A guest at a meal in Serbia – where he was also helping setup medical facilities to care for people’s mental, spiritual and physical well-being.

We don’t have any great news or lots of activity from yesterday. There are few leads on where Dad might be, sightings etc.

Yesterday was a quiet day in the search. Many of you following, are also Adventist, and realize the significance of Saturday to us.

Others of you who are not Adventist may not realize the significance of Saturday for us. [What religious label one puts on people, means little to me. I know there are many who know us, or know Dad and who offer their kind words and thoughts who have no organized religion, or are Baptist, Mormon, Catholic, and a myriad of others – I don’t think God puts much stock in our religious affiliation, and a lot more in where our hearts are, and how we respond to his calling of us.]

So, if you’re not acquainted with Adventists, and Saturday – I’ll just give a short description, so perhaps things make a little more sense. Saturday is, to us, Gods day of rest. If you’re aware of how devout Jews observe Saturday that’s pretty close to our observance of “Sabbath” too. From sundown Friday night to sundown Saturday night, we try to step away from the rush and bustle of the world, and take special time to spend with God. That generally means not doing work for our own benefit or profit, and not doing many of the things we’d do any other day of the week.

Again, it’s intended to be a time when we just step out of “regular” work-a-day life to take special time with God to reflect and communicate with him.

Ok, so enough with the mini-theology lesson.

—
So, Saturday, we tend to step away from the usual work-day events.

This wouldn’t prevent us from looking for Dad, and it didn’t today either. But given that there’s less and less we can do directly, and more and more that the police are doing – we did take less time actively working on the search, and more time with God.

I know that Sergei and his wife, Randy and others spent time walking the area and checking if posters were still up etc.

They also followed up on reported sightings. These can verge into the ridiculous – but they do need follow-up. In one case, a reported sighting was followed up on, and the person reporting having seen Jay Sloop described his appearance as “someone in their 30’s with a beard and smoking.” Randy commented, wryly that being lost a week did the most unbelievable things with your age, appearance and habits. [Dad, being in his late 70’s, clean shaven, and having never smoked in his life. And one would expect to see him torturing puppies or something, before he smoked.]

We have not heard much if anything from the police. We’re not sure if we will hear anything substantial – at least detail wise – so we may not have lots to tell you in the coming days with any real detail.

I’ve been thinking about some times we spent together with Dad and here’s one trip that comes to mind.

Here in Yakima, we spent quite a lot of time in the mountains. We’d go up on the weekends to cross-country ski, or hike – depending on the season. Spending time outdoors in physically tough exertion [read: death-march, by my definition] was “normal.”

One such trip was to Surprise Lake. I don’t believe I’ve been back since this trip, so I’m sure my recollection of it is probably not accurate. But it’s the recollection of the boy-me, I’m guessing 10-12 years old.

It seemed an endless hike, hot, dusty and all while carrying a heavy pack and climbing up, up, up.

The trivia we recall is interesting too: We came across a bull snake eating a frog. A large frog was only partly in the snake’s mouth, with most of the body and legs still hanging out.  I was, and still am, a total softie, and wanted to rescue the frog – but that tendency doesn’t seem as strong in the rest of the family, so I kept my mouth shut. [I don’t care for snakes very much, and like frogs, so that certainly increased my pity for the poor frog.]

However we carried on, and the “death-march” continued. We did eventually arrive in camp, and stayed a couple of nights. [If I recall correctly we went out on Friday and stayed through Sunday morning.]

I don’t recall much of time in camp – I think it was mostly the parts with lots of adversity that I recall best.

So the final morning we were planning to stay rolls around. We start working on breakfast and breaking camp. I may recall this wrong, but I think this is how it happened … we started to eat our hot-cereal [not a Greg favorite anyway] and it just tasted off.

After several queries about what was odd about the cereal, we learned that there had been a complication that was fixed in a particularly Dad-Jay way.

As it turns out, the amount of cereal needed for the trip had been insufficient. So, when Dad added all the cereal to the pot of water he had, it was not enough to thicken the cereal sufficiently and it was like soup. [And I’m sure that wouldn’t have gone over well either.]

So, Dad’s solution? Presto! Add mashed potato flakes and it’s now “normal” – at least in consistency. We were very unimpressed. I’m not sure how much this bothered my brothers, but I am a fairly picky eater. There are certain things you don’t mix together, and foods should NOT be liberally mixed together on the plate either. [They *can* touch, but they shouldn’t be holding hands!]

As you can imagine, this “solution” to runny cereal wasn’t my idea of a “good” fix. As I recall, it wasn’t considered a good fix by either of my brothers.

To this day, Dad still defends his solution by claiming that it couldn’t have been all that bad, since everyone ate their portion. Bah! It was that or nothing, and with a death-march imminent for the return trip, not eating wasn’t one of the better options.

The trip out must not have been quite as bad as the trip in, since I can’t recall much of it. I guess it was downhill.

[I don’t know if everyone else’s mind works as mine does, but it would be nice if all the really good things were what we remember, instead of the bad things. As Charlie Brown says…”Good things last eight seconds, bad things last three weeks.”]

So, we were planning to meet Mom who was going to meet up with us and spend some more time in the area. She was planning on bringing more food and we’d enjoy the rest of the day together.

[For those of you who know Mom, you’ll be fully aware that she isn’t the outdoorsy type. So, she wasn’t along for the backpacking portion of the trip. I’m sure she is eternally grateful, especially after hearing our story.]

I don’t know if Mom was running late, or we were running early, or exactly what happened – but when we got to where we might meet Mom, there was no Mom to meet us. This wouldn’t have typically been much of an issue, except that we didn’t have any food, we were tired and feeling a little put out – at least I was!

We drove to a tiny little store on Highway 12 where there was a pay-phone where Dad could call Mom and see where she was, and when to expect her. [In the days, long before ubiquitous cell phones. (and birch-bark for lunch.)]

While Dad was making the phone-call, I decided to see what was available to eat in the store. I couldn’t have had much money, and given Dad’s focus on good-health and eating right, donuts probably weren’t an option – even if I’d had the money.

So, while I can’t recall much of the thought process selecting my delicacy, I picked the cheapest loaf of plain bread I could find. Though it wasn’t quite doughy white bread, it was certainly close. And no, we didn’t have butter or peanut butter available. It was just going to be the delight of plain slices of bread – one slice, right after the other. But when you’re hungry, even hot-cereal with mashed potatoes mixed in seems palatable! Plain bread, some miles and hundreds, perhaps thousands, of calories later looks positively delicious!

