning and remained closed as of Wednesday morning. Dr. Jean M. Hudson, commissioner of the Orange County Health Department, must give the go-ahead for a reopening. Central Valley Pond is located between Dunderberg Road and Buena Vista Terrace and is fed by hillside springs. The pond and its surrounding 66 acres were purchased in 1929 by Edward Cornell who began the “Woodbury Park System.” Shortly thereafter, Cornell established a group called, “Trustees of the Community Park.” In the 1930s, the trustees issued admission cards to students in the Central Valley and Highland Mills schools and paid one dollar per year to the Town of Woodbury for repairs and maintenance at the park. Central Valley Pond became a Woodbury Town Park in 1946. Renovations to the facility in the amount of $900,000 were done between the pond’s closing at the end of last summer and this summer’s opening. The project included new piping for the water filtering and circulation systems, lifeguard chairs, diving boards, a new pool bottom, renovation of the walking deck and reconfiguration of the depth and slopes of the pond. Central Valley Pond is one of two Town of Woodbury public swimming facilities. The other is a town beach at Earl Reservoir on Schunnemunk Road north of Highland Mills. Editor’s note: Mr. Persing’s obituary appears on page 12.