Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Bluefield, WV

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  • Search teams converge on the location of one of the two victims found at Kee Dam on Sunday. Staff photo by Eric DiNovo

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July 26, 2010

2 die in Kee Dam drowning

By BILL ARCHER Bluefield Daily Telegraph

GREEN VALLEY — The bodies of two men from McDowell County were removed from Elizabeth Kee Dam on Sunday, following a 13-plus hour search after emergency responders of the two Virginias were called to “a boating accident” late Saturday night.

Although investigators with the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources would not release any details about the accident and even declined to confirm that two men drown, several family members of both men kept a vigil near the Kee Dam boat launch area. Family members at the scene stated that the two victims were Frankie Jennings and Donald Anthony.

M.P. Forbes, chaplain of the Mercer County Sheriff’s Department said that emergency responders were called to the scene at about 9:45 p.m., Saturday night. Conservation Officer  Gabriel Wood of the state DNR said he arrived on scene at about 10:15 p.m., but added that the DNR was not the first agency on site.

“I was in Charleston when I heard about it,” Alcesta Wells, Frankie Jennings’ sister said. “I couldn’t get here until about midnight. All of us stayed until the search teams left at about 2 a.m. (Sunday morning). We all came back at about 7:30 a.m., when they started searching again.”

The crowd of family members and friends of the two young men grew through the morning. “We didn’t have church this morning. About half of our congregation is right here,” The Reverend Jerome Powell, pastor of Upland Missionary Baptist Church in Upland said. “Both of these young men were well-loved in the community.”

Members of the Green Valley-Glenwood Volunteer Fire Department were the first on the scene, but several other search teams soon joined them as well as the DNR search team. Although the searchers paused for a time due to darkness and fog conditions, according to Forbes, Wood said some search personnel remained at the scene through the entire search period.

Wood expressed appreciation to the many search teams who responded. A dive team that traveled with the Raleigh County Incident Response Unit joined divers from the Princeton Rescue Squad. A boat unit from the Bluefield, Va. Rescue Squad was on scene, in addition to a unit from the Alderson Volunteer Fire Department, the Beaver Volunteer Fire Department and the U.S. Park Service.

On Sunday morning, dive teams including as many as nine divers at a time, conducted a methodical search of the scene, working in grids not far from the shore. At 11:15 a.m., the divers found the first victim. After family members learned the identity of the first victim, they gathered together with friends in prayer. Search teams found the second victim at 1:30 p.m. Family members and friends joined together in prayer again. Search team members found both victims in roughly the same area, about 25 yards from the shore.

During the search, the dive team members found a sports car with an expired Virginia license plate in the dam. “It looks like it has been there about 10 years,” Mercer County Sheriff D.B. “Don” Meadows said. “I have a number for an insurance company to call, but I won’t be able to call it until (this) morning.”

Wood met briefly with media representatives as teams that assisted in the search were leaving. He said after the DNR has completed its investigation, it will issue a press release.

As emergency responders, family and friends left, Sharon Powell, the wife of Reverend Jerome Powell, gathered up litter in a trash bag. Several pastors from churches in McDowell and Mercer counties visited to comfort families. American Red Cross volunteers brought water for the families and friends of the victims who stood in the hot sun for several hours.

“It’s just hard to believe,” The Reverend Garry D. Moore, pastor of Scott Street Baptist Church said.

— Contact Bill Archer at barcher@bdtonline.com

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