Angler drowns in pond

PHIL CAMPBELL — A 63-year-old man was found dead March 30 by a resident of the property and pond the man regularly fished in off Franklin County Road 8.

Allen Ergle, who was buried April 2, was found with a ladder on top of him in the pond where he had been fishing, according to Franklin County Sheriff’s Sgt. Kyle Palmer.

“He was out there fishing and got his line in a tree, and we think he used the ladder to try to untangle his line and lure from the tree,” Palmer said. “We think the ladder shifted and gave way underneath him and he fell about 12 to 15 feet on the bank of the pond and then fell into the pond and drowned.”

Members of Gravel Hill and Frog Pond volunteer fire departments, along with the Franklin County Emergency Management Agency and the sheriff’s department, were called to the scene at 11:51 a.m. March 30, Palmer said.

EMA Director Mary Hallman-Glass said she knew Ergle because he was a distant relative of hers.

“I didn’t know him too well, but I knew he loved to fish and the owners of that property never checked up when they saw his truck there,” she said. “This time, they saw his truck, but they didn’t see him. And then they later found him in the pond. It’s a sad outcome, but he was doing something he loved.”