Wednesday, June 25

Poke another stick at the hornet’s nest

The photo above shows Florence Lake when nothing is happening. You know the season has finally started when things get chaotic. Over the weekend an Outward Bound group of nine teenagers and their two group leaders got lost near Courtright Reservoir south of us. It’s been the top of the local news ever since. Today around 1 PM they showed up at the Florence Lake boat landing, all in good shape, while the Sheriff’s helicopter and a Search and Rescue squad were looking in another area. Karla called me from the store and told me what was happening, and I called a couple of local radio stations with the news. They wanted to contact the store directly, so I gave them the phone number. Karla called the Fresno Bee with the news. Then I got a call from CBS News in New York. They got the store’s number too. I hope she doesn’t kill me!

Late breaking news! I just got a call from the Associated Press in New York. Gave them the number too. I’m going to go crawl under a rock and stop answering the phone.

More news—watch CNN and Good Morning America on Thursday morning for more…

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's a lot of excitement! I'd look for it on the evening news, but I don't watch the evening news.

I saw Search & Rescue in action Saturday on Mt. San Antonio. We came across a scene where a hiker with a heart condition had passed out and fallen down a rocky slope. We couldn't see him from the trail, but someone who got down to him said he was in terrible shape. I whipped out my trusty ACR Terrafix personal locator beacon and activated it (for the first time ever). A helicopter showed up in about an hour to pull the guy out.

Anonymous said...

Florence Lake Store is in the AP news! "...the group told him Wednesday afternoon that they were awaiting searchers at the Florence Lake Store, just north of where they went missing."

I found a zillion news stories, but only this one (so far) said they had been found.

Tom Hurley said...

I called the store at 8 tonight and the place was hopping with searchers, sheriffs, news people and previously lost people. This story has apparently gotten national coverage. We always get into the action if anything happens within 20 miles or so. We're in the Rolodexes of the major news folks because I have fielded at least a half dozen calls so far with no idea of how they found us.