Clinging to hope for Andrew Haight?s safe return

by Peter Jakey, Managing Editor

Thursday morning, it had been four days since Andrew Haight, 70, was last seen. It?s been a tough situation for his wife of nearly 50 years, Pat. The next call could be the news that would make her heart sing again, or make it sink.

After an already extensive search of dense areas of North Allis and Ocqueoc Townships that border North Allis Highway, the family can only hope that somebody picked him up and hasn?t notified authorities.

?At this point, we are clinging to hope, but the last place they actually had him was King Highway,? said Angela Mathes, Andrew and Pat?s youngest daughter, who has been offering emotional support for her mother. The dogs had the scent Wednesday night. ?All of them lost the scent at that point. We hope that somebody picked him up, and because of the Alzheimer?s and dementia took him down state because he always talks about going to the Lapeer and Hadley area.?

One television station in the Saginaw area broadcast a report about the search and the state police will be sending out a ?nationwide? press release,? said Mathes.

The scene across the road from the Haight residence at William and Phyllis Speed?s home, which was a staging area for law enforcement and search crews, was much more quiet Thursday. Only one state police vehicle was on the scene. A volunteer crew was going to continue the search later in the day.

?Tomorrow (Friday), there will be six tracking dogs coming from Flint, but at this point all they are looking for is a cadaver,? said Mathes. ?They will not be looking for my father, they will be looking for his body. Because of the heat we had the last few days, it was hard for the dogs to track.?

Haight was last seen by his wife at their North Allis Highway home Sunday at 8 a.m., five minutes later in his yard, and at 8:30 a.m. at the intersection of North Allis Highway and Dittmar. He was last seen wearing a green plaid shirt, a yellow floppy hat and knee-high boots. The original call came in at 12:57 p.m.

NUMEROUS PEOPLE from several law enforcement agencies have taken part in the search. Officials believe Haight could have taken shelter from the heat in a garage, deer blind, or may have even walked into an unlocked house. People were being encouraged to search their properties, to make sure he?s not there. Crews have gone

door-to-door, and to some places twice.

According to a spokesman from the Presque Isle County Sheriff?s Department, it?s not the first time Haight has wandered away. During the Fourth of July weekend deputies assisted in searching for him and getting him home. That time, he was gone for four or five hours, his wife said.

ASSISTING IN the search were the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, which provided a plane, United States Coast Guard with a helicopter, Michigan State Police tracking dogs, search teams from Alpena, Cheboygan and Alcona Counties, as well as the Upper Peninsula.

Firefighters from Case Township, Ocqueoc-Bearinger, Forest-Waverly, Onaway and Rogers City also were involved, as were numerous local citizens. Presque Isle County Red Cross also has provided assistance to the people searching.

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