SARA Happenings December 2001
Table of Contents
Hi, This is our regular mailing intended to improve communication within the Search and Rescue community in Alberta. It's going out to over 160 e-mail addresses that are listed as the primary contact of SAR Alberta member groups or which were requested to be added to the mailing list. If you want to be added or removed from the list, please send mail to sara-happenings-ctl@castrov.cuug.ab.ca. With Christmas quickly approaching, SAR Alberta would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone all the best this upcoming holiday season. In particular, we extend our heartfelt appreciation to all of you that have been working so hard with our many positions, committees and projects. We hope that each of you makes the most over the holidays and spends time with the friends and family your commitment to SAR has takes you away from. It is important to take a "time out" occasionally to recharge batteries and reflect upon outcomes. Together we have accomplished many great things this year, and through your investment of time, energy and dedication, a few more people are being afforded the opportunity to spend another Christmas with loved ones. I'm sure given the opportunity, each of them, along with their friends and families, would want to wish each of you a very special Merry Christmas this year. Take care and we look forward working with you all to enable even better things to occur in the New Year! Brad Marshall From Dec 6th - 11th, the SAR Alberta web site was not accessible due to unexpected difficulties. I would like to thank everyone for his or her patience and remind you all that the Fall Cross Traxx is again available. As, well, the 2002 Conference Registration Package has been updated and is ready for your downloading. I would also like to thank everyone who contributed ideas to the web site and hope that you continue to do so. We have some fresh new changes you will be seeing over the next couple of months, but without your input, it's just one man's vision. Thank you again, and have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. John Rotheisler In the past few weeks I received a couple of blank e-mails and wondered if my computer had been blind-sided again by some of the latest Microsoft gadgetry. You know how it goes -- just when you're into plain sailing, some new software comes out -- and you either have to dig into a deep pocket again or become obsolescent. One of my queries to the sender of a blank e-mail elicited the guilty response that they had been the victim of the WORM_BADTRANS.B and it had sent the e-mail. The worm apparently latches on to a weak spot in Microsoft Outlook, and I was advised to sweep my system for viruses. Not being a user of Outlook, my system was clean. However -- if you received blank e-mails from a subscriber to the CSAR list around December 3rd, it would be a good idea to sweep your system with an anti-virus. For what it's worth, I'll pass on a tip I was given that is supposed to prevent your e-mail program from infecting everyone on your address list. Add a dummy address to the head of the address list. I use !0000000 -- it's supposed to cause the virus an error when it accesses the list. Perhaps someone out there can tell us if it's effective. Disaster Services Funding / SAR Alberta Training Committee: This is a summary of a message from Fred McFall, Amateur Radio Emergency Services (ARES) -- Emergency Coordinator for Medicine Hat Area South Eastern Alberta Search and Rescue (Vice President) SAR Alberta Director for Lethbridge Region SAR Alberta Training Committee Chairman. Contact Fred at the E-mail address at the end of this section for the complete text. Provincial Disaster Services have begun the distribution of Ground SAR Training Funding for another year. A few points have arisen from the grant that we received last year. First, it is absolutely essential that each team or team training coordinator keep up on the paperwork that is required for our grant funding. There is a form available on the SAR Alberta Web site in two locations. http://www.saralberta.org Once you get there, click on "Committee Pages" and then click on "Training". From this page you can go to the present year's training schedule or to the proposed training as presented for the "2002-2003 Course Host Listing". This has a listing of teams that are proposed to get funding for the next year through the Alberta Disaster Services Grant. Please note that not all teams got course grants, please also keep in mind that these courses are NOT courses for those teams only! These are regional or provincial courses and are open to ALL SAR Teams across the province. (Ask Fred for original complete text that was here) Oh! One more thing..... since we are now attempting to keep in touch with each team on a regular basis could you please ensure that your team's training officer (or their rep) sends me an E-mail to confirm their name/team/E-mail address. This will ensure that you are informed of upcoming events, or any changes in procedure that arise from time to time! My E-mail Address is fredm@monarch.net Merry Christmas from the Training Committee of SAR Alberta Season's Greetings from SARA Happenings "Peace on Earth" folks. It may not look very promising for an end to violence this Christmas, but as Gwynne Dyer pointed out in a recent column, the poor old Earth (and the poor old human race) has seen a lot worse. We're a longer distance from nuclear annihilation than we once were, and now have a permanent tribunal to try perpetrators of crimes against humanity. We just need to work on getting all the needy souls out there under the same umbrella. The SAR community is less in need of a reminder to watch out for others less fortunate, than are many other citizens. I believe it's the motivation which gets the teams out there when help is needed. Don't pull a muscle, but I think you should all give yourselves a pat on the back. I can say that -- my only contribution is from the keyboard these days. A very merry Christmas to all, and please remember to extend your greetings to your fellows who follow other faiths. The publication dates for future mailings of SARA Happenings has been moved to the middle of each month. Please note that the new deadline for material will be the 10th of each month. Does your group have an event posting for the SARA Happenings mailing? If so, to see that it is sent out on time send information 1-1/2 months prior to the dates wished advertised. It will then give ample notice to those reading it to respond. Contact: Chris Hoare Ph. 403-628-3802 or gpsurvey@telusplanet.net
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