State: Four workers overcome by methane; one dies

Four workers overcome by methane; one dies

wire services
Published February 20, 2004

OKEECHOBEE - One worker died and three others were hospitalized Thursday after being overcome by methane gas at Okeechobee County Landfill.

Kenny R. Warne, 32, of Cambridge, Ohio, was pronounced dead at Raulerson Hospital. Billy Seaborn, 30, of Cambridge; Troy Diloreci, 31, of Wintersville, Ohio; and Dana Garno, 36, of Bowling Green, Ohio, were hospitalized. The four worked for Shaw EMCON/OWT Inc. of Findlay, Ohio.

Waste Management owns the landfill. The men were preparing to hook up a feeder line to the main seepage line, but when they cut the main line they were engulfed in gas, said Gene O'Neill, Okeechobee County emergency director.

Beach safety ordinance gives surfers exemption

FORT WALTON BEACH - Surfers will be exempt from a new Okaloosa County ordinance that lets authorities fine swimmers who defy orders to get out of the water when surf conditions are rough.

Okaloosa and other Florida Panhandle counties are taking steps to improve water safety after a year in which 23 people drowned on beaches in the region.

Okaloosa County commissioners unanimously agreed Tuesday to exempt surfers from the law.

"There's never been a documented case of a surfer drowning in the waters of Okaloosa County," said Glenn Swiatek, a lawyer representing the Northwest Florida Surfing Association. Surfers often rescue swimmers, he said.