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fontman
09-07-06, 06:51 PM
Sheriff says Marine disappearance staged <br />
By JON SARCHE <br />
Associated Press Writer <br />
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DENVER (AP) -- Authorities who spent five days searching for a Marine after a friend reported him lost in a...

thedrifter
09-07-06, 07:01 PM
:(

We know plenty of Outstanding Marines that are ready to go back to Iraq.

Ellie

thedrifter
09-08-06, 07:55 AM
Marine's friend jailed <br />
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Boulder authorities believe Iraq veteran's disappearance staged <br />
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By David Montero And Felix Doligosa Jr., Rocky Mountain News <br />
September 8, 2006 <br />
<br />
BOULDER - A man...

thedrifter
09-08-06, 08:01 AM
Article Last Updated: 9/08/2006 12:39 AM
denver & the west
Searchers invested time, resources in perilous hunt
By Kirk Mitchell
Denver Post Staff Writer
DenverPost.com

The motivation to save a Marine veteran of the Iraq war, believed lost on a dangerous mountain slope in Eldorado Canyon, was high.

"He did his part for our country, and we needed to do our part," said Kevin Harner, spokesman for the Rocky Mountain Rescue Group.

But many of those same rescuers are angry and disappointed after learning Thursday that 21-year-old Lance Hering apparently was trying to avoid returning to the Marines, not lost on a mountain slope.

"It's one thing to take a risk when you are working toward a legitimate goal, and it's another to take the risk for something like this," said Boulder Fire Chief Larry Donner.

And because of the purported medical circumstances, rescuers took risks for Hering they wouldn't ordinarily have, Harner said. They were told Hering had suffered a serious head injury and had been unconscious for several hours after tumbling 15 feet while bouldering.

More than 600 people from across Colorado took time away from school, work and their families to help find the Marine, Harner said.

Rescuers rode horses, led dogs and hiked day after day, logging more than 7,000 hours, Harner said. "This was one of the biggest searches in Colorado in recent years."

During the search, a black labrador rescue dog slipped over a ledge and tumbled 8 feet to the rocks below, suffering bumps and bruises, said Lauren Wittimore, dog-team leader for the Front Range Rescue Dogs.

A man twisted his ankle, and Hering's mother, Elynne, passed out from exhaustion and dehydration. Even with these injuries, Harner said they were fortunate. Someone could have easily been seriously hurt, he said. In anticipation of searchers getting injured as well as treating Hering, they had an ambulance on standby, he said.

Because Hering was believed to have a medical emergency, crews of volunteers traversed the rugged terrain popular for rock climbing at night.

"You treat it with more urgency," Harner said.

The search continued Saturday night through a rainstorm. "That just makes the rocks and the ground that much more treacherous," Harner said.

Staff writer Kirk Mitchell can be reached at 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com.

Ellie