By Bob Albrecht
Columbian 
Reproduced here by permission 
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Stevenson, WA — The Skamania County Sheriff’s Office is still searching for a Stevenson man who went missing on the Columbia River early Sunday, but they no longer expect to find 55-year-old Jimmie Caldwell alive.
“You get a small community and something like this happens and it really affects everybody,” said Undersheriff Dave Cox. “It’s tragic.”

Deputies joined Multnomah County’s Marine Patrol unit on the river Tuesday, examining the water’s floor with side-scan sonar equipment. When that failed to turn up Caldwell, hope took a major hit.
“We’re this far into it, it’s a matter of waiting for the body to come up to the surface,” Cox said. “That’s what we’re waiting on at this point.”

Caldwell was well-known around town, Cox said, adding it was not unusual for him to paddle out on the Columbia in the middle of the night when the weather was clear like it was Sunday.
He set out Sunday at 1 a.m. By 8 a.m., his wife reported him missing.
Two hours later, Skamania County’s Marine Patrol unit located Caldwell’s canoe and a paddle about a mile from where he had launched.

It is unknown whether Caldwell was wearing a life jacket.
The U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Astoria, U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, Hood River County Sheriff’s Office, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Oregon State Patrol all provided resources to the search.
Friends and family with civilian aircrafts also assisted, according to the sheriff’s office.
 
Republished from The Columbian Newspaper