Search for Jones delayed yet again
By BENJAMIN C. SHARP bensharp@journal-spectator.com

Colorado River levels above 14 feet are continuing to prevent law enforcement divers from searching for the car of missing Wharton County radio personality Bobby Jones.

And though surface-level testing this past week was inconclusive in determining what may lie beneath the river's muddy waters, officials still believe a vehicle of some kind remains submerged somewhere between the bridge in Wharton and the low water dam downstream.

"There was an object that rolled down the side of the riverbank and went into the water. Whatever went in, it did not come back up," said Detective Grady Smith of the Wharton Police Department, which is assisting the Sheriff's Department in the investigation.

Those tracks, near Los Cucos Mexican Restaurant, were noticed on June 23. That coincided with the disappearance of Jones, an employee of El Campo Radio Station KULP who also performed with his own polka band.

Investigators at first felt the two incidents were unrelated. They changed their tune, however, after police Sgt. Justin Moran found the license plate from Jones's missing Chevrolet Lumina stuck in a sapling at the water's edge.

Smith said Thursday that police have also recovered "plastic fragments" that are consistent with the turn signal light covers found on the make and model of the car Jones drove.

But until the river drops, no further investigation or salvage operation will be undertaken.

Officials want the river to fall below 12 feet, and, hopefully, to also have the flow drop below 800 cubic feet per second.

It was originally anticipated to be close to those conditions sometime this week, but upstream rainfall has kept the river around 14 feet. On Friday afternoon, the river was at 14.52 feet and had a flow of 3,500 cfs.

National Weather Service forecasts now call for the river to dip below 12 feet late Monday night or early Tuesday.