Commanders Corner

Remember, Board Meeting is Feb 10^th and general meeting is Feb 12th

Guest Article

The following was first published in the TRSAR newsletter in October 2000. The names and places differ from year to year but the Squad remains constant.

I still marvel at the quality of people in the Squad. As I remember some of the missions we have had and the stuff we have dealt with, it again makes me proud to be considered your leader.

Because of the expertise and dedication of each member, the Squad performs its mission even when the leaders stumble or are absent.

This is a year in which John Boyles, John Avery and Steve Holt have fought for their lives against tremendous odds and won.  Their attitude of “no surrender, no quarter” carried them through when it seemed there was no hope.  (Hang in there guys, we’re supporting you every way we can.)

This is the same stuff that each of you display on every mission we go on. Regardless of the weather or the plans you may have had, you show up to look for; a woman in January who wandered at Diamond Point, a man who was strayed at American gulch, helping people get around in deep snow in Pine/Strawberry, slog around in blowing snow at Pyle ranch for a suicide victim, search around Shoo-fly for a man with flat tire on his truck, locate horsemen on 4 Peaks and even stay with the horses till the men returned with their truck, rush to Tonto Natural Bridge to help bring a person up the trail and find that it is over before you arrive, hike down Tonto Creek at Bear Flat to litter carry an injured lady,  cook in the heat of May on 4 Peaks looking for a missing hiker, go back to Pyle Ranch looking for a man who simply left his woman, rescue a swimmer at Box Canyon with a dislocated shoulder, drive to Fossil Creek to find that the person has been driven out, carryout a man with broken ankle at Tonto Natural Bridge, travel to Young to locate a boy who had run away from home, slip and slide through mud to help lightning strike victims, search the East Verde Park area for another possible suicide victim, and then do it again, just to solve the mystery, walking Highway 87 in the middle of the night to find a boy who had fallen out of the family pickup, hiking Fossil Creek trail on two occasions for hikers that were not physically able, tracking a mentally challenged woman in the early hours of a Sunday and then, the same afternoon, carrying out of Tonto Natural Bridge a lady who had fractured her hip. And there is still two months of the year left!
That is just this year, the Squad has been doing this for 36 years and no member has ever done anything because of the hope of a paycheck!

We log about 7000 hours of volunteer work each year doing it because we love it. That is why other people make donations to keep us afloat.  They are just as responsible for saving lives as are our members that are on the trail.

Thank you one and all.

February 2009 Training & Events Schedule

14-Feb (Sat)   Tracking Classroom (full session) – Time: 0900 – Place: Squad Bldg. – Les Hulse in charge

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21-Feb (Sat)   Rope Training – Time: 0800 – Place: Flowing Springs – Roger Miotto and rope instructors in charge

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Planned Training Sessions ( Coming this Year)

14-Mar (Sat)   Tracking Practice – Time: TBA – Place: TBA – Les Hulse in charge

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4-5 Apr               SAR Academy – Place: Squad building – Time: 0800-1600 – This is a mandatory training for

(Sat-Sun)           squad members who haven’t taken it – Any member can also take it again.

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11-Apr (Sat)   Tracking Certification – Time: TBA – Place: TBA – Les Hulse in charge

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Planned          Navigation Training – Compass and GPS

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Planned               Mock Mission

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Planned               ATV over night ride   120 miles

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?      If you would like to volunteer to run a training session, or if you have a training session request contact

Any Board Member or Don Johnson 

Italics = Sign-up required to attend this training                                           

* See following notes:

P       To reserve use of squad ATV, contact Don Johnson at 928-474-5335

 Jacket, gloves, boots, helmet, and eye protection required to operate Squad ATV

Squad Web Site:  www.trsar.org

Laws that are still on the books

·       Because buzzards are classified as “songbirds” in Ohio, it is illegal to sell or buy them.

·       In Arkansas, it is illegal to blindfold cows on public highways.

