By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
There’s still no sign of 80-year-old William Osborne who was last seen Monday buying a hunting license in Morton, according to police.
While a traditional search mission has not been put in place, law enforcement officers have been combing roadways in East Lewis County day and night, Morton Police Department Officer Perry Royle said this evening.
On Tuesday night, Royle and a sheriff’s deputy drove every road on Peterman Hill and around the Cowlitz wildlife area south of Morton, Royle said.
“We covered every single spur road that didn’t have a gate,” he said.
Deputies have been traveling Forest Service roads around Randle and even in the Toutle area, he said.
The Morton man made plans to meet his son in Morton on Tuesday, but when the son showed up, his father was nowhere to be found.
Police are thinking because Osborne is not very mobile, he’ll be with his truck.
They couldn’t get anyone in the air to search for it because of the clouds, Royle said.
Police are hoping to get the truck’s description out to the many elk hunters who will populate the hills beginning this weekend, Royle said.
Osborne drives a silver 2003 Dodge Dakota pickup with a white utility canopy. Its license plate is B67640P.
“We’re still assuming he went shooting or hunting,” Royle said.
Osborne, who lives alone, is 5-feet 8-inches tall and about 185 pounds. His neighbors think he didn’t return home on Monday night. His cell phone was last used around 11:30 a.m. on Monday.
Royle said Osborne’s household is full of family members looking for him as well.
Update: The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office says Osborne told a friend at breakfast on Monday he was going to hunt at Ryan Lake, which is off Forest Service Road 26 south of East Lewis County in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.
The sheriff’s office asks anyone with any information on his whereabouts to call 911 immediately.
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For a little more, read: “Eighty-year-old Morton man not seen since Monday” from Wednesday October 31, 2012 at 10:58 a.m., here
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter