Linton mourns death of mechanic Gavin Ringin

THE Linton community is in mourning after the discovery of local mechanic Gavin Ringin's body in a swollen creek.Mr Ringin's body was found at 10am on Saturday in the Woady Yaloak Creek, Happy Valley, about 200 metres downstream from his submerged ute.His ute was spotted in the deep waters at the Happy Valley Crossing on Friday afternoon, but it wasn't until Saturday morning that the body of the 40-year-old was discovered.SES crews and police searched for his body on Friday night but the search was called off because of strong flood waters and poor visibility.Leading Senior Constable Tony Walker said he didn't know when the accident occurred, given the isolation of the road."We can't say how long he was there. The current was so strong I was worried about the search and rescue guys," he said.SES teams from Ballarat and Ararat were at the scene.Senior Constable Walker said Mr Ringin's death would be felt by the entire Linton community."This will definitely rock a few around here," he said."He was a well liked man around town who kept to himself."Mr Ringin had lived in Linton all his life and his family is very well known and respected in the community.He had owned Gav's Automatic in Linton for a few years."He was very quiet, a very hard worker who wouldn't hurt a fly," Senior Constable Walker said.Jean Evans, owner of the Linton General Store, said the entire community of approximately 500 people was mourning."There's no-one on the streets here, it's very quiet," she said."There is a lot of sadness, it's an awful, awful tragedy."People in the shop say he was very highly regarded."Tragically for the parents of Mr Ringin, they have now lost both of their sons to car accidents. Their other son, Paul, was killed 17 years ago in a crash in Sebastopol.Police will prepare a report for the Coroner.