by Judy Killen-Originally published in the 7-15-16 Print edition of Yellowstone County News.
Yellowstone County Sheriff Mike Linder, center, speaks to about 100 people who searched for Taeva Hawkins on Wednesday at a safety meeting at Barkemeyer Park in Huntley. The 12-year-old Lockwood girl was reported missing after swimming with friends near the diversion dam just west of Huntley. (Judy Killen photo)
HUNTLEY — More than 100 trained responders turned out Wednesday in Huntley for an organized search of an 11-mile section of the irrigation canal from Huntley to Ballantine, hoping to find a 12-year-old girl missing since Saturday evening.
Taeva Hawkins of Lockwood was swimming with friends when they swam into the canal operated by the Huntley Project Irrigation District. They entered a tunnel, and when two of the girls emerged at the downstream end, they didn’t see Taeva.
Several boys in a separate group near the tunnel heard the girls’ cries for help and dialed 911, attempting to help them. Emergency crews responded to the area near Tunnel 1 and Tunnel 2 west of the Pryor Creek siphon on Saturday night.
The focus on Wednesday shifted to the area around the siphon, where a search dog indicated places where she may have been trapped by debris.
By mid-afternoon Wednesday, Sheriff Mike Linder said teams were searching on foot and by boat. They are using rakes and poles to prod the bottom of the canal and tunnels, to see if they can feel anything in the water, he said.
“It’s just too murky to see anything,” Linder said. Crews reported feeling a few potential objects, but needed more time to determine what may be in the water.
The Huntley Project Irrigation District lowered the water level in read more
