Arkansas Canoe Club Forums

Just going to let you know that when pat ,mike, tony forrest and myself were all paddling last sunday I noticed a green jeep with a raft on top. looked like a bunch of young kids getting on hurican creek and going 90 to nothin tryin to get get on the water. And looked just like your boat that your discribing an matched the picture pretty well. sorry i have no more information for u but will keep an eye for u. Blake

Tot first-timers chased off the river by bad weather only to discover the stolen raft! Confiscated as evidence by the park ranger; will be back where it belongs soon. More story there if someone wants to tell it. Thanks all!

Well I am happy to inform everyone that the Moores raft was found down at the Tot today, and the folks involved have been arrested by the Cossatot state park law enforcement, way to go!

Now that is about the best news I have heard all day!

Right On!

I hope those criminals get what they deserve!

Would be interested in hearing how they were nailed.

Was at the Moore's when they were getting the news or updates! Deb is happy, happy!

Their internet access was down at the time, but they were very grateful to the "vigilantes" who helped in its recovery!

If someone will PM me the name of the ranger who made the arrest, I might be able to get the story as it goes from here (court, ect...). Just maybe.....

And if you don't know the name, a descrip might do the trick. Just don't tell me they were wearing brown pants and a beige shirt. That'll get me nowhere. :)

Linda,

I always thought you looked 'just ravishing' in brown pants with beige shirt,
but that badge just sets it off! :) (Trying to do my best Ricardo Montalban)
I too am glad to hear of this recovery, and will be interested to learn more of the situation.
Best Regards
Jim

At-a-boy ACC!!!! Victory!!!

Way to go gang! Great job.

I am not sure how the entire thing went down but we know the guys that stole it. They actually rented from us on 4-21-09 and then the raft was stolen on 5-2-09 while we were moving all of our boats to the store. We can not thank everyone enough for looking out for us! We couldn't ask for a better community to be a part of! Thank you so much for all of you who were looking for the raft and the ones who actually called us to tell us about seeing the raft today! The sound of my mother on the phone describing our raft to our friends at the Tot was AMAZING! When I heard that I knew that we were going to get our raft back. My mother doesn't have internet access right so she is unable to post. She is also unable to post the water levels on our website. We love the technology in Bull Frog Valley! Thank you to each and everyone of you again for the phone calls today! You know who you are! I am so thankful that I get to paddle my raft again!

The whole thing at the Tot was pretty cool. That there was a paddling community in action!

What I thought was very interesting was how our club had connections to key players involved: while we were still trying to make a 100% ID on the raft, a Ranger truck came to the Falls parking lot. In the truck was Park Interpreter Shelly who some of us knew from last year's flatwater clinic at Lake Ouachita State Park. She jumped right in to help us sort things out and called for Rangers to come the location.

Then on top of that, the Ranger who came...several club members knew him as well because he had been in one of Walter's Swift Water Rescue classes. So it was pretty neat that we had those connections and so we were not just some weird group of unknown boaters saying we think some guys have a stolen raft.

Anyway, the whole thing was way cool. As bummed as many were to have been chased off the Tot right at the falls, it was because we had to take out at the falls that we ended up right on top of the raft. 2009 Maiden Voyage will be remembered for having perfect water for the first timers, but a crazy storm that brought the trip to an early end...but most of all it'll be remembered as the time that we were able to help recover a stolen raft for our friends at Moore's.

It was neat to see the raft surrounded by a bunch of ACC boaters.

What a shock it must have been for the bad guys to come back from their scout of the falls to see the raft surrounded by ACC boaters. Heather is right, lots of things had to line up for the raft to have been found and the proper folks notified. Not the least is the phone service now working at the falls area. Technology and good folks teamed up to do a good thing.

I left the area just as the ranger came in and went to talk to the guys with the raft.

Would have been fun to hear that conversation.

i'm glad they were idiots

News travels fast! just hear that justice was served. is this tru? If so, that is AWSOME!

okieboater wrote:....What a shock it must have been for the bad guys to come back from their scout of the falls to see the raft surrounded by ACC boaters.......

uh.... that would be, "Alleged" bad guys, Okie-wan

great that this boat got home.