Marion County Sheriff Kevin Cripps received a call of apology Wednesday from a man who believes he may have set off a search for a person believed to be screaming for help at Forbes State Park near Omega on Monday.
Cripps says the man was at the Whippoorwill Picnic area when his dog took off after a deer and he began screaming to try and get his dog to come back.
While not realizing at the time he was the reason the Kinmundy-Alma Fire Department and others were entering the park when he was leaving, he put their arrival and his screams together when reading of the search on WJBDradio.com.
Cripps says the time frame and area of the screams match up with those heard across Forbes Lake by a hiker at the tent camping area who made the report Monday morning. The fire department, sheriff’s deputies including the sheriff in a helicopter, and state conservation police all joined in the search for about two and a half hours.
The search began out of fear there may have been an archery deer hunter in trouble in the heavily wooded area. Cripps is happy to finally be able to close the case that still had left him concerned someone may be out in the remote area of the park.
