The July 4 observance proved to be a dangerous one on Center Hill Lake as one man drowned and six were injured in a boat crash during Independence Day on the lake.

Kenneth Farron Young, 57, of Cookeville passed away Friday at Cookeville Regional Hospital from complications arising from his near drowning in Center Hill Lake on July 4. The incident happened while swimming in the Mine Lick Creek area of the lake in the Austin Bottom community. Although there is no boat ramp there, the incident occurred just off shore at the end of a road in an area used by boaters to access the lake.
A boater reportedly saw the man go under the water and then float back up. Attempts at reviving the man were made, and he was rushed for treatment in Cookeville.

Around the same time on the Fourth of July, a boat accident was being worked elsewhere on Center Hill. According to TWRA reports, two boats collided northeast of Davies Island.

The injured were transported by TWRA boats to the Johnson’s Chapel Recreation Area where ambulances were waiting. None of the boaters sustained life-threatening injuires.