SteveOS
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http://www.wjhl.com/tristate/tri/news.apx.-content-articles-TRI-2006-06-22-0049.html
Steve Grindstaff says neither he nor Dallas Cowboys football star Jason Witten were involved in a weekend hit-and-run boating accident on Boone Lake.
"When a rumor gets started, it seems like everybody has to add their little story to it. And it keeps getting bigger and bigger," Grindstaff told News Channel 11 Thursday.
Wayne Cross, 63, died in a fatal collision early Sunday morning when the pontoon boat he was on collided with another boat around one o’clock. James Clark, 53, was hurt.
Grindstaff, a local car dealer, lives on Boone Lake. He said, somehow, a rumor that he and Witten were involved went way too far.
"We were receiving phone calls from Alabama, South Carolina and Dallas,” Grindstaff said. “Last night when I talked to Jason, I think the Associated Press had called him. CNN News had called him. Jason was as blind-sided as I was. Neither one of us were on the lake."
Grindstaff said he was home with his family at the time of the collision. He said Witten was not involved either.
"Neither one of us were in a boat together,” Grindstaff said. “Neither one of us were on the boat on the lake. How this rumor ever got started, I have no idea."
Grindstaff said his Elizabethton dealership received 150 calls by 1:00 p.m. Wednesday afternoon.
"I don't know who started it...besides being a sick person, they've got something going good,” Grindstaff said. “If that's what they wanted to do is to let the whole world know about it, this morning, basically, everybody knows about it."
Grindstaff said he’s upset that Witten’s name is attached to the rumor, too. He says Witten is feeling the effects of it.
"He's not too good,” Grindstaff said. “You have a young man who flew in here all the way from Dallas to do a (football) camp (for) 900 children and flies home. And his phone's ringing off from the Associated Press and CNN News saying hey: I understand you were involved in a killing on Boone Lake in Johnson City, Tennessee.”
Tennessee’s Wildlife Resources Agency released a statement Thursday saying it had no indication the two men were involved in this crash. Grindstaff said T.W.R.A. has never even questioned him about the crash.
Agents have told the media they think they know who the operator of the boat was, but they haven’t made an arrest or named a suspect. Earlier this week the agency released a description of the boat that could have been involved in the collision: a blue and white ski-type boat.
"I do not own a blue and white ski boat,” Grindstaff said. “My boat is bright yellow and white and it would probably glow in the night it's so yellow."
The rumors have hit too close to home.
"You know I've been thick-skinned all my life because I've had to be because of all the rumors that's been tied to me,” Grindstaff said. “What it does affect is my children and my daughters. My son, last night, was all upset. He had to go to camp this morning and he said: 'dad, what do I do when they say you were involved?'"
Grindstaff doesn’t know how the rumor got so out of hand.
"The only thing I can see is: if they started a rumor just with me, I think it'd just fell away, but attaching Jason's name to it, that gives it the velocity to spread," he said.
Grindstaff thinks the rumors won't stop until T.W.R.A. takes action and arrests the person involved in the hit-and-run.
"If they know...and they have the facts and they know the person and they don't come out with it at this point, then I have a real problem...because they can stop this right now today."
Steve Grindstaff says neither he nor Dallas Cowboys football star Jason Witten were involved in a weekend hit-and-run boating accident on Boone Lake.
"When a rumor gets started, it seems like everybody has to add their little story to it. And it keeps getting bigger and bigger," Grindstaff told News Channel 11 Thursday.
Wayne Cross, 63, died in a fatal collision early Sunday morning when the pontoon boat he was on collided with another boat around one o’clock. James Clark, 53, was hurt.
Grindstaff, a local car dealer, lives on Boone Lake. He said, somehow, a rumor that he and Witten were involved went way too far.
"We were receiving phone calls from Alabama, South Carolina and Dallas,” Grindstaff said. “Last night when I talked to Jason, I think the Associated Press had called him. CNN News had called him. Jason was as blind-sided as I was. Neither one of us were on the lake."
Grindstaff said he was home with his family at the time of the collision. He said Witten was not involved either.
"Neither one of us were in a boat together,” Grindstaff said. “Neither one of us were on the boat on the lake. How this rumor ever got started, I have no idea."
Grindstaff said his Elizabethton dealership received 150 calls by 1:00 p.m. Wednesday afternoon.
"I don't know who started it...besides being a sick person, they've got something going good,” Grindstaff said. “If that's what they wanted to do is to let the whole world know about it, this morning, basically, everybody knows about it."
Grindstaff said he’s upset that Witten’s name is attached to the rumor, too. He says Witten is feeling the effects of it.
"He's not too good,” Grindstaff said. “You have a young man who flew in here all the way from Dallas to do a (football) camp (for) 900 children and flies home. And his phone's ringing off from the Associated Press and CNN News saying hey: I understand you were involved in a killing on Boone Lake in Johnson City, Tennessee.”
Tennessee’s Wildlife Resources Agency released a statement Thursday saying it had no indication the two men were involved in this crash. Grindstaff said T.W.R.A. has never even questioned him about the crash.
Agents have told the media they think they know who the operator of the boat was, but they haven’t made an arrest or named a suspect. Earlier this week the agency released a description of the boat that could have been involved in the collision: a blue and white ski-type boat.
"I do not own a blue and white ski boat,” Grindstaff said. “My boat is bright yellow and white and it would probably glow in the night it's so yellow."
The rumors have hit too close to home.
"You know I've been thick-skinned all my life because I've had to be because of all the rumors that's been tied to me,” Grindstaff said. “What it does affect is my children and my daughters. My son, last night, was all upset. He had to go to camp this morning and he said: 'dad, what do I do when they say you were involved?'"
Grindstaff doesn’t know how the rumor got so out of hand.
"The only thing I can see is: if they started a rumor just with me, I think it'd just fell away, but attaching Jason's name to it, that gives it the velocity to spread," he said.
Grindstaff thinks the rumors won't stop until T.W.R.A. takes action and arrests the person involved in the hit-and-run.
"If they know...and they have the facts and they know the person and they don't come out with it at this point, then I have a real problem...because they can stop this right now today."
