ST. PAUL, Minnesota (3 Dec 2004) -- Ramsey County authorities are scaling back their efforts to find the body of a 21-year-old scuba diver presumed drowned in the Mississippi River. Meanwhile, the family of Nic Harter has arranged for a memorial service at 2 p.m. Friday at Normandale Evangelical Lutheran Church, 6100 Normandale Rd., Edina. Another service, for students and faculty at St. Olaf College, where Harter was a junior, has been scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday at Boe Memorial Chapel on the Northfield campus. The Ramsey County Sheriff's Office will continue to have a boat on the river daily, said Lt. Ron Petrusson, who is coordinating the search. Search efforts, which are focused on the area of the river just downstream from St. Paul's Hidden Falls Park, will continue until weather and water conditions make them impossible, Petrusson said. "It's a very difficult set of circumstances," Petrusson said, citing the river currents, debris of all sizes on the bottom and low visibility. | | Searchers from Washington and Dakota counties, the state Department of Natural Resources, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the State Patrol helped in the effort over the weekend without success. In addition, Hennepin County has provided a sonar device for searching underwater. Harter, who had begun scuba diving in recent months, was diving Nov. 21 with four others who were trying to locate and explore a submerged car. Harter apparently became tangled in the car and was not breathing when one of his fellow divers got to him. His body was not found in the car, which was removed from the river over the weekend. |
