Director's Dialogue May 2012

On behalf of our entire Board of Directors of the Inland Empire SAR Council we would like to thank all of the units for their gracious hospitality during our unit visits during the months of January, February and March. It was great to get out to see all of you and for the first time in Council history all of our board members were out and around visiting the units at the same time. All of us had a great time and we will be doing that once again before years end.

It was our goal and objectives during these to visits to inform you of the various events that the Department and Volunteer Forces will be hosting in the near future. Hopefully, we were able to tell you what an outstanding job Volunteer Forces was doing as a whole to review and complete a number of request by your units in regards to the Wish List, our SAR Vehicles and the new AEMT program. Our other purpose was to let you know the status of some of the SAR Councils projects they we have taken on such as the PR Trailer, sponsoring the upcoming MSAR and OHVASR Countywide Trainings, the Sheriffs Rodeo Booth and the motorcycle sale that we were doing for a fund raiser.

Please remember that the SAR Council can be your voice to the department if need be and that at our meetings or visits it can be a time for you to air to us any suggestions, ideas and/or complaints that you may have about anything that is going on in our SAR Community. We are here to aid you and your units and hopefully keep you updated on the activates, policy changes, training requirements and searches that might be going on throughout our county if you haven’t heard about them through the normal channels. We hope that we can answer any questions that you may have and if we cant, then hopefully, we can direct you to the people of your chain of command who can.

Remember your Unit Coordinators and your Station Command personnel, they can answer most of your questions. If not, you can always contact Volunteers Forces, they have an open door policy and are willing and able to assist your units needs and requests. Again, if all else fails contact your SAR Council board members and we will try to find out for you the right direction to go to get you questions answered. We are here to help you and your units in anyway possible!

At this time I would also like to thank all our SAR units for their donations that they made for the two Explorer students who were tragically fatally injured in April. If you could bring those checks, payable to: Inland Empire SAR Council to the next SAR Council meeting it would be appreciated. If you would like to mail your contribution prior to the next meeting please send them to:

San Bernardino County Sheriffs Department

c/o Volunteer Forces IESARC

655 East Third Street

San Bernardino, Calif. 92415-0061

These funds then will be forwarded to S.E.A.T. so that they can be divided up between the two families. Thank you so much for your participation!

UPCOMING EVENTS, TRAINING'S AND MEETINGS:

MSAR COUNTYWIDE TRAINING:The third time is the charm! The Apple Valley Posse will once again try to hold this event. Unfortunately, due to circumstance beyond their control the last two attempts have been canceled. The 6^th Annual MSAR Training will now be held on Saturday, May 19, 2012. It will be at the Mojave Narrows Regional Park. Please contact the SAR Council MSAR Chairman Hap Hatch for further details APAP. He will also need a headcount and the names of your members who will be attending. Contact Hap at: 951-543-8817 or at hhatch@sbsar.org Note: There will be a meeting of the MSAR Committee prior to the next SAR Council meeting at 6 p.m.

OHVSAR COUNTYWIDE TRAINING:The 2^nd Annual OHVSAR Training will be held this Saturday and Sunday May 12 and 13, 2012. It will be hosted by the Bear Valley SAR unit. This training will take place in Johnson Valley near Lucern. SAR Council Chairman Mike Westover and event chairperson Summer Jones are hoping that you make your reservation early this week for the weekend. Please contact Summer at: sjones@sbsar.org

VOLUNTEER APPRECIATION PICNIC:Bring your family to the Sheriffs Appreciation Picnic that will be held on June 2^nd 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 fun packed event!

SAR COUNCIL MEETING:The next meeting of the SAR Council will be held on Wednesday, May 16, 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.

SHERIFFS RODEO:The SAR Councils standing chairperson for this event, Diana Poe is looking for units and members who would like to help out this year. Also, if your unit would like to set up a display and/or sell any goods that you may wish to please contact Diana at: dpoe@sbsar.org 

SAR CITY - 40^TH ANNUAL:

The Barstow Desert Rescue Squad will be hosting this event for the 40^th year. To make this event even more memorable they have asked the SAR Council and VF to find out for them about any classes that you might want to see included in the schedule this year. If you have any ideas or suggestions please contact me or Sgt. Joling at Volunteer Forces with your ideas via email. Also, if you have any vendors who you might think may be interested in attending this years event please send us the names of their companies and a contact person for that company. Your help and support for this event will be deeply appreciated. Mark down in your calendar October 11, 12 and 13, 2012 so that you can attend this very remarkable three days of training.

As you can see once again we have a very busy schedule ahead. I hope to see each and everyone of you at these various events. Until then I hope that you all are and remember to….

Be Safe

Dave Nicolet, Director

Inland Empire SAR Council

Dnicolet@sbsar.org