Georgia: Chattooga County: Newspaper, Lafayette, Successful Hunt for missing Rivers Pickard, 27 August 1969 ==================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store this file permanently for free access. This file was contributed by: Bonnie (Phillips) Womack flaminstorm@yahoo.com ==================================================================== This was a news clipping that was always kept in my grandmothers trunk. My grandmother Maude (Dodson) Phillips writes these messages across the newspaper clipping. 'This little boy who got lost was Maggie Greenes' grandson You kow her She is one of Aut Lizzie's girls. This happened in site of Ruths and Wilburn's house. ~~~~~ Others in Successful Hunt LaFayette, Georgia Wednesday August 27, 1969 They found four-year-old Rivers Pickard Friday night shoeless in a briar patch. He was hungry, but he wasn't scared. He appeared quite unconcerned about the whole aittuation, apparently accepting as a fact of life the widespread, agonizing four-hour search that finally located him. Rivers, just 36 inches tall and weighing 38 pounds, had last been seen about 7 p.m. when he wandered away from home on the outskirts of LaFayette-in the company of his two German shepherds, Susie and Friskie, and headed for the creek. His mother, Mrs. Delores Pickard, sounded the alarm about 8p.m. when she couldn't find the tike with darkness approaching. The sheriff's office notified W. L. Abney, director of the Walker County Civil Defense. Abney said his mind was immediately crowded by the memory of another small boy lost earlier this summer in the Smokies. That boy has never been found. Abney and Lee Henry, Civil Defense chief of rescue, quickly set up search headquarters at Stubblefield's Grocery. The two had soon raised a small army of searchers with radio and telephone pleas. The Highlander Teen Club halted its Friday night dance in LaFayette when word was received that tow-headed Rivers was lost. As more prospective dancers arrived they were quickly dispatched to do their highstepping around briars and poison ivy on the side of Skyline Heights, near the Pickard home. It wasn't long before more than 150 people were combing the rugged, brush-covered ridge in search of the small child. One youthful volunteer rode his motorbike, head-light beaming, through the underbrush, equipped with a walkie-talkie. Some four hours after the search had begun under the direction of the civil defense, two Teen Club members Tommy Bowers and Jerry Frye, found the boy standing shoeless in a briar patch. Bowers and Frye had seperated from a larger search party including Richard White, and Rivers' oldest brother, Rocky. Bowers and Frye were calling Rivers. Bowers had yelled, "Rivers," almost to the point of despair, when there was a soft answer, "Huh." There he was, about a half mile as the crow flies from home, on the "Ole" Henry Armstrong place. He stood in his stocking feet amidst the thorns and cool night air, seemingly unfazed by his own predicament. Bowers asked Rivers if he was all right. He answered that he was all right, not scared, but hungry and a little cold. Sammy Dunwoody, another teen volunteer, offered Rivers his fur-lined cap which Rivers still sports as a reminder not to stray again. While riding back to rescue headquarters, Rivers, secure in his brother Rocky's lap, related how Susie, one of his dogs, scratched him on the back each time he attempted to sit down. Rivers beamed a wide-eyed grin at relieved searchers as he munched on a Moon Pie at the grocery store. Rivers is the fourth and youngest son of Mr. and Mrs. Russell Pickard. Mon and Dad, Rocky,13; Greg,12; Paris,7; and Rivers all live on Bryant Ave., Rt. 3 LaFayette. "Hop Y'All enjoyed reading this heart-warming story. and maybe reconized a name or two." Bonnie grandaugher of MAUDE MILDRED (DODSON)