I would like to start off by thanking everyone for their time and dedication during the months of December and January. There were a number of searches in and around our county as well as the mutual aid callout to Kern County. Victor Valley had two in one day, Rim SAR had a couple, West Valley SAR, Central and the Cave Team were busy as well. The Morongo Teams had a bone search training, Barstow had a few searches along with a mine training just last week with the Cave Team and San G had a search or two. A number of our units responded to the Kern County search with responders from just about every unit in our county. Thanks to all who participated.
During this time our members also participated in the Sheriff’s Gift of Love program, the 5th Annual Directors Breakfast, Januarys SAR Council Meeting and the various unit installation diners. As you can see our SAR members were very active during this period of time.
I would like to also thank all of the board members of the SAR Council who got out in January to attend the various unit meetings and installation dinners. Mike, Frank, Diana and Ron were on the road all month. If you did not see anyone from the Council at your January meeting, you better be watching your doors in February, one of or more us will be there….lol.
We have a number of events coming up in the next few months, at this time I would like to remind you about them. They are as follows:
Commanders/Coordinators Meeting:
This event will be on Saturday, February 11th. All SAR Unit Commanders, their Unit Board of Directors and Unit Coordinators are invited to attend Breakfast will be at 7:15 with the General Session starting at 8 a.m. Following the general session there will be a breakout session where each board officer will receive training for their respective office. This meeting will be at the following location: Immanual Baptist Church, 28355 E. Baseline, Highland.
After many years of hard work the AEMT program has finally been approved. The Advance Emergency Medical Technician (AEMT) training program is now being put into place. Wes Podboy the chairman of this program is asking that all SAR Unit Commanders who are interested in this training for their units to attend a meeting that he has scheduled. All requirements, qualifications and equipment needs will be brought up at this time. The meeting will be at headquarters on Thursday, February 16th, starting at 7 p.m.
BSAR ACADEMY:
The first class of the year will be conducted on the weekends of March 17 and 18, March 31 - April 1 and April 14 and 15. If you have new members who have received their orders and ID Cards please contact Stella at Volunteer Forces to reserve them a seat for this class. All BSAR Mentors from the last two classes are invited back to help with the overnight exercise on April 14th. Please contact me (Dave Nicolet) to let me know if you can assist or not. If you would like to be a BSAR Mentor for future classes I will put you on a list to be added when vacancies occur. NOTE: For the first time the BSAR Staff will be offering to our members the opportunity to do their Basic BSAR Skills Certifications at the school. This is for members who for one reason or the other have not been able to certify with their units. If you have members who need to certify you must call Volunteer Forces to reserve a spot. The member must have approval to attend by their Unit Commander and Coordinator. Classes are limited to 15 members per class. Certification days will be on Saturday March 17th 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., Sunday March 18th 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. and on Saturday March 31st 9 a.m. to noon. Members must bring all of their own equipment as required to attend.
THE SHERIFFS 10K TRAIL RUN:
This event will be held on Sunday March 11th at the Sheriffs Academy in Glen Helen. All proceeds are going to go to the SAR Council who then will have the funds to purchase equipment for our SAR Units. We need manpower assistance for this event and we are hoping that you can help to support this effort. Setup personnel will be needed for Saturday, if you have ATV’s, Rhinos etc they will be needed as well. Sunday we will need members to help conduct this event and people to help tear down afterwards. If you have any members of your unit that can assist please contact Mike Ward or Ron Pesch to let them know with a headcount ASAP. Hope to see you all their.
MSAR COUNTYWIDE TRAINING:
The third time is the charm! The Apple Valley Posse will once again try to host this event. Unfortunately, due to circumstance beyond their control the last two attempts have been canceled. The 6th Annual Training will now be held in May 2012. It will be at the Mojave Narrows Regional Park.
OHVSAR COUNTYWIDE TRAINING:
The 2nd Annual OHVSAR Training will beheld this spring hosted by the Bear Valley SAR unit. Mike Westover, our county chairman will be releasing more information about this training in the very near future. This training will be held in May of this year. We will keep you posted.
VOLUNTEER APPRECIATION PICNIC:
Bring your family to the Sheriffs Appreciation Picnic that will be held on June 2nd of this year. It will be held at the Yucaipa Regional Park for you and all of our other volunteers of San Bernardino County. This is a outstanding picnic with great food, raffles, things for the kids to enjoy and much more. Don’t miss this, this is just a another way that the department has to thank you for all of your volunteer time.
SAR COUNCIL MEETING:
The next meeting of the SAR Council will be held on Wednesday, March 21, 2012. It will be at Headquarters and will start at 7 p.m. Remember to send your Unit Representatives and that this meeting is open to all of our members as well. On a quick note, I would like to thank Under Sheriff Abernathy, Assistant Sheriff McMahon and Deputy Chief Cook for attending our last two meeting to address our membership about SAR vehicles. Their assistance with this matter has been outstanding, all of us do appreciate there efforts to resolve the issues that were facing many of our units.
As you can see that once again we have a busy schedule ahead, I hope to see each and everyone of you at these various events. Until then I hope that you are and remember to….