Teenager Drowns at Meramec State Park

(Sullivan, MO) Friends and family are mourning the loss of a teenager who drowned while swimming in the Meramec River. The Missouri Highway Patrol says that 17 year old William Bergner Jr. of Bourbon attempted to swim across the river, became exhausted, then went under. It happened at around 6:30 Sunday night at Meramec State Park in Franklin County. Bergner was taken to Missouri Baptist Hospital at Sullivan where he was pronounced dead.