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BIGFOOT
SEARCH COSTS HUMBOLDT COUNTY
Eureka, California
- A Del Norte County Superior Court judge who obviously doesn't believe Bigfoot exists has ruled that Humboldt County must pay the $11,613
cost of a 1976 search for an alleged Bigfoot "kidnap victim" by the name of Cherie Darvell.
Miss Darvell is the girl friend of Ron Olson, son of Frank Olson of the ANE film distributing company owned by Russell Neihart, Bishop of the Mormon Church in Salt Lake City, UT. Neihart's best friend, Jerry Romney claimed to be the "man-in-the-suit" in the Roger Patterson film.
According to ANE excutive Clyde Reinke, he personally signed the payroll checks for Roger Patterson from July to October 1, 1967.
Judge Frank Peterson
commented in making the ruling that the search for Bigfoot is "at
least an exercise in futility" and said he'd "hiked the hills
and mountains of Northern California for almost 50 years and the biggest
footprint I ever saw was my brother Bob's."
Humboldt County officials
sued Shasta County for the costs of the May 22 to 24 search for Cherie
Darvell, 25, of Redding.
She reportedly had been abducted by a Bigfoot
in the Bluff Creek area of Humboldt County. Bigfoot is a legendary
hairy, smelly humanoid monster reported seen in Northern California and
the Pacific Northwest.
Humboldt County Counsel
Raymond Schneider argued before Peterson that state law required Shasta
County reimburse to Humboldt County because the case involved search and
rescue for a Shasta County resident.
Shasta County Counsel
Robert Rehberg countered that Miss Darveil's disappearance was at best
a real kidnapping, and even the Humboldt County officers' reports indicated
they were skeptical about the abduction reports.
The girl disappeared
while she was with a group searching for Bigfoot. She later walked into
the nearby Bluff Creek Resort, according to officers' report, "she was remarkably
unmussed."
Later her friends,
Ed Bush of Adin and Terry Gaston of Redding, released a movie through ANE purporting
to show a Bigfoot carrying Miss Darvell up a distant mountain slope. Reinke later claimed that the Bigfoot suit was kept in Russell Neihart's office in Salt Lake City.
Judge Peterson ruled that
a county is entitled to reimbursement by another county only for the search
and rescue operations for lost persons or persons "in danger of their
lives," and not for investigations of crimes.
The judge ruled that
the term "in danger of their lives" applies to natural causes,
such as floods, heavy snows or other calamities not caused by other human
beings.
Rehberg said he was
"pleased" with the judge's decision. But he said he sympathizes
with the dilemmas faced by Humboldt County officials, ranging from whether
to begin the search for Miss Darvell to trying to determine who should
pay the costs of the search.
Rehberg said that
if Humboldt County authorities had been willing to stipulate that Bigfoot
is a Shasta County resident, negotiations over the costs might have been
possible.
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- Record-Searchlight; Redding, California
For Bigfoot Encounters courtesty Bob Sullivan and Dave Underwood
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