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Missing teens found, returned to camp
Staff Report
LOWGAP — Five teens who were reported missing from Camp E-Mun-Talee in Lowgap were located about four hours after they went missing Saturday.
Officers with the Surry County Sheriff’s Office were the first to be called to the camp on Ramey Orchard Road in Lowgap Saturday around 12:30 or 1 p.m., according to John Shelton, director of Surry County Emergency Services. Also called to assist the sheriff’s office were rescue crews from Surry County EMS, Skull Camp Volunteer Fire Department and the Mount Airy Rescue Squad.
Five teen boys ranging in age from 13 to 16 walked away from the camp and were first spotted on N.C. 89 headed west toward Virginia.
A helicopter from the North Carolina Highway Patrol was dispatched to the area, and Grayson Key with the Mount Airy Police Department took up his club’s plane out of the Mount Airy-Surry County Airport to assist with the search. About 25 personnel assisted with the search on the ground, Shelton said
As the search began, Surry County 911 sent out a mass phone message to a 6- to 8-mile radius with the descriptions of the teens for which residents should be on the look out. “We were getting ready to send photos to put on the new public safety portal when we found them,” Shelton said.
Around 4:30 p.m., Billy Snow, a resident of Devotion in the Haystack Road area, saw the teens walk out of the woods on his property and called 911. One of the camp’s staff members picked them up and transported them back to the camp.
None of the teens were injured, and Shelton said there were no “malicious acts” that took place.
“They are up there (at the camp) for a wide variety of reasons,” Shelton said. “There isn’t a strict security system. It’s a volunteer thing that works off the honor system.
“The key is they are back safe and sound, and we hope it doesn’t happen again,” he said. “As far as punishment, that is left up to the camp. I’m not sure how the consequences work.”
Camp E-Mun-Talee, which means “They Overcome” in the Muskokee Native American language, houses troubled youth from ages 10-16 and is operated by Eckerd Youth Alternatives, a private, not-for-profit organization.
Officers with the Surry County Sheriff’s Office were the first to be called to the camp on Ramey Orchard Road in Lowgap Saturday around 12:30 or 1 p.m., according to John Shelton, director of Surry County Emergency Services. Also called to assist the sheriff’s office were rescue crews from Surry County EMS, Skull Camp Volunteer Fire Department and the Mount Airy Rescue Squad.
Five teen boys ranging in age from 13 to 16 walked away from the camp and were first spotted on N.C. 89 headed west toward Virginia.
A helicopter from the North Carolina Highway Patrol was dispatched to the area, and Grayson Key with the Mount Airy Police Department took up his club’s plane out of the Mount Airy-Surry County Airport to assist with the search. About 25 personnel assisted with the search on the ground, Shelton said
As the search began, Surry County 911 sent out a mass phone message to a 6- to 8-mile radius with the descriptions of the teens for which residents should be on the look out. “We were getting ready to send photos to put on the new public safety portal when we found them,” Shelton said.
Around 4:30 p.m., Billy Snow, a resident of Devotion in the Haystack Road area, saw the teens walk out of the woods on his property and called 911. One of the camp’s staff members picked them up and transported them back to the camp.
None of the teens were injured, and Shelton said there were no “malicious acts” that took place.
“They are up there (at the camp) for a wide variety of reasons,” Shelton said. “There isn’t a strict security system. It’s a volunteer thing that works off the honor system.
“The key is they are back safe and sound, and we hope it doesn’t happen again,” he said. “As far as punishment, that is left up to the camp. I’m not sure how the consequences work.”
Camp E-Mun-Talee, which means “They Overcome” in the Muskokee Native American language, houses troubled youth from ages 10-16 and is operated by Eckerd Youth Alternatives, a private, not-for-profit organization.
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