NH candidate goes missing!

[FTL_Ian]

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=1814181&page=1

[Kat Kanning]

Wild.  Jeb bump him off?

[aries]

Holy crap!

Keep us posted, Ian!

[Lloyd Danforth]

Too bad he was not already elected.  We could, just, not look for him.

[FTL_Ian]

I can't keep you posted, you're the ones in the state!   

[Kat Kanning]

 Congressional candidate found alive after car accident

By CLYNTON NAMUO
Union Leader Correspondent
9 minutes ago

Dover ? A volunteer searcher and her dog found a missing congressional hopeful alive in the woods Thursday night, more than 24 hours after he disappeared after a car accident.

Gary Dodds, 41, of Rye, was found around 10 p.m., about a mile from the accident site near the Dover tolls. He was taken to a hospital to be treated for hypothermia.

Fish and Game Lt. John Wimsatt said Dodds had crossed the Bellamy River and was slipping in and out of consciousness when found.

"I don't have an explanation on how he would end up over there. It is odd," he said.

The searcher who found Dodds said he was about 100 yards from some houses and had covered himself with leaves to stay warm. He called out to her as she approached.

Dodds' wife Cynthia had been helping with the search and was brought to meet him.

Dodds is seeking the U.S. House seat now occupied by Republican Jeb Bradley. He is the chief financial offer and co-founder of Accent Magazine, a home-and-gardens and lifestyle publication based in Portsmouth.

His wife said he does not smoke, drink or use drugs and has never had an affair. A trained EMT, he also knows to stay near the car, she said.

?When you?re running for Congress you owe it to yourself and the voters to be squeaky clean,? said Cyndy Dodds. ?We?re the no drama family.?

Dodds? car crashed about 8:16 Wednesday between Exit 7 and the Dover toll plaza as it traveled south on the Spaulding Turnpike.

The car went over the guard rail on the right side of the road and into some brush nearby, turning around in the process and blocking the driver?s side door.

Dodds ?is believed to be the last known person driving the vehicle,? state police said. No other vehicles were involved in the crash.

Witnesses pulled over soon after the wreck and found the passenger side window open and one set of foot prints, but no one inside, police said.

Police said there was no blood in the car or evidence of serious injuries, but did not rule out the possibility. Since the accident, Dodds has not been seen or heard from and there has been no activity on his credit cards or bank accounts, police said.
4-6-06 Gary Dodds 135

GARY DODDS

His cell phone was last used about 8 p.m. Wednesday, shortly before the accident, according to Cyndy Dodds.

Nobody is certain that Dodds was driving at the time, but so far that is the assumption.

?We believe it was him driving,? said Cyndy Dodds. ?We believe he was alone.?

His campaign manager, Bonnie Winona of Nottingham, said Cyndy Dodds told her that Dodds had attended a campaign-related meeting in Somersworth on Wednesday night and was on his way to Portsmouth to meet privately with his campaign fiscal agent, attorney Frank Meanor Jr. of Bedford.

Winona, who began working for Dodds? campaign in January, described Dodds as ?a wonderful guy. He?s young, healthy, and he?s healthy-living. He?s a martial arts practitioner and he doesn?t drink or smoke or anything like that.?

Police are investigating a report of an unidentified woman spotted by students near the Garrison Elementary School, which is located just across the Bellamy River from the scene of the accident.

?They believe there was a woman walking near the woodline with a gun,? said Capt. Anthony Colarusso of the Dover Police.

Colarusso said police were trying to determine if there was any connection to Dodds and noted that there were footprints found near the water on the other side of the water. The Bellamy River is shallow enough near the school that a person could walk across it.

Rye School Board Chairman Ian Grant said Dodds, as a congressional candidate, ?keeps a much different schedule than most school board members.

?He?s a friend, a friend of the board and the community,? Grant said.

He said he last spoke with Dodds earlier this week, ?and he was very positive. He was walking the district as part of his campaign, meeting people and was excited about the people he was having conversations with.?

Keith Lemerise, who co-founded Accent Magazine with Dodds, described him as ?straight as an arrow.?

?We are praying for his family and hope he shows up,? Lemerise said. ?He is a very strong person.?

According to Dodds? campaign Web site, he is an Illinois native who has lived in New Hampshire since 1974 and earned a master?s degree at the University of New Hampshire.

Since 1988 has been a volunteer firefighter and EMT with the Rye Fire Department.

In 1994, he was elected to the Rye Planning Board, and in 1996 was elected to the Rye School Board, where he serves as vice chairman.

He volunteers for the Center for Student Leadership, a non-profit agency, his Web site says.

Other Democrats seeking to challenge Bradley are state Reps. James Craig and Peter Sullivan, both of Manchester, and Carol Shea-Porter of Rochester.

Dodds is described as 6 feet 1 inch tall, about 180 pounds with brown hair and blue eyes.

State Fish and Game officials took over the search and used 12 dogs to continue looking throughout the night, though most of the ground search was suspended last night due to darkness.

Anyone with information on Dodds or the accident is asked to call the state police at 679-3333.

The Associated Press and Union Leader Senior Political Reporter John DiStaso contributed to this report.

[aries]

Good thing he's OK!

[Lloyd Danforth]

'Kenneth, whats the frequency>'

When the first thing everyone says about you is "He doesn't drink, smoke, do drugs, have affairs"  Ya got to ask yourself what is in this guy's background?

[Dreepa]

'Kenneth, whats the frequency>'

When the first thing everyone says about you is "He doesn't drink, smoke, do drugs, have affairs"  Ya got to ask yourself what is in this guy's background?

That was the first thing that crossed my mind.
But I was thinking... if you talk about it so much then maybe you are the type who wants to ban all this stuff.

[Otosan]

Can anyone type....Alien abduction?   

[Lloyd Danforth]

I don't know how far that guy is from Exeter, but, years ago there were a lot of UFO sightings there.

[Tunga]

Maybe he was abducted by Tunga!

Umm. Tastes like chicken.
But seriously, an air bag deploys with the force of a shotgun blast. People who have been conked on the head often behave in strange ways. Tunga wasn't there, but personal experince tells him it is not nessesary to invoke alcohol or drugs to explain away weird behavior.

[AlanM]

Maybe he was abducted by Tunga!

Umm. Tastes like chicken.
But seriously, an air bag deploys with the force of a shotgun blast. People who have been conked on the head often behave in strange ways. Tunga wasn't there, but personal experince tells him it is not nessesary to invoke alcohol or drugs to explain away weird behavior.

True. Alan witnessed a young girl get her jaw broken by one. The air bag deployed when she mistakenly drove over a curb. She became hysterical and had to be medicated.

[Tunga]

The book was called "Incident at Exeter"

[Lloyd Danforth]

It was in the news for a while when it happened.