[krh44]

I haven't many details but heard a LU student was missing in the James River. There was a canoe accident on Friday. Please keep in prayers.

[jimflamesfan]

Will be praying...please keep us updated.

[Sly Fox]

Anytime some like this happens its a tragedy. But when it happens to a member of the Liberty family it really hits home. We're saying our prayers down here in Texas for the victim's family and his best friend who witnessed this horrendous accident.

Here are a couple of media reports:

Liberty University Student Missing
Britt Conway / WSLS NewsChannel 10
Jul 1, 2006

The Maury River after heavy rain. Robert Foresman says it's dangerous. He's out there with rescue crews looking for a 21 year old Liberty University studen.

"It is strong enough that it could pull you under...and not come back up."

And that's what rescue workers say happened on Friday. Crews and family members will not release the students name but say he was on the river with a friend.

"A young man had flipped a raft, was seen once, went back under and we have not seen him since."

His friend saw it happen and ran to the railroad tracks for help. Rescue crews are still searching.

"And see if they can find a body. We do think that it is a body at this time. We do feel that it's a recover and we're going to stay here until we do find a body."

The water has gone down more than a foot since friday night but the water is just as rough.

Britt: Does that make it even harder for you to find him?

Robert: Well it does when the water is up and running so hard it does make it.

Which is why they're telling people not to go in the water and making them come out if they do.

"What they don't understand, this is not like white water rafting. This is dangerous because there's a lot of debris in the river that has been swept down from other locations."

I talked with a close friend of the family, she says they are an absolute mess right now...understandably. She describes them as being a really close family so they are an emotional wreck right now she says because they are coming to the realization that worst is inevitable.

"It's very difficult having to look a mother in the eye and tell her that one of her children is probably gone."

http://www.wsls.com/servlet/Satellite?p ... !localnews

And here is the story from WDBJ ... there is video in the link:

July 1, 2006
Rescue crews search the James River for a missing college student

Rescue crews continue to search the James River for a missing college age student, between the Balcony Falls area near Glasgow and Snowden in Amherst County.

Officials fear a Liberty University student has drowned.

Crews have been searching the river in both Rockbridge and Amherst Counties for more than 24 hours. After battling class three and four rapids, officials say the search has become more of a recovery than a rescue.

http://www.wdbj7.com/Global/story.asp?S ... 8&nav=S6aK

[givemethemic]

Keep the family and HMO in your prayers this is tuff for all of them.

[Sly Fox]

Here's a Monday update:

Search continues for missing LU student

By Britt Conway
WSLS Newschannel 10
July 3, 2006

Rescue crews have spent the weekend searching for a Liberty University student who fell into the Maury River while rafting Friday, but to no avail.

The effort to find the 21-year-old student began as a search and rescue, but authorities now are calling it a search and recovery.

“We do think it is a body at this time,” said Robert Foresman of Rockbridge County’s emergency management department.

Authorities have not named the student but said he was rafting with a friend in Rockbridge County.

The 30-mile-long Maury River is entirely within Rockbridge County, west of Amherst County, and merges with the James River.

The student and his friend were on the river Friday when the boat flipped, authorities said.

His friend ran for help. The missing student has not been seen since.

Choppy water and debris in the river have complicated search efforts, authorities said.


The News & Advance staff writer Matt Busse contributed to this report.

http://www.newsadvance.com/servlet/Sate ... 8808&path=

Let's be sure to keep everyone involved in our prayers.

[Hold My Own]

It seems the search is going to be called off, I just wish everyone could see how this family has handled this tragedy. This represents Liberty in every way, keep them in your prayers.

[Sly Fox]

We tend to think of the young as being inpenetratable. But any of us can be taken in an instant. Only God can provide peace in times like these. The prayers continue from down here in Texas.

[PAmedic]

and up here.

God bless all involved.

[thesportscritic]

My thoughts and prayers go out to the family.

