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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us March 23, 2006 No charge to family for cost of search By Anita Burke For the Tidings Officials are still calculating the cost of a massive search effort for an Ashland family lost for 17 days, but they won’t send the family a bill. Oregon law authorizes officials to charge people up to $500 for their search and rescue if they were negligent or broke laws, said Lt. Pat Rowland, head of the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department search and rescue team. “There was nothing negligent on their part,” Rowland said of Marlo Hill-Stivers, her husband, Pete Stivers, their children Sabastyan, 9, and Gabrayell, 8, and Pete’s mother and her husband, Becky and Elbert Higginbotham. “They had food and fuel and they did what we preach — stay in one spot and stay with your vehicle,” Rowland said. He noted that the reimbursement limit was only a fraction of the likely cost of the 12-day search and final rescue. Marlo’s mother, Rose Hill, reported her daughter missing March 8 and other family members were added to a missing persons list later. Family members combed back roads and campgrounds in Curry County. Ashland police put out a bulletin to regional law enforcement seeking the family, then took the message nationwide March 17, as media across the country learned of the search. Rowland activated search and rescue teams in seven counties March 15. Teams drove routes to local destinations that might prove treacherous to motor homes, including the Klamath River, Diamond Lake, and forest roads off Highway 140, the Dead Indian Plateau east of Ashland, Lost Creek Lake, Butte Falls and Crater Lake National Park. An Oregon State Police plane conducted an aerial search of Highway 199 and Bear Camp Road, the most likely routes between the Rogue Valley and the Oregon Coast. On March 16, two helicopters, an airplane and ground crews including as many as 60 volunteers in vehicles and snow machines returned to those routes. One helicopter took to the air again March 19, flying along the Rogue River within five miles of the stranded recreational vehicle, officials said. A California Highway Patrol plane scanned the Highway 96 corridor between Redding and the coast on March 17. When the Stivers were found Tuesday, rescue efforts included private helicopters from Jackson and Douglas counties, Sno-Cats from Jackson, Josephine and Douglas counties and a U.S. Bureau of Land Management road-maintenance crew. DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Deep Muscle Stimulator Ceramic Piggy Banks FREE Entertainment Guide Women's & Men's Slippers Accelerate Weightloss Products Backpacks Online Pharmacy Vegas Travel Guide Search Engine Optimization Student Loans Hotel & Airline Reservations Hammocks Water Filter Helzberg Diamonds Online Casinos Community Bonus Casino Mortgage Calculator Security Systems Mailing Lists Click Here Advertisement .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams