Following death, some call for lights on notorious Kent Narrows jetty

KENT NARROWS, Md. - In the light of day, it sticks out like a sore thumb in the middle of the Kent Narrows.  But at night, the south jetty fades into the dark water and becomes what some consider a massive hazard to boaters.  An ABC2 investigation looks into the need for lights on the jetty following the death of a Maryland man.

When divers hit the water on the Kent Narrows Memorial Day weekend, Keith O'Brien still had hope his best buddy would turn up.  He says, "I had a friend on Sunday morning give me a call that they were in a boating accident, Dave was missing.  They were trying to find him so I knew that wasn't good."

Within hours, the body of 43-year-old Dave Whitlow, of Hebron, was found and the light he brought to Keith's life was lost.  He says, "He was kind of like sunshine when he came into the room.  He just smiled.  He loved life to the fullest.  Really nobody I know really enjoyed life and grabbed it as much as he did."

Keith says Dave loved life and the water.  That's where he spent his last hours, as a passenger, boating with friends on the Kent Narrows in Queen Anne's County.  They were seasoned boaters according to O’Brien, but just before midnight on May 27 ^th, Whitlow was thrown from a 21-foot Boston Whaler after it crashed head on into the concrete jetty.  The Department of Natural Resources Police investigated and determined alcohol was not a factor.  O’Brien explains, "They just did not see the wall there at all.  It's not lit on the backside."

In fact, the back and front of the south jetty are unlit.  It sits like a guard against the waves across the length of the Kent Narrows, its algae-covered blocks blending in during the day.  And at night, each one of those reported one-thousand pound blocks become nearly invisible.  Master Captain Mark Galasso says, "There is no lighting and you can't see it against the backdrop of Kent Narrows lights itself."

Galasso has cruised the Narrows for the last 17 years, traveling in and out of this channel at least 100 times a year.  The boat he uses for Tuna the Tide charters is too big to get near the jetty.  But he says some boaters in smaller vessels push in closer, riding up on the sea wall in the dark of night and potentially never even noticing it was there.  Galasso explains, "It's hard to see against the backdrop of the bridge.  That's where they have troubles."

And Dave Whitlow and his friends aren't the only ones.  According to the Department of Natural Resources Police, there have been at least three serious wrecks at the south jetty since 2003.  In those accidents DNRP says six people have been hurt and one person killed.  That one death, Keith O’Brien says, should be all it takes to light up the wall, “There's only been three accidents.  There's been a fatality.  One death.  What do you have to have - three deaths to meet a mark where you have to put lights on it? Or is it five deaths?"

One life lost is enough for Queen Anne's County Commissioner Phil Dumenil.  We contacted him on Keith’s behalf following Whitlow’s death.  He says, “It's a shame that it takes an event like this but I think it's important that something be done."

Dumenil also wants to see lights on the jetty, calling it a navigational hazard.  As for who puts them there, that's another question.  Dumenil sent letters on behalf of the county to DNR, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Coast Guard, asking for a solution.  He says it’s, "To see what we need to be doing or what direction we need to go to make the narrows a little more safe when it comes to boating at night."

But before they light it, you gotta figure out who owns it.  The Army Corps of Engineers says DNR built the jetty and maintains it.  DNR says they gave the county a grant to build the wall in 1975, so the county owns it and could apply for a DNR grant to install lights.  The Coast Guard also points to Queen Anne's government too, but Dumenil says the county doesn’t believe it’s their property. 

For his part, Keith doesn't want any time wasted on arguments about the work or the owner.  He wants to shine a light on the wall to prevent anyone else from feeling the darkness of losing someone they love.  Keith says it’s a measure of honor for his friend, "He wouldn't want another family to hurt like this.  He was truly a special guy with a big ole smile.  He would light up a room.  He would just not want this to happen to another family."