Local authorities and volunteers are taking more action in the search for an 84-year-old Bismarck man who has been missing since Friday morning.

Edward "Pepper" Martin left his home on foot at 10 a.m. Friday to rent a car and never returned. Authorities, family members and volunteers have been searching for Martin since Saturday. Bismarck Police Lt. Dan Donlin said on Tuesday that police searched every room of the old Palace Arms Hotel with no sign of Martin.

Anyone who wants to volunteer to help search can meet at 8:30 this morning at the Kiwanis Park at the corner of Washington Street and Sweet Avenue.

Donlin said Tuesday's search included the North Dakota Civil Air Patrol searching the area north of Bismarck to Underwood and back in a plane, and police, Bismarck Mounted Police and volunteers on horses searching the wooded area along the walking path along Riverwood Drive to Fox Island.

In addition, police are using an automated notification system to call residents in the area north from Washington Street to Riverside Park Road up to Main Avenue. The call will remind them to check their property and to remember to look in outbuildings in case Martin may have sought relief from the heat.

Donlin said that so far the police department has gotten between 20 and 25 calls with people reporting sightings that could be Martin. "There is no call too minor," he said. "We are checking out every lead."

Donlin encourages people to make the calls in a timely manner and to try to keep the person they think might be Martin in sight while they are contacting the police.

"Although the family is grateful for information about Martin, they have been getting a lot of calls at home," Donlin said. "We want people with information to call the police, not the family."

Martin is 5 feet, 2 inches tall, and weighs about 150 pounds. He has brown eyes and gray hair. He wears glasses and was last seen wearing light-colored pants and a greenish baseball cap. Police are unsure what kind of shirt he was wearing.

Anyone with information about Martin's whereabouts should call the Bismarck Police Department at 223-1212. Family members are offering a $5,000 reward for information about Martin's whereabouts.

(Reach reporter Katie Brown at 250-8225 or cops@bismarcktribune.net.)