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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.