Four hours to safety: Search and Rescue's Klickitat River rescue ...

2 — JULY 11, 2012 GOLDENDALE, WASHINGTON
ANDREW CHRISTIIANSEN
NICE CATCH: At right, Alan Cootes introduces himself to the girl he
encouraged to climb from the river using the anchored sticks seen at
right in the above picture. About 45 minutes earlier, Cootes who was
not having much luck fishing, scooped the girl’s friends from the far
side of the river, surely making it one of his best fishing days ever. A
half hour after the visit, Cootes was back on the west side doing a
little more fishing from his platform (above).
SAR from Page 1
According to the girls,
they put in up river, perhaps,
they thought, near Pitt. It
was their intention to float
all the way down the river to
the campground, presumably
below the Fisher Hill
Bridge, but Smith said “all
the way to the Columbia
River.”
A mother of two of the
kids, Susan Preston, said she
FILE PHOTO
TURBULANCE: About 200
yards below the rescue site is
Fisher Hill Bridge and a daunting
gauntlet of turbulant water to
run as the Klickitat River is
forced through a narrow gorge.
DNR from Page 1
last November and convened
a Technical Advisory
Committee in January
to present recommendations.
The effect of a warning
designation is to call attention
to an emerging forest
health issue and focus
actions and resources on
addressing it. All actions
are voluntary on the part of
the affected landowners
and land managers. Funding
allocated to DNR under
a jobs bill passed by the
state legislature in April
will be directed toward the
effort.
was aware they were going to
float the river, but thought
they would only be on the
upper portion. “I have been
down the river many times
on the upper and lower
parts,” said Preston. She had
not been through the Fisher
Hill Bridge portion and said
there used to be signs and a
cable to warn people not to go
that far. None of the girls saw
any signs indicating it wasn’t
safe.
Carter says she was on the
front inner tube, hanging
onto two other tubes as they
approached the falls. “Kyle
didn’t think we should go
through as we got closer, but
we all thought it would be all
right,” said Carter. “As I
started to go over the falls I
said, ‘This is going to be
bad.”’
All five were dumped into
the roiling water and were
fortunately pushed on out
down the river while their
tubes were trapped in the
swirling currents. They
made their way to the side
about 200 yards down stream,
clinging to the polished rock
wall.
“Katy [Godwin] climbed
out really fast,” says Carter.
“Then he [Alan Cootes]
threw us the life preserver
and helped the rest of us
out.”
Klickitat County deputy
Randy Wells, the Department’s
Marine Patrol Coordinator
was on the scene by
4:45 p.m. with the 15-year-old
girl named Grayson, as she
sat on the rocks. For the next
two hours, about a dozen of
the Klickitat County Search
and Rescue (SAR) volunteers
strung ropes and got a litter
lowered to the site about
eight feet above the water.
ANDREW CHRISTIANSEN
HIDDEN HEROES: SAR volunteers work the ropes on the steep hillside
among trees and poison oak.
Grayson, who was fitted with
a neck brace and complained
of neck, back and ankle pain
was secured into the litter
with a great deal of diligence.
SAR team members
Jeff King and Russ Patton
plus Wells and an unidentified
member of Lyle Fire and
Rescue slowly worked the
girl up the rocky face of the
cliff about 100 feet to the top,
with the help of team members
using pulleys attached
to trees near the top of the
cliff. At the top King was on
his knees with exhaustion.
According to King, this was
their most difficult extraction.
“It would have been easier
if it were vertical,” said
King. “But there were several
overhangs that kept trying
to tip the litter inward.”
By 7:55 p.m., Grayson was
on a stretcher and loaded
into the ambulance attended
by Lyle medics, fortunate to
survive a part of the river
that is usually only viewed
from the banks or the Fisher
Hill Bridge. The group had
various bumps and bruises
to show for their harrowing
experience.
“I can’t wait to get it on
Facebook,” said Carter, perhaps
unaware of just how
close five tubers came to disaster.
Voters could decide
on six initiatives
during Nov. 6 election
Backers of two citizen
initiatives have submitted
signatures far in excess of
the 241,000 minimum and
appear to be in good position
to make the November
statewide ballot. That would
bring to six the number of
state propositions facing the
voters, including gay marriage
and marijuana decriminalization.
Backers of Initiative
1240, the proposal to authorize
charter schools in
Washington, brought an estimated
350,000 signatures
to the Secretary of State’s
Elections Division. Then 90
minutes later, Tim Eyman
and other sponsors submitted
an estimated 318,000 signatures
for I-1185 to restate
the two-thirds vote requirement
for taxes and fees
passed in Olympia.
Both are widely expected
to make the fall ballot, but
the Elections Division will
do a random sample to assure
that 241,000 valid signatures
were turned in by Friday’s
deadline.
The other measures
heading to the ballot are:
• Referendum 74, a vote
on whether to approve or reject
the state’s new law authorizing
civil marriage for
same-sex couples. The bill
was Senate Bill 6239.
• Initiative 502, decriminalizing
marijuana sales
and use by adults, is already
on the ballot. It was an initiative
to the Legislature,
but lawmakers did not take
it up, so it was guaranteed a
public vote this fall.
Two non-controversial
constitutional amendments
were placed on the ballot by
the Legislature. One,
SJR8221, would implement
changes in use of state bond
debt, and the other, SJR8223,
deals with investments by
the University of Washington
and Washington State
University.
Fights are main
fireworks over past
week in Goldendale
The Fourth of July was a fairly peaceful holiday for Goldendale
police. The Department answered just seven complaints
and had no major problems during the past week.
Two fights resulted in arrests over the weekend. The first
occurred on July 7, around 8:20 p.m. when two men got
physical after one criticized the way the other rolled cigarettes.
Darrin Starr was arrested for fourth degree assault
and Brandon Demott, the errant roller, was charged with
disorderly conduct. Demott was also charged for being in
possession of drug paraphernalia and a small amount of
marijuana.
Police responded to a fight at the 100 block of West
Brooks just after Saturday midnight. Two men, Lester Howtopat
and Rolando Gonzalez Chavez had accosted Pete Kelly
resulting in serious facial injuries to Kelly. Witnesses told
police that Howtopat and Chavez had Kelly on the ground
and kicked him repeatedly. Howtopat and Chavez were both
arrested for felony second degree assault.
THIS WEEK’S MOST WANTED: The Goldendale Police are
looking for Johdon Keiann Bane Smith. Bane Smith, 30, is
wanted for probation violation, failure to report. Bane Smith is
5-2 with brown hair and brown eyes.