http://www.postbulletin.com/newsmanager ... 312952&z=2
Drownings wear on rescue crews
10/25/2007 2:26:25 PM
By John Weiss
Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN
LA CROSSE, Wis. — Once again a tired Tom Hemker pulled his airboat out of the Mississippi River after many hours looking for someone who drowned.
This time, it was Wednesday morning, and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Conservation Officer was one of about 50 people searching for Ray Joe Slabak, 63, of rural La Crosse, Wis. He was a duck hunter whose boat swamped in Tuesday’s wild winds on the Mississippi River upriver of Dakota.
In mid-May, a family of four from the Twin Cities drowned just downriver of Dakota below the Dresbach Lock and Dam when their boat swamped and he was there. Hemker was also out in August when seven people drowned in flash floods.
“It’s been a handful of drownings (and) hard on us, you bet,” said Hemker who was the last one of the searchers to take his boat out of the river. They began looking about 9 p.m. Tuesday and kept it up until about 3 a.m. when they took a break and began again about 8 a.m. Wednesday.
He’s worked a lot of drownings in 17 years as an officer “but never this many in one area in one year,” he said. Any time you search for a body “and bring them back to their loved ones, it’s always a stressful thing.” But it’s part of his job, he signed up to help people and searching for drowning victims helps bring closure to families, he said.
When he took his boat out, the river was smooth, though higher than normal.
“Look at it right now, it’s so beautiful,” Hemker said. But on Tuesday night, “with the 30 plus mile (an hour) gusts, it definitely was a different creature.” He had to keep his airboat close to shore because it’s not designed to handle big waves.
Winona County Chief Deputy Ron Ganrude, who was at the command center overnight, said the search was called off about 2:30 a.m. Wednesday because they had looked everywhere from the Dresbach dam to where Slabak’s airboat was found. Conditions were horrible.
“The water was running extremely fast, the wind was blowing extremely hard, it was dark,” he said. “It was very bad out on the water to see anything very far.”
Like Hemker, he said all the deaths wear on searchers. “It’s been a long trying year,” he said. “We hope we don’t have anything like this happen again for a long time.”
Slabak's body was recovered late Wednesday morning.
http://www.postbulletin.com/entertainme ... geid=26086
DNR searcher
Searchers, including Minnesota Department of Natural Resources officer Tom Hemker of Winona, found the body of duck hunter Ray Joe Slaback on Wednesday, about 2 1/2 miles from where his boat had swamped the day before on the Mississippi River.
John Weiss/Post-Bulletin
