(RepublicanJournal.org) – A beloved local official in Maine died after he and his four-year-old son fell through thin ice while crossing a pond. He managed to get the boy out of the freezing water, and the child even managed to get to his mother for help, but the man was already lost by the time responders arrived. Locals are grieving his death, calling the deceased official a true hero.
The Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office shared in a January 26 Facebook post that 51-year-old Carmel resident Kevin Howell went on a walk in the early morning with his young boy, only for both to break through the ice when they attempted to cross Etna Pond. After lifting his son back onto the crumbling surface, Howell told the child to go back home for help.
The four-year-old made the roughly one-third-mile trek back to his mother, who called 911 and went to the pond in an attempt to stage her own rescue. She tried to reach her husband, securing a rope to the shoreline with an anchor, but she, too, fell through the unstable ice and became trapped. The first responder, Penobscot Sheriff Detective Jordan Norton, saw the woman struggling in the freezing water and crawled along the rope to reach her. He managed to help her out of the water and back to shore. Mr. Howell was nowhere to be seen at that point.
Maine Warden Service members and responders from the Carmel Fire Department, the Maine State Police, and the Northern Light EMS assisted in the effort to save Mr. Howell’s life. Divers suited with equipment for the ice found his remains after a roughly 20-minute search.
Howell served as Carmel’s town manager for nearly eight years. He and his wife moved to the roughly 2,870-person community in 2014, and the public servant worked hard to revitalize his community by bringing back its yearly fall festival, Carmel Days, as well as overseeing the construction of a town landing and new playground. Locals have expressed their sadness over the loss, noting that Howell took his position seriously and was there genuinely to improve his community.
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