GULF SHORES, Ala. - A boater who disappeared during an outing 11 days earlier was found lying in a roadside ditch, incoherent and dirty but with no apparent serious injuries, authorities said. <br>
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Ken Ketterman, 36, of Chickasaw, was last seen Jan. 20 when he and his wife were in a rented boat near Orange Beach. No one reported seeing Ketterman fall overboard. <br>
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Rescue workers suspended a search for him after three days. The search involved helicopter fly overs, search dogs and divers. <br>
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Ketterman was spotted Thursday evening by a motorist on Fort Morgan Road, said Capt. Mike Patrick of the Alabama Marine Police. He was in a ditch about halfway between Gulf Shores and the tip of the Fort Morgan peninsula. <br>
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Patrick said he and an investigator from the Alabama Bureau of Investigation tried to interview Ketterman but he was incoherent. <br>
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Beth Ketterman said she took over steering the craft in Perdido Pass, then turned to see that her husband was no longer on the 19-foot Carolina Skiff. <br>
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Robert McCarthy, president of the Fort Morgan Volunteer Fire Department, said Ketterman told the rescue crew his name when he was found, but his speech was slurred. <br>
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Patrick said Ketterman provided his wife's telephone number to emergency personnel. <br>
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"We all thought it might be the missing boater," McCarthy said. But, he said, "It just didn't seem possible, after that many days." <br>
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McCarthy said Ketterman seemed to be in pain. "But we couldn't find any damage to him." <br>
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Ketterman was listed in stable condition at South Baldwin Regional Medical Center in Foley, a nursing supervisor said. He was being kept overnight for observation.<br>
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