Missing boater identified

SANDPOINT — The search is still on for a Washington man who was last seen setting out in a small boat on Lake Pend Oreille on Wednesday.

Bonner County Sheriff's officials have identified the man as 53-year-old Bruce Hamilton of Puyallup. Hamilton is described as 5-feet, 5-inches tall, weighing 160 pounds. He is balding and has blue eyes. He was last seen wearing a black baseball hat, black sweatshirt, shorts and tennis shoes.

Hamilton was last seen leaving shore at Sunrise Bay in Sagle in a small canoe-type boat fitted with with a 2-horsepower motor at about 11 a.m. The boat he was in was found several hours later upright and empty near the Sunnyside Peninsula, which is about 2 miles north of Sunrise Bay.

The weather was calm and the boat was seaworthy when Hamilton went missing, said Sheriff's Lt. Cary Kelly, supervisor of the county's marine patrol.

Searchers spent Wednesday night and Thursday looking for Hamilton. A dive team was pressed into service to look for Hamilton in Sunrise Bay, but the search turned up nothing, Sheriff's officials said.

The investigation is ongoing.

Those with information about Hamilton's whereabouts, or those who might have spotted anything on the lake are asked to call Bonner Dispatch at 265-5525.