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Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend June 6, 2005 Divers from Jackson County Search and Rescue�s aquatic team recover the body of Theodore Ruehlen of Williams from Applegate Lake Sunday at about 4 p.m. Ruehlen, 68, apparently slipped and fell into the water while fishing. Lake takes angler’s life Man, 68, evidently slipped, fell into the water and drowned while bank fishing at Applegate Dam Sunday afternoon By BILL KETTLER Mail Tribune RUCH — A Williams man drowned Sunday after he apparently fell into the cold waters of Applegate Lake. Theodore W. Ruehlen, 68, had been fishing from a little rocky promontory adjacent to the spillway at Applegate Dam, said Jackson County sheriff’s Sgt. Pat Rowland. "His wife dropped him off," Rowland said, "and she was supposed to come back and pick him up later. When she came back he wasn’t there." Rowland said searchers found Ruehlen’s body in about 10 feet of water just off the edge of the rocky point where he had been fishing. Divers were summoned to the lake, and they recovered the body at around 4 p.m. Rowland said Ruehlen appeared to have slipped and fallen into the water. He noted that Ruehlen could not swim, and was fully clothed when he fell into the water. Advertisement Rowland said there was no sign of foul play. "Nobody knows" what caused him to fall, Rowland said. The lake’s cold water easily could have incapacitated a nonswimmer. People who fall into cold water sometimes reflexively gasp for breath and inhale water instead. Water temperatures vary around the lake, but much of the water is still in the 50-to-60-degree range at this time of year, when snowmelt fills many of the lake’s tributary creeks. Rowland said the water near the dam was about 60 degrees. Ruehlen’s death is the first recreational drowning in Jackson County in almost two years, and the first in Applegate Lake since 2000. Two men drowned within six weeks of each other during the summer of 2003. Daron Jay Bucholz, 23, drowned June 15, 2003 when he fell out of a canoe in a private pond near Central Point. He was not wearing a life jacket and could not swim. Anthony Bearden, 31, drowned July 28, 2003, when he tried to swim a narrow section of the Rogue River near Gold Hill. Bearden was a strong swimmer, but was not wearing a life jacket when he was swept away by the current. Mario Sauceda, 15, a student at Crater High School, drowned in Applegate Lake May 26, 2000, when he tried to swim to a floating platform about 50 yards from shore. Reach reporter Bill Kettlerat 776-4492, or e-mail [email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback www.bingo.com Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker dvd-r Distance Education Computer Security Ztech Media Hosting Sports Equipment Online Casino Student Loans tcg student loan consolidation Online Pharmacy Online Casino Reviews Myspace Home Equity Loans Windermere Van Vleet Rogue Valley Travel Discount Hotel Reservations Southern Oregon Loans Online Casino News Casino Gambling Sites Budget Website Templates Online Bingo Entertainment Guide Advertisement s