One thing I’d like to say, and I mean it very gently to all of my new WS friends, not as a lecture, God forbid, but only to prevent disruption to the GS investigation, is this:
I don’t think it’s constructive for people, especially people in other states and localities, but to some extent even local sleuths, to call in tips for LE to search Such and Such Pit, or Whatchamacallit Mine Shaft, or over there at Lake Imawhahatchee (etc, etc) based purely on the fact that you’re sitting in front of a Google map and it looks like a deep hole, or it looks to you like a sparsely populated area, or maybe you just have a damn hunch. I understand the urge to help, but truly, you’ve seen the report where Sgt Mynatt (or was it Kirby?) lamented the barrage of unfounded tips! She was saying that it took hours sometimes to vet each one. Some ignorant turd (not anyone here, of course) literally told them they should check every trunk in the city. They have to respond in some way to the tip, at least thoroughly vet and write a report explaining the choice to disregard it. They should go where the investigation leads, and the investigation is best driven by REAL, relevant tips based on somebody actually seeing or knowing something. Not just, “Hey, I see a big cliff on this map atop Mt McScratchit and I could really see TS using her 4wd to access it and her man-arms to pitch GS off. Now begin arranging the SAR unit to deploy and waste valuable resources checking out my hunch for no other reason than it’s a hunch.” Or “They have dogs and I see a Tails-n-Turds Dog Park near FakeName Trail, now it must be searched,” even though what you don’t see is that FakeName Trail is in a damn shopping plaza or that Tails-n-Turds closed down last year after a tapeworm epidemic, or some such thing you couldn’t tell from the map. I mean, yes, it’d truly be nice to snap our fingers and have them search every hidey hole in the Western States, but you must acknowledge the impossibility. So if they only end up realistically searching a small percentage of them, let’s allow only real tips to direct which ones they search. Not random map hunches. I beg you to consider that between all those professional SAR type agencies listed in the updates as partnering in this search , THEY KNOW ALL THE LOCAL HOLES, CLIFFS, CULVERTS, PONDS, AND MINESHAFTS ALREADY. They are aware of them all. I’ll close this by acknowledging what a good-hearted bunch of people you all seem to be. I’ve never seen anything like it online. I also see that most of this talk is just harmless banter between sleuths. But I’ve seen several posts that seemed to suggest calling it in, or already had. All MOO.