Stevens County search was a lost cause

This concluding newspaper report was sketchy last year, considering it apparently involved the most expensive search-and- rescue effort in Stevens County history:

A 20-year-old Colville hunter who left on an evening hunt Oct. 27 walked out of the woods Oct. 31, a Stevens County dispatcher said.

Samuel Green was hunting from a campground near Sheep Creek Road, about eight miles west of Highway 25, near Northport. When he didn’t return by Sunday afternoon, Green was reported missing, said Stevens County Undersheriff LaVonne Webb.

Personnel from the Stevens County and Spokane County sheriff’s offices and the U.S. Border Patrol helped in a search, Webb said.

Searchers used helicopters, ATVs and horses in their search for Green. Friends said Green had survival gear – including a sleeping bag, compass, water and dehydrated food – with him on the hunt.

The understatement in that report was sorted out in more than a dozen subsequent interviews and records requests The Spokesman-Review made through the Freedom of Information Act over a period of six months.

Following are some of the key insights into the anatomy of this particular search- and-rescue operation:

•While sheriff’s departments coordinated the mission, the bulk of the search effort was done free by volunteers.

•Information about Green and a criminal record that forbid him to be carrying a gun was received during the mission, but not passed on to volunteer search groups, which included women and teenagers.

•More than a year later, the case remains open and Stevens County Sheriff’s officials will not discuss details of the case.

•Green apparently was not lost.

• Restitution for the cost of the search has not been sought.

“Stevens County activated five significant search-and-rescue missions in 2007, but the Samuel Green incident topped them all, with 101 people involved and 35 on the last day,” said Rick Anderson, county emergency services director.

“We had people on ATVs and out hiking. We had dogs and horses.

“The searchers, many from neighboring counties, logged 1,041 hours. Total cost was $43,000, including the costs for operating the Border Patrol helicopter, but not including the costs for help from Spokane County, which they did not pass on to us.’

Four people were assigned specifically to provide around-the-clock supervision of the search and making sure food and equipment was provided for the searchers.

“We all paid for it one way or another, but the sheriff winds up absorbing most of the ground costs,” Anderson said.

“It’s the most expensive operation I know of in the county, and I’ve lived here 52 years, but when a person is reported lost we have to assume that’s the case. Time is critical.”

Stevens County’s annual budget for search and rescue is $5,000, he said.

“The bill just for the AA batteries we used in that search totaled $250,” he added.