• Christmas Eve Distress Call - 2009
Dispatch received a 911 call from residents on Omo Ranch Road near the Middle fork of the Cosumnes River. The reporting party stated they heard calls for help, horn honking, and three gunshots. Patrol deputies and SAR Deputy Morgan made efforts to get some logging gates unlocked. OHV teams were called out to search the roads for the possible party in need of rescue.
Subjects were found at 1:30 a.m. on December 25. Deputy Morgan reported the following: Omo Ranch Concluded—subjects located by SAR OHV team—not in distress—looking for hunting dogs using their own attraction techniques—firing guns—honking horn—yelling, etc. Thanks to all who came out Christmas Eve!
Paul Duer, SAR 007, said:
The callout came about 10:00 p.m. Members rendezvoused at a driveway on Omo Ranch Road, and Jamey Morgan briefed us on events leading up. A resident had heard a commotion in the canyon below his house. When he drove to the ridge top, he heard someone down below blowing a horn, firing shots, and shouting what sounded like "Help". But for several hours, there had been no other sounds.
That area is a maze of forest roads and motorcycle trails. The canyon is nearly a thousand feet deep at that point, and at the bottom is the Middle Fork of the Cosumnes River.
Deputy Morgan spread maps on the hood of his command rig and we started discussing access. Carl Balderston's familiarity with the area was invaluable in planning assignments. We had several OHV rigs at our disposal, and Deputy Morgan assigned Carl and Jim Bowls to the first OHV team out. I rode with Carl.
Once we got into the canyon I was often clueless about where we were but Carl navigated like a pro. In idle moments, he and I joked that our lost subject was probably just someone trying to find his dog.
I do know we were somewhere on Forest Service Road 9N60, deep in the middle of dark nowhere, when Frank Yost's voice came over the radio and announced it was Christmas Day.
About 1:00 a.m. Phil Dold radioed that he and John Dale had located our mystery subject. It turned out that, lo and behold, "he" was a couple who were looking for not one but four lost dogs. The shouting, honking and shooting had been meant to attract the dogs, not rescuers. (One of the dogs must have been named Help, I guess.)
We all rendezvoused back at the Omo Ranch Road one last time before we headed home on sometimes icy pavement. To his credit, Deputy Morgan was unwavering in making sure we got gassed up. In fact, I believe he had to visit three different gas stations to make his card work for all the volunteers.
So what can you say about people who volunteer to go looking for someone in distress, at night, in subfreezing temperatures, on Christmas Eve? Bethlehem is a long way from Omo Ranch, but it was not hard to imagine that our little band had something in common with those famous shepherds who were keeping watch that night.
Postnote: Apparently while the deputies and volunteers were torn away from Christmas Eve festivities, the subjects went home for dinner, then returned in the wee hours to look again for their (bear hunting) dogs, who were trained to respond to specific cues.
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