GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Rosanne Roberts believes swimming is a necessary life skill, although one with a hefty price tag.
Roberts of Greensboro helps her daughter, a single mother, by taking her grandchildren, 6-year-old twins Nicholas and Daisry Cotton, to swim lessons at the Kathleen Price Bryan Family YMCA.
"It's a skill that's needed," Roberts said. "But it's a sacrifice for their mom."
She said the costs of joining the YMCA and paying for lessons for two children and for gas add up. This poses a problem because a recent study revealed that about 60 percent of African American and Hispanic children can't swim.
But local groups hope to remedy this by providing low-cost swim classes.
The News & Record of Greensboro reported that Robert Turner, director of aquatics programs at Hayes-Taylor Memorial YMCA on East Market Street, said a recent local study of swimming proficiency in African American and Hispanic children set off alarms that many families lack access to affordable swimming options....Read more
FREDERICK, MD - Montgomery County police have identified a 6-year-old boy found at the bottom of a Silver Spring swimming pool who was later pronounced dead. Police say Scott Tran of Gaithersburg was at a large family gathering in the 13100 block of New Hampshire Ave. in Silver Spring on Wednesday. Several other children were at the home when a 9-year-old boy saw Tran at the bottom of the pool's deep end. That boy pulled Tran to the surface and adults began CPR. Emergency personnel took Tran to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Police say the investigation hasn't revealed anything suspicious about Tran's death. Police initially reported that the boy was 7 years old.
SILVER SPRING, Md. -- A 9-year-old boy drowned Friday in an apartment complex swimming pool.
Police and rescue workers were called to the Rollingwood Apartments on Ross Road in Silver Spring about 6 p.m., where they found lifeguards attempting to revive the child.
The boy, who was found at the bottom of the pool, was taken to Holy Cross Hospital, where he was pronounced dead Friday evening, police said.
Montgomery County police are investigating the circumstances surrounding the drowning. Police did not release the boy's name.
The boy's death follows a near-drowning Thursday at a community pool in Rockville on Thursday. An 8-year-old girl was revived and taken to a hospital after the incident. There was no word on her condition Friday night.