Mount Vernon man drowns in James River

 A Mount Vernon man drowned in a boating accident 4:07 p.m. Tuesday on the James River, a half mile downstream of Hootentown Access.

According to the Highway Patrol report, a 1977 Greenbank Boatworks canoe overturned while fighting the current going upstream.

Willis B. Hull, 87, Mount Vernon, was thrown from the canoe and drowned.

Stone County Coroner John Cunnyngham pronounced Hull dead at the scene at 8:42 p.m.

The death was the third boating fatality this year for Highway Patrol Troop D.