[TIMSCAR20]

It is really scary and sobering to see things like this happen. I seem to be getting reminded of our mortality a lot lately. The Northwestern coach dies at 52. That seems old to you kids in college but to us old hags that is extremely young to die. Then on Facebook you see guys like Kevin Grape and the kid that died on his way home from this past sememster and it is really sad. Their friends write poems and tributes and other messages on their walls and you can't help but be very very sad for these families that have lost basically their babies at such a young age. This one is especially tough because there is no closure right now. So sad.

[Sly Fox]

Since it is now public and just about everyone already knew ...

Authorities release name of student believed drowned in James River

The search is still underway for a missing Liberty University student who may have drowned in the James River.

Authorities said the search for 21 year old Aaron Cooper of Coventry, Rhode Island, resumed this morning.

Robert Foresman of the Rockbridge County Emergency Management says crews are searching a two to three mile stretch of the river.

Cooper was last seen wearing swimming trunks and silver Nike tennis shoes with red cushions in the back of them.

http://www.wdbj7.com/Global/story.asp?S ... u368_2_9_3

Obviously the family will be needing prayers for quite some time.

Aaron's Facebook

[Hold My Own]

They found his body guys, now the family can have at least some closure. Just to show how special the family is, they are going to catch a ball game tonite b/c thats what Aaron would have wanted them to do, they truly are a godsend

[Sly Fox]

Thanks for the update, HMO. Here is the story from Channel 7 (there is video available at the link):

July 4, 2006
Missing rafter's body found in James River

Authorities in Rockbridge County have recovered the body of a Liberty University student missing since Friday afternoon. 21 year old Aaron Cooper went into the water while rafting with a friend in the James River.

Crews scoured the river for three days without success, but this morning, a patrol from the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries spotted his body in an area known as Balcony Falls. It was found about 150 yards from where Cooper was last seen.

Authorities say they are sorry it took four days to recover Cooper's body, but they hope today's news will provide some closure for his family and friends.

http://www.wdbj7.com/Global/story.asp?S ... 5&nav=S6aK

[PAmedic]

Am glad to hear the family is doing as well as possible- hope his Friend(s) are too.

thank you for the update.

[PAmedic]

Liberty University student's body found

By Erin France
efrance@newsadvance.com
July 4, 2006

The body of 21-year-old Liberty University student Aaron Cooper was found Tuesday morning after a five-day search of the James River.

Cooper was found 500 yards from where he was last seen, said Robert Foresman, the emergency management coordinator for Rockbridge County.

A search boat sent by the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries found the body.

After the official search was called off Sunday night, game wardens pledged to send a search boat down the river twice a day.

On the first pass Tuesday morning, a boat discovered the body, which had eluded police dogs and divers for three days.

The search began Friday afternoon, Foresman said, when there was an afternoon report issued of a male subject disappearing.

The report stated he had been rafting and had fallen into the river.

Search teams were formed from area fire departments and a swift water rescue team.

The teams concentrated on the area between Balcony Falls and Snowden Dam.

The Rockbridge Sheriff’s Department Dive Team investigated Friday a location where a police dog picked up a scent, Foresman said.

Two dogs stopped at the same location Sunday, but dive teams could not find anything in the area.

Searchers where joined by search and rescue teams from Virginia and Maryland.

There also was a state police helicopter searching for Cooper on Saturday, Foresman said.

He said he notified Cooper’s family Tuesday morning of the discovery.


WSLS contributed to this report.

http://newsadvance.com/servlet/Satellit ... 7471&path=

[Sly Fox]

For some, Internet eases pain of a loss

By Matt Busse
Lynchburg News & Advance
July 5, 2006

On Monday, comments left on Aaron Cooper’s MySpace Web site wished for his safe return.
Cooper, a 21-year-old Liberty University student from Rhode Island, had been missing since Friday after authorities said his boat flipped over in the James River.
Cooper’s page on MySpace, a popular social networking Web site, became a forum for friends and family to share hope.
“Well I think it’s time you come home because I dunno how much more I can handle,” a 20-year-old Liberty University student named Jeannine wrote Monday.
On Tuesday, Cooper’s body was found in the river in Rockbridge County, about 500 yards from where he had last been seen.
The tone of the comments changed to a mixture of mourning his death and expressing comfort in the thought that he would now be in a better place.