When I arrived back at the car, I was horrified to find my brother Randy – who seems to have little care for how something tastes and isn’t the slightest bit picky about what he’s fed – had gotten out the dry cup-o’soup packets, and was finishing up dumping the dry powder into his mouth!

Gulp, cringe, shut-my-eyes to shield myself from the sight! To make things even worse, it was split-pea soup! I hated peas – I can still remember gagging and feeling I was absolutely going to die, one time when Dad felt I needed to eat some. The flavor is horrible, they pop in your mouth, the consistency is awful – ugh!

So, Randy was dumping dry soup powder, split-pea no less, into his mouth and eating it. His lips were a nice, very attractive, powdered, blotchy green.

<Shudder!> It still gives me the willies thinking about it.

Well, when I arrived on the scene with a nice fresh loaf of bread, it was amazing how friendly my brothers became.  It’s a shame I didn’t think of the “Jacob and the birthright story” in the bible just then, because that could have been a very good return on a measly loaf of bread.

In a very few minutes, the loaf of bread was gone.

But even more amazing was Dad. I don’t recall if he got back to the car before the whole loaf of bread was consumed or not – but I do absolutely recall what he brought back.

As I’ve said, Dad was pretty serious about eating right. And since he didn’t fix our meals, I just never considered what he might bring from the store for us to eat. [Figs and parched corn, perhaps? Something “healthy” was likely in any case.]

I still remember being astonished that he bought CANDY BARS for us. I didn’t see it as a fancy candy-bar, just “Big Hunk.”  But my Dad, having purchased a candy-bar?! A candy bar for me to eat?! I’m not sure it could have been any more startling if the angel Gabriel had stopped by to give it to me! Yeah, a candy-bar, from Dad! Unthinkable!

We ate the bread and candy-bars and eventually Mom showed up with even more attractive food.

But I still remember the mashed potatoes, the green powdered lips, the loaf of bread and the candy-bars!

And it’s surprising how the little things stick in our minds, and how we can sometimes break the way we see each other, and act in new, delightful and surprising ways.

So, do something nice, new and thoughtful for those you love and care for today.

—
We continue to search and pray. We ask that you keep Dad in your thoughts and prayers too. If someone is holding him, I hope they take him doughnuts today.

We will leave it in God’s hands – he’s in charge.

-Greg

(The “pillow” and “blanket” are fiberglass props – that’s no softie pillow Dad’s sitting on.)

I don’t have a substantial update for you today – not enough time, and too little remaining brain-power to crank out something better.

So, I’ll simply stick with the bare minimum.

No great news – we still have not found Dad.

We followed up some reported sightings and spent some time walking areas around the place we know where Dad last was. There were a some other things done – but that’s the general feel of it.

I’ll take more time tomorrow to write some more.

This is really, totally and completely in God’s hands. Realizing we are powerless and that God is the one in control is hard – but it’s clear we’re not going to solve this ourselves. So, we keep asking for his intervention, and to help us realize his direction and the will to follow where he leads.

-Greg

Dad in Kiev

So, as I said in my mini post, much has changed.

Right at the top, let me say that just about 24 hours ago, Randy went down to the police station and had a chat with the lieutenant who is in charge there.

Randy, and those with him, were rather startled to hear that the police have changed the classification of the case to a criminal one. They have decided this isn’t a missing person case. They said believe that this is either a kidnapping or a murder.

More importantly, Randy was told that this wasn’t just a local police matter now, but had been upgraded to a state case and that the SBU [what was the KGB years ago] was involved now.

Randy said there was a stack of documents on the table, and that the officer said this was the file on the case. I’m not sure why, but Randy wanted to take a photo of the cover sheet, and they said he could.

I’m not sure what to think. I like that they are taking the case more seriously and that, evidently, many more resources are available, and that we’ve turned a corner. But I don’t exactly like the sound of “criminal case.” Yeah, who would.

Randy and the people from the Union office and volunteers have been following up all the fragments of information they have had – reports, rumors, claimed sightings etc.

These have, repeatedly, turned up nothing credible.

We are continuing to gather video feeds and review them.

We look forward to the state security services aggressively putting the resources that the state has, which are vastly more than we have [save God] to work in figuring out what happened and getting Dad back to us.

—
So, as long as I’ve been telling stories, let me talk a bit more about REI and down-jacket related events.

Dad hasn’t been doing any mountaineering for a while now. I get altitude sickness so easily and that’s no fun, so I’ve not been climbing for quite some time either.

But “back-in-the-day” we did climb together more than a few times. [Yeah, I know, “back-in-the-day” we had to walk to school, barefoot, in the blowing snow, uphill both ways with only birch-bark for lunch. Well, it’s not quite that kind of story.]

We’ve climbed Mt. Hood, a couple of times together. I have a large [probably 18×20”] print that Dad gave to me of me standing in the sunset on Mt Hood. It’s a beautiful print and a very nice picture. It’s framed and hanging up in our house.

Well, that trip [at least I think it was that trip] was rather exciting.

We’d decided to sleep on the mountain, mid way up. Hood is really a one-day climb for the south-side – but I tend to feel less sick if I have more time acclimatizing and it’s a shorter day if you don’t do it all in a single day. [Good for older men and wimps like me.]

We got up and it looked like a reasonable day. A reasonable day in the northwest, on the mountains is a day when it’s not raining, blowing 50+ mph and not too cold or ugly.

So we started climbing. Clouds covered the top section of the mountain and we thought this would clear as the day progressed. In any case, we’d just come back if it got too bad. [Yeah, right.]

Well, it didn’t get any better, and in a few hours we were going up the summit chutes, which are not too far from the very top in what seemed like a hurricane.

The wind was howling, we were in the clouds and could barely see the ground. There was so much moisture in the air, it would condense and freeze on everything – making what is called rime ice. It would even condense on your eyelashes and if you blinked, the two sets of eyelashes; bottom and top, would then freeze together and you couldn’t re-open your eyes. Goggles would help with this, but we didn’t want to stop to fish them out. So, you’d just pull your hand out of your glove and melt and pull the ice off your eyelashes and you’d be good to go, at least for a few more minutes.

Why we didn’t turn around, I’m not sure. It’s that allure of the summit, I guess. I’m sure it’s caused more than a few accidents and induced bad judgment in lots of climbers. Perhaps one could claim we used bad judgment too, I’m just not sure – you generally think you’ve done fine, until something goes wrong.

