Families who lost loved ones, or were seriously injured, due to accidents at the Lorain Lake Erie break wall, turned to the Lorain Port Authority for help.
The family of 54-year-old Tim Moore turned in more than 700 signatures to the port authority, demanding that additional lighting be added to the break wall as soon as possible.
Moore and his girlfriend were killed when their boat hit the break wall on July 4.
Dianna and David Lawson were also in attendance at the port authority meeting, urging leaders to improve nighttime break wall safety lighting.
Dianna has been left in a wheelchair for 28 years, after a boat the Lawson's were riding in stuck the same break wall back in 1990.
The Lawson's have made it a lifelong mission to fight for improved, more standardized safety lighting at more than a dozen break walls along the northeast Ohio Lake Erie coastline.
"A man and a woman just lost their lives, they were very young, it didn’t need to happen," Lawson said.
"They should all be lit, they all should be lit, this shouldn't be something that you have to do on a piecemeal basis."
The Lorain Port Authority responded quickly, and told News 5 it will continue to advocate for better lighting at the break wall, but said it's really up to the U.S. Coast Guard and the Army Corp of Engineers to team-up and get the job done.
Several weeks ago the U.S. Coast Guard told News 5 it is now exploring a portable, solar-powered light array that could be put in place during the boating season.
The Lawson family and the family of Tim Moore said lighting improvements can't happen soon enough.
"This has to happen before someone else is hurt or killed," Lawson said.
"Let’s get this thing working, whatever it takes to get it done."
