Nature never overlooks a mistake,
or makes the smallest allowance
for ignorance. —Thomas H. Huxley,
1825-1895 A Liberal Education, 1868
Fear is the father of courage
and the mother of safety. —Henry H. Tweedy,
1868-1953,
Sermon
Nothing
is so much
to be feared as fear. —Henry
D. Thoreau, 1817-1862 Journal, 1851
My
life is like
a stroll upon the beach,
as near the ocean's edge
as I can go. —Henry
D. Thoreau, 1817-1862 My Life is like a . . . , 1849
To
drink in
the spirit of a place
you should be
not only alone
but not hurried. —George
Santayana, 1863-1952 The Letters of George Santayana
He
travels the fastest
who travels alone. —Rudyard
Kipling, 1865-1936 Soldiers Three: The Winners, 1888
The
man who goes alone
can start today,
but he who travels with
another must wait
till that other is ready. —Henry
D. Thoreau, 1817-1862 Walden: Economy, 1854
There
is no denying
that most of us,
when we arrive
at a place,
immediately begin
to think of other places
to which
we may go from it. —Robert
Lynd, The Blue Lion
Happiness
is not
a station you arrive at,
but a manner of traveling. —Margaret
L. Runbeck
O to be self-balanced
for contingencies,
to confront night, storms,
hunger, ridicule, accidents,
rebuffs, as the trees
and animals do. —Walt Whitman,
1819-1892 Leaves of Grass, 1855
A closed mouth
gathers no feet. —Anonymous
The laws of nature
are the same everywhere.
Whoever violates them
anywhere must always
pay the penalty. —Carl Schurz,
1829-1906
Nature is not governed
except by obeying her. —Francis Bacon,
1561-1626 De Augmentis Scientiarum
Nature's rules
have no exceptions. —Herbert Spencer,
1820-1903 Social Statistics, 1851
Nature pardons
no mistakes.
Her yea is yea,
and her nay, nay. —Ralph W. Emerson,
1803-1882 Nature, Addresses, &
Lectures: Discipline
For Nature is one
with rapine, a harm
no preacher can heal;
the mayfly is torn
by the swallow,
the sparrow spear'd
by the shrike,
and the whole
little wood where I sit
is a world of
plunder and prey. —Alfred Tennyson,
1809-1892 Maud, 1855
Sails ripp'd,
seams op'ning wide,
and compass lost —William Cowper,
1731-1800 On Rcpt of My Mother's Picture
Though
pleased to see
the dolphins play,
I mind my compass and my way. —Matthew
Green, 1696-1737 The Spleen
Skill'd
in the globe and sphere, he gravely stands
and,
with his compass,
measures seas and lands. —John
Dryden, 1631-1700 Sixth Satire of Juvenal
.
Revised on
August 21, 2019 4:01 PM
Web site short URL: www.MibSAR.com I don't know what
your destiny will be,
but one thing I do know:
the only ones among you
who will be really happy
are those who have sought
and found how to serve. —Albert Schweitzer,
1875-1965
French theologian, medical missionary,
philosopher, musician,
and Nobel Peace Prize winner
You're visitor number...
Chimo!** Welcome to the Web portal of Michael Neiger's Michigan Backcountry
Search and Rescue (MibSAR), a small, largely non-motorized, Long-Range Special
Operations Group (LRSOG) organized as a Community Emergency
Response Team(CERT) under the auspices of the U.S. Department
of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Michigan Department of State Police (MSP).
**Chimo
is an ancient Inuit—or Eskimoan—term used
to convey the warmest of greetings and salutations. It's
often accompanied by a friendly hand gesture; namely,
a circular movement of the left hand over one's heart.
People who say it cannot be done,
...should not interrupt those who are doing it. —Anonymous
Founded and run by Michael
Neiger, an independent investigator in Marquette, Michigan, MibSAR's Long-Range Special Operations Group (LRSOG) is dedicated to working select unsolved missing-person cases and felony cold cases in the remote bush between the Great Lakes in northern Michigan, USA, and the Arctic Ocean’s Lower Hudson Bay in Ontario, Canada.
Important Notice:
While Michael Neiger's special operations group (SOG) collaborates with law enforcement agencies, search-and-rescue
teams, task forces, and strike teams regarding on-going investigations
and operations, his special operations group (SOG) is not a traditional, paid, professional, "first-response," search-and-rescue unit.
Because
the search must continue,
...so loved ones aren't left behind. —MibSAR's credo
His SOG is one of 'last
resort' that specializes in working on select missing-person and felony investigations, primarily ones that have been suspended by the agency
of jurisdiction.
