<font color= red>BREAKING NEWS -</font color> <b>FOUND!</b> Oologah cowboys rescue lost toddler

Joy Hampton

August 3, 2009 — Sixteen-year-old Chaz Brewer pulled his horse Coppenhagen into the shade to cool off.

“I heard her say, ‘Daddy,’” said Chaz. “I looked down and she was sitting there playing in the weeds.”

Chaz said the toddler was naked, and stick tights in her dark, curly hair, but appeared to be fine.

The teen cowboy on horseback had done what the best technology, training and motorized equipment had so far failed to do, found a missing toddler that was the subject of a 6-hour search by numerous agencies.

The Oologah high school student and his father Chub had heard the early morning reports of a missing 2-year-old from Oologah Lake’s Hawthorn Bluff campsite. Popular with family, the site was voted one of the top 100 Family Campgrounds in America in 2004.

Early this morning, a family camping trip turned into a nightmare for one Tulsa family, however.

Thanks to two Rogers County cowboys, that nightmare had a ‘happily-ever-after ending.”

According to Rogers County Sheriff Scott Walton and Emergency Management Director Bob Anderson, the family set up camp Sunday.

The mother took the toddler to the showers with her Sunday evening around 10 p.m. The women had gone to bed but the father and sons went fishing.

Sometime after 2 a.m. when the father returned to the tent he found it partially unzipped and the toddler was missing, apparently having wandered off while her mother slept.

Following a search, the family alerted authorities.

Anderson said Northwest Fire was called at 4:15 a.m. and paged the Sheriff’s Department and Emergency Management.

Multiple agencies joined in a cooperative search for the girl, including tracking dogs, fly-overs, boats with divers and sonar, ATVs and more.

Walton called it a “generous outpouring of combined resources.”

Meanwhile, one Rogers County cowboy just did what Rogers County folks do. He pitched in and helped.

Chub Brewer said after he heard the reports of the missing toddler, he took off work from Verdigris Valley Electric. He and son Chaz saddled up their horses and joined the search.

Chub said he realized all of the emergency personnel were focused on the lake so they decided to search on the other side of the highway. They started at the corner where the Catfish Kitchen used to be, near the Dam Saloon and rode their horses through the underbrush looking for the lost child.

“She crossed the highway,” said Chub. He said it was fortunate that the toddler had likely crossed in the wee hours of the morning, before traffic picked up.

Across the road, near the campgrounds, professionals and individuals with specialized skills had been searching for hours.

Owasso police Officer Bobby Sordo and dog Beny had joined the search.

“Not very strong leads,” said Sordo. Beny had helped find an Alzheimer’s victim who was lost 6 or 7 months ago.

“There was some interest in the wooded area,” said Sordo. He said another tracking dog had been interested in the same area, but neither picked up a strong enough trail to follow.

Walton said the scene was simply too contaminated by too many human scents following the busy weekend at the lake.

Air Evac, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol and News Channel 6 were doing fly-overs.

Walton briefed reporters, saying “anything is possible” but there had been no evidence of an abduction.

“Washington County and Bartlesville Police showed up with resources of mobile command operations and a lot of rescue equipment,” said Walton. “There’s been a real outpouring of resources.”

Every area agency was involved. Oologah police, Northwest, Chelsea, and Claremore Fire. The Corps of Engineers, Lake Patrol, and Park Rangers.

Walton said the case did not meet the criteria to issue an Amber alert, but it might be possible to get a photo to the television crews just in case.

Anderson was focused on the water.

“Right now OHP is trying to go to the bank,” he said around 10 a.m., shortly before the girl was found.

Boats with divers and sonar where searching for a body.

“We’re looking at every prospect you can imagine,” he said.

Walton said there were two chaplains with the family who had camped about 100 yards from the water. The girl had gone swimming with her family Sunday afternoon. It was believed she had wandered off looking for her father.

Described by family as “adventurous” and tall for a 2-year-old, Walton said there was no telling how far she could have gone. He said to his knowledge there were no dangerous predatory animals in the area.

Walton said it was not unusual for a toddler to wander off.

“They’re mobile without a lot of other capabilities such as a sense of fear,” he said.

The search area was believed to cover about 80 acres, according to Walton.

As attention focused on the lake and water front, hope of finding the girl alive was beginning to fade.

Chaz and Chub Brewer, two local cowboys in light colored straw hats rode in and saved the day. In Rogers county, it seemed only fitting that the cowboy in the white hat turn out to be the hero.

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