10A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, JANUARY 19, 2016
Rescuers: ‘The drama on the lakefront was heartbreaking’
Continued from Page 1A
Wyland and the Walkers
were watching the Denver
Broncos beat the Pittsburgh
Steelers when, at around 4 p.m.,
the ordeal began.
“Tim looked out the window
and said, ‘Oh my God, that ca-
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said. “We looked out, and, yep,
there was an upside-down canoe
in the lake.”
They charged outside and as-
sessed the situation.
“I yelled, ‘Do you need
help?’” Kyle Walker said. “And
the kid is saying, ‘My daddy’s
underwater!’”
As Kyle Walker called 911,
Heather dived into the water
and swam eastward toward the
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feet away, near the middle of
the narrow lake. The brothers
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dock; Tim grabbed an oar, Brian
a two-by-four, and together they
rowed out.
“If you were to look at it in
real time, it wasn’t that long,”
Brian said. “It felt like forever.”
Heartbreaking
Harkless had attempted to
turn the canoe upright and crawl
back into it, but to no avail. “It
looked like a rolling log, water
splashing everywhere,” Brian
said.
“He expended a lot of ener-
gy very fast,” he said. “It was a
matter of, maybe, three minutes
before he was gone.”
“The dad was gone before
Heather even got halfway out
there,” Kyle Walker said.
Meanwhile, they could hear,
from across the lake, Harkless’
wife. “The mother comes out
and (is) screaming, ‘That’s my
husband!’” Kyle Walker con-
tinued. “The drama on the lake-
front was heartbreaking.”
When Heather reached Lo-
gan, she tried to comfort and
console him while holding
onto the canoe. Tim and Brian
hoisted the boy and Heather
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time the group reached the far
shore on the property of ab-
sent homeowners, Logan was
showing signs of possible hy-
pothermia.
“There was very little color
in his skin. His body core was
trying to conserve as much heat
as it could,” said Brian, a former
emergency medical technician.
“He did not have a lot of time
left. He’s honestly lucky to be
alive today.”
Brave young man
Tim removed Logan’s life
jacket and replaced the boy’s
wet sweatshirt with his dry one.
When the medics arrived min-
utes later, they wrapped blan-
kets around Logan and Heath-
er, who rode in the ambulance
together.
“(Logan) was in shock,” Bri-
an said.
The Clatsop County Sher-
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U.S. Coast Guard Air Station
Astoria arrived on scene to assist
in rescue and recovery.
That evening, the county ma-
rine patrol and dive team located
and recovered Harkless’ body a
short distance from where he
went under. He wasn’t wearing
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“In water temperature like
this, it’s a one-way trip down,
unfortunately,” Brian said.
Heather, a 52-year-old
grandmother who took to the
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was treated at the hospital.
“She was in no shape to get
out in that g--damn water, but
she did it anyway,” Kyle Walker
said. She added, however, that
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and was “more concerned about
how Logan was doing.”
Heather and Tim, a Salem
couple, did not want to be in-
terviewed at length, but Heath-
er left a note: “Logan’s parents
would be proud of him for being
such a brave young man.”
Relieved yet sorry
From the pile of wet clothes
left behind, somehow Logan’s
sweatshirt ended up with Brian
and Kyle Walker. On Monday
afternoon, Brian tried to take it
to the Harkless family — whom
they’d never met before — but
nobody was home.
“They don’t know us from
Adam. They don’t know Heath-
er from Adam,” Kyle Walker
said. “I’m a mother, and I don’t
know that I could take that extra
input, you know? I don’t know
that I could.”
Still, she added, “I wish I
could give that mother a big
hug.”
All four of the rescuers wish
they could have done more.
Though they weren’t exactly
numb to the experience Sunday
night, Monday night was “prob-
ably going to be a little harder,”
Brian said.
“It’s never something you
can just ignore, you know? We
feel terrible for the family,” he
said, his voice starting to break.
“I mean, 27-year-old guy, just
getting started... We just feel
absolutely horrible for them,
and relieved that we were able
to save Logan, but so sorry we
weren’t able to get there for
Kyle.”
