Saturday, May 27, 2000
Massie student dies on senior-class outing
Teen-ager drowns on graduation eve
By Marie McCain and Michael D. Clark
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Hoffman
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MORROW — A class outing along the Little Miami River turned tragic Friday when a high-school senior slipped beneath the water and drowned.
Dead is Anthony Hoffman, 18, of Clarksville. He would have graduated from Clinton Massie High School today.
Officials said the teen and at least 30 others from the Clinton County school had completed a daylong canoe trip along the Little Miami.
The group stopped at an offshoot from the river, known as Todd's Fork, about 500 yards south of Ohio 132, about 3 p.m. They were scheduled to pull their canoes out of the water here.
But Mr. Hoffman and others decided to take a swim. Suddenly, he began to flounder and went under.
“The other kids' first impression was probably that
he was messing around,” said Morrow Fire Department Lt. Bruce Grambley. “The next thing they know, they don't see him.”
Classmates formed a human chain across the 50-foot-wide waterway to try to prevent him from being swept away. The stream is as deep as 9 feet in that area, officials said.
Within minutes, emergency personnel arrived at the scene, adjacent to Morrow's downtown. They stretched a rope across the creek and quickly found Mr. Hoffman. He was rushed to Bethesda Warren County Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
“Those kids did everything they could to save their friend,” Lt. Grambley said.
It is common for students to take canoe trips along the Little Miami in that area, he said.
No drownings have been previously reported in the area.
“Something like this affects the whole area,” he said.
Morrow Police Sgt. Heath Kilburn said the incident remains under investigation.
Mr. Hoffman was a member of the school's track and football teams and was scheduled to graduate today with his classmates.
Officials at the high school said graduation ceremonies would go forward today, and that counselors would be available to students at the school in Clarksville, near Wilmington in Clinton County.
As word spread of the tragedy later Friday, others in the Clinton Massie family were stunned, said sophomore Elizabeth Wilkinson.
“Everybody was talking about it,” she said. “We were pretty much in shock.”
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