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Team seeks a different sort
of sunken treasures
Posted: Sunday, Oct
23, 2005 - 11:19:34 am PDT
By CHERY SABOL
The Daily
Inter Lake
Into the depths
Flathead Sheriff's Office dive team members Jordan White,
center, Dusty Dusterhoff, left, and Kevin Botchek emerge from
the Swan River on Tuesday after Dusterhoff found a rifle that
may have been involved with local crimes. The dive team, made up
of sheriff's deputies and local volunteers, has grown
increasingly busy since it was formed two years ago. Chris
Jordan/Daily Inter Lake
A The dive team of the Flathead County Sheriff's Office has
surfaced as a vital part of criminal investigations and recovery
of accident victims.
Formed two years ago as a combination of independent divers and
those from Flathead and North Valley search and rescue groups,
the group functions now under the authority of the sheriff's
office, according to deputy Jordan White, the team commander.
It is sobering business, searching area lakes and rivers for
drowning victims and property hidden beneath the water.
"We are treasure hunters like every other diver," White said.
"But the treasures we find aren't ours to keep."
Last summer, volunteer divers recovered the remains of a
Whitefish boy who drowned 33 years ago, finally putting to rest
the death of David Almos for his family.
They also recovered the body of a man who drowned in the South
Fork while fishing. Divers spent days diving before they were
able to find him and return his body to his family. At Salmon
Lake last year, divers put in about 20 dives apiece in five days
to help recover the body of a man who fell off his boat.
No amount of technical training can prepare a diver for an
emotional experience like that, but "the payment for them is the
satisfaction of contributing to the greater good," White said.
Sometimes the greater good is personal and painful when a
drowning victim is recovered. Sometimes it's environmental when
a vehicle is pulled from the water before it fouls the water
with oil and gas. Sometimes it's pulling out a piece of evidence
that could solve a crime.
It's almost always a challenge, White said.
"It is like finding a needle in a murky swimming pool," he said.
On Tuesday, one of his divers found a .22-caliber rifle in the
Swan River. Three members of the team were searching there in
hopes of finding the weapon used in a
Bigfork shooting that left two men injured. The rifle they found
could have been involved or it might have been stolen in some
recently burglaries. It might not be involved in any criminal
activity.
No matter what investigators eventually learn about it, the dive
team did its job in recovering it.
Divers also succeeded last winter when they pulled out a vehicle
sunken under ice on Ashley Lake. All-terrain was never intended
to include a lake bottom for the ATV the team removed after an
outdoorsman's ice mishap.
A fisherman on Bitterroot Lake was rescued from the water last
winter when he fell through the ice; the dive team made sure he
got his gear back.
Divers get to see what few people do -- underwater forests and
rock formations and aquatic life in three dimensions. It's a
mute world, where what they seek can be buried in stones or
sediment, offering no other clues than what it reveals visually.
Divers find cameras, oars, vehicles, chairs, and clothing long
lost from the world above them.
White and fellow deputy/diver Jeff Middleton were recovering a
pickup, boat and trailer that rolled into Tally Lake this year
when something white caught their eye. It turned out to be a car
that had been stolen in Las Vegas.
The team has worked on searches in Missoula and Lake counties
and for Glacier Park, on placid water and in fast-moving rivers.
White is responsible for deciding whether or not a search is
safe for his divers.
"My job is telling them what they can't do," he said.
They're not novices who need a lot of guidance, he said. The 15
team members have more than 200 years combined diving
experience. They also provide their own gear, worth at least
$5,000 each.
As important as their expertise is their commitment to the team.
It requires about 80 hours of training per year, plus actual
mission time. Divers have to be comfortable with one another,
confident that they are in safe company if something goes wrong,
White said.
Even with all their experience, "We teach each other" as their
teamwork grows, he said.
The public has become part of the team, too, supporting it in a
number of ways.
Plum Creek has donated $5,000 for vehicle-recovery equipment and
swift-water rescue gear. Flathead Electric Cooperative's Roundup
for Safety kicked in about $7,000 for underwater communications
gear. An anonymous company donated money for surface radio
equipment.
Glacier Divers, Salty Dog Divers and Bighorn Divers all offer
discounts and incentives to team members to upgrade and maintain
their equipment.
Good gear is paramount for the team, he said. It is acquiring
side-scanning sonar that can help searchers defeat the problems
of murky water and sediment by pinpointing objects on a lake
bottom or deep river bed. Underwater cameras also can document
the divers' work.
Besides contributors to the dive team, White said he is grateful
for tolerant employers when his divers have to rush out the door
for a search. The divers' spouses and children also deserve
credit for sacrificing family time for training, he said.
They all contribute to a team that has quickly established
itself as an important part of the Flathead County emergency
services landscape.
"I couldn't be more proud of the divers I have working for us
and the job they do," White said.
Reporter Chery Sabol may be reached at
406-758-4441 or by email at
csabol@dailyinterlake.com.
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