Well, we did reach the summit and while you couldn’t see a thing – not even the ground under your feet – we were happy we reached the summit.

So we started down. But white-gray snow, white-gray sky, white-gray clouds and wind at unbelievable levels makes for vertigo – where does the sky and clouds end and the ground begin? The wind had been blowing us up the chutes to the summit. Now it was blowing directly in our faces. Even though we were now going down, one almost had to exert effort to go down against the wind.

Well, a long 30-45 minutes later, and after having gone somewhat off-course in our trek down, we break out of the clouds. I now know, first hand, how easy it can be to get lost on Mt. Hood.

We gathered our tent and other gear we’d left behind at camp and trailed out to the car many feet below us.

It was nice to spend some time with Dad. I’m not as much a mountaineering kind of person as Rick – I’m certainly not up to the insane levels of torture he goes through. But it was a way Dad and I could do something together. We both love the mountains – especially mountaineering and being out in the brilliant, sparkling, awe-inspiring mountains. The snow soaks up the sound, and it’s so very different, even when you’re in the same place, sans snow and ice.

This is one of only a few climbing experiences we had together and it was a good one. Sure, sitting in the sun on the lawn probably would have been a lot more pleasant – probably a lot safer too. But Dad wasn’t the kind to pick “safe” over what he thought was important. [He certainly wasn’t the one to shy away from pushing you through the hard-stuff he thought would help make you stronger and better, no matter how much complaint and whining he heard. I’m pretty sure there’s more than a few of you who experienced that – at least the pushing part, I’m probably the only one who whined so much. (I’m sure the brothers would confirm the whining part! {and look, nested parenthetical asides! that’s my specialty}) ]

Dad is, and was, the kind who wasn’t easy on himself, when he felt something needed to be done. He didn’t give others the easy way out either. He’d tell you fairly bluntly what you ought to be doing – he wasn’t bossy, but he wanted to make a difference, he wanted to help. He cared a lot. Going to the Ukraine and the many, many hours he donated to helping people change the way they lived and their health, spiritual and physical were just part of who Dad is and was.

You couldn’t steer him away from what he felt was right. Sometimes it was not the best idea – like climbing Hood in that weather – but he always pushed himself as much as anyone – probably more. But he would push you pretty hard too.

We’re different in that way – but I know he pushed me and others because he cared, and he cares a lot!

So, this experience in Kiev is just a lot like the way he lived and loved those around him. It’s tough. It’s hard, and we’re beyond where we wish we were – we’d rather be sitting on the lawn in the sun sipping a cool drink and enjoying the leisure.

But he would be still thinking about all the stuff that he wanted to get done, all the ways he could help you be a better self, and how he wanted everyone to know, see and feel the God he saw.

I know others have said it, but we’ve also thought it and commented among ourselves – if Dad is being held by someone, one can be sure they’re hearing about Dad’s loving, caring God – and that he’s doing his best to push them to live a better life too – regardless of how scary or hard that might be. I hope, if that’s the case, that he’s more tactful than he’s been with me at times. He may be right, but sometimes he’s less than the most gentle in expressing it.

[Remind me to tell you about the patient who had been out snowmobiling and claimed that was “exercise.” Tact, and gentle? Hmmm.]

So, please – continue to pray. We know that God is able to bring about *any* outcome. We will do our best to help, and do our part. But though God doesn’t need reminding, please let us keep doing it anyway. I think he’ll handle our “whining” better than Dad did.

-Greg

Posted 2013/05/24 10.45a PT / 8.45p Kiev time

Lots has changed since my last post. I didn’t want you to think we’d gone away – but I need to take a few minutes to organize some things – so rather than completely leave you hanging while I do so, here’s a intsta-update

1) We have not yet found Dad.
2) Lots has changed.

I’ll be back in the next few hours with a more complete update.

-Greg

Posted 2013/05/24 6.45a PT

It has been a really busy day here, a bilzzard of emails [though it’s been that way for quite some time] and trying to manage some of my “normal” life…

Dad was a “dog person” so perhaps that’s why he’s “growling” in the picture above. But they took this picture somewhere in Kiev this trip. And that green jacket, well it’s a feathered friends jacket. The reason I know is I have one too.

So, let me tell you a story – it’s not that interesting, but probably a lot more fun than recounting that we don’t have any good news today.

So, the jacket. Well Feathered Friends is probably one of the very best places to get real down outdoor gear. Sleeping-bags, jackets etc. They started many years ago right next to the old REI store. You know the one that smelled of creosote and tar, and was an old rickety haphazard building – before they built the new glass and steel one. Back before they started selling t-shirts and espresso machines.

Well, I’d been looking at one of their jackets and eventually I got one. [From Feathered friends, not REI.] They’re not exactly cheap, but for what you get, they are really quite reasonable. [800+ fill down is “typical” which is quite amazing, if you know about goose down.]

Well Dad saw mine and was impressed. Down captures heat really, really well. Practically the instant you put it on, you can feel it keeping you warm. That’s really nice on the summit of some cold and windy peak – just after you’ve stopped climbing and your sweat is about to turn to ice, and you shiver yourself to pieces!

So, dad decided he wanted one too. But he, I think, bought one that was too warm. If I recall correctly, that one has a completely down insulated hood too. It was practically like wearing a sleeping bag! Which was great if it was really cold, but would turn into a sauna if it was above 50 F or so.

But that neon lime *green*? Ouch! I never heard, but I hope he got some kind of killer deal for that green color!

So, it’s neat and sad all at the same time – seeing that jacket. It was a small thing – a tiny shared bit of experience. But it’s those little things you remember and that touch you.

—
Ok. well enough stories, eh? Then, back to the salt mines we go.

Today Randy asked for more video feeds. We’ve looked at the map of where they are situated and if we can get most of what we want, I suspect that will be pretty helpful. I’ve seen snippits of it, and it’s “odd” seeing Dad, knowing that just minutes later he disappears. [It’s also odd how you don’t even need to see a person’s face to know who it is. The way we walk and move – even such ordinary things are still unique. When you see it, you just know.]

Randy went to visit the US Embassy, since he hadn’t talked to any of them in-person since arriving here. Jeff had visited, but not Randy. Randy wanted to ask if they could assist in moving the police any faster. I don’t think they were terribly hopeful. I think the general consensus was that the Ukraine police simply move at the pace they move.