“You will be missed by all,” wrote Greg, a 22-year-old in Rhode Island. “You were a great friend and an even better person.”
Tom, 21, who goes by the initials “TK,” wrote: “I know I’ll be catching you again, and I’ll be looking forward to it for the rest of my life.”
MySpace and Facebook, a similar networking Web site aimed at the collegiate crowd, allow users to post pictures, write about hobbies and send messages to each other.
They most commonly are used to meet new people and keep in touch with old friends. The sites can give an impression of who someone is - or who they want to be - to anyone who visits from around the world.
Cooper’s MySpace page describes him as 6 feet, 4 inches tall, athletic and Christian. It features pictures of him playing baseball and hanging out with friends.
Though online memorials to the deceased have been around for several years, the growing popularity of such sites as MySpace and Facebook appear to be boosting the trend.
“I think it’s a resource that’s now available that helps all of us to be able to communicate across the barriers of distance and work schedules and other commitments,” said Nona Puckett, a counselor with Peachtree Counseling Center on Leesville Road.
Puckett said it’s natural, especially for younger people who are accustomed to using the Internet for a variety of reasons.
“It’s excellent for them to have a resource to express their feelings and grief about the loss that they’ve experienced,” she said.
MySpace and Facebook are not the only venues on the Internet for mourners.
Sometimes, friends and relatives will design their own online memorial, setting up a special Web page as a tribute.
Mike Winfree, a local photographer, died in July 2005 at age 48 after an accident at Nag’s Head, N.C.
A year later, the Blue Ridge Photographic Arts Society’s Web site still hosts a page with a picture of Winfree, examples of his work and hundreds of comments left by friends and family.
The last comment, written Aug. 6 and signed by Becky Johnson, reads in part: “God can heal all wounds, even though we may not understand why we must lose the one we love.”
Some funeral homes’ Web sites offer their own services for online bereavement.
Heritage Funeral Service and Crematory, for example, has a form visitors can fill out. Funeral home officials print out the comments and give them to relatives of the deceased.
John Saville, the funeral home’s owner, said the service has been available for four or five years and chiefly is used by out-of-town Web site visitors.
Newspapers’ Web sites, including The News & Advance’s, are expanding to include online guestbooks for people to leave messages.
Meanwhile, Cooper’s friends still are adding comments, turning his MySpace page into a tribute to his life.
“You are a great guy,” a 24-year-old MySpace user named Rachel wrote Wednesday, “and I am happy to know that you are up in Heaven looking down on us and we will see you again.”

http://www.newsadvance.com/servlet/Sate ... ws!archive

[Jasmen8182]

will be praying for family- heartbreaking news; I think Sly and Scar summed up most thoughts; my instinct is to share these events with my son- only 6 short yrs. 'til he may be heading to college-b/c I want him to be catious and safe but he has a tendency to inherit my over-catious tendencies, esp. regarding water. A few people were lost due to flooding in NY, etc. (More abt. trip up there in differ. topic)

[Hold My Own]

Hey guys, I just thought I'd get on here and post pretty much what took place.

We started out and I told Aaron that the drive would only be 20 minutes (well knowing it's a 30 to 40 minute drive) I was afraid he might say no. Right when we got to the 30 minute mark I was thinking he may say something like "Yeah nice 20 minutes!" but all he said was how he cant wait to bring his mother up here to see these beautiful mountains. We talked about God alot while on the river and we were talking about how there's only 1 person responsible for these great mountains that we're floating through and a lot of other things were said that were great.

There were 2 people standing on a rock right by where we floated by in the rapids just within 10 feet. I go through first without a problem at all and then I turn around to watch him go through, the next thing I know the nose of his boat went right up and all I saw was the bottom of it, after that I never saw him again. I never saw him struggle, try to get up, an arm, leg...nothing. Maybe that's good b/c if I saw one glimpse of him I'd be in that water right after him, but instead all I saw was a boat upside down. My first thought was he's under the boat getting air but the waters were calm so I knew that he'd try to get under at this point. so from there I tried to get over to the side of the river which I was able to do about 100 yards from where it happened. I ran up knowing that those two people on the rock had him since he wasn't with his boat.

