By GARRETT NEESE

gneese@mininggazette.com

WAKEFIELD — Michigan State Police dive teams were back in Lake Superior Monday searching for an Ontonagon County kayaker reported missing earlier this month, said Sgt. James Revoyr of the MSP Wakefield Post.

An upside-down kayak was reported in the Firesteel River area on July 14; a resident saw the kayaker paddling out to Lake Superior about 1 p.m. that day, then saw the kayak unoccupied about an hour later. Police found the empty kayak on the lake, but so far have not found the man, believed to be Dale Venema, 74, of Ontonagon.

The MSP has been assisted in the search by the Ontonagon County Sheriff’s Department, Michigan Department of Natural Resources, U.S. Great Lakes Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Coast Guard. The Ontonagon Harbor Master, Village of Ontonagon employees, and several residents have also helped in the search.