Authorities to access safety measures at Dudley..

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SAN MARCOS, Texas (FOX 7 Austin) – The Kunze family went to the 5 Mile Dam Wednesday afternoon for a quick dip. Wyatt Kunze’s older sister Cheryl Patterson said she saw him swim out to deep waters and panic, she swam out to him, and then he began to pull her under.

“The thing that hurts me still is I had to push him away to try and get air just to be able to save him otherwise it would’ve been both of us,” Patterson said. “He meant the world to me to all of us we wouldn’t want anything like this to happen to anyone else”

Experiencing the Blanco River was a first for the family. People who come in through the small hiking trail from the parking lot nearly miss the park sign rules stating swim at your own risk.

Angie Mudd comes to Dudley Johnson Park at least once a week and appreciates the natural beauty of the body of water she also knows the river can be unforgiving.

Last month she said her family saw a man yelling for help, her family swam over and saved him. “The rocks are high and all of a sudden it’s ten feet deep and you can’t touch and you can’t see through the water,” Mudd said. “Had we been like three minutes later five minutes later we would’ve been looking for him under there.”

Texas Parks and Wildlife patrols the area on busy weekends. Game Warden James Adcock said their main focus is education and watching for people’s safety.

He made sure kayakers had life jackets and parents kept an eye on their kids.

Overtime the river formations change when it floods. Patterson would like to see more signs in the area cautioning people of dangerous spots. “It’d be nice for them to locate those spots put a sign that says this right here is a pretty bad drop,” Patterson said.

The Hays County Sheriff’s Office said there have been seven drownings since 2003. County Judge Rueben Becerra said county agencies were going to work together to ensure safety in the area. “We are meeting with all our department heads that have touched that space so that we could make assessments to do everything we can to be as proactive as we can,” Becerra said.

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15-year-old boy drowns at Dudley Johnson Park in San Marcos

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