White Bear Lake / Search for missing cadet resumes on local lakes
Deputy also makes aerial sweep as ice goes out, waters are calm
BY JOHN BREWER
Pioneer Press
Article Last Updated: 03/29/2007 11:09:54 PM CDT</p>
<p>The search for Nicholas Rossini has resumed. </p>
<p>The Ramsey County sheriff’s water patrol put men and boats on Bald Eagle and Birch lakes Thursday afternoon to look at the waterways near the West Point cadet’s White Bear Lake home. </p>
<p>The patrol decided to search area lakes because they froze over the same day Rossini went missing in December; Bald Eagle and Birch lakes were first because they recently lost their ice, said Cmdr. Joe Paget of the water patrol. </p>
<p>Searchers will move onto the still partially frozen White Bear Lake when it opens up and start a land search later, he said. The search is also airborne, with a deputy surveying the water from aboard a State Patrol helicopter. </p>
<p>“These lakes are relatively clear,” Paget said. “There isn’t a lot of boat traffic on them this time of year. So we do have a pretty good depth we can see down to. We’re taking advantage of that.” </p>
<p>Even with clear water and calm weather, the search could take days. </p>
<p>The county is working in conjunction with the White Bear Lake Police Department, which is handling the case. </p>
<p>“We don’t want to make assumptions that he’s in the water or drowned at all,” White Bear police Capt. Randy Johnson said. “If anything, we’re trying to eliminate the possibility.” </p>
<p>John Sanders, director of the Ohio-based National Underwater Rescue-Recovery Institute, said now is the time to get into cold freshwater lakes to search. If Rossini’s body is in the water, he said, it would take a while </p>
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<p>before it would show up on its own.
“As long as the water temperature is below 40 degrees, he’s not going to come up,” Sanders said. </p>
<p>Rossini, 21, a 2004 graduate of White Bear Lake Area High School and a first-year cadet at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, left his family’s home sometime the morning of Dec. 17. His family feared he was despondent following a drunken-driving arrest the day before. </p>
<p>Mark Rossini, Nicholas’ father, said Thursday he knew law enforcement planned on searching the lakes for his son. He doesn’t think the young man is in the water. </p>
<p>“It’s kind of a strange thing, because they were pretty sure there wasn’t any problem with the lakes last winter. They checked pretty well everywhere,” he said. “But you know, their attitude has always been, we don’t think so, but we want to cross it off.” </p>
<p>Mark Rossini said dealing with his son’s disappearance hasn’t gotten easier. The latest search is of small comfort. </p>
<p>“It doesn’t move you forward, but it keeps you from going backward,” he said. </p>
<p>John Brewer can be reached at 651-228-2093, or at <a href="mailto:jbrewer@pioneerpress.com">jbrewer@pioneerpress.com</a>. </p>
<p>Nicholas Rossini </p>
<p>Missing since Dec. 17 </p>
<p>Age at time of disappearance: 21 </p>
<p>Call: White Bear Lake police, 651-429-8511</p>
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