Spring Break
Former Alaska lawmaker found alive
The Associated Press
Issue date: 4/24/07 Section: News
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A former Alaska lawmaker who went missing overnight after a family boating trip was found alive on a tiny island late Monday morning.
Former state Rep. Bruce Weyhrauch was severely hypothermic but conscious when he was found at 11:15 a.m. by a dog-search team on Coghlan Island at the mouth of Juneau's Auke Bay, rescuers said.
The rocky, timber-strewn island is visible from the 54-year-old attorney's waterfront home, where his family waited for word of his fate with Bruce Bowler, a member of SEADOGS, a volunteer search and rescue team that uses dogs.
Weyhrauch was taken to Juneau's Bartlett Regional Hospital, the Coast Guard said. His condition was not immediately available, but Bowler said his friend was so hypothermic he could barely move or speak. That also kept rescuers from immediately learning exactly what happened.
Weyhrauch was reported missing after another vessel's crew saw his 15-foot Boston Whaler about 1 1/2 miles from his home about 6:30 p.m. Sunday. The boat's motor was running but no one was on board.
Ninety minutes earlier, Weyhrauch had dropped off his teenage son on the beach near the home. He then headed for the harbor less than a mile away to moor the boat, according to Coast Guard officials.
An overnight search was launched by Coast Guard vessels, and a Coast Guard helicopter crew joined the search at first light Monday. Searchers on the water and the air fanned out over a 10-square-mile area, said Coast Guard civilian spokesman Scott Wilwert. Volunteer boaters also joined the search, along with people scanning area beaches on foot, Wilwert said.
SEADOGS were called in by Alaska State Troopers to help in the ground search. The organization sent out three teams, including handler Kirk Radach and Ki, a 4-year-old female chocolate lab with extensive experience in searches.
Bowler was at the Weyhrauch home, waiting with the ex-lawmaker's son, Ben, and wife, LuAnn Weyhrauch, an assistant Alaska attorney general who was out of town on business and had just returned Monday morning.
Suddenly Radach's voice crackled on Bowler's portable radio: "We got him, but he's hypothermic," he said just before the radio briefly faded out. "He's alive, but he needs medical assistance."
With the Coast Guard helicopter crew en route, Radach got Weyhrauch out of his wet cotton jeans and sweat shirt and wrapped him in a self-heating blanket the organization got just last week. The arriving helicopter lowered a rescue swimmer with a hypothermia bag and headed for shore with Weyhrauch, Bowler said.
"We're real, real glad to have found him when we did," he said.
Weyhrauch, a Republican, represented Juneau in the state House from 2003 to 2006. He did not seek re-election last year.
Word of his rescue quickly spread to both legislative chambers. A vote in the state Senate was interrupted to announce that Weyhrauch had been found. In the House lawmakers clapped and pounded their hands on their desks at the news.
Former state Rep. Bruce Weyhrauch was severely hypothermic but conscious when he was found at 11:15 a.m. by a dog-search team on Coghlan Island at the mouth of Juneau's Auke Bay, rescuers said.
The rocky, timber-strewn island is visible from the 54-year-old attorney's waterfront home, where his family waited for word of his fate with Bruce Bowler, a member of SEADOGS, a volunteer search and rescue team that uses dogs.
Weyhrauch was taken to Juneau's Bartlett Regional Hospital, the Coast Guard said. His condition was not immediately available, but Bowler said his friend was so hypothermic he could barely move or speak. That also kept rescuers from immediately learning exactly what happened.
Weyhrauch was reported missing after another vessel's crew saw his 15-foot Boston Whaler about 1 1/2 miles from his home about 6:30 p.m. Sunday. The boat's motor was running but no one was on board.
Ninety minutes earlier, Weyhrauch had dropped off his teenage son on the beach near the home. He then headed for the harbor less than a mile away to moor the boat, according to Coast Guard officials.
An overnight search was launched by Coast Guard vessels, and a Coast Guard helicopter crew joined the search at first light Monday. Searchers on the water and the air fanned out over a 10-square-mile area, said Coast Guard civilian spokesman Scott Wilwert. Volunteer boaters also joined the search, along with people scanning area beaches on foot, Wilwert said.
SEADOGS were called in by Alaska State Troopers to help in the ground search. The organization sent out three teams, including handler Kirk Radach and Ki, a 4-year-old female chocolate lab with extensive experience in searches.
Bowler was at the Weyhrauch home, waiting with the ex-lawmaker's son, Ben, and wife, LuAnn Weyhrauch, an assistant Alaska attorney general who was out of town on business and had just returned Monday morning.
Suddenly Radach's voice crackled on Bowler's portable radio: "We got him, but he's hypothermic," he said just before the radio briefly faded out. "He's alive, but he needs medical assistance."
With the Coast Guard helicopter crew en route, Radach got Weyhrauch out of his wet cotton jeans and sweat shirt and wrapped him in a self-heating blanket the organization got just last week. The arriving helicopter lowered a rescue swimmer with a hypothermia bag and headed for shore with Weyhrauch, Bowler said.
"We're real, real glad to have found him when we did," he said.
Weyhrauch, a Republican, represented Juneau in the state House from 2003 to 2006. He did not seek re-election last year.
Word of his rescue quickly spread to both legislative chambers. A vote in the state Senate was interrupted to announce that Weyhrauch had been found. In the House lawmakers clapped and pounded their hands on their desks at the news.
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