STILLHOUSE HOLLOW RESERVOIR - What started as an early morning fishing outing turned to tragedy Sunday, March 2 when Ron C. Richardson went over the side of his fishing boat in Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir.
A rescue operation to save Richardson March 2 turned into a recovery operation the next day. His body has yet to be found.
Richardson’s fishing buddy used a cell phone aboard the boat to call for help that morning.
According to a recording of the event, the 911 operator at the Bell County Communications Center picked up the call at 8:17 a.m.
The caller, who identified himself as Michael Deadmell, said when Richardson fell over the side he went in after him but a rescue attempt was unsuccessful. He said he swam back to the boat to hang onto it. The boat eventually drifted to shore on a rocky, sandy point where Deadmell was able to get back inside the craft.
During the initial minutes of the call the operator tried to determine Deadmell’s location to send help.
“I need a location for where you went in so we can look for you,” said the operator.
She asked if they had left from Stillhouse Marina.
“Yes, yes,” Deadmell said. “There was some fishing he wanted me to do with him today. I’ve been in the water at least two hours. When I found out he couldn’t swim I jumped in after him. He may still be out there.”
The operator asked how Richardson fell over the side.
“He was sittin’ on the side and just fell over,” Deadmell said. “He’d just got done talkin’ to his wife about where his brother was.”
Deadmell said Richardson had been going around the lake that morning looking for his brother.
“The one I was with - Ron Richardson - his brother’s name is Kenny Richardson - we were going to have a fishing contest.”
Looking for landmarks
The operator asked Deadmell if he could see anything around him.
“There’s a beacon light in front of me,” he said.
Deadmell reported that he was freezing cold and trying to keep warm in his leather jacket.
He told the operator he was in a blue speedboat with an outboard motor.
“Are you by hills or anything?” the operator asked.
“Yeah, there’s hills around me,” says Deadmell.
The operator asked him to look in various directions and report what he saw. Deadmell said he saw hills to the right, brushy growth to the left and the wide-open lake behind him. He said he was about 20 to 30 feet from shore. The boat had gone aground in shallow water.
The operator asked if he could see the dam behind him. Deadmell said he’s near-sighted and he lost his glasses going over the side to rescue Richardson.
“I can see hills and a blurry shore where I’m at but can’t make out anything in the distance.
The search and rescue
A transcript of radio traffic indicated that mobile units began combing various shoreline and dam locations early in the call.
Deadmell identified the white Ford extended cab pickup truck and trailer used that morning to launch the boat.
The information verified for authorities Stillhouse Marina as the starting point for the two fishermen that morning.
“Do you have anything in your jacket that could, you know, help them spot you,” asked the operator.
“I have a camera,” Deadmell said. “Oh! And there’s a spotlight on this boat.”
“Can you put your spotlight on?” she asked.
“I might be able to,” he says. “Yes, the spotlight’s on.”
“Is there a horn on the boat?” the operators asks.
“Is there a horn? Yes. I just started it. The boat starts.”
The operator asks Deadmell if he could blow the horn so authorities could tell where he is.
He blew the horn several times.
Deadmell told the operator he hurt his foot on a rock while in the shallow water.
“I don’t know if I can walk real good,” he said.
The operator asked Deadmell if he could see the dam anywhere. The answer was negative.
“Is there a GPS (ground positioning system) on the boat,” she asked.
Deadmell reported there wasn’t.
“Michael, when you pulled out of the marina, did he (Richardson) turn to the right or the left,” she asked?
Deadmell said it was pitch dark when they left the marina.
“I don’t know which way he went.”
He told the operator his dog is in the boat with him.
“What kind of a dog,” she asked?
“He’s a brown - a big brown hound dog.”
The operator told Deadmell the authorities would activate a siren.
“I want you to tell me if you can hear it,” she said. ”Can you hear anything?
“I think I hear a boat,” said Deadmell. “It looks like a little boat. Far aways from me. I don’t hear a siren though, ma’am.”
“Is it coming your way,” she asked.
“I don’t think it’s coming my way,” Deadmell said. “It looks like it’s going past me.”
The operator confers with a rescue unit by radio.
“He thinks he sees the boat, yeah,” she tells an officer on the radio.
The operator asked if Deadmell could take off his jacket and wave it. Deadmell declined because of the cold. Throughout the call could be heard the sound of intense shivering over the phone.
”I can understand,” she said.
“I can shine this spotlight in the air,” Deadmell said.
“The light may not help as much as the jacket,” said the operator.
“I can wave my hat,” said Deadmell.
“OK. How about waving your hat,” she said.
Deadmell said it looked like the boat was coming his way.
“Is that your guys?” he asked. “My friend is in the water somewhere. Let them know.”
“They know,” she responded. “They have to find you so that you can show them where you lost him.”
Deadmell’s voice resonated with excitement. He tells the operator they are almost up to him - perhaps 100 feet away.
The operator wouldn’t let Deadmell hang up the phone until she knew for certain officers were with him.
Bell County transcripts show that Deadmell was rescued and treated for hypothermia just 35 minutes after making his initial call for help.
How to prepare for a rescue
Maj. Rolly Correa, game warden for the Texas Parks & Wildlife Waco Division said boaters should prepare themselves for a rescue.
There are some effective tools not required by law for boaters to carry, but that make sense to have aboard for a quick rescue, he said.
The more sophisticated are a GPS unit, a cell phone, a float plan, a weather band radio and a two-way radio.
Flares are not required on inland waters, but also make sense to carry, he said.
Correa said knowing where you launched and where you are in relation to landmarks is critical.
“GPS is the best thing to carry,” Correa said. It’s the OnStar on the water.”
The portable GPS unit doesn’t put out a trackable signal, Correa said. But by giving a 911 operator the coordinates authorities can locate a boater.
Bruce Lemieux, flotilla commander for the Bell Coryell County Coast Guard Auxiliary, said coordinates are given in longitude and latitude, but law enforcement agencies have the capability to convert that to a GPS coordinate.
“Some cell phones have GPS capability,” Correa said. “If we are trying to locate something in a vast area where you triangulate on it the (cell phone capable) GPS will tell you how to get to somebody.”
Col. Dianne Battaglia, public affairs officer for III Corps and Fort Hood, said most cell phone providers have the capability to triangulate on a cell phone. She recommends contacting individual providers for details.
“A map of the lake you are on is a good thing to have and you should know your landmarks and points of interest,” Correa said.
“The state parks and Army Corps lakes will give you maps that are free,” he said
“We push a float plan,” said Correa. “It’s like an aircraft flight plan. There are places on the Internet where you can fill one out. It has your name, description of your boat, your equipment, your radios and frequencies, how long you will be on that trip, who all is with you, your arrivals and departures dates and times, color of your boat and where your vehicle is parked.”
Correa said for short jaunts notifying neighbors and the marina manager about your itinerary is smart.
A great signal mirror is the shiny side of a CD, said Lemieux. A boat should have a loud air horn, too.
Lemieux also stressed having a swim ladder on larger craft and using a rope on small boats so a person can get back aboard if the go over the side.
“You tie a rope to the bow cleat and stern cleat and keep it inside the boat,” he said. “If someone falls off, they reach over the side, grab the rope and use it as a step to get back in.”
Correa and Lemieux both stressed wearing life preservers.
“These are preventable accidents,” Correa said referring to the Richardson drowning March 2.
hclark@temple-telegram.com
