Mail Tribune News - No search planned soon for lost Rogue River boater

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No search planned soon for lost Rogue River boater GRANTS PASS -- Josephine County sheriff's deputies said they have no plans to search for a White City man missing after a boating accident on the Rogue River over the weekend. Walter Howell, 42, was thrown from a boat that overturned Saturday morning after striking a tree near Whitehorse Park. He is presumed drowned. The boat driver, John Neely of Medford, swam to shore and was not injured. Another passenger, 36-year-old Donna Hix of White City, remained in serious condition at Three Rivers Hospital in Grants Pass. Hix was found floating face down in the river. Sheriff's Sgt. Ron Goodpasture said the high and turbid water in the Rogue made searching for Howell's body impractical. "It's essentially too high to think about it," Goodpasture said Monday. "We are going to go out there and patrol occasionally but it would be pointless for us to go to the expense of mounting a search today." He said no search was expected in the near future and that Howell's body probably would not be recovered until water levels drop. Mail Tribune Copyright �  The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA