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Newspaper Archive of
Cape Gazette
Lewes, Delaware
Jim's Towing Service
June 9, 2000     Cape Gazette
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June 9, 2000
 
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14 -CAPE GAZETTE, Friday, June 9 - June 15, 2000 Cape graduates mourn loss of classmate Ronald Bull Cause of drowning remains mystery; cold or fatigue possibilities By Kerry Kester Tragedy struck Cape Henlopen High School six days before.grad- uation, when one of its seniors was found drowned in a quarry the evening of June 1. Ronald Bull, 18, of Milton, had been swim- ming with 10 other friends, BULL when for an unknown reason he dipped below the water's surface and did not re- emerge. The accident was reported to 911 at 5:13 p.m., just more than an hour after the students had arrived at the sand pit owned by the Melvin Joseph Company. "We were all just jumping in the water," said Mark Moore, one of the men swimming that day. Moore, a close friend and class- mate of Bull's, said some of the students had been swimming about 30 feet out, where a sandbar of sorts was located and the water was only about 4-feet deep. At one point, eight of the stu- dents swimming decided to swim across the sand pit, which Mike Lopez, a senior in the group, esti- mated was a distance of approxi- mately 200 yards. Shortly afterward, he said, Bull and another student turned around because they realized they were too fatigued to swim the long dis- tance. "They [Bull and Keith Dickin- son] were coming back," said Lopez, who needed to assist Dick- inson as he approached the sand- bar. The students heard Bull call for help. By then, Lopez and Dickinson were out of the quarry • and immediately called 911 from a cell phone, while the other stu- dents attempted a water rescue. "We all rushed to where he was," said Moore. "Where we thought he was, it was only about 7-feet deep. We just kept looking and looking, We kept looking un- til they told us to get out of the water. It was just that feeling...if we got out of the water, we were giving up." Moore said Bull had at least av- erage swimming skills, but the water was "colder than the ocean." Lopez conceded the wa- ter was cold but said "you got used to it." Chris McCoy, dive captain of the Millville Volunteer Fire Com- pany, said cold water, particularly the extremely cold water found in quarries, can cause muscle cramp- ing that may render a person un- able to move properly. The day of the accident, the stu- dents were indeed celebrating graduation, friendship, the prospect of their futures and the hot summer weather, but their cel- ebration was drug and alcohol free. "We were not drinking at all - not a drop," said Moore. "And no drugs. Not at all." "There was no evidence of drinking - none," said McCoy, who as a key diver was directed to observe whether evidence of alco- hol was present at the site. "They were just swimming on a hot day." Twenty-six rescue divers from three fire companies and the state police searched the 50- to 55,de- gree water for more than three hours before locating the teen's Kerry Kester photo Above shows the Sussex 409 and Sussex 410 intersection en- trance to the Melvin Joseph Company construction quarry where Ronald Bull, 18, drowned. The entrance is a signifi- cant distance from the quarry, barely visible in the photo. "No Trespassing  signs are posted on each side of the drive. According to Mark Moore, who was one of the Cape stu- dents who drove to the quarry, the rope was down when the students approached the drive. He said he may have thought twice before entering had the rope been up. "Your mind says you really shouldn't do this [if the rope is up]; it's kind of like breaking in," said Moore. Moore said others in the group did not see the signs at all, and he may have been the only one who noted a larger "No Trespassing" sign, also warning of danger, posted about 20 feet from the entrance to the quarry. body at 9 p.m. More than 40 oth- er rescue personnel also assisted in the rescue effort at the quarry accessed near the intersection of Sussex 409 and Sussex 410. Bull beloved by friends Moore, the class president, is struggling with a casual hut loving remark Bull made a week before he died. "It was first period, and he was talking to Bobby Croce and I," said Moore. "He said, 'This might sound stupid, but I'm really going to miss you guys.' Of course, he was talking about grad- uation and college... "He was so excited about the future. He was so excited about college - the new experiences, new people. He was really a peo- ple person. He loved people." Moore said Bull had decided to pursue a degree in anthropology at Ohio State University, then attend law school. He chose Ohio State, Moore thought, be- cause it is such a large school, and that meant even greater MOORE opportunities to meet people. Moore and Bull had been friends since their freshman year in high school, when the two met in their honors courses. Moore said Bull was an A/B student who earned an academic scholarship from Ohio State. "We always sat next to each other," said Moore. "I don't think I could have gotten through those classes without him. Our classes were so demanding, but no matter how tough it was, he always had a joke or a way to