So I ran until I could see them sitting in the same spot and I started to yell to them "where is he, where is he" and all they did was put their hands at their ears saying the couldnt hear me. I knew then that it wasn’t good. I still to this day don't know how they didnt do anything and were sitting in the same spot like nothing happened. I've helped out tons of people that may have fallen out or just needed a hand, that's just something that we all do and have done. I then got on the railroad tracks and ran about 2 miles until I saw a worker. I was yelling at him the whole way but he was older and couldnt hear me until I was right with him. I was yelling that my best friend was dying and he finally heard me and made a call to the police. Rescue was there within 30 minutes of the accident. In the same spot I told them he'd be. B/c I knew that if he's 6'5" and I didnt see him I knew he'd be in that spot (same spot they ended up finding him 4 days later). I dont feel like I have to explain myself to anyone other then friends and family but I just wanted to tell yall (partly b/c it helps everytime I say it). It's all in God's hands and I really didnt realize until a few days ago.

Aarons bestfriend and myself really wanted to go back down the river, and we did but we stopped half way just b/c we felt it wasnt the right thing to do. where we stopped was 100 yards from the accident where they were looking (we didnt know at the time) and they found him the same time we got off. maybe that's the reason God gave us that feeling that we shouldnt be there I dont know, but walking up the hill a train came, his friend said I wish I had some coins to put on the track and I remembered about a lot of coins the family put on the tracks in hopes a train would come for a keep sake. I walked to where they were and couldnt find but 2 after about 20 mintues, I really wanted 3 one for each of us and one for the mother who asked me to return the coin sometime. I ended up finding 7, which is his number since he was a child. That's when we just went home only to find out that they found him and went back. Things like the coins and other odd events that took place while we were on the mountion doesnt sound like a lot on a message board but there in that time and place it made perfect sense.

We WERE NOT wearing life jackets and I never have in the past (if I ever see that river again we will be). The family met with the officials and asked them if what we did was something out of the norm. They said that the river gets traveled hundreds of times a day and the people in the same boats as ourselves never wear them. I wish there was someway everyone who ever gets on that river could know what took place that day.

Their family is unreal. Rob Jackson is one of the campus pastors and he met with the family and he said he's had to council and meet with hundreds and hundreds of parents and he's never come across parents who have such a grace straight from God. The mother just keeps telling me I'm her son now and I truly felt the weight of the world come off my back. I went from not even being able to look them in the eyes to loving them like they were my own parents. This is a great family and nothing will ever ever fill what was taken, he also has 2 sisters one 20 and one 13 and they are just as special.

I just wanted to post this and let yall hear it from me. This kid was unreal in ever aspect. He was by far the best softball player I've ever played beside, he's got the greatest personality, and a great Christian kid. Thanks guys


P.S. Thanks for all the PM's and Messages, I will get back to you all once things start to slow down...thanks again guys

[SuperJon]

I never looked him up until just now because the name didn't ring a bell. However, once I saw a picture of him I knew exactly who he was. I had officiating with him this past semester. The kid could freaking kill a ball whenever we played wiffle ball, and he was an amazing soccer player too. I had to guard him for a little bit and then I was playing keeper and he nailed a flat out awesome shot on me. This didn't hit home until I saw that.

[Sly Fox]

Thanks for sharing with us, HMO. Losing a friend under these circumstances is never easy. But when you know where he is now it helps ease the pain. We'll keep Aaron's family in our prayers.

[bigsmooth]

HMO, i had talked to a family member of yours over the weekend, and was told what happened, and i have been praying for you brother. im glad you told everyone the whole story, and i know the Lord will continue to bless you and aaron's family.

[PAmedic]

Thanks for sharing that my brother- God bless and keep you, as well as Aaron and his family.

[thesportscritic]

I have seen Aaron around before. HMO stay strong my friend.

[Brokeback Flamer]

Wow, it is never an easy thing to witness what you have witnessed. I have seen people perish in front of me and it is very chilling so my sympathies to you. Having grown up around water my whole life, I have always been annoyed yet cogniscent of the need for life jackets. This event has the potential to save other lives now, and if there is a silver lining, then maybe that is it. My prayers and thoughts are with you!

