By Gail Peckler-Dziki
Correspondent
A phone call received late Sept. 16 from worried relatives of John Spoor brought out between 80 to 100 emergency services workers for nearly 36 hours, including police and Department of Natural Resources personnel, to search for the missing fisherman.
The effort ended just before 8:30 a.m. Friday when searchers recovered the body of Spoor in Silver Lake. The resident of McHenry, Ill., was 66.
Silver Lake police discovered Spoor’s empty boat on the north side of the lake Sept. 16 and Salem fire discovered Spoor’s body in about seven feet of water on the opposite side of the lake.
Silver Lake Fire Department Chief Alison Draeger said her department was toned out at about 10 p.m. along with Salem. “The Silver Lake police and Silver Lake rescue squad were there, along with numerous other departments from Western Kenosha County and Northern Illinois.”
The command post was set up on Manor Drive and it was soon established that this was a recovery and not a rescue mission after SLFD assistant fire chief Roger Pattie did a perimeter search and discovered Spoors’ car and trailer parked near the public boat launch close to Manor and Cogswell. The boat was located not too far from shore.
“The weeds were so thick there,” Pattie said, “sonar could not see the body.”
Salem Fire Chief Mike Slover and SLFD Chief Draeger shared incident command. Draeger said Pattie ran the operations, making sure everyone knew where they needed to go and what they needed to do.
Both Silver Lake and Salem fire had boats on the lake to first conduct a surface search. The Kenosha County Dive Team was on hand and the Racine Dive team was on stand-by.
Air-One Emergency Response Coalition from the Winthrop Harbor (Ill.) police department provided air support services. Air-One is a not-for-profit group managed and staffed by a volunteer group of experienced professionals, including aviators and law enforcement personnel.
The Racine Fire Bells, Bruce’s Legacy and various local businesses provided support for the between 80 to 100 personnel on hands during the nearly 36-hour search to find the missing fisherman. Bruce’s Legacy is a volunteer organization that provides search and recovery operations for drowned victims to provide resolution for families.
Keith Cormican founded the group in memory of his brother, Bruce who was a certified diver who perished while attempting to retrieve the body of a drowning victim in 1995.
According to a press release from the Kenosha County Sheriff Department, the investigation into the circumstances of Spoor’s death continues, but an initial overview shows no signs of foul play. An autopsy was scheduled by the Kenosha County Medical Examiner’s Office and results could be known soon.
Pattie said that this search mission was a “shining example of how smoothly the MABAS system works. We were never lacking for resources.”
Even Silver Lake residents were on hand to offer the use of personal boats and various local businesses like Scully’s Silver Lake Grill, Binanti’s Taste of Italy, Luisa’s, Subway, Jimmy John’s and Brianna’s Bakery made sure search team members were well-fed to conduct the operation.