Fayetteville mother wants lawmakers to end swimming in the Cape Fear River after son drowns
FAYETTEVILLE (WTVD) -- With songs, hugs and smiles, family and friends gathered along the banks of the Cape Fear River Friday evening for a vigil to remember DreQuan Odle.
The 21-year-old drowned a week ago while swimming with two other men in the near the Person Street Bridge in Fayetteville.
"We had to have closure," said DreQuan's relative Charles Renkle. "It's really a celebration of his life."
Those in attendance lit candles for DreQuan and remembered him as a young man who was recently saved and who had so much to live for. His mother said he was to have started college next week.
"My son was an awesome kid," said Jennifer Bompus. "He wasn't into gangs. He didn't have kids running around, and he could take any situation and make you laugh."
There were several smiles as family and friends released balloons into the evening sky. Bompus vows her son's death will not be in vain.
"I don't want anyone else to have to feel the pain that I felt," she said. "I am trying to petition the State of North Carolina, that runs the waterways, to enact a law called DreQuan's Law. Our game wardens go up and down the river checking fishing licenses, but if they see someone swimming, fine them, and the second time throw them in jail. That's going to save someone's life."
Bompus said she doesn't want the Cape Fear River to take any more lives. She said the river is not a swimming pool.
She also plans to warn anyone she sees swimming in the river to get out, and she hopes others take her warning to heart.
