After hearing of the electrocution incident, the owner of Blackwater Diving Company wanted to do something to educate people about the dangers of stray voltage near docks at the lake.

Smith Mountain Lake Pirate Days will remain at Crazy Horse Marina, now known as Goodhue Boat Company at Blackwater.

As we head into the Fourth of July holiday weekend, health officials said there are no new updates on the harmful algae blooms in the Blackwater arm of Smith Mountain Lake.

The Smith Mountain Lake Association is offering a new resource to keep visitors informed on the harmful algal bloom affecting parts of the lake.

In this Dec. 31, 2020, file photo pardoned Blackwater contractor Evan Liberty poses for a photo in Washington. The Blackwater contractors meet none of that criteria. They were convicted in the killings of unarmed Iraqi women and children and have long been defiant in their assertions of innocence. “I feel like I acted correctly,” he said of his conduct in 2007. He says he's grateful to his supporters and to Trump for what he calls a “second chance at life."

FILE - This combination made from file photo shows Blackwater guards, from left, Dustin Heard, Evan Liberty, Nicholas Slatten and Paul Slough. “The infamous Blackwater company killed Iraqi citizens at Nisoor Square. The 2007 killings in the Baghdad traffic circle were among many attacks, large and small, hitting civilians that served to turn even some initial Iraqi supporters of Saddam Hussein's overthrow against Americans. The case against the Blackwater guards ping-ponged across courts in Washington, with a federal appeals court at one point overturning the first-degree murder conviction of one defendant, Nicholas Slatten, and sharply reducing the prison sentences of the three others. In Iraq, said Ford, the former diplomat, the pardons will “necessarily give some ammunition to those who say get the Americans out now."

FRANKLIN COUNTY, Va. About 1,000 tons of debris was collected last week from both Smith Mountain and Leesville lakes. Cruising through the Blackwater stretch of Smith Mountain Lake on Wednesday, you could still see plenty of debris in the water. Little by little, an excavator on a barge is scooping up debris floating on the water. Around 6,000 tons of debris was collected from the two lakes in 2019. Debris can be reported through AEPs customer solutions center or website or through the Tri-County Lakes Administrative Commissions website.