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Show y. vr. jr- X"' i ! .y ) f ' - ' , , ' ' " 0T- " " l It I ' I -. ! --v. ' .. - ' ' ' . "" I r y - I . Bryce Valley EMT's and Ruby's Inn employee volunteers worked feverishly to rescue nine-year-old Josh Bidleman of Bryce, who fell through the ice into a pond behind Ruby's Inn on Friday, but BRYCE A nine-year-old boy who was out walking his dog Friday afternoon apparently wandered out to play on the iced-over iced-over pond at Ruby's Inn where he drowned after falling through the their efforts were unsuccessful. Bidleman was pronounced dead by emergency room physicians after working several hours to try and revive the youngster. Dro wing Accident Claims The Life Of Nine-Year-Old Boy thin ice. Josh Bidleman, Bryce, was officially pronounced dead after he was transported by ambulance to Garfield Memorial Hospital in Pan-guitch Pan-guitch where every attempt to revive re-vive him failed. His mother Melissa Melis-sa Bidleman had traveled along with EMT's in the ambulance. His father, fath-er, John Bidleman, employed along with Melissa at Ruby's Inn, followed fol-lowed in a private vehicle. The sad saga began several hours earlier when Josh's mother, unable to locate him for about an hour after he was last seen walking his dog, contacted Ruby's Inn front desk for assistance. John Niemann, Jr. employed with security at Ruby's Inn, responded to the call for assistance. While Melissa checked each of the homes behind Ruby's Inn, Niemann returned to the last site where he had earlier waved to the boy. Niemann tracked the boy's footsteps along with those of his dog, in the freshly fallen snow, out over the bank leading to the iced- overpond. Josh's mother met him atop the bank of the pond and both simultaneously observed small gloves lying next to a circular opening where the boy appeared to have fallen through. Niemann quickly contacted Rubyls Inn front desk to dial 91 1 to get emergency vehicles and assistance assis-tance rolling. Just as quickly, Ruby's Inn employees, hearing the call of a possible drowning in the pond, scrambled to put a quick rescue operation into play. Rod Syrett and Klancy Ott, working across the street at the Car Care Center, jumped on a four wheeler to retrieve an aluminum boat from the old shop area. They loaded the boat onto a front end loader and headed to the possible drowning site. They were met by Adam Bales, who had also been working at the Car Care Center, and had the presence of mind to grab a long hard plastic pole with a hook at the end to use in the search. He had jumped on another four wheeler (See DROWNING on page 7-A) DROWNING From Front Page and headed to the site. The three men unloaded the boat and Ott and Bales jumped in it to begin breaking through ice, less than one inch thick. They started rowing the boat with oars tossed to them by bystanders as they got underway. It took 15 to 20 minutes for the pair to break their way through the ice to the site about 30 feet from shore. They immediately began thrusting thrust-ing the pole as deep as possible into the hole, turning up only moss each time as they pulled it back in. With each thrust, the arms of both rescuers were growing more and more numb from the ice cold water. Both wanted to jump in to search for the boy, but knew they would only last minutes and someone might have a second rescue on their hands. In frustration they probed sideways under the surface of the ice and touched something solid. As they pulled the pole back, Bales could see the boy just under the ice as his body made a full turn and became unhooked. He then thrust the pole again and hooked the boy's shirt or jacket and they were able to pull him to the side of the boat. Bales moved to the rear of the boat to steady it with his weight. Barely able to feel their own arms, Ott was bringing the boy aboard as Bales took off rowing. Deciding it was important to get him to shore as rapidly as possible, Ott also grabbed an oar and the two rowed to within five feet of shore where they were tossed a rope. Those on shore tried to pull the craft through the ice to no avail. Frustrated again, both Ott and Bales jumped into the water where they were joined by Dallas Clark who helped Ott get the boy up the snowy bank. Emergency Medical Technicians Brady Syrett and Karleen Mclnelly were waiting and immediately began CPR efforts. Numerous residents had brought quilts and laid them out to wrap the boy's limp body in to begin a warming process. Within minutes he was loaded aboard the ambulance where EMTs worked frantically to restore life to the youngster. He was, however, pronounced dead after arriving at the hospital. Many other parents at the scene clung to their own youngsters, although others had sent their very young children away. All were shaken by the incident which they recognized could have happened to any family on the complex. They were grateful however, for the way rescuers, employees and families pulled together at the rescue scene and later to assist the distraught family. The youngster's death closely impacted the small community at Ruby's Inn. Later that evening, the boy's teacher at Bryce Valley Elementary was personally notified and she in turn called each of her student's family to forewarn them of the tragedy and to begin to prepare Josh's classmates for the impact on Monday of his absence from their midst. Josh is also survived by a younger sister, 8-year-old Emily. A memorial service for Josh Bidleman was held Tuesday from 4-6 4-6 p.m. at Ruby's Inn. |
