County honors woman who rescued boater
By SARAH FAY CAMPBELL
sarah@newnan.com
Cowetan Becky Whitman, who rescued a man from the B.T. Brown Reservoir after he fell from his boat, was honored Tuesday by the Coweta County Board of Commissioners.
On Sept. 11, Whitman was at the reservoir park with her children and a friend when they saw a man who had fallen out of his boat and was struggling. Whitman swam to him. She helped stabilize the boat and stayed with the man until help arrived.
“The Coweta County Board of Commissioners does hereby recognize and sincerely thank Becky Whitman for her willingness to put herself in harm’s way to help a fellow human being. Her actions exemplify the absolute best in human nature,” the commissioners stated in the proclamation.
Coweta Fire Chief Johnny Teeters was also on hand Tuesday.
Teeters said he had been contacted by the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission about Whitman. “They would like to consider her for an award,” Teeters said.
Teeters said he was on the scene that day and at first “thought we had two victims in the water,” he said.
He didn’t realize that wasn’t the case until she was out of the water and going back to her group. “She was very calm. She didn’t want any recognition,” Teeters said.
The man who fell out of his boat was in danger —he couldn’t swim and wasn’t wearing a life vest, Teeters said.
