July 5, 2018
By: Dwayne Page
A Cookeville man lost his life on Center Hill Lake Wednesday.
57 year old Kenneth Farron Young of Spring Street, Cookeville apparently drowned while swimming in the Mine Lick Creek area of the lake in the Austin Bottom Community. Although there is no boat ramp there, the incident occurred just off shore at the end of a road in an area used by boaters to access the lake.
According to Joe Johnson of the Smithville-DeKalb County Rescue Squad, a boater witnessed the man go under the water and then float back up. The victim could not be revived at the scene.
Johnson said the rescue squad was on another call when word came of this incident.
“We were at a boat wreck when we got another call about a drowning at Austin Bottom. The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency and Rescue Squad went by boat to the scene. When we arrived, two people were doing CPR on the victim, giving him mouth to mouth resuscitation. The victim was lying in the edge of the water. He wasn’t breathing and we couldn’t find any pulse. TWRA Officer Joe Fortner and I took over CPR efforts, giving the victim mouth to mouth resuscitation until Putnam County EMS arrived. When they got there, they continued with CPR,” said Johnson.
In addition to the TWRA , Rescue Squad, and Putnam County EMS, Park Rangers of the Corps of Engineers and officers of the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department were also on the scene.
Meanwhile, six people were injured in a boating accident Wednesday on Center Hill Lake.
TWRA officers said two boats collided just northeast of Davies Island. Those injured were transported by TWRA boats to the Johnson’s Chapel Recreation Area where ambulances were waiting to take them to the hospital. None were believed to have been seriously hurt.
According to Johnson, the Rescue Squad was called to the scene and had just arrived at Johnson’s Chapel when they learned that the victims had already boarded the TWRA boats.
“When we got there and launched our boats, TWRA officers had just got the people out of the water and boarded them in their boats so we turned around and followed them back to the bank and then we helped get the people up the bank to the ambulance,” said Johnson.