The embassy has been extremely helpful and welcoming. They’ve taken our needs seriously and really done as much as they could to help. It seems that they simply don’t have enough leverage to get the police to do more. [I wonder if someone at higher levels of the state department could do more. Does anyone out there know John Kerry, or William Burns etc?! You could just send them a friendly note and ask if they’d see what they could do to motivate the Ukrainians. 🙂 ]

We still can’t get the video feeds the police have, so we’re moving forward at getting our own and simply trying to live without the resources that the police should provide. We’re not leaving anything out, that we might be able to do, to find Dad.

We’re trying to ensure that we haven’t somehow missed him leaving Zamkova park – even though we’ve seen the camera feed that is near that entrance.

These are motion sensitive cameras so there isn’t a continuous feed. The camera, in general, turns on and off only when it “sees” movement in the central portion of the frame. So, as movement moves out of the center of the frame and moves away, the camera may stop unless something else has entered the frame and keeps the camera recording. So, it is certainly possible, depending on the view and other factors that you might not see everything “interesting” there was to see. So, more cameras and more views increases our certainty about exactly where we think Dad went.

Tomorrow will bring more effort to get additional video and closely look at the new video we have already obtained but haven’t yet had a chance to look at.

The verse that’s been in my head for days now is:”Not by might, nor by power, but by my will” says God.
And impatient me says, “Ok God, I get it, but could you hurry it up a bit, please.”

Man, is that ever hard.
More tomorrow.

-Greg

Posted 2013/05/22 10p PT

Tuesday was spent reviewing more camera feeds, and talking with those who might have visited the park around the time Dad went missing. They got a chance to talk to some people, and have others they would like to talk to.

They also took time to search some unoccupied buildings that are on the opposite side of the park, away from the entrances. The students that were helping search were fabulous, not having been told what they would be doing and not being dressed for this kind of activity. But they gamely went on and looked through the buildings seeing what they could find.

In the afternoon, The Hope Channel in Ukraine did a press conference today – Randy and several others had a chance to talk about what Dad was there to do, what he was there to help with, and about the search for Dad.

Later, they also spent some time talking to the police and answering more questions they had. The police wanted to get the video feeds that Jeff and the volunteers had gathered for the Union office. But the police have refused to give us the video feeds they have, claiming they need the authorization from a supervisor. But we’ve been asking for this data for days – it’s frustrating how slow and unmotivated the police seem.

While the police have been helping more, it still seems pretty tepid. It is better than it was, but it still seems as much for show as for actually accomplishing things. Much of what is done seems not very thorough, almost haphazard. We wish we knew what to do to really motivate the police to cooperate and step up and work with us closely, instead of doing what appears to be the bare minimum of work and minimal cooperation.

Some time was spent looking at other places that Dad had walked in the past, and though we have absolutely no evidence he was there last Tuesday, we felt it wise to check those places again. None of these are close to the areas that Dad was seen on the security cameras on Tuesday.

They did get a call, late in the day by someone who wanted to share their CCTV feed. But after arriving and getting things setup, they discovered that they didn’t have last Tuesday’s video because it only holds onto a week before overwriting. But Randy says they so wanted to help, and even though the trip was no real help, the warmth and intent of the people to assist and their empathy so clear – he was very touched at the gesture. Even for no real progress, Randy says “…the trip was worth the effort.” [Have I mentioned how frustrating it is, not to have the police assisting in gathering these from many locations in the area, long before now!]

There were a couple of talks they had with people who said they had seen people who had been injured around the date and time Dad disappeared. They had evidently called in to let us know they might be able to help. Yet, after talking to them, it was clear that these incidents were unlikely to have any relationship to Dad’s disappearance. One case the person injured was much younger than Dad, and the other didn’t match in other respects.

Along with many others, Randy & I both fasted and prayed. We appreciate those who joined us. It is a tough choice to make and it is one that you need to make, not as a bargain with God, or because you “should,” but because you believe in your heart that God is asking you to focus on him and his might, not your “awesome” blogging skills or some other “greatness” we bring to the situation.

God’s goodness, his will, and how we can work with God, instead of how he can work around us, should be our focus. What small talents we bring to a task, God can use to much effect, if we put that effort where he wants us to.

But it’s hard letting someone else be in charge, isn’t it? As I’ve said before – when you watch someone else do something, you always feel you know better, have some better angle, and if “they’d just do it this way” all would be better. And I’m sure I do the same with God – probably nearly every day. So, taking time to really talk to God to spend time pondering your congruence with his plan and letting him bend us, if that’s needed, is a good, if less than pleasing, thing.

We continue to follow up on the information we have, and move forward, even when we don’t seem to have a lot of great options.

We are, however, frustrated with the tepid response of the police and wish we know what more we could do to move that area forward. Private individuals and volunteers have done virtually all the hard lifting so far. So it’s hard to feel that, were the police serious, they could bring a lot more resources to bear on this situation.

Continue to pray for us, and for the involvement of the police – we could so use their help, now as much as ever. Pray for wisdom and that we would find God’s way, not our way. Pray for those who have influence over the police and other government resources. And pray for each of the wonderful volunteers who have sacrificed so much of their time and energy. We’d have practically nothing without the kind-hearted people of Ukraine.

Thanks again!
-Greg

Posted 2013/05/21 11p PT [2013/05/22 9a Kiev Time]

Well, I’m not keeping up my duties very well am I. Alas, I’m trying. [I’ll do better boss, I promise!]

Well, Randy sent another update some hours ago. No good news to report. There’s lots of interesting things – and I’ll come back and give you a fuller story – but I simply don’t have the time right now. [Rachelle has been complaining that her Daddy is busy in front of the computer far too often – and since I spend a lot of time there normally, you can imagine it’s quite a bit worse than “normal.”]

Each post of even moderate size can take well over an hour to write, and proof and re-write and re-proof etc. Longer posts are probably at least two hours of work. And I don’t have an hour at this moment.

So, I guess the appropriate idiom would be…
You are just going to get a lick and a promise.

I’ll try to be back before 10p PT and follow-up. But no guarantees, refunds or returns allowed. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200, etc.

Thanks for understanding.

-Greg

Jay Sloop, Missing
Kiev Ukraine, 2013/05/14

It was just one week ago, today that we got the call that Dad [Jay] was missing.

I’d like to take some time reflecting on what’s happened in the last week, on how that’s changed each of us, and on how many lives Jay has touched, and now, on how many lives have touched his in the outpouring of care, love, time, and resources to find him.

But that reflecting will have to wait some. I simply don’t have the time, right now, to do that. So, I’ll update you on what’s happened and what we anticipate doing today.

