MAN STRANDED IN WOODS.(CAPITAL REGION)

Byline: KENNETH C. CROWE II and BRUCE A. SCRUTON Staff writers

Malta A 28-year-old man paralyzed below the waist by a neurological disease was found late Thursday night trying to crawl for help after the golf cart he uses blew a tire, leaving him stranded in the woods.

For about five hours, Gary P. Clancy of Lot No. 7, Avenue E, Malta Gardens Trailer Park, dragged himself along the wooded path. He was discovered by a neighbor who was among a search party of sheriff's deputies, firefighters and forest rangers.

``He wasn't hurt much,'' said his mother, Donna Holly, ``but he was getting eaten by the mosquitoes.''

According to his mother, Clancy left about 4 p.m. Thursday in a gas-powered golf cart he uses for recreation within the park and on nearby unmarked trails. About an hour later, the cart hit a deep rut and blew the tire.

It also was about that time that Holly noticed her son had gone out with the cart. ``But when he didn't get back by 8:30, I called the police,'' she said.

The Saratoga County Sheriff's Department, Malta Ambulance Corps, Round Lake Fire Department, state Forest Ranger Rick Requa and local residents began searching the area shortly after that. At about 11:05 p.m., neighbor Vincent Parent found Clancy crawling along a dirt trail near Malta Commons Business Park. The business park is several hundred yards north of Malta Gardens.

His crawl of about 100 yards left him with cut knees and feet, and he was taken to Saratoga Hospital in Saratoga Springs.

Holly said Friday that things have calmed down some. ``But he wants to get out there again,'' she said.