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Wednesday
March 17, 2010 Since 1922 |
Focus on recovery of cowboy
By Jane Howard Lee
Contributor Published November 5, 2009 In a couple of muddy clearings just off FM 1008, just over a mile east of Dayton, people have been coming and going from the staging areas for the search for a lost cowboy since Sunday.
Searchers combing a flooded area east of Dayton for lost cowboy Gene Roberts were sad to admit Wednesday their efforts were geared more for recovery than rescue.
While all hope is not gone, several searchers and even one of his family members agreed finding Roberts alive at this point would be miraculous.
The 47-year-old Roberts, who is married and the father of five grown children, was helping friends round up cattle on Sunday in an area where flood water threatened the animals. The Trinity River had overflowed its banks as a result of last week’s rains both here and above the Livingston Dam.
Though the location where Roberts and the others were working is about a mile from the river, the water that spilled over the riverbanks flowed far into the low-lying river bottom. While the flood waters were just quietly rising in the area where the cattle were being gathered, much of the land was under two to three feet of water with drop-offs in low points and creeks where the water depth was up to 10 or 12 feet.
Many of the searchers feel it was one of those deep spots that caused whatever happened to Roberts to happen.
Roberts left his friends and the larger group of cattle to follow a couple of cows who strayed into a wooded area and has not been seen since, though his horse was found not long after.
“The others went looking for him within two to three minutes,” said Ken DeFoor, a retired police officer who works as a reserve officer for the Dayton Police Department and is a volunteer with Texas EquuSearch, which was called in to help with the search by Roberts’ family, according to DeFoor.
Founded in 2000, the nonprofit group’s efforts utilize volunteers who provide their own equipment to help law enforcement agencies search for missing people.
DeFoor is serving as the coordinator of EquuSearch’s efforts to help in the search for Roberts.
“We think he and his horse just walked off into a creek,” DeFoor said. “When you’re out there in that water you just can’t tell where it is going to drop off.”
Roberts’ companions called authorities for help about 7:30 p.m. Sunday. The search efforts have grown since then.
Baytown resident Lee Robertson, who led one of the EquuSearch ATV search teams, said searching has been difficult.
“It is hard walking, hard driving … they turned over the marsh buggy a while ago,” he said.
Searchers have been working from early morning to after dark since Roberts went missing. They’ve seen snakes and alligators, but no sign of the missing cowboy.
“Yesterday we had about 75 people searching on foot, on ATVs, in canoes and flat-bottom boats and on horses,” Robertson said.
The change from rescue to recovery has saddened the volunteers, but has not slowed their determination. It has changed their methods though.
“In a rescue mode we’re moving fast, covering ground as quickly as we can,” Robertson explained. “In a recovery mode, we are just more meticulous.”
Through the days since Roberts disappearance, searchers have seen an outpouring of support from the local community and from strangers.
Searchers have come from numerous law enforcement agencies, volunteer fire departments and communities.
“We’ve had cowboys come from the other side of Houston with their horses to help in the search,” said DeFoor.
Help also has come from local residents who own airplanes, boats, four-wheel drive vehicles and other equipment they thought might be useful in the search.
Local business people have dropped off everything from bottled water and soft drinks to portable toilets. Area churches have provided searchers with sandwiches. On Wednesday, someone sent out a dozen or so pizzas that a search crew returning from hours of hard searching tore into gratefully.
All of them started out wanting only to see Roberts reunited with his family. Now, they fear all they can offer the family is some kind of closure.
The fact that the floodwaters are not dissipating has created a problem.
“Water is our biggest enemy,” said Dayton Police Sgt. John Coleman. “That water just isn’t going to go anywhere any time soon.”
Until the water goes down, which Coleman, DeFoor and others feel probably won’t happen until Sunday or Monday, the search efforts may have to be cut back.
Contributor Published November 5, 2009 In a couple of muddy clearings just off FM 1008, just over a mile east of Dayton, people have been coming and going from the staging areas for the search for a lost cowboy since Sunday.
Searchers combing a flooded area east of Dayton for lost cowboy Gene Roberts were sad to admit Wednesday their efforts were geared more for recovery than rescue.
While all hope is not gone, several searchers and even one of his family members agreed finding Roberts alive at this point would be miraculous.
The 47-year-old Roberts, who is married and the father of five grown children, was helping friends round up cattle on Sunday in an area where flood water threatened the animals. The Trinity River had overflowed its banks as a result of last week’s rains both here and above the Livingston Dam.
Though the location where Roberts and the others were working is about a mile from the river, the water that spilled over the riverbanks flowed far into the low-lying river bottom. While the flood waters were just quietly rising in the area where the cattle were being gathered, much of the land was under two to three feet of water with drop-offs in low points and creeks where the water depth was up to 10 or 12 feet.
Many of the searchers feel it was one of those deep spots that caused whatever happened to Roberts to happen.
Roberts left his friends and the larger group of cattle to follow a couple of cows who strayed into a wooded area and has not been seen since, though his horse was found not long after.
“The others went looking for him within two to three minutes,” said Ken DeFoor, a retired police officer who works as a reserve officer for the Dayton Police Department and is a volunteer with Texas EquuSearch, which was called in to help with the search by Roberts’ family, according to DeFoor.
Founded in 2000, the nonprofit group’s efforts utilize volunteers who provide their own equipment to help law enforcement agencies search for missing people.
DeFoor is serving as the coordinator of EquuSearch’s efforts to help in the search for Roberts.
“We think he and his horse just walked off into a creek,” DeFoor said. “When you’re out there in that water you just can’t tell where it is going to drop off.”
Roberts’ companions called authorities for help about 7:30 p.m. Sunday. The search efforts have grown since then.
Baytown resident Lee Robertson, who led one of the EquuSearch ATV search teams, said searching has been difficult.
“It is hard walking, hard driving … they turned over the marsh buggy a while ago,” he said.
Searchers have been working from early morning to after dark since Roberts went missing. They’ve seen snakes and alligators, but no sign of the missing cowboy.
“Yesterday we had about 75 people searching on foot, on ATVs, in canoes and flat-bottom boats and on horses,” Robertson said.
The change from rescue to recovery has saddened the volunteers, but has not slowed their determination. It has changed their methods though.
“In a rescue mode we’re moving fast, covering ground as quickly as we can,” Robertson explained. “In a recovery mode, we are just more meticulous.”
Through the days since Roberts disappearance, searchers have seen an outpouring of support from the local community and from strangers.
Searchers have come from numerous law enforcement agencies, volunteer fire departments and communities.
“We’ve had cowboys come from the other side of Houston with their horses to help in the search,” said DeFoor.
Help also has come from local residents who own airplanes, boats, four-wheel drive vehicles and other equipment they thought might be useful in the search.
Local business people have dropped off everything from bottled water and soft drinks to portable toilets. Area churches have provided searchers with sandwiches. On Wednesday, someone sent out a dozen or so pizzas that a search crew returning from hours of hard searching tore into gratefully.
All of them started out wanting only to see Roberts reunited with his family. Now, they fear all they can offer the family is some kind of closure.
The fact that the floodwaters are not dissipating has created a problem.
“Water is our biggest enemy,” said Dayton Police Sgt. John Coleman. “That water just isn’t going to go anywhere any time soon.”
Until the water goes down, which Coleman, DeFoor and others feel probably won’t happen until Sunday or Monday, the search efforts may have to be cut back.