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BREAKING NEWS: Body Of Missing Boater Found
Kathy Waters/Highlands Today
Lieutenant Joe Allen with Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission gears up Wednesday for a helicopter search for James Carter, Jr. of Lake Placid who was involved in a boating accident Tuesday night. The body of James Carter Jr., 61, was found in the Harney Pond canal, about 30 miles downstream from the 621 Spill where his boat overturned Tuesday night.
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Published: August 28, 2008
LAKE PLACID - The search for a missing Lake Placid man whose boat was sucked into the 621 Spill ended at about 1:30 p.m. today.
The body of James Carter Jr., 61, was found in the Harney Pond canal, about 30 miles downstream from the 621 Spill where his boat overturned Tuesday night, according to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokeswoman JoAnne Adams.
He had been out boating with two other Lake Placid men on Lake Istokpoga at about 8 p.m. Tuesday.
Their Jon boat reportedly drifted too close to the lock, which was gushing out tons of water from Istokpoga into a drainage canal that eventually leads into Lake Okeechobee.
The body will be taken to the Medical examiner's office for an autopsy to establish the cause of death.
The two occupants who made it to shore safety said they tried dropping anchors which did not hold, then tried starting the boat's motor, which did not start, Adams said. The boat was pulled by the current into the 621 spill.
The men, Sean Mathis, 38, and Calvin Hawthorne, 26, were able to pull themselves out of the water by grabbing onto a boom, and made it safely to shore.
Mathis reportedly got on top of the capsized boat and called for Hawthorne.
He began kicking the boat toward Hawthorne until Hawthorne was able to climb on board. They floated down the spill until they were able to grab the boom. Neither of the men reportedly saw or heard Carter Jr. after the boat overturned, Adams said.
They were taken by Highlands County Emergency Medical Services to an area hospital for treatment, according to Interim EMS Director Steve Coltharp on Wednesday.
A woman who was fishing on the shore saw the accident and called 911, Adams said.
The boat was found 2.7 miles downstream from the spillway, she said, and officers were searching for the missing man there.
The Highlands County Sheriff's Office incident report shows the first call was received at about 8:34 p.m.
Pete Zeegers with the Avon Park Youth Academy confirmed that Carter Jr. worked there.
Joe Seelig can be reached at (863) 386-5834 or jseelig@highlandstoday.com
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