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This section displays all of the Watertown and North Country news articles published in the past 7 days.

03/13/2012 07:43 PM

Community continues to support Gillis family

The word has spread quickly through the media, facebook and twitter, Colin Gillis has disappeared, and the family is reaching out to anyone with information. The 18 year old wandered away from a social gathering in Tupper Lake late Saturday night. Our Cara Thomas reports that the family has not given up hope and neither has the community.

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PIERCEFIELD, N.Y. -- The search for Colin Gillis, 18, continues and so far, no word. But if there is anything positive about the last two days, it's the way the north country community has come together.

On Monday, more than 150 volunteers came to help in the search and on Tuesday the number of volunteers doubled.

Scott Vanlaer, Forest Ranger with the DEC said, "I've been a forest ranger 16 years, 13 of them up here and I've never seen this kind of turn out from the community, it's really a wonderful thing."

The family continues to say the community support is making this tough time a little more bearable and community members say they want to help in any way they can, hopefully coming out with a positive result.

Barry Brogan of the North Adirondack Search and Rescue Team said, "Any time there's someone lost in the woods, and we're only 48 hours out really since he was last seen. So there's a probability as a young person that he's probably still alive."

As the days go by, State Police and Forest Rangers say there's only so much the volunteers can do. A large geographic area has been searched on foot but they say now, it's time to bring in the professionals.

"The terrain that's left to cover is going to be getting into more technical aspect so there'll probably be more professional search crews," said Vanlaer.

With the help of the volunteers, the DEC says more that 2 thousand acres were covered over the last two days. And as the search continues, authorities say they will be looking along the water, downstream of the Raquette River and further in Tupper Lake. State Police says they will continue following any new leads.

"We've interviewed well over 100 people and they continue to do that. Obviously family, friends and people he was with before he was missing," said Lieutenant Scott Heggelke from the New York State Police.

Search crews were unable to find any new clues on Tuesday. Authorities say the two personal items found Monday are the only clues they have to go on so far.

Because the search will become more technical over the next few days, the DEC has asked that all willing volunteers have prior searching experience and be equipped with proper footwear, clothing and gear.