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Family Sues Duke Energy Following Deaths In Dan River Tubing Accident

In this June 18, 2021 file photo, rescue personnel stage along the Dan River in Eden, N.C. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome, File)

Surviving members of a family who drowned during a tubing expedition on the Dan River are suing Duke Energy. They say the company is responsible for the low-head dam where the accident occurred.

Five people died on the river in Eden when they rode their inflatable tubes over the dam near the Draper Boat Landing in June.

Among them were members of the Villano family, some from Eden, and several visiting from Indiana. Four relatives were rescued.

Now surviving family members are suing Duke Energy, which owns and operates the low-head dam that stands about 8 feet high.

According to The Times of Northwest Indiana, the lawsuit seeks to hold Duke Energy accountable for the accident. It also encourages owners of other dams to remove or modify them, or at least give people adequate warning of the hidden danger.

Following the accident, a Duke Energy spokesman said “there is a sign that is visible as you approach the dam that also mentions the availability of a portage.”

Family attorney Kenneth Allen says the dams are known as “drowning machines” by those who own or operate them and claims that hundreds have died from encounters with them.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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