Son of European Parliament member drowns in N. Georgia

By Associated Press

For The AJC

A former member of the European Parliament has flown to the United States after her son drowned while attending college in north Georgia.

Kevin Sinnott, 22, of Ireland drowned while swimming in a lake at a golf course beside the campus of Southern Catholic College, where he was a student, the head of the Dawson County Emergency Service said Wednesday. The drowning was not related to flooding this week in parts of Georgia and the Southeast.

Kevin was one of nine children of Kathy Sinnott, a Chicago native and Irish citizen who campaigns for family values and rights for the disabled. She represented southwest Ireland in the European Parliament for five years, but was defeated in this year's election.

Lanier Swafford, the county's chief of emergency services, said Kevin Sinnott was among six students at the college who went to the lake Monday night, and three of them decided to swim across it.

"Kevin got in trouble, and they attempted to help him get back to shore," Swafford said. He never resurfaced. Swafford said the other students reported the drowning.

Swafford said his office received a call of a possible drowning at the lake at about 8:20 p.m. on Monday, and that the body was recovered about 30 feet from shore in water 20 feet deep Tuesday afternoon.

He said the body had been sent to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation crime lab for examination.