Helicopter used to search and rescue tubing party

“Multiple” tubers last weekend on the Chattooga are potentially subject to a federal citation for activity inside a section of the Wild and Scenic river that forbids tubing and watercraft, according to Ranger Robbie Sitzlar of the Andrew Pickens District of the U-S Forest Service.  A couple of the tubers required medical help as part of a search and rescue that Scott Krein of Oconee Emergency Services said started late Saturday night and continued for much of Sunday.  Called into help facilitate the rescue was a Blackhawk military helicopter and members of “HART” –the Helicopter Aquatic Rescue Team.  Krein says the Blackhawk was positioned above the river at the Big Bend section off highway 107 and hoisted them off the river.