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Show Drawings take 6400 each year Drowning victims are not by a long sight just little children or showoff teenagers. And most victims are not swimming in the water when they fall prey to a killer that takes roughly 6,400. lives a year. The National Safety Council Coun-cil pointed to those frequently twisted facts as two of the misconceptions many persons have about drownings. Reason the Chicago-based safety organization, created in 1913 to prevent accidents of all kinds, is trying to dispel such misconceptions: "So no one will be lulled by false facts into thinking over the Fourth of July holiday or any time in the year that because be-cause he's in the prime of life, or just walking near water, he is in no danger of drowning," explained Ralpr Kuhli, NSC director of public safety. Kuhli said many grown persons per-sons nearly 1,500 25-44 years of age alone drown each year. Four out of five victims are males. And only about 2,400 of the year's 6,400 drownings happen to persons swimming or playing in the water. The safety man's observations observa-tions came as the nation was busy preparing the Fourth of July fun. The holiday, which falls on Tuesday this year, will last four days for some persons, per-sons, one day for others. If, despite all your precautions precau-tions over the holiday, a water emergency should arise, what does Kuhli recommend you do? Throw a person struggling in the water anything that will float a board, branch, large thermos jug. Or, hold something out to him an oar, branch, end of a piece of rope, even a sweat cshirt Best way to help make sure such emergencies don't occur? "By learning to swim," Kuhli believes. "Even if you're middle-age, you're certainly not past danger from drowning and neither is it to late for you to learn to swim," he said. |