Thursday, May 8, 2008

Maury Officials Thank Local Emergency Personnel For Assistance

   Officials from neighboring Maury County traveled to Lawrenceburg Thursday to issue an official “thank you” to local divers and emergency personnel who recently assisted in the recovery of the body of a drowning victim from the Duck River.

   Maury County Emergency Management Agency Director Mark Blackwood addressed the Lawrenceburg Board of Mayor and Commissioners during their bi-monthly business meeting. He read a thank-you letter from Maury County Mayor James L. Bailey, Jr., during the meeting.

   Dive teams from Lawrence and Giles Counties were called upon to assist teams from the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency in the search for fifty-one-year-old Billy Ray Brooks.

   Surveyors working on the Duck River Bridge April 22 reported seeing Brooks enter the water fully clothed, swim approximately one hundred yards down stream “as if he were enjoying himself,” then disappear beneath the water. Brooks’ body was discovered by fishermen near the Industrial Park Bridge twelve days later.

   “We don’t have the resources to develop a dive team of our own,” Blackwood told commissioners Thursday. “It is comforting to know that we have neighbors like you who will offer assistance when it is needed.”

   Blackwood said that the Lawrenceburg Fire Department Dive Team was instrumental in conducting a search both for the body, and for evidence in the case. While they were unable to locate that evidence, Blacwood said “Without them we could not have adequately done our job.”

   While it is never pleasant working a case such as this one, Blackwood pointed out, “The partnerships that are formed are some of the positive things that come out of these incidents.”

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