·       You are not allowed to have a hippopotamus in your possession in Los Angeles

Computer Tips, Techniques, Rants, Raves, and Netiquette

Occasionally I am asked either “What software do you use on your PC?” or “How do I protect my PC from all the bad stuff?” The second question is usually asked after I assist someone in getting rid of an infection or two from their PC. The hardest PC I ever cleaned-up was one with several hundred infections and took a little over 12 hours to clean and disinfect.

This month I will list some of (what I consider) the useful software I have on my PC with a brief description of what it does; and next month I will give you an in-depth article on how my PC is set-up for security and safety. I use other programs that are not on the following list, but they are very specific in what they do, generally require a bit of training, and I do not consider them to be “general purpose.” The following ones are easy to use, and some of them have been mentioned in previous articles.

 The format of this list is: program name – Source – Cost – Purpose

PC Security and Safety

 Ad-Aware – LavaSoft – free – Malicious ad remover

 AVG Anti-Virus – GRISoft – free – Anti-virus protection

 Eraser – SourceForge – free – Secure erase of files

 Recover Files – Undelete & Unerase – free – Recover deleted files

 Spybot Search & Destroy – Safer Networking – free – Spyware remover

 Spyware Blaster – Javacool – free – Spyware monitor

 WinBackup – Uniblue – $30 – Backup of computer files

 Zone-Alarm – Zone-Labs – free – Firewall

Utilities

 Folder Marker – ArcticLine – free – Changes appearance of folder icons (see below)

 POP3 Scan Mailbox – Kempston – free – Scan, read, and/or delete Emails before downloading to PC

 Primo PDF – ActivePDF – free – Convert documents to PDF format

 Print Screen Deluxe – American Systems – $35 – Screen capture using several different methods

 SpaceMonger – Sean Werkema (developer) – free – Graphic display of hard drive space usage

 WinRAR – Alexander Roshal (developer) – $29 – File compression (multi-format)

 WinZip – WinZip – $30 – File compression and decompression (ZIP only)

Audio and Video

 A Smaller Image – TriVista – $15 – Resize photos (make smaller)

 Audacity – SourceForge – free – Edit soundtracks

 Audio Grabber – Jackie Franck (developer) – free – Rip soundtracks from CDs

 Irfanview – Irfan Skiljan (developer) – free – Image viewer and format converter

 Photostory 3 – MicroSoft – free – Create slideshows from digital photos

Spin-It-Again – Acoustica – $35 – Capture and edit soundtracks from vinyl or tape

 Please note: These are the programs that I have tested and found very useful. There are many other programs out there that do the same thing, but these were the ones that appealed to me.

 The one example I am including is a screen capture (using “Print Screen Deluxe”) that demonstrates some options using the “Folder Marker” program. I mainly use this program to color the folders that I currently am working on, and change them back to the default when the job is finished. Other options are demonstrated that overlay the folder icon with a symbol.

Hope you will also find something useful in this listing.

 … Les

 Question: Do any of you find this section useful?

 We can rant and rave about many topics, but do not know if it is appreciated. Also, we will most likely choose topics that “tick us off” and ignore the ones that you may be interested in. We can give you our opinion on just about anything (opinions are cheap).

 So let us know if this section is useful, and if you would like us to tear into some topic, just tell us.

Send any comments and/or suggestions to the editor, Mike; miket@trsar.org

Website

Tonto Rim SAR Members can now have your very own email address through our site. Just contact our Webmaster at jack@jackswebs.com  to arrange for it, no cost to you or us.

We are promoted and you’ll also find our newsletter on the
Rim Country Volunteer site;
http://www.inpayson.com/TRSAR-Payson-Rim-Country-Area.htm

Related SAR info

This volunteer with Coconino SAR writes a very interesting BLOG about her experiences;

http://debssarstories.blogspot.com/

This site has stories of various hiking incidents around the world;

http://hikerhell.blogspot.com/

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Thanks to those who contributed to this issue of the newsletter.  

Mike 502  editor@trsar.org