It’s nearing the end of the day in Kiev, but I haven’t had any chance to discuss what’s occurring since late yesterday with Randy or Jeff.

One of the people with Dad suggested another scenic park nearby Zamkova – and we thoroughly searched that yesterday, along with some other locations, without any significant results. These searches were done by about 25 seminary students who have given large portions of their day, both yesterday and Sunday to come do some pretty miserable work. While I’m told we treated them with ice-cream, it’s got to be the lousiest deal ever for some ice-cream. We thank them for their care and time from the deepest part of our hearts.

The police evidently brought an air-scenting dog to search the Zamkova park to see if it could find any localized source of Dad scent.

There are quite a number of different techniques for using dogs and scents, and I don’t know about, or understand them all. Thus I’m not entirely sure what the capability of the dog is/was. I would assume that the dog would potentially be able to find something of Dad’s left behind – say a piece of clothing, or if Dad were concealed somewhere in the park. This would be different than a “tracking” dog which would attempt to follow scent left behind to find the intended person.

As I understand it, only very small portions of the park could be covered with this search – if I recall correctly, a dog like this is only effective for something like four to six hours or so. With a single dog, and limited time, you have to try to check the most likely locations – but for a park this size, that’s a tiny portion.

Early in the morning, Monday they went out to identify additional security cameras that *might* offer additional details. Getting the camera feeds has been difficult, but it is something they are working on.

The police seem to have turned the corner into really getting involved – I suspect the media attention had helped. Yesterday there were police involved in searching small areas of the Zamkova park, yet again. They were also involved in asking for the security camera feeds. [Up to now, as I understand it, the camera feeds have all been obtained by private individuals simply asking the camera owner, nicely, if they would share it.]

I know there have been multiple efforts to talk to people who visit the park during the morning hours when dad was last seen. There was an attempt yesterday to talk to people we saw in the video who visited the park right near the time Dad visited on last Tuesday.

There were two media interviews yesterday. One was for a paper [Kiev post] that seems like a good solid paper, less interested in sensationalism and more interested in doing a reasonable presentation of the story. The other was for the largest TV channel, and while it’s nice to have coverage, it’s also hard to live with the desires and financial incentives that drive ratings and sensational reporting.

And again, we’ve been observing a day of prayer and fasting. If you joined our invitation, thanks! The very fact that you’re here reading this means you probably care and we appreciate your care and the great efforts that are being put forth to help.

It’s almost 8p in Kiev right as I type this. Hopefully I’ll have more details to give a bit later in the day.

-Greg

Posted 2013/05/21 10a PT

Posted Monday, 1p Pacific time/ 11p Kiev time. [2013/05/20]

I’m sure I’ll be back to follow this post up, but I thought I’d get up a few things, very quickly.

We are now just shy of one week since Dad disappeared. That’s a distressing mark of time…

I just spent nearly an hour talking to Jeff and then Randy. There’s really nothing new to report today. They have continued searching more places that are possibilities for where Jay might have gone. They have done a number of news interviews; TV and papers. They continue to put up flyers/posters. Jeff says they are ubiquitous – just *everywhere*.

But let me take a break from the recitation of facts and details to make a request from each of you.

—
Randy has said that the churches in Kiev have all made a request that their members fast and pray for 24 hours. They started about three hours ago – at 8p Kiev time.

Randy would like me to ask you, those who can and who find it in their hearts, to join us.

We certainly don’t want to ask you to do this, if this isn’t something you believe in. This is between you and God. But we would be honored to have you join us.

Thanks to all for your help.
Thanks for all your friendship.
Thanks for all your care.

-Greg [and all the rest of the family.]

Posted Sunday 7.30p PT / 5.30A Kiev time
2013/05/19

It’s about 5a in Kiev, and I just got some updates – this time from Randy.

He’s been really thankful and impressed with all the generous help we’ve been getting.

He says words like “tremendous” and “spectacular” and I know he’s right. He contacted the hospitals, in person this time, and it seems they feel a bit overwhelmed, kind of like the Embassy.  “The hospital and morgues have been contacted so many times, that they know the story by heart.”

He says they have been following up on every lead possible, every sighting.
Someone had claimed to see Dad in one of the Cathedrals. Randy went there and spoke with the head rector, and everyone on the staff. They even assisted by calling the staff that were not there yesterday and talking to them too.

I’m told that as many as 50,000 flyers are being prepared to be posted around Kiev, along with the 5000+ already out there. Fifty thousand! [His name might just be on every lip, at least in Kiev, before this is over! When they say “Jay Sloop” it sounds really funny to our ears though. 🙂 ]

Jay’s disappearance has been in the news numerous times there and we’re told that there will be another story tomorrow – a human interest story, I’m told.

While we don’t have any new leads, tomorrow we will continue to investigate all the places Jay was known to visit while out walking etc. One friend of his recalled another place they had walked and we plan to check that location thoroughly – it’s fairly close to the park we have already searched.

So, Monday will be another incredibly busy day. It looks like it will be a warm [but not too hot] day, with little to no rain, at least until tonight. That should be a help for people who are outside.

I’m sure I’m missing some things – but I can always come back and post later.

Keep everyone, the lost and the searchers, in your prayers. We all need it.

Thanks!
-Greg

Posted About 3p, 2013/05/19

Yup, you are wearing out that refresh button.

No, I don’t have a lot of news to impart. I certainly can’t say that they found Dad and everything is good with the world. <sigh>

So, let me first say – Thanks to all the people who have offered their time today and yesterday. We were thrilled by the response to our request for interpreters.

I don’t know exactly how many interpreters we had helping us on Sunday – but Alex came, with a car and his snazzy language skills and made our lives a lot easier. [Thanks Alex!]

I also shouldn’t forget the many, many others who have helped in millions of other ways. It’s easy to focus on a few individuals, and then forget all the others who help in less noticeable ways. I wish I could name each one of you individually, and give you a hug and a smile. I hope my generic one-size-fits-all “Thanks!” will help you know we appreciate even the smallest contribution to the effort. [Even though that’s a lot less than you deserve!]

Огромное спасибо нашим украинским друзьям! Вы были невероятно!

—
We still need interpreters – and as we get into the working week, I suspect we’ll need more than are actually available. So, if you are able to translate [Russian/Ukrainian/English] that would be a great help. If you would please contact me [gregs@sloop.net] I’ll forward the offer on to the people in Kiev and they will contact you. Please give us an email address and a good phone number where we can reach you. We won’t publish your name, email address or phone number if you post it to the comments section either, I promise.

