Fort Liard (Sep 12/03) - Fort Liard RCMP presented Gene Hope with a letter of appreciation on Tuesday morning.

The previous night, around 9:45 p.m., Hope guided Const. Colleen Lowing and Const. Rob Harkin 10 kms up the Petitot River in search of a man who had been reported missing and suicidal.

Lowing and Harkin received a call from a panicked family member earlier in the evening. The family member found the missing man's jacket and boots on the riverbank. His footprints led into the river.

The police picked up the trail in the dusk but then lost track of the prints. They noticed Gene Hope making a run up the river and flagged him down. He was extremely helpful and he led them to the missing man's bush camp.

"It was a huge risk on his part to take us up there because of all the stumps and stuff that are in the river (due to the low water level). It's pretty dangerous to be out there after dark," Lowing said.

The police, worried that the missing man could suffer from hypothermia, were relieved to find him at his camp. Although he was intoxicated, the man had managed to make a camp fire. He didn't resist when the RCMP led him away, according to Lowing.

Without Hope's help, the police would have delayed the search until first light, she noted, adding that a helicopter had been placed on stand-by.

"Then the family (would have been) distraught about where this guy is and if he's alive," she said. "Because of Gene, it enabled us to find him that night and bring him back to safety."

The man was kept in jail overnight for his own well being. He was checked by a nurse the following morning and released, Lowing said.

Hope couldn't be reached for comment prior to press deadline.