ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, June 3, 1996 TAG: 9606030121
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BETTY HAYDEN SNIDER STAFF WRITER
A 13-year-old Roanoke girl who recently completed a beginner's swimming course drowned Sunday afternoon in Smith Mountain Lake.
Wonder Starr Reed of Grandin Road and a group of friends from church were swimming just off a boat deck at the Beechwood West subdivision in Moneta, said Lt. John McCane of the Bedford County Sheriff's Office.
About 3 p.m., Starr and another girl were swimming in 3 to 4 feet of water when a boat passed and created a wake - a large wave, McCane said. Reed went under and did not resurface.
Her companion called for help, and a man from the group jumped in the lake. He found Reed five or six minutes later.
The man, along with county Game Warden Sgt. Steve Pike and Officer Reggie Coles, tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate the girl. She was pronounced dead about 5 p.m. at Bedford County Memorial Hospital, McCane said.
This is the second drowning at the lake this year. Cole Patrick Thomas, the 3-year-old grandson of Del. Vic Thomas, D-Roanoke, drowned April 28. He apparently wandered outside and fell in the water.
Reed's mother told police her daughter recently took a swimming class and was not a very strong swimmer. The girl was not wearing a life jacket.
McCane said all people who swim in the lake should wear life jackets - regardless of how well they can swim - because the lake's bottom is irregular and boat traffic often kicks up large wakes.
"In this case, it could have prevented a death."
LENGTH: Short : 37 lines KEYWORDS: FATALITYby CNB