—
I think the plan for the day on Monday in Kiev is to search or re-search the parks near-by that Dad was known to visit. [Excluding Zamkova park.] I suspect they may have been covered before, but we’ll look again – searching extra carefully in every place possible.

I have not heard explicitly, but I think all the hospitals were visited today and there wasn’t any sign of Dad there. [This was, at least, our second check, and this one was in person.]

Lack of sleep seems to have caught up to me, so I’m not as productive today as I might be. I’ll do my best to keep you updated on where things stand and what we’re planning – at least when I can.

I’ll try to post twice a day – generally coinciding with the start and end of the day in Kiev. [That’s generally around 8-10p and 10a-noon – pacific time.]

-Greg

So, I know there’s a host of you that really loved dad – you’ve posted loving comments and the number of people who have reached out is really amazing. Thanks!

So, we know you love us – but I’ve heard that you [at least *some* of you] have been telling the US Embassy about how much you love Jay too. So many and so often, in fact, that they say they are overwhelmed. Wow! So, it’s a good thing to be loved, but a bad thing to overwhelm the embassy switchboard. 🙂

If it isn’t clear enough yet – I’ll say it clearer. Please, don’t call the embassy. They are being really wonderful in reaching out to assist. I, personally, know they sent numerous people to assist in the search of the park on Friday. They’ve been great in responding to our inquiries and following up with us. So, know that we’re very happy with the US embassy, and bugging them won’t bring more help, more quickly. It will only cause disruptions. Thanks so much for listening!

So, now lets play a little more of the game, “Have you thought of..!?”

“Have you checked the hospitals and morgues?”
Yes, we have talked to the hospitals. But, in your defense, we did it by phone. Now that we’ve searched the park and have time to turn to a few other items, we plan to actually visit each, in person. It’s not likely anything was missed in the calls, but a personal visit may help us feel a bit more certain.

“Have you checked bodies of water.”
Well, since there aren’t any bodies of water, moving or otherwise, near any of the places were we thought Jay might have gone missing – the answer would be no. Now that the number of places we are likely to search is changing, I suppose that might change as well. But to date, we’ve not had any potential places in water to search.

“Do you think there’s too much/too little media coverage?” or “What do you think of what XYZ media outlet said.”
Well, I’m not sure what to say. One side of me says – until my Dad is back and home with my Mom, if it takes having his name on every single person on planet earth’s lips, that is fine by me. The other side of me doesn’t want to offend anyone – whispers in my ear, “why is your Dad so special?” I mean really, there are are so many that need attention, help and care. Why the special treatment for my Dad?

While that’s a *huge* discussion – I guess I’ll say – I’m glad lots of people care and want to help. I’m terribly touched at the outpouring of support and care. I certainly don’t want to lose touch with the fact that none of us is owed this kind of care and love from anyone else. But it IS really very, very nice to have it. So, we’re glad to have his name in the news, and we want to get all the help we can.

On the other hand, we know how unreliable the “news” can be. I know some of the reports I’ve seen are wrong in numerous respects. But that’s part of the price for coverage – so we’ll grimace when we find inaccuracies and hope for better.

I know, I’ve had a little amusement at the questions we’ve gotten – and I really don’t intend to mock anyone. I know you’re all trying to help and trying to think of something, anything that we might not have thought of – just trying to do *anything* to help. So thanks. We know, just like calling the embassy, that you care and want to help – that’s why you write, ask questions, give suggestions and drown the embassy switchboard. We love you too!

—-
I’m working on summarizing what we think we’ll be doing to find Dad for the next day in my next post. Hopefully I’ll have something for you in the next few hours.

Again, thanks for all the kind words and thoughts. It helps keep our spirits up during the long wait.

-Greg

I don’t have any more information to add, however I can relate a need:

We could use translators, in Kiev, that can speak both English and Ukrainian.

It is important that these individuals be fluent in both languages. [We don’t want someone with only fairly limited skills.] We need these people in Ukraine, not here in the US.

Also, people with vehicles for transportation would be good – again only in Kiev.

This will be very brief.

I have not talked to anyone in Kiev since the very end of the day yesterday. It’s late afternoon/early evening there as I write this and Jay still has not been found.

I’m not sure what the focus was going to be today. I know that we were expecting to get many church members out and canvass the area around the Union office some more. I also know that there was a plan to talk to people entering the park during the early morning hours to see if we could gather any more information that way. But other than that, I don’t have more details.

As I said yesterday – when you’re thousands of miles away, you always want more information, and wish you knew more. It’s just the way of things, and we’ll just have to get used to feeling that way – because I doubt that the way I feel, or the amount of information I get, is likely to change. 🙂

Several answers to questions regularly asked:

1) Have you tried dogs?
Dogs were evidently used, early in the search, several days ago. But since it’s rained several times, they wouldn’t be useful for tracking someone. I know they have been considered again, attempting to find if Jay were in a spot we couldn’t see, but the dog could smell. [Think air-scenting vs tracking dog.] I don’t know what ultimate decision has been reached, but I think that most of these kinds of working dogs are in the hands of the police, or disaster services and I don’t believe the full weight of these government services have been available to us. [And no, I don’t think any of us here on this side of the world really know why. I’m not sure any of the people in Kiev know why either. This has seemed to change a bit over the last day or so, so perhaps this will be a more viable option soon.]

2) Did he have a cell-phone or GPS?
No, he didn’t have a cellphone or GPS with him. While he took his phone with him to Ukraine, he didn’t use it in-country that I’m aware of. You know, “old guys” just aren’t as driven to SIM unlock their phones and get a local SIM so they can text all their friends and take calls on the sidewalk and every where else. Plus, since he used Skype to talk to people back home, there just wasn’t as much need. It is too bad that’s the case, because it would have given us a lot of great tracking data – but alas, it’s not to be.

3) Has a reward been offered?
This has been considered, and at least early on, the best expert advice I could get seemed to indicate that this would likely result in more information and leads, but that it would also likely greatly increase the amount of inaccurate information too. Generally it was felt that it would likely do more harm than good. Since there’s an expert on site now, we tend to defer to his advice, and I am not aware if this has been discussed recently.

So that’s all I have for this morning. I’ll see if I can get more detail without hindering the work that’s going on.

Oh, and while I’ve left this to last, as an aside, it’s not a side issue for me … Many have asked how Mom is doing.