lighten it up. Then it wouldn't seem like such a task; it would be fun." When two people spend as much time together as Moore and Bull did, as could be expected, there were moments when the two had spats. "They'd never last more than a period of school," said Moore. "We'd make up and laugh about it. "He would always express what was on his mind. Sometimes that would make people mad but there was never any guessing about what he was thinking, because he would just say it. "He went to church regularly. He was really strong in his beliefs, and I think he really knew who he was. Some people our age are searching for themselves and what they're all about, and I think he already knew." In addition to having a strong sense of self and a sound academic history, Bull also was a musician and an athlete. He played a horn in the band until senior year, played soccer, ran track and in previous years played basketball and baseball. Cape High students, still mourning Bull when the com- mencement ceremony began Tuesday, June 6, took a moment of silence to remember the three classmates who died before grad- uation. Curtis Davis Jr. died last fall from a heart disorder, and Danielle Guerin died junior year in an automobile accident. See obituary on page 17 Police warn of inherent dangers in Sussex County quar :ies By Kerry Kester State police estimate there are six to 10 quarries in Sussex County. Typically, they have brilliant turquoise water that draws the eye to their beauty and the brain to a yearning to squelch a day's heat with a quick dip. Unfortunately, however, quar- ries are for teenagers like the sirens were for sailors: mere lures to danger and death. The nature of quarries differs, depending on where in the country they are located and for what purpose they were developed, but what they all have in common is their waters are unsafe. "One of the main concerns we have when we dive in a quarry is the water doesn't warm up like tidal water or a lake," said Chris McCoy, dive captain for the Millville Volunteer Fire Company. "What can hap- pen is the cold water can make you cramp up." McCoy acknowledged body cramps can happen at any time or in any -place, but when they occur in swimming situations, they are particularly threatening. Muscles don't get the blood supply they need so the muscles contract, he said, "and you can't move." Cold water in a quarry is the rule, not the exception, said McCoy, who noted they usually have places in which they are very deep, and the water in those areas are par- ticularly cold. Lakes and like bodies stay colder at their bottoms, said McCoy, but spring-fed quarries have sharp cold pockets at any depth. McCoy was a member of the team of divers who searched for a Cape Henlopen student who was drowned in a Millsboro quarry June 1. "The water temperature that night at the bottom was 50 to 55 degrees," said McCoy. "It was very cold." When cold causes cramps and impedes a swimmer in a quarry, getting safely out of the water may be more challenging than at a lake or even an ocean, where a swimmer collapse on you at any moment." The most obvious hazard is that quarries, unlike most of Delaware's beaches on state property, is that they have no lifeguards trained to spot danger and initiate rescues. In fact, in most cases when people are swimming in quarries, they are doing so somewhat furtively because they are there illegally. Quarries in other parts of the country pose other kinds of threats. "In some quarries, like in Pennsylvania, there are cars, tires, things like that in them," said McCoy. "I don't think that happens much here, though, because the ones in Sussex County aren't abandoned. 'q'hose are haz- ards the same as a tree or a rock." For ex- ample, he said, swimmers could easily sus- tain lacerations from unseen items in the might be able to remain afloat until the water. In worse case scenarios, he said, depth gradually lessened as the swimmer people might attempt to explore the inside approached a shoreline, of an abandoned car, the unstable bottom Quarries have no shores; they are simply . could shift, and the swimmer could become huge pits filled with water. The nature of their structure present yet another hazard to swimmers. Because most Sussex County quarries are used for mining sand, the edges of the pits may be unstable, said McCoy. "Whenever you're dealing with sand,.it can trapped inside the vehicle. "Basically, un- less you work there, you shouldn't be any- where near a sand pit or quarry," said Mc- Coy. "It's just too dangerous." Delaware State Police are campaigning to prevent further tragedies such as oc- Kerry g.eater photo This sign is posted a few feet from the entrance closest to the quarry in which Ronald Bull died. The entrance is equipped with a steel cable rope preventing easy access to the site. curred with the Cape High teen. The plan is to step up prosecution for those who vio- late the "No Trespassing" signs posted at the quarries by the owners of the businesses that own them. "We're trying to prevent any other people from becoming victims of these types of incidents," said Cpl. Bruce Harris, state police spokesman. He urged all those who own quarries to assist with enforcement by reporting any trespassing violations to police immediately and fol- lowing through with prosecution.