[Sly Fox]

Here's the story from Aaron's hometown paper up in Rhode Island:

Coventry man, 21, drowns in Virginia

Aaron Cooper, a student at an evangelical Christian university, "lived for God," says his mother.

01:00 AM EDT on Thursday, July 6, 2006

BY LISA VERNON-SPARKS
Journal Staff Writer

COVENTRY -- "All out, all the time, all the way."

This is the team slogan for the Crusaders of the First Baptist Christian School in Warwick. It was the code that friends say Aaron Cooper, a 2002 graduate and star athlete, lived by.

Cooper, 21, was attending Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., when on Friday he braved the James River's rocky waters on a rafting lark with a college friend.

Cooper and his friend ventured onto the rain-swollen river in individual inflatable rubber rafts. Cooper, who was not wearing a life jacket, was tossed into the water where the rapids were "very, very severe," according to an official.

Tuesday morning, authorities from the state Department of Game and Inland Fisheries found Cooper's body in the James River, said Robert Foresman, emergency management coordinator for Rockbridge County.

A graduate of First Baptist Christian School, a K-12 school with 122 students on Cowesett Road in Warwick, Cooper was majoring in sports management at the evangelical Christian university.

Yesterday, friends and family remembered Cooper as a great athlete who was in love with life and devoted to his spiritual beliefs.

"He was a good, strong Christian boy. He was a blessing to his grandparents. He lived for God," Gail Cooper, his mother, said with a quivering voice. "He was a great athlete. You never knew if this boy won or lost a game. He had a great disposition."

Gail was in Virginia yesterday with her husband and Cooper's father, Kevin. The family lives on Noella Avenue in Coventry. She said her son lived to bring others to Christ.

"I'm hoping someone comes to know Christ through his death. That's what we are praying for," she said.

In Rhode Island, Cooper had been a marquee player for First Baptist's Crusaders. He played varsity soccer and basketball in the New England Association of Christian Schools League and the Coastal Prep League, according to John Stricklin, the school's associate pastor .

Cooper's passion was baseball, said Stephen Stricklin, the associate pastor's brother and former coach of First Baptist who had known Cooper since he was an eighth grader.

"He is the kind of guy that was easily coached . . . ," said Stricklin, who kept in touch with Cooper. "He won multiple MVP awards in sports. He was a great athlete and great teammate. He had an excellent spirit."

Stricklin said he did not know of Cooper's interest in rafting, but said he knew how to swim and was comfortable in the water.

The news of finding his body is sad, but it does give closure, Stricklin added.

"I was hoping and praying they find him alive somewhere in the mountains," Stricklin said. "In your mind, your imagination runs wild. It does bring comfort to know what happened to him. Honestly, as a Christian, I know where he is."

Copper and his friend were rafting on a river that's known locally as "very treacherous," Foresman said. After flooding in the region last week, when the river crested at 3 feet above flood stage, the river had retreated by Friday to a condition Foresman described as "very full."

An autopsy conducted Tuesday morning confirmed that Cooper died by drowning, said Dr. William Massello, assistant chief medical examiner with the chief medical examiner's office in Roanoke, Va.

In the area where Cooper fell into the water, the river typically would have been anywhere from 6 to 15 feet deep. It was deeper than that when he fell in, Foresman said.

Foresman coordinated a four-day search for Cooper that had, at its peak, 100 people plying the river. After the search was officially called off Monday night, the state Department of Game and Inland Fisheries agreed to send a boat patrol out on the river in the morning and afternoon, Foresman said.

On their first trip up the river yesterday morning, crews found Cooper's body less than 500 yards downstream from where he was believed to have fallen in in the middle of the river, Foresman said.

Foresman said he does not know if Cooper had rafted on the river before. But his friend Falwell had been on the river a couple of times, he said.

Cooper's friend reported the accident to a nearby railroad crew, and those employees called 911, Foresman said.

The last death on the river was two or three years ago, Foresman said, but the area where Cooper fell in is a stretch where people very often flip their canoes and kayaks.

http://www.projo.com/news/content/projo ... ac1ed.html