As you might imagine – she’s extremely worried. She wants more detail, and is terribly anxious as each hour, day, and probably minute, passes. But I’m amazed at how well, considering the situation, she has done. She appreciates the thoughts you’ve sent via email and comments here, and knowing how she and Dad have touched peoples lives, and that you care. So thanks. We all appreciate it.

Again, I’ll come back with more information as I have it.

The day is basically spent now, and we still have not found Jay.

Again, my information on what has happened and what the plans are is incomplete – but I’ll still try to give my best review of what we know, what’s happened and what is planned. [This is a longish post.]

First, let me address some topics I’ve seen tossed around, with a lot of bad / wrong / misunderstood information mixed in.

1) We are not aware of any coerced ATM or other bank transactions. Yes, he did make an ATM withdrawal shortly after he left for his walk Tuesday morning. It was for a very moderate amount of money, and the camera footage of him making the withdrawal does not show anyone with him. It doesn’t appear to show him in any distress or being coerced

No bank transactions have been attempted, related to Jay, since he disappeared

2) We are not aware of any possibility that he was kidnapped or otherwise taken by anyone. That doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened, but there certainly isn’t any evidence, I’m aware of, that he was.

3) The US embassy staff and US State Department have been very helpful and are working with us and the people in-country to do the most they can. We’re impressed.

4) The Ukrainian Union and officials, as well as many private individuals HAVE been helping, and doing a lot. However, there is always misunderstandings and the knowledge between parties isn’t perfect. We’re very grateful for the assistance we’ve received and we know that each person and group is doing as much and as well as they can.

Again, misunderstandings do occur. Here’s an example.
On Thursday, we had intended to search the park, using a grid search. [You break the area to be searched into smaller blocks and have a group of people search each block, every section carefully. You repeat this for the whole space you are interested in searching.]

As the day progressed, we were discouraged since no-one showed up to help Jeff and Ron search. As we inquired at the end of the day – we were told that a lot of students DID show up. But we were really confused – because we hadn’t seen them.

Well, with some wonderful help [Thanks Natasha I. and Marina K-G.] communicating with the people in Ukraine we found out the following: The students and others did come on Thursday. Since they [or someone] felt the park was searched on Tues and Wed, they decided to hand out flyers and make contacts around the Union office and locales. While this probably isn’t what we would have had them doing had we known – it’s not like no-one was volunteering to help. So through misunderstanding and language barriers, the efforts were not coordinated. But everyone was doing what they thought best and all working hard.

So, there’s no criticism for the hearts of the people. They’re doing their best, just like we are. Sometimes it’s not what we’d pick, and I’m sure they have felt the same way about our choices. But we all do our best.

—
However, Friday has been a far different picture. We have some additional resources that came in overnight Thursday night, and those people have been extremely helpful in making the search more organized and more effective. Nothing changed in the willingness to help, just the effectiveness and organization got a lot better.

—
So, to recap today’s outcome:

The search of the park is done, and we found no sign of Jay. It’s hard to think there’s any possibility he’s laying out there in the park somewhere and we missed him – the entire park was searched very thoroughly.

This takes away what we considered as the most probable situation – that Jay had suffered a fall, or other catastrophic health problem, was assaulted or something similar, and was lying out in the thick growth somewhere in the park.

But given the results [or lack of results] from the search, we feel like we must assume he’s not laying in the park somewhere.

This leaves us with a lot of questions:
If he’s not laying in the park, where is he? What other things should we do to continue to search in the most productive way?
What to try next?

The answers to those questions are ones that we and the experts are considering now and working to formulate a plan for tomorrow.

I know we’ll be talking to people who regularly visit the park, tomorrow. We’ll ask them what they recall about last Tuesday and if they might have seen Jay in any particular portion of the park, or if he was interacting with anyone etc.

We haven’t had an update from the expert on-site who is coordinating and directing the search since the end of the day Friday, so we don’t have much more in the way of a “plan” for tomorrow. I’m sure there IS a plan, we’re just not quite aware of it yet.

As always, being thousands of miles away is hard. We always want more information than we have, and we are tempted to believe that we know better, or have things in mind that haven’t been tried. Occasionally that’s true – but most often it’s not.

I think we must be as “patient” as possible and work with the very kind, helpful and wonderful people who have come to our aid in finding Jay. We will continue to ask for God’s protection and care for all involved and ask that this saga ends well.

I hope to have more detailed information as time goes on and a more clear view of where we go from here. But at the moment, it’s time to re-group and gather some more ideas and information to see what makes the most sense to do next. When I know that, and can share, I will.

Thanks again to all those expressing their care, and sympathy. You’re awesome.

Lots of thanks to all the wonderful people of the Union office, and the volunteers in Ukraine who have taken days of their lives to come and search for, as Jay is called – “the grandfather with the red suspenders.”

Personal thanks to Marina and Natasha [And Shaundi who got me in touch with them.] They have been awesome and funny, and great to work with. Thanks, so very much! There would be a lot more unresolved misunderstandings without you!

We will give more as we know it.

I’ve only been up an hour or so… I’d been up more than 40 hours with only an hour or two of sleep – so as the day got started in Kiev on Friday I decided to get some sleep.

So, while I really don’t have all the information available yet – I’ll give you what I have.

Today has been a much better day. We have staff from Adventist Risk Management as well as a person who, as I understand it, was the Union president some years ago on the ground managing the search and organizing things.

The search has had many more people available to help, and all on the same task. I’m told [though this could certainly turn out not to be the case] that they think they will have thoroughly searched the park area by the end of the day today. [Kiev is 10 hours ahead of us here on the US West coast. So, right this minute it’s 8p in Kiev.]

The latest word I have is that Jay has not been found, but things have been really making dramatic progress today.

Unfortunately, dramatic progress may well not mean we’ve found him – but I’m highly encouraged.

Finally, we want to give the highest thanks for Sergi [the Union Health Ministries director], as well as the many, many others who are taking their time and energy to assist. We are exceptionally grateful. Thanks!

Please keep everyone, the family, the searchers and particularly Jay, in your prayers.

I’ll update more as the day ends and as we know our situation and needs for tomorrow.

Russian [English follows]

Если вы пропустите время 8а, наступит тогда, когда вы можете!
Помогите в поиске Джея Слупа
Пятница, 17 мая
Время: 8 утра
Где: офис Униона на Лукьяновской
Адрес: ул. Лукьяновская 9/10А (также известна как ул. Лукьяновская, 9Б)

Пожалуйста, помогите в поиске Джея Слупа – примите участие в прочесывании территории вокруг Замковой Горы на Подоле. Место организационного сбора – 8:00 в пятницу 17 мая возле Унона.

