Tales from the Faulkner Files: Daisy and the Amber Alert

[Faulkner]

Randy—I have to ask, what happened with the little fellow? Did he just wander off? Did he get the seat of his britches warmed up? (Along those lines, there looks like a number of willows along that crick. Those make some wicked switches!)

As is often the case in a lot of events in law enforcement, I don't really know. After the radio call that the boy had been found safe, Dale, Daisy and I hiked back to my truck where I took off Daisy's harness, toweled her dry, then gave her some fresh water and a snack. As we were stowing our gear back in the truck I'm sure the little fellow was reunited with his family and Deputy Collins was collecting all the information he needed for his overall incident report. With Daisy back in her carrier I walked over to check on Deputy Collins to see if he needed anything from me, but he had it under control.

I made the rounds to acknowledge the first responders as they stowed there gear, shaking hands and thanking them for their help. There was nothing else I needed to get involved in or get in the way. Deputy Collins didn't need me looking over his shoulder and since it was my day off and I was headed to town anyway, Daisy and I went on to town.

 

[Rudi]

I gotta tell'ya, this one "brought a tear to mah one good eye", and the other one too. You are a true Mensch. So is Daisy, good on ya both.

 

[soFlaNative]

I was impressed with the response, G&F, staties, local law, FD and volunteers.
Such a grapevine in a community is inspiring.

 

[Faulkner]

I was impressed with the response, G&F, staties, local law, FD and volunteers.
Such a grapevine in a community is inspiring.

I think most of rural America is still this way.

 

[Major 2]

I read this spell bound, great stuff and well told...

 

[lihpster]

I was impressed with the response, G&F, staties, local law, FD and volunteers.
Such a grapevine in a community is inspiring.

My father was Fish and Game for 35 years. he participated in a number of S&R incidents. For one thing, knowing the terrain is extremely helpful.
He tells the story of how he was asked to help search for a lost camper. The guy was 20 years old but apparently had some difficulties. Today he'd probably be labeled as somewhere along the autism spectrum. Also, he was hearing impaired. He had wandered off from camp in the afternoon and by sundown his mother was frantic, so the sheriff's deputy who responded called for help. My dad was called specifically as he knew the terrain well. They were able to determine a general direction from some footprints and my dad told them that he would probably filter down the canyon towards the lake, but he would be stopped by a 50 foot cliff face about 3/4 of a mile down. My dad and a State Trooper who had responded had worked together alot and volunteered to go to the cliff face directly and search from there back to the campground. Mind you this was high up and in early March, so it's cold and there's still snow in the shady places. When they reached the cliff face, they worked their way along it and found him, crouched under a tree. They led him back to camp and he was reuinited with his mother. He had apparently followed a squirrel, no, I'm not making a joke here, and gotten lost. My dad said he knew the guy was fine, as when they had come upon him, actual steam was rising from his head, even though it was cold and he was wearing jeans and a t-shirt.