An incident requiring an emergency search and rescue (SAR) response should be immediately referred
to the agency with jurisdiction over the area where the incident
occurred—often a sheriffs department in Michigan; or the Ontario
Provincial Police (OPP) in Ontario, Canada—by calling 911 immediately.
On certain, select cases, Michael Neiger also designs, maintains, and hosts investigative Web sites; designs, prints, and distributes
investigative posters; underwrites monetary rewards; and arranges for anonymous, toll-free tip lines and online tip-reporting programs through Crime Stoppers.
All of Michael Neiger's SOG investigations, searches, services, CSI operations, work products, and consults
are provided absolutely free of charge to victims, their families and advocates, and police departments.
Those
who can,
...do.
Those who can do more,
...volunteer. —Anonymous
Notice: Michael Neiger is not currently recruiting volunteer searchers.
Michael Neiger occasionally seeks a very-fit, non-smoking volunteer or two to work with him during his special operations group (SOG) investigations and field operations.
Because he sometimes works
the bush fully equipped and provisioned for long-range operations—at times without
support or resupply for up to 10 days—his SOG is considered
a heavy one by conventional SAR standards.
Since many of his cases are sensitive, criminal investigations, some involving working hand-in-hand with local-, county-, and state-level law enforcement agencies, or perhaps federal-level ones such as the FBI, ATF, and DHS, volunteers must be discrete and have spotless criminal histories.
Michael Neiger is a certified
SAR TECH II by the National Association for Search and Rescue (NASAR)
To volunteer, candidates must be hard-core, dyed-in-the-wool bushmen
and bushwomen, ones who thrive in remote, inhospitable wilderness.
They must be at their best with map-and-compass in-hand, living out of a rucksack,
panier, sledge, or canoe for days—sometimes up to a week or two—at a time.
They must be
survivalists by nature, foul-weather-ready, and fully-equipped for off-trail travel, whether in the stifling heat and humidity of a never-ending swamp in the middle of summer, or the minus 40 degree below Fahrenheit standing temperatures (not windchill) of a wind-swept ice sheet on the Arctic Ocean's Lower Hudson Bay.
They must be very experienced, with lots of time trekking and bivouacking off trail though challenging bush under a wide range of wilderness conditions.
To learn more about volunteering
with Michael Neiger, click
here.
The best way to do good to ourselves,
...is to do it to others;
the right way to gather,
Is to scatter. —Lucius Annaeus Seneca
a.k.a. Seneca the Younger, 4 B.C. - 65 A.D.
Roman statesman, philosopher, and writer
Michael Neiger is a member in
good standing of the following professional organizations:
National Association for Search and Rescue (NASAR)
International Society of Professional Trackers
(ISPT)
International Association of Cold Case Investigators
(IACCI)
International Crime Scene Investigation Association
(ICSIA)
International Homicide Investigators Association
(IHIA).
Do
all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can. —John Wesley, 1703-1791
Christian theologian and founder of Methodism John Wesley's Rule
MibSAR was
founded by Michael Neiger in 2008, shortly after an article—headlined
"Search for missing man suspended"—appeared in
the July 19, 2008 issue of the Mining
Journal (Marquette, Michigan).
July 19, 2008
issue of the
Mining Journal (Marquette,
Michigan)
Buried deep
inside the Upper Peninsula's largest daily paper, the short, 5
paragraph news briefing
immediately caught Michael's attention.
Perhaps it
was because he'd backpacked through this area just a few weeks
prior...
Maybe it was
the plight of the family...
The Mining
Journal reported the man—Joe Clewley—had gone missing
"in a remote area of Whitefish Township," apparently
along a section of the North Country Trail (NCT) located in Tahquamenon
Falls State Park, just south of Paradise, Michigan.
As a recently-retired
Det./Sgt. with the Michigan State Police; decades-long, off-trail
Canadian wilderness guide; solo expeditioner; and a member of
the North Country Trail Association (NCTA), he wondered if he
could be of any assistance to the Sheriff's Office and the Clewley
Family.
Figuring the Chippewa County Sheriff's
Office SAR resources must be stretched to the limit, and the Clewley
Family must be going through a living hell, he contacted the Undersheriff
of Chippewa County with an offer of assistance.
After learning
both the Sheriff's Office and the Clewley Family would "most
certainly welcome your assistance," Michael packed his rucksack
with foul-weather gear and 5 days worth of rations; called his
partner Chris Ozminski to alert him to the SAR mission at hand;
and began what would be a years-long SAR effort in the remote,
eastern reaches of Tahquamenon Falls State Park.
