Director's Dialogue December 2015

The new Board of the SAR Council was voted on and named at the last meeting that was held on November 19th. Sheriff’s appointee Frank Kams from West Valley SAR will be our new Council Director starting on January 1, 2015. . I wish Frank the best of luck and success and I know myself and all of you will support his efforts. Wes Podboy, our BSAR Headmaster was elected as the new Assistant Director and Diana Poe from Rim SAR was elected to another term as Treasurer. Joining them, also from Rim SAR, will be Robert Turner as Secretary. He as served the last 2 years as our Bullet Points Chairman and will be a great addition to the team. The last position, Member at Large, will be automatically filled by the outgoing Director, which just happens to be that Dave Nicolet guy from Morongo Basin SAR.

This will be my last Directors Dialogue that I will be sending out, so I would like to thank all of you for your continued support over the last 8 years. Its been fun, productive and an honor to have served in this capacity. I would like to thank Frank, Diana and Wes for being board members during my terms. Also, to the other members who have served during this time. Ron Pesch, 2 years as Treasurer and 2 years as Secretary. Rich Dexter, 2 years as Assistant Director and Mike Ward as the Member at Large for 6 and a half years. Also serving on the board were Donna Newlin, 2 years as secretary and Christine Stuehrman for the same period of time in that position as well. During my 8 years at the helm of the Council I was fortunate to receive many thank you’s for the work that the Council accomplished, I will say this about that!….It was the work and efforts of the Board Members, Chairman and Committee Members, as well as our individual SAR members who deserve all the credit. Without their expertise, experience, dedication and commitment to our efforts nothing would have been achieved. We all had a common goal to standardize, set policy, provide professional training and provide a avenue of communications for all of your SAR members in San Bernardino County. All of this was kept in mind to boost the morale of our members and to assist them in their needs.

These people who I have mentioned above accomplished that and deserve the credit. Chairpersons over the years for our various programs and projects were; Jeff Lehman, Mike Ward, Wes Podboy, Marie Podboy, Debbie Bervel and myself for 8 years. Hap Hatch for 7 years and Denny McWhinney and Ron Pesch for 4 years, along with Robert Scott and Diana Poe. Serving for 2 were Donna Newlin, Christine Sturhmann, Frank Kams and Rich Dexter. A special thanks goes out to Gavin Jordan, Andrea Pesch and Ron Thy who served for a year. To them, and to all of their committee members, I would like to thank all of them for a job well done. To Sheriff’s Pinrod, Hoops and McMahon, thank you for your support and trust. Under- Sheriff’s Beamer, Abernathy, Fonzi and Cusimano thank you for your assistance. To Assistant Sheriff’s Nobles and Williams thank you as well. To Chief’s Cook, Stewart, Corona and Cates we could have never accomplished so much without your guidance. Captains Tyler, Hornsby, Rose and Gergory you helped with our journey. We all owe you our gratitude and thanks. Volunteer Forces!……what can I say? Lt’s. Garbiec, Paterson, Detillo and Joling, along with Sgt’s Morgan, Joling and Lane have been outstanding. SAR Coordinators Pichotta, Whitten, Alexander, Woods and Whiteside have helped us all a lot. John Amrhien, Thad Riley, MJ Higgins, Marylee Brown, Marion Browne and last but not least our very own girl-friday and my friend, Stella Johnson, have all been a joy to work with. As you can see I have had a boss or two over this time, different personalities, different takes on the various issues, and even with a few battles along the way, I have always been impressed with their willingness to see that we the volunteers where taken care of. To each of the above. Thank you!

I would like to mention real quick some of the things that all of the above have been able to accomplish during this last 8 years. Following are just a few; Reintroduced and implemented the ICS Team, Helitac Training and AEMT programs, We were able to find the funds within the department for a new repeater, clam shells, biohazard wear, GP’s, the ARP program, defibrillators and other equipment for our SAR units. Funded and built the SAR Memorial and PR Trailer without any funding from the department. We sponsored and funded 6 countywide MSAR trainings and 3 OHVSAR countywide trainings. We also manage to write and have approved the current HARMS standards, OHVSAR Standards and the recertification policies for the Annual Basic SAR Skills Certifications. We helped oversee the introduction of the new SAR Standards that now are Department policy. Implemented the Employer Recognition program, set up the Dean Christy Perpetual Memorial Fund, raised funds, with the Mounted SAR Units help, for the new arenas and corrals for our Heart Bar Training Facility. We were able to donate funds to SEAT for the two killed when they left the Glen Helen Training Facility with the help of all of your SAR Units. We helped establish the current formats for BSAR, the Commander Coordinators Meeting and introduced the Directors Breakfast for our new unit commanders each year. The SBSAR website, Twitter, SBSAR emails, SBSAR texting and the Directors Dialogue were also put together during this time. This is just a few of our accomplishments over the last few years. I would like to thank you all again, for your help and assistance and allowing me to serve as the Director of the IESARC. As stated above, it was and has been an my honor and privilege to have served in this capacity for the last 8 years. I received a lot credit for many of our success‘s, but remember…. it was YOU, US and WE who made it all possible. I mean that with all of my heart.

I cannot end this without personally thanking Capt Todd Paterson, Lt Jeff Joling , Dave Pichotta, Mike Ward, Wes Podboy and Hap Hatch for always being there, and listening to me, helping me to solve problems, encouraging me to move forward and offering me their guidance and support. For that and their friendship I will always be their friend and forever grateful. And last but not least I must thank Georgia my wife. Without her patience, giving of our time and her understanding, my involvement with SAR would have never happened. She was supportive, a driving force and very forgiving of the time I was away from her and the ranch. I would like to thank her with all of my heart. Thank you hon. Please remember this one thing for me. We all are members of our individual SAR Units, but we all are part of one very large SAR TEAM….and that’s the SAR TEAM of SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY! We volunteer our time and we are members of this team so that……… OTHERS MAY LIVE! As I sign off, I would like to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! And to be able to say for the last time as your Director…always remember to… BE SAFE!