Если возможно, пожалуйста, планируете остаться на весь день, пока поиск не закончится. Возьмите с собой еду и воду. Оденьтесь в удобную одежду для прохождения сквозь парковые рощи и заросли. Мы планируем прочесать Замковую Гору опять – каждый участок и очень тщательно.

После просмотра камер видеонаблюдения – очевидно, что Джей вошел на территорию во вторник утром и так и не вышел (ни тем же путем, ни с другой стороны).

Прочесывание этой территории на данный момент – лучший вариант. Милиция не сбирается привлекать службы спасения, поэтому это единственная надежда и шанс найти Джея живым. Пожалуйста, придите, помогите!

Если будут какие-нибудь изменения, мы сообщим об этом здесь в блоге, чтобы держать вас в курсе дела. И если только вы не прочтете здесь, что поиск отменяется, знайте – мы очень в вас нуждаемся. Пожалуйста, придите!

—
English version:
Come help search for Jay Sloop
Friday, May 17
Time: 8 AM
Where: SDA union office
Please meet on Friday morning 8a.
Meet at the Union Office, Luk’yanovskaya ulitsa, 9/10B

If possible, please plan to stay all day.
Bring food and water for the day.
Be dressed to walk through wooded areas during the search.
We are planning to search Zamkova gora park again – every part, very carefully,

After reviewing security cameras – they show Jay entering park on Tuesday morning and do not show him leaving.

Searching here is the best option available. Police will not call out emergency services, so this is one of the last best hopes to find Jay alive. Please come.

If conditions change, we will update this blog to let you know we don’t need you. Unless you read specific instructions here asking you not to come, please assume your help is needed.

So, our third-hand reports of Kiev police and volunteers searching were wrong.

Yesterday Sergi, Jeff and Ron were the only people searching in Zamkova gora park, that we are aware of. The Kiev police were, I’m told, supposed to come search, but didn’t.

So, going forward I think this would be the best solution:
If you know any of the local pastors or church members in and around Kiev, could you please call and plead with them to ask church members to come out and assist in the search tomorrow.

They should plan to meet at the Union office
Meet here: Luk’yanovskaya ulitsa, 9/10B – (ул. Лукьяновская 9Б)
Time 8a

At the Union office, please talk to one of the following people:
Sergi Lutsyi
Vladimir Krupskyi
Jens Serup
Jeff Sloop

These people are the people in charge of organizing and running the search parties.

I’ll update this as I have more information.

-Greg

Jay Sloop, Missing
Kiev, Ukraine 2013/05/13

While I don’t have much updated information about the search today I’ll simply start with what I know and come back and update as we know more and/or have confirmation of what happened so far today.

It’s about 5p in Kiev as I write this. I think we have a few hours of light left.

The intent was to search the park and see if Jay was somewhere in an inaccessible part of the park, or had fallen etc.

The reason we felt it was wise to search the park more carefully is that it appears as though multiple security cameras showed Jay walking toward this park, and going in, and not coming back out past the same cameras. This park is also a place where Jay and locals and friends would regularly walk. I know first-hand that Jay, at the weekend, walked through the park with friends.

The day started off fairly dreary – rain. Jeff was discouraged because it appeared that no one was coming to assist the search. But I’ve seen conflicting reports of who and how many people were out searching today. Until I know something more certain, we’ll just say that what has occurred today isn’t clear from here. We’re just not sure at the moment how many people turned up to assist.

I’ve also had word that the local Police was also involved in the search.

If we did get local help and if the police did expend substantial resources on the search that would be a very good thing.

I’ve heard from numerous sources that the coverage has been substantial: TV, radio, posters etc. I think a lot of hard work is going on in difficult circumstances and we truly appreciate all the effort being put forth from everyone there.

Jeff, because it was raining, doesn’t have his phone with him. We have not yet heard back from him.

So, we’re essentially waiting to hear from someone first-hand what has transpired today. The minute we know more that isn’t rumor or third-hand information, we’ll be sure to update and let you know.

For now all we can do is wait and ask for God’s care, patience and peace.

-Greg

After a lot of updates and information today, it seems like the most likely place Jay might be, and the best use of resources is to search a local hill and surrounding areas.

The park, is Zamkova Gora. Evidently there are very steep sections of the park and it is hard to effectively search the area. They would like to to a very through search – if possible, what we’d call a grid search.

But to do this, they will need as many people as possible. Jeff Sloop [Jay’s Grandson] would ask that everyone that can, please come to the Union office in Kiev, at Luk’yanovskaya ulitsa, 9/10B – (ул. Лукьяновская 9Б). (Phone: 467-50-49) He would like to keep people as safe as possible and not have anyone get injured while searching, so please use good judgement both in deciding if you can help, as well as when you are searching.

Even more helpful would be mountaineering people who might have ropes, harnesses and rock-climbing experience to search areas that are less accessible.

With both kinds of people we can have people searching the areas they are most capable of searching without having anyone in a place they won’t be safe in.

So, could you please contact any friends you may have in Kiev and the surrounding areas that could possibly take some time to search for Jay.

Again – I’m reachable via phone or email should you have questions or comments.

So, again – the request is this:

Ask anyone you know in Kiev to come out and search for Jay

When: 8a local time on Thursday, May 16, 2013

Where: Meet at : SDA Union Office: Luk’yanovskaya ulitsa, 9/10B [ул. Лукьяновская 9/10А / ул. Лукьяновская 9Б]

Google maps link: https://maps.google.com/maps?q=50.464012,+30.505832+&hl=en&sll=50.463477,30.505224&sspn=0.003118,0.005761&t=h&z=16

What: They will be searching this area: Zamkova Gora [or Zamkova Hora]

Google maps link: https://maps.google.com/maps?q=50.464012,+30.505832+&hl=en&ll=50.462183,30.511597&spn=0.006236,0.011523&sll=50.463477,30.505224&sspn=0.003118,0.005761&t=h&z=17

Also, if you or anyone there knows someone with ropes and harnesses and experience, please bring them. There are areas to search where these will be useful, perhaps necessary.
Thanks so much.

Please forward via email, facebook, twitter etc. We would really like to get as much participation as possible. Every hour that passes may be critical. Certainly things become more and more dire the more time that goes by that Jay isn’t found.

-Greg