Thank
you again for all your efforts. I don't know what good deed
gave us the blessing of having you [Michael Neiger] in our lives
at this particular moment in time; but I'm forever grateful
that we have had your unwavering support, expertise and commitment
towards Dad's search. As
you can imagine, being in Alabama has distanced me from the
search efforts...Your communications are a lifeline for all
of us. Thank you again Michael; at the end of this journey
I hope we can somehow return this gift to you. God bless. —Jamie (Clewley) Anderson,
Opelika, Alabama, daughter of Joe Clewley, Sr., September 2,
2008
Thank you for [your] continued
diligence in the quest to find my Dad. It makes it easier to
continue to push through to the next available time for searching
when I know that you guys are out there covering the most likely
places that he could be. My family can not begin to thank you
enough, we are blessed to have such good people as you [Michael
Neiger] & Chris [Ozminski] helping to locate him.
Very grateful. —Teresa Clewley, daughter
of Joe Clewley, Sr., October 2, 2008
I would like to add my continued
thanks to Mike [Neiger] and Chris [Ozminski] for the undying
efforts that you have displayed. Thank you for the website and
the searches, it has been a comfort when we aren't able to be
there. I hope that we are able to locate my father soon to put
this tragedy to rest. I also would like to thank everyone who
has responded to the thread [blog], I don't feel so alone with
your responses.
Thank you everyone. —Tkdjunkie (Russ Clewley),
son of Joe Clewley, Sr., Backpacker.Com Midwest Forum, October
3, 2008
While Joe's whereabouts—as
well as the circumstances surrounding his disappearance—remain
a mystery to this day, MibSAR has been able to make substantial
progress in the investigation after years of hard work in the
bush:
Hey Mike [Neiger]...I just wanted
to say thank you for the clue. It was getting very frustrating
to search without any sign of my dad. After approximately fifty
days of searching, you somewhat broke the case with your discovery....
Anyway, thanks again for the help and the
reassurance that there is still hope, through any little clue,
that we might find my dad. —Joe Clewley, Jr., Lansing,
Michigan, son of Joe Clewley, Sr., September 6, 2008
Special thanks must
go out to Mike Neiger and Chris Ozminski. They have dedicated
most of their summer searching diligently in the search area. A personal
thanks to them is needed as their searching came up with some
very pertinent/hard-to-find evidence that has led this investigation
in a certain direction.
Mr. Neiger is a survivalist with an extensive
Law Enforcement background. His knowledge in the preservation
of evidence and crime lab expertise has been a great help in
the field. —Det./Sgt.
Mike Bitnar, lead investigator, Chippewa County Sheriff's Office,
October 23, 2008
Since the
Joseph Clewley investigation is currently an open and active police
investigation, the Sheriff's Office has requested that no additional
information be released about the case at this time.
MibSAR continues
to search for any sign of Joe in the hope that one day, hopefully
soon, they may be able to reunite this beloved man with his bereaved
family.
Thank you again for the time
Chris [Ozminski] and you [Michael Neiger] have dedicated to
finding my dad and helping my family....I know that my family
and I look at you guys as more than dedicated searchers....[you're]
friends. —Joe Clewley, Jr., Lansing,
Michigan, son of Joe Clewley, Sr., December 2, 2008
To learn more
about this baffling, protracted case, visit Joe's missing-person
Web site, which is maintained
courtesy of MibSAR.
We make a living by what we get,
...but we make a life by what we give. —Sir Winston Leonard
Spencer Churchill, 1874-1965
British Prime Minister, statesman, orator, and author
As part of his community outreach
program, Michael Neige does archaeological- and historic-site mapping,
and artifact-scatter documentation, for governmental units, including
Michigan's Office of the State Archaeologist.
He also also periodically brushes
out and removes deadfalls, debris, and other hazards from the Noquemanon
Trail Network's South Trail singletracks in Marquette, Michigan.
Through his Extreme Maps for Extreme
Races initiative, Michael Neiger provides 1:24,000-scale racecourse
cartography—course maps and elevation profiles—for race
directors coordinating long-distance, muscle-powered, endurance
events in the Midwest.
If you
want happiness for an hour,
...take a nap.
If you want happiness for a day,
...go fishing.
If you want happiness for a year,
...inherit a fortune.
If you want happiness for a lifetime,
...help someone else. —Ancient Chinese proverb
Michael Neiger would like to thank
his many generous, civic-minded partners for supporting his efforts
at reuniting the missing with their loved ones.
Thank You!
When you cease to make
a contribution,
...you begin to die. —Anna Eleanor Roosevelt,
1884-1962
Civil rights advocate, author, speaker, politician, and activist
Wife of President Franklin D. Roosevelt
In God's
wilderness
lies the hope of the world,
the great, fresh, unblighted,
unredeemed wilderness. —
John Muir, 1838-1914 Alaska Wilderness,
1890
If
you've been able to read this Web page...
thank a Teacher;
If you've been able to read this Web page in English...
thank a Veteran. —Author
unknown
•
Disclaimer notice • The information contained on this Web page and this Web site
is provided solely for information, illustrative, and discussion purposes.
