
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, September 6, 1994                   TAG: 9409060074
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

MEDICINE, DROWNING MAY BE LINKED

A drowning victim at Philpott Lake on Sunday has been identified as a 42-year-old Gerald A. Triplett of Spencer, authorties said.

Triplett's body was removed from about 9 feet of water near Salthouse Branch about 3 p.m. Sunday after he accidentally fell in and drowned while hunting for wild ginseng, said Lt. Karl Martin of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.

Triplett and a companion, Bassett resident David Ratcliff, had pulled a small boat to shore just before the accident occurred. Triplett was trying to climb a steep bank when he fell in the water, Martin said.

Although the death is still being investigated, Martin said there are no signs of foul play, and it is being treated as an accident.

Triplett was taking medication which may have limited his ability to swim after plunging into the water, Martin said. He declined to name the medicine or say why the Spencer man was taking it.

In a boating-related accident on Smith Mountain Lake on Monday, two men who crashed a runabout into the shoreline about 1 a.m. were uninjured after they were stranded on a rocky bank by the Beechwood subdivision near Hales Ford Bridge.

David Allen Garrett, 34, of Salem apparently steered into the wrong cove after leaving the Bridge Club, a waterside bar on the lake, said Game and Inland Fisheries Sgt. Ron Henry. The 21-foot-long Sea Ray was traveling 15 to 20 knots when it stuck the shoreline, Henry said.

The boat became stuck on the rocks. Garrett, a paraplegic, and passenger Jim Heln of Roanoke weren't rescued until about 7 a.m. A tugboat pulled the motor boat off the rocks, and they were able to pilot it back to the Smith Mountain Yacht Club unassisted.

Henry said Garrett was charged with reckless operation of a motor boat. Police have evidence both men had been drinking before the accident, Henry said, but too much time elapsed between the accident and their rescue to charge Garrett with operating a boat while intoxicated.

Keywords:
FATALITY

by CNB