Governor Rescued From Rapids

S A N T A  F E, N.M., June 20 -- Experienced river runners rescued New Mexico Gov.Gary Johnson after the Rio Grande flushed him into a dangerous rapids known as the "Toilet Bowl."

One of the rafters who rescued Johnson said the governorviolated basic safety precautions by failing to have flotationbladders in his kayak, running the river alone and heading throughpotentially dangerous rapids beyond his beginner skill level.

Johnson, an avid mountain climber, swimmer and bicycle rider,has been taking kayaking classes at Santa Fe Community College, hisspokeswoman Diane Kinderwater said Tuesday. When friends failed to show up for an outing Sunday, Johnson setout kayaking alone in a section of the river called Pilar Run, justnorth of the Rio Arriba County-Taos County line. "He was on the Rio Grande, and he went down through therapids," Kinderwater said. "And as a beginner, he got tossed outof his kayak, and he floated through the rapids." Ben Goodin, a certified canoe and kayak instructor, was taking araft through the rapids when he saw a kayaker who had been ejectedfrom his boat. Goodin said the kayaker went right through the Toilet Bowl. The standard maneuver through the rapid is to go to the right ofa large rock, Goodin said. The water cuts under the rock on theleft side, creating a potentially dangerous situation that couldpin someone underwater. "He didn't even know where the Toilet Bowl was or what he swamthrough," Goodin said. "He was pretty much in the dark about thewhole thing." Goodin and Marvel Kellogg, a Los Alamos resident who wascanoeing on the river on Sunday, both said the governor should nothave been alone on the river and should have had the properequipment. Kellogg said the Pilar Run is not for beginners. "I think that river running is a very exciting and serioussport with exceptionally inherent dangers," he said. "It's animportant part of tourism in New Mexico. I think [Johnson set] avery poor precedent for how people should be engaging in thisactivity."