Ohio company donates new warning signs to Peery's Mill Dam after drowning death

WALLAND, Tenn. — A Maryville mother on a mission to warn others about the dangers of Peery's Mill Dam is seeing changes.

Her 13-year-old daughter drowned at the popular spot in Blount County back in May.

The dam is in Walland, just down the road from Heritage High School on East Lamar Alexander Parkway.

"It makes me completely overjoyed," said mother Renee Ritchie.

Someone heard Ritchie's message.

"That's the phone call I've been waiting on--is someone saying hey, this is going to happen," Ritchie said.

In the days after her daughter's death at Peery's Mill Dam in May, Ritchie pleaded for improved safety measures around the popular swimming hole.

RELATED: Maryville girl, 13, drowns at Walland dam

She said the lack of warning signs and the design of the dam worried her.

Experts call low-head dams like Peery's Mill "drowning machines."

The current at the foot of the dam traps swimmers in a cycle they can't break out of.

RELATED: Who owns Peery's Mill Dam? Drowning victim's mother wants safety changes

It's a problem Ohio-based Worthington Waterway Barriers specializes in preventing.

"The sad fact is, there's dams all across America with the same thing happening," owner Paul Meeks said.

Meeks and his company decided to donate signs to Peery's Mill after seeing Ritche's story on 10News.

"And we as a company who deal with this dam industry know where these dams are," Meeks said. "And so we have an ability to reach out and educate people about the dangers."

The signs include a graphic that explains how the current works, and why it's dangerous.

"If you have someone who doesn't read potentially, or doesn't speak the language, they can see that pictogram on there and know exactly what the danger is, so it's quickly, at a glance, I see it, I know what the problem is," Meeks said.

RELATED: Small dams pose deadly hidden danger; mothers want warning signs

"You can read words all day long and walk right past it, and not pay a bit of attention," Ritchie said. "But a picture is worth a thousand words."

Meeks estimates there have been close to 30 deaths nationwide at low-head dams since Alexis died in May.

Now it's just a matter of shipping the signs down here to be put up.

TWRA said it will install the signs as soon as they get them, which is in about two weeks.