Ashley: ‘I’ve done so much to strive for achievement in my life’
“For my entire life, he
switched between the Alert and
The award goes to six chil- Steadfast,” Fish said, adding
dren, one for each military her father worked in the engine
EUDQFK)LVKLVRQHRIVHPL¿- rooms until retiring when she
nalists for the Coast Guard. She was 12.
On average, previous recipi-
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Oregon, along with National ents of the Military Child of the
Guard child Lily Moser from Year Award have had at least
one parent deploy for 18 months
Portland.
Fish’s father, Robert, retired or longer and have relocated at
in 2008 after nearly 30 years in OHDVW¿YHWLPHVGXHWRDSDUHQW¶V
the Coast Guard. A child of an military assignments, according
Air Force family, she said he to Operation Homefront. De-
didn’t want her family to experi- spite his being stationed close to
ence moving across the country home, Fish said her father missed
about half her childhood while
with each deployment.
Continued from Page 1A
he was enlisted, adding that as a
child, she had trouble recogniz-
ing him in between deployments.
“Even though he wasn’t home
with me, I knew he was protect-
ing the country,” she said.
about 10 courses, seven of them
at the high school and several
honors-level, while holding a
3.96 GPA. She takes a yoga and
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college, along with a stress and
depression management course
as part of the college’s Lives in
Thirst for knowledge
³,¶PDJRRG¿WIRULWEHFDXVH Transition student support pro-
I’ve done so much to strive for gram. “I thought that would be
achievement in my life,” Fish interesting, because I eventually
said about her pursuit of Military want to be a criminologist,” she
Child of the Year. “I almost don’t said.
As part of the Military Child
know why. I really just like learn-
ing … and having all the possible of the Year award, Fish said she
was asked about her leadership
knowledge I can attain.”
She is currently enrolled in ability. She mentioned to her
interviewers F1shSt1ckz, the
award-winning Lego robotics
team she helped create at War-
renton Grade School, a team
named in her honor.
Fish also takes part in her
high school’s robotics team,
building underwater robots
and competing against other
schools around the state. Since
her sophomore year, she has
worked in the district’s tech-
nology department, helping
prepare computers for students
over the summer, and repairing
them during the school year.
Fish also volunteers with the
Clatsop County Animal Shelter.
Heading back to school to-
day, Fish is gathering recom-
mendations for her bid to be a
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the Year award. Each of the six
recipients of the award receive
a $10,000 scholarship, a laptop
and a trip to Washington, D.C.,
for an awards gala in April.
Ultimately for Fish, winning
is a pragmatic endeavor to help
her satiate her thirst for knowl-
edge, which stretches toward a
master’s and possibly a doctorate
in criminology. “I’ll need every
bit of funding I can get,” she said.
West: It’s unlikely federal land will be turned over to states, counties
Continued from Page 1A
rule, which farmers and ranch-
ers say gives the feds control
over what Walden called “ev-
ery stock pond and intermittent
ditch.” Walden said the vote
sends a “very clear message” to
the Obama administration about
environmental “overreach.”
The Senate approved a sim-
ilar measure in November, but
the White House has threatened
to veto it. Congress is unlikely to
assemble the two-thirds major-
ities required to override a veto,
The Wall Street Journal reported.
Meanwhile, Walden said
it’s unlikely federal land will be
turned over to the states or coun-
ties, as many in the West favor.
But he and others said a
number of incremental changes
would help matters. For start-
ers, the statute requiring the
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sentence for Dwight and Steven
Hammond, the Harney County
ranchers at the center of the issue,
could be revised, Walden said.
He said the statute was writ-
ten after the bombing of the
federal building in Oklahoma
City and was aimed at acts of
domestic terrorism that damage
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the Hammonds burned acreage
managed by the federal Bureau
of Land Management. “But in
Oregon, the punishment doesn’t
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The idea received support at
the recent American Farm Bu-
reau Federation convention in
Orlando, Florida.
Delegates approved a policy
recommendation that Congress
prohibit prosecution of farmers
and ranchers under federal an-
ti-terrorism statutes for common
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agricultural practices, like set-
ting backburns to protect their
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If this threat isn’t neutralized,
it will have a “chilling effect”
on farm practices among grow-
ers who fear facing mandatory
minimum prison sentences, said
Barry Bushue, the Oregon Farm
Bureau president.