Lightning strikes
four in Inverness

Two of the victims' hearts stop as they are knocked unconscious on a golf course in a late-afternoon storm.
	[Times photo: Ron Thompson] This woman was one of four people injured Tuesday by lightning at Citrus Hills Golf & Country Club. The lightning accompanied storms that moved through Central Florida from Sarasota to Levy County.

By BILL VARIAN

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 14, 2000

INVERNESS -- Herb Hurley didn't think much of a heavy clump of clouds rolling toward the Citrus Hills Golf & Country Club, even as golfers hustled toward the pro shop.

Suddenly his building shook as if slammed by a giant sledgehammer.

"It came out of nowhere," said Hurley, an assistant golf pro. "I had heard one little rumble, then the next thing you know, Bam!"

Hurley ran outside to find four people on the ground, struck by lightning from a late afternoon storm as they sought shelter beneath a covered golf bag rack 30 feet from the pro shop.

Two men's hearts had stopped as they lay critically injured, bleeding from the head. Another man and a woman were also down. The woman recovered enough to help another doctor administer CPR and resuscitate the other victims.

"She and the other doctor kept the others going," said Bruce Payne, a tennis pro at the country club. "What they did in the first few minutes helped keep them alive."

The lightning accompanied a line of scattered thunderstorms that moved quickly through Central Florida from Sarasota to Levy County late Tuesday. A National Weather Service meteorologist said it was a typical summertime assembly of atmospheric conditions -- high moisture, low pressure and a prevailing southeasterly wind.

Those peculiar conditions began mingling Sunday and are expected to continue spitting out afternoon storms for the next week, easing the regions drought condition but posing danger from lightning strikes.

"These are the classic setups for big boomers in Central Florida," said Barry Goldsmith, with the National Weather Service in Ruskin. "Once that happens this time of year, it's pretty hard to dislodge it until October."

Citrus County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Gail Tierney said late Tuesday that the lightning may have hit one of the men then passed through the other victims.

Most seriously injured were Don Crist, 66, owner of Don's Pharmacy in Crystal River, and Richard Clark, 40, a golf cart maintenance work at the course. Crist was in critical condition at Shands while Clark was listed as serious.

Gwynn Blair, 49, of Brooksville, was in stable condition at the regional hospital in Gainesville.

Jana McKenzie, 31, of the Citrus County community of Hernando, was reportedly taken by ambulance to Citrus Memorial Hospital after helping the others. Hospital officials said they had no patient by that name.

The lightning struck about 5:45 p.m. Tuesday on the northern side of the recreation complex in central Citrus County that includes a golf course, tennis courts and Andrew's Restaurant.

Greg Halnon, director of quality at the Florida Power Corp. nuclear plant in Crystal River, was heading to the golf course when he heard the clap of thunder as he left his house, just around the corner from the course entrance.

Pulling into the parking lot, he saw a commotion near the pro shop.

Halnon, a former member of the Citrus Springs Volunteer Fire Department, saw the two men unconscious. He pulled a first-aid kit from his car and helped resuscitate one of the injured men.

Dr. Bradley Ruben had arrived to pick up his son. He and McKenzie went to work on the other critically injured man.

Together the trio managed to restore pulses in both men who had been unconscious. Nearly an hour later, Halnon's arms remained sore from squeezing the bag used to pump oxygen into one of the injured men.

And he remained shaken about his proximity to tragedy.

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