"On the evening of May 6, 2012 at approximately 19:45 hours, Operator was operating a 1984 Brunswick Monarch along with two other occupants on Yellow Jacket Creek of Lake West Point.  Operator stated he was traveling from Highland Marina area of the lake headed to Clarks Access off Highway 27, north of Lagrange when he struck a submerged object a few hundred yards east of the Cameron Mill Road bridge.  Operator stated that he did not notice any damage to vessel until he crossed some wakes in the lake.  The vessel then became spongy feeling and began to take on water.  The other two occupants, began to bail water out of the boat as they continued to travel up Yellow Jacket Creek to Clarks Access.  Operator realized that he would not be able to keep the boat afloat at the no wake zone of the Highway 219 bridge, so Operator made the decision to beach the vessel at Sunny Point Access, west of the Highway 219 bridge.  The boat was then loaded onto a trailer at Sunny Point Access and taken back to Operator's residence.  The vessel showed visible damage with a hole in the port side at the stern and damage to the transom.  Troup County Sheriff's Office and Corp. of Engineers responded to the incident.

On May 8, 2012, at approximately 13:00, I arrived at 201 South Bridge Rd. in Heard County, the residence of Operator to inspect the damage to the vessel.  Operator was not home while I was at the residence.  I measured and documented the damage with the camera from my Vidmic.  The hole was approximately four and a half inches long and approximately eight inches wide on the port side of the bottom of the boat, and started approximately six inches from the bottom of the stern and approximately thirty six inches from the boats centerline (keel).  A layer of fiberglass had been pulled off of the transom starting fourteen inches from the top of the stern and nineteen inches off the centerline (keel) all the way to the bottom of the vessel. Nothing further. ,"

LAGRANGE                      