Although the author has
made a sincere effort to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information
presented on this Web page and this Web site, no warranty is expressed
or implied.
The author assumes no responsibility
or liability for any injuries, damages, losses, or other consequences
that may result from the use of the information contained on this Web
page and this Web site.
As with any human endeavor,
omissions, inaccuracies, and errors will occur on this Web page and this
Web site and the author makes no representations or warranties with respect
to the accuracy or completeness of the information presented or that the
information presented will produce any particular result or be suitable
for any particular situation, person, organization, or other entity.
While corrections and revisions
may or may not be made from time to time, any changes made to this Web
page and this Web site are made without obligation to notify any person,
organization, or other entity of any such changes.
The activities associated
with the information contained on this Web page and this Web site are
by their very nature inherently dangerous and the information presented
can not take the place of good personal judgment, sound decision-making,
professional training, proper equipage, adequate physical fitness, and
expert guidance by trained, experienced, certified, licensed, practicing
professionals.
•
All rights reserved •
No part of this Web page or this Web site protected by copyright law may
be reproduced, transmitted, or used in any form—including graphic,
electronic, Web, mechanical or other for—or by any means—including
photocopying, recording, taping, Internet distribution, information storage
retrieval system, or by other means—for any purpose, except by a
reviewer, who may quote brief passages, without the prior, express, written
permission of the author.
Comments?
Suggestions? Dead links? Inaccurate info? Contact the WebMaster, Michael A. Neiger, at mneiger@hotmail.com
Some people
dream of worthy accomplishments,
others
stay awake and do them. —Anonymous
Bear-den recon 101
by Team MibSAR...
Click
here or on image to
view a video of MibSAR's Chris Ozminski reconing a bear
den on a 5-day, Sept 24-28, 2008 SAR
Operation in support of the Joe
Clewley Investigation. (Video by Chris Ozminski)
We take
risks
not to escape Life,
...but to prevent
Life from escaping us. —Anonymous
The 1944 wreckage of a
U.S. Army B-17 Flying Fortress found on a July 2008 SAR
training operation in the Porcupine Mountains by Dennis
Waite
and Michael Neiger.
Nature's
laws affirm
instead of prohibiting.
If you violate her laws
you are your own
prosecuting attorney,
judge, jury, and hangman. —Luther
Burbank, 1849-1926
I
follow nature
as the surest guide,
and resign myself,
with implicit obedience,
to her sacred ordinances. —Marcus
T. Cicero, 106-43 B.C.
All
paths lead nowhere,
so it is important
to choose a path
that has heart. —Carlos
Castaneda
Improvements
make
straight roads;
but the crooked roads
without improvement
are the roads of genius. —William
Blake
We
shall not
cease from exploration
And the end
of all our exploring
Will be to arrive
where we started
And know the place
for the first time. —Thomas.
S. Elliot, 1888-1965 Four Quartets: Little Gidding, 1942
The
clearest way
into the Universe is
through a forest wilderness. —John
Muir, 1838-1914 John of the Mountains, 1938
There
is a great deal of
unmapped country within us. —George
Eliot, 1819-1880 Daniel Deronda
Look
at this vigorous plant
that lifts its head from
the meadow, see how its leaves
are turned to the north,
as true as the magnet;
this is the compass-flower,
that the finger of god
has planted here
in the houseless wild,
to direct the traveler's journey. —Henry
W. Longfellow, 1807-1882 Evangeline, 1847
I
shall be telling this with a sigh—
somewhere ages and ages
hence; two roads diverged
in a wood, and I—I took
the one less traveled by, and
that has made all the difference. —Robert
Frost, 1874-1963 The Road Not Taken, 1916, stanza
4
I
think there is a fatality in it—
I seldom go to the place
I set out for. —Laurence
Sterne, 1713-1768
As
light and the day
are free to all men,
so nature has left all lands
open to brave men. —Caius
Tacitus, Circa AD 55-117 History
Books
are the compasses
and telescopes and sextants
and charts which other men
have prepared to help us
navigate the dangerous
seas of human life. —Jesse
Lee Bennett, 1885-1931 Books as Guides
They must be
survivalists by nature, foul-weather-ready, and fully-equipped for off-trail travel, whether in the stifling heat and humidity of a never-ending swamp in the middle of summer, or the minus 40 degree below Fahrenheit standing temperatures (not windchill) of a wind-swept ice sheet on the Arctic Ocean's Lower Hudson Bay. 
Fiskars
