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Family rescued from lake Tragedy averted by reporter, policeman By JONEL ALECCIA A vacationing newspaper reporter and an off-duty policeman averted tragedy Saturday when they rescued a Klamath Falls couple and two children whose rented boat sank in the chilly, choppy waters of Howard Prairie Lake. "It was a nightmare," said Roberta Hughes, 39, who estimated she spent more than an hour in the 65-degree water with her children, ages 9 and 11, and her companion, Rodnick Butler. "I'm so glad someone was there." The four were treated for mild hypothermia after being pulled from the lake by Bill Varble, a Mail Tribune reporter from Medford, and Elmer Kammel, a Talent Police Department lieutenant. Jackson County sheriff's deputies later cited Butler, 25, for boating under the influence of intoxicants at the lake 19 miles east of Ashland. Varble, who was sailing, and Kammel, who was fishing, heard screams about 3:30 p.m. near the lake's Buck Island. Around them, the water roiled with 2-foot swells and whitecaps. "I saw their life jackets, so I sailed closer," said Varble, who owns a 23-foot sailboat. "Then I could see there were people in the water, but no boat." Despite 15- to 20-mile-per-hour winds, Varble and his wife, Berta, furled the sails and passed close enough to pick up Parischere Hughes, 11, and her brother, Colton, 9. "We put wool blankets around them; the kids were just freezing," Varble recalled. "Berta hugged Coty." About then, Kammel arrived in his 14-foot flat-bottom boat with his son, Christopher, 7. He approached Butler and Hughes, threw them life preservers and told them he'd tow them to shore. "My biggest fear was them capsizing the boat," recalled Kammel. "But you know you've got to do it." Hughes said Sunday the group got in trouble after water began leaking through a crack near the motor in the rented 15-foot boat. "It started filling up and filling up and the whole thing went under," she said. But Chris Johnston, marina manager at Howard Prairie Resort, said the incident was the first time in 40 years of operation that a rented boat had sunk on the lake. He said he believed the craft was sea-worthy. "Our best guess is they swamped the boat and they panicked," Johnston said. "It was a cross between their panicking and some pretty bad judgment." The boat and motor, valued at $2,200, have not been recovered. "It was a scary afternoon," recalled Kammel. "But if it wasn't for Bill, it would have been a tragic afternoon." "I just happened to be there," said Varble. "The bottom line is, the kids had their life jackets on. Without that, it definitely could have been a tragedy." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA