Dozens Search For Missing Boaters

Dozens of searchers combed the Clearwater River near Spalding Bridge, a few miles east of the city, for signs of two men who disappeared into the fast-moving water after their small boat capsized.

Cecil L. Stamper, 56, and his brother, Dean J. Stamper, 50, both of Lewiston, were pulling logs behind their 14-foot boat on Friday when they got close to a bridge piling and a log was pushed by the current to the other side of the piling, Nez Perce County Sheriff Randy Kinsbury said.

The brothers were thrown into the water along with Kyle J. Stamper, 21, son of one of the men. The youngest Stamper swam to shore, flagged down a motorist and was driven to a phone.

No one was wearing life jackets, the sheriff said, and the brothers did not know how to swim.

Kinsbury searched the river in one of the two boats called out and had help from the Nez Perce County Air Posse, the Search and Rescue Posse and the Nez Perce Tribal Police. River patrols planned to continue the search over the weekend, but Kinsbury said it would be unsafe to use divers.