Men saved fisherman who fell overboard in the St. Clair River
By Barb Pert Templeton
An incident that occurred on the St. Clair River on April 13, that had two local men jumping into the water to save an elderly man from drowning, prompted over 100 positive posts on social media thanking the young heroes. (See accompanying story for details of the heroic rescue.)
Amid those kudos, Algonac resident Eileen Tesch didn’t note any comments, publicly or on social media, from the city council, which prompted her appearance at an April 16 meeting to chastise officials for remaining silent on the issue.
Tesch, whose program “Living Exponentially” is featured on the Blue Water Healthy Living website, stepped to the microphone during the public comments portion of the agenda to ask officials to acknowledge the heroics of Devin Boghian,19, of Clay Township and Gunner Lonergan, 22, of Algonac.
“Hopefully you all have heard about the incident with the two young men who rescued the elderly gentleman who fell out of his boat,” Tesch said, noting that social media has been blowing up and nobody’s heard from Algonac Mayor Rocky Gillis, the city council or the sheriff’s office.
“Again? Like the dog shooting? We didn’t learn anything, like to reach out and communicate or do an investigation? Nothing from Sheriff Mat King and it’s just a sad situation again,” Tesch said. “It’s all about just reaching out to the community letting them know you’re on it, you know about it.”
Tesch continued saying the young men need to be acknowledged by the city, stating they’re giving awards to everyone else for nice lawns and nice houses.
“Here they took action and saved an elderly man’s life,” Tesch said. “I would encourage you to make a motion and resolution to acknowledge these fine young men.”
Council comments on rescue incident
While the council doesn’t address statements made during public comments, at times, officials address concerns posed by the public during their own council comments section of the agenda which was the case at the April 16 meeting.
Algonac resident Eileen Tesch criticized the Algonac City Council for not acknowledging the heroic efforts of two local men.
Comments began with Councilwoman Dawn Davey. She said Tesch’s claim that nobody on the city council contacted the guys or their families was actually incorrect.
Davey said she sent a text to one of the young men at 12:04 a.m. and just because she didn’t put it on Facebook – that she talked to both of these gentlemen and each of their mothers – it didn’t mean it didn’t happen.
“Just because you didn’t see it on Facebook doesn’t mean nobody up here has talked to them to say thank you for helping that, guy,” Davey said. “And thank you to them for helping out someone in need. And that’s it, just thanks to those gentlemen. I’m not going to get involved in what’s being said on Facebook because the world does not revolve around Facebook.”
Councilwoman Cathy Harris said she also wanted to congratulate and thank the two men who saved the older man from drowning.
Algonac city councilwoman Dawn Davey.
Councilman Ray Martin said he heard about the rescue on the water on Sunday from a fire fighter and he appreciates the efforts of all involved in the situation.
“I’m glad it all worked out for the man that needed it to,” Martin said.
Regarding Tesch’s comments, Mayor Rocky Gillis said he does salute the young men for jumping in and doing what was right.
“But I’m also proud to say that our boat (the city’s fire department vessel) was in the water two minutes away.. and there were a lot of people that were there so I thank everybody that jumped in but yes Devin and Gunnar too, they did the right thing at the right moment and I thank them for that,” Gillis said.
Councilman Corey Blair was absent from the April 16 regular meeting of the council.
