Director's Dialogue, May 2010
Saturday, May 1, 2010 at 18:00 Dave Nicolet A large number of our SAR personnel from around the county attended the funeral services held in Yucca Valley for Gary Card who was a member of the Morongo Basin SAR Unit. As most of you know Gary had a fatal heart attack while participating on a hasty search April 26th in Wonder Valley, a small community east of 29 Palms. On behalf of all parties concerned I would like to thank all of those members who found the time to attend.
Sheriff Hoops was in attendance along with most of the Executive Staff, I know that the family members and our SAR members were very glad to see all of them there. Once again the Sheriff and the department have been very supportive and willing to assist the family during this time of crisis.
Considering the circumstances the day went very well…. a Celebration of Life, a Viewing and Graveside Services were conducted. Captain Don Miller of the Morongo Station had some very nice words to say about Gary and his contributions and dedication to the Morongo SAR unit.
All of Gary’s family was very appreciative of the support that our SAR community and the Department showed them on this sad day. From all of us we wish them the very best and offer our sincere condolences. Gary will be missed!
The 5th Annual MSAR Countywide Training was held during the month of April. We would like to give a big thanks to the IESARC’s MSAR Committee Chair Hap Hatch for all of his time and efforts to put on this fine training.
The day started off with coffee and donuts during registration, then everyone moved to a training overview conducted by Mike Ward with the help of Cpl. Dan Whitten. They covered areas such as; search techniques, evidence handling, radio procedures, tracking and other SAR related subjects.
After the overview the members were divided up into teams and began a mock search for two little girls who had disappeared from their campsite. Evidence was collected and after four hours in the saddle the subjects were found. Everyone learned a lot, had a chance to participate in a search and got to know and work with members from other units, it was a fun training day!
One of the other reasons for this fun training day was because of the support and organization of the hosting unit West Valley Posse. What a terrific job they did with the meal, laying out the search and being well organized. Commander John Greco should be very proud of his membership for all of their efforts. We would also like to thank Sgt. Deb Bauman for her assistance as well, and again thanks to all who participated and to all who ran this event.
Speaking of events, we have the Sheriff's Mud Run coming up on the morning of May 22nd. We are hoping for a large turnout from our SAR members. This is really a fun event to see and participate in. Volunteers are needed to help conduct this run and we hope that many of you can attend.
If you plan on volunteering to help out please let your Unit Coordinators know. The Unit Coordinators have been asked that by no later than May 14th that they provide the following information: They need to have the names of those who plan on attending, what type of equipment they can provide (quads etc…no horses this year by the way) and the person who is going to attend t-shirt size. (Each of the volunteers who sign-up ahead of time will receive a free Mud Run t-shirt to take home).
The Unit Coordinators need then to contact Dep. Marion Brown at: mbrowne@sbcsd.org or call 909-387-0641. Or they can contact Cpl. Matt Yost at: myoust@sbcsd.org or call 909-473-2532. Hope to see you there!
At this time we would like to announce that there has been a personnel change at Volunteer Forces. Sgt. Jeff Morgan will be leaving us on May the 22nd. We want to thank him for his three years of service and dedication to our volunteers. We would also like to wish him the best with his new endeavors. It has been a pleasure working with him!
Replacing Sgt. Morgan will be Sgt. Jeff Joling from the Morongo Station. Sgt. Joling has been the SAR Sgt. at that station for a number a years and will contribute greatly to Volunteer Forces in the future. Sgt. Joling does plan on attending the next SAR Council Meeting so that you will have the opportunity to meet him. We also wish him the best of luck with this new assignment.
The next meeting of the SAR Council will be on Wednesday May 19th, at Headquarters and the meeting will start at 7 p.m.
Are you a member of Facebook? Well if you are come and join us on the “Inland Empire Search and Rescue Council” facebook group page. We have started this page to have a place were we all can exchange photos, talk a little about SAR and hopefully have a little fun. It’s a private page just for our SAR personnel and all photos, discussions, posts etc. are private to just those members who join.
If you are interested in joining this page go to www.facebook.com and in the Search Box type in: Inland Empire Search and Rescue Council. The page should come up and it will ask if you want to send a request to become a member. Your membership will then be approved by the administrators of this page.
Please do not think that this is to be used in-place of the official www.sbsar.org website…that is not the purpose. This page is just for the sharing of ideas, talking about SAR and posting what is on your mind about SAR. We hope that you join us.
Some quick reminders!
We mentioned in the last Directors Dialogue that the SAR Council had been able to obtain funding for some equipment purchases. We asked if you could get back to us about some ideas about what type of safety equipment that we could purchase for the units. We didn’t hear back from a lot of you, so please if you have an idea or two contact me ASAP at dnicolet@sbsar.org
The Council has also been talking to Aviation…the Helitac Classes are going to begin soon. The SAR Council will be hosting two of these trainings during the summer. The hoist arms are going to be reinstalled shortly and we are in the process of setting up some training dates…as soon as we know when…. we will be sending out a memo to all of you so that you and/or your unit can get signed up.
The SAR Council has, thanks to Mike Ward, started the filming of the Dean Christy Docudrama that we have been talking about. The first filming of the reenactment begin last month and now will continue for the next year until completed.
And last but not least…
SAR Email Addresses…If you are not logged in please do so ASAP. If you don’t know how or know your address/password please get a hold of Cpl. Dan Whitten at dwhitten@sbsar.org and he will assist you in getting you logged in.
Until I see you again………with a lot of heartfelt sincerity…please…
Be Safe,
Dave Nicolet,
Director, Inland Empire Search and Rescue Council
dnicolet@sbsar.org
760-363-7475
760-831-5743
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