Woman finds boy’s message in a bottle

ALBANY, Ore. — Eller, if you’re out there, someone found your message in a bottle.

Desiree White, a Toledo resident, was walking her three dogs with her husband, Ben, at Agate Beach State Wayside near Newport on Nov. 9 when something in Big Creek caught her eye.

“It was a soda bottle, but it had a cork in it,” White said.

So the 29-year-old opened up the Jarritos bottle and wriggled out a piece of paper wrapped around a pencil. It was wet and ripped a bit, but she was still able to read it.

“Hi, my name is Eller,” the message read. “I am 5 years old. I live in Corvallis OR. If you find this please write me back. If you are stranded on an island I will send you a piece of paper and pen to tell us where you are and we will go save you.”

White said the note didn’t contain a phone number or address and she didn’t think to keep the bottle, but she still has the note.

White said she was lucky to have found it during what was otherwise just a “spur of the moment” beach trip.

“You find some really awesome stuff down there,” she said. “I was excited.”

She shared the news with friends and family, including an aunt who posted a photo of the note in a Corvallis-based Facebook group.

“Everybody thought it was pretty cool,” White added. “It’s not every day that you find something like that.”

White said it would be awesome if Eller knew that someone found his note, even though it won’t result in a rescue.

“If (he) reached out, that’d be pretty cool too.”