SARA Happenings August 2001
Table of Contents
Hi, This is a 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-request@castrov.cuug.ab.ca. Here are some of the happenings in SAR in Alberta and around the country: A hello to Steve Ricketts, the webmaster for the Alberta Aviation Council http://www.aviationcouncil.ab.ca/. