Texas health investigators are looking into complaints filed against Camp Mystic with help from the Texas Rangers, while the health agency also evaluates whether to renew the camp\u2019s license to operate this summer, according to state officials. <\/p>\n
The Texas Department of State Health Services is reviewing what it said were hundreds of complaints filed about the care of children at Camp Mystic, a historic youth camp on the Guadalupe River where 27 girls and counselors died along with the camp\u2019s owner when the river flooded on July 4 last year.<\/p>\n
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick<\/a> cited the investigation Tuesday in a public letter<\/a> to the health agency, urging it for the second time not to renew the camp\u2019s license.<\/p>\n \u201cWith many questions remaining unanswered surrounding the deaths of 27 young girls, parents and Texans deserve to have all issues resolved prior to Camp Mystic and\/or their operators being allowed to welcome children back into their care this summer,\u201d Patrick wrote to DSHS Commissioner Jennifer Shuford.<\/p>\n Camp Mystic submitted its application to renew its license to operate at the end of March. The camp has sought to reopen<\/a> a newer portion of its property this summer that is on higher ground and had no fatalities during the flood, called Camp Mystic Cypress Lake. <\/p>\n The camp said it has been cooperating with a joint committee of legislators from the state House and Senate that has been tasked<\/a> with investigating issues surrounding the flood, and that it looked forward to working with the Rangers.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are pleased the Texas Rangers are getting involved,\u201d said Mikal Watts, attorney for Camp Mystic and the Eastland family that runs it. \u201cThey are an independent, honorable investigatory body that we were hoping, like past mass disasters including Uvalde, would get involved and do an in-depth report not merely on 27 deaths but 119 deaths that happened that day.\u201d <\/p>\n Meanwhile, separate battles that could determine whether the camp continues operating are playing out in courtrooms. <\/p>\n The parents of Cile Steward \u2014 the only camper whose body hasn\u2019t been found \u2014 asked a judge overseeing their lawsuit against Camp Mystic to keep the camp closed as a way to preserve evidence in the case. The judge in early March directed<\/a> Camp Mystic not to repair the older portion of the camp where the girls died, but the order doesn\u2019t affect Camp Mystic Cypress Creek.<\/p>\n