By CASEY RYAN VOCK, and LOIS CLERMONT
Contributing Writer, News Editor
KEENE —
The video camera lost in the Ausable River by a father and son right before the boy drowned has been found.
Family members of Robert E. Hamer III had asked for help in finding the JVC camera, which was dropped in the river at a swimming hole in Keene last Thursday.
The 12-year-old was trying to recover the camera when he became caught in a rock formation and drowned.
His aunt, Donna Abair of Port Kent, wanted the camera found so her brother, Robert E. Hamer II of Miami, could have the images that had been shot during the annual vacation that he and his son made to the North Country.
She put out a plea to the public through a Press-Republican story, saying that she wanted her brother's family to have the last images taken of "Bobby 3."
FOUND BY GUIDES
Abair received a call at about 8:30 Wednesday morning from Josh Crowningshield, a crew member at the Adirondack Lodge & Wilderness Campground on Hart Lake in Keene.
Crowningshield was working last Thursday, the day Robert drowned.
At that time, Tyler Socash and several other hiking guides, who live on the property for the season, were swimming in the Ausable River, downstream from the accident.
Socash found the camera, which had been wrapped inside several sealed plastic bags.
On their way back to the lodge, Crowningshield said, the guides saw the boy being taken away on a stretcher by emergency services personnel and began to wonder if the camera might have belonged to someone involved in the incident.
"They got back here and turned it right in," Crowningshield said.
REWARD REJECTED
The group gave the camera to Department of Environmental Conservation Forest Ranger Jim Giglinto, who brought it to the State Troop B headquarters in Ray Brook.
"Then, when I saw the story in the newspaper, I decided to call her (Abair) immediately," Crowningshield said.
He added that none of those who found the camera are interested in the $500 reward offered by the family.
"It's just unfortunate what happened," he said.
PICTURES SAFE
Terry Shea, general manager for corporate communications at JVC, had sent an e-mail to the Press-Republican stating that the company would be more than happy to have its service department try to extract the footage and pictures from the camera if it was damaged.
Luckily, Abair said, the camera was protected inside the plastic bags and was working when she picked it up from State Police.
"It's intact, it works, and all of the pictures are there. I am just beside myself (with happiness)."
She said her brother, when informed that the camera was found and was still working, experienced "absolute joy ... as much as there can be joy in that situation."
Abair said her brother wished to extend his gratitude to all of those involved in returning the camera.
"He just wants to thank the community.
"He is just thrilled to get that small piece of history."
