| 2001 UPDATE 4 PM - Fifteen-year-old Ryan "Goob" Fitzwater of Hur was seriously injured
just before 2 p.m. Monday in a farming accident. A farm tractor turned over on him on
a remote ridge road between Hur and Mt. Zion, where the family had been harvesting
hay.
Fitzwater, a well-known student at Calhoun High School, was first taken to Minnie
Hamilton Health Care, where he was quickly transferred to a HealthNet chopper and
taken to Charleston Area Medical Center.
His brother, Michael Fitzwater, helped push the tractor off Ryan, then ran from the hayfield to the Charles and Phyllis Kerby
residence on Hur-Pine Creek Road to call 911, about two miles from the accident
scene.
The youth's father, Rick Fitzwater, President of the Calhoun County Board of
Education and branch manager for Calhoun Banks at Arnoldsburg, managed to place him in the bucket of another tractor,
transporting him to the road where they met the ambulance.
Emergency medical personnel described his injuries as "serious," suffering crushing
trauma and multiple wounds to his body.
Rev. Bob Nicholas, Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Grantsville went to the
hospital as the youth was being sent to Charleston. "We have started our prayer
chain" and we are asking for "prayers from all Calhoun residents for Goob."
Fitzwater is the grandson of Shirley and Faye Fitzwater of Grantsville.
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