Authorities still searching for 71-year-old

Authorities planned to use a police helicopter this afternoon to search for a 71-year-old man with dementia who has been missing from his Spokane Valley home since Friday. Samuel H. Counts was last seen at his home in the 4900 block of East Ninth Avenue around 3 p.m. on that day, a news release from the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office said. Counts left to go to a store driving a white 2012 Kia sedan with Washington license plate AJD4999. He was wearing a red and black jacket, jeans and white tennis shoes. He is 6 feet tall and weighs 170 pounds. The release said authorities would use the helicopter to search for Counts’ car in remote areas of the county. Police are also circulating a flier about Counts statewide. “Friends and family are beyond worried about Samuel,” Craig Chamberlin, a sheriff’s spokesman, said in an email. Anyone who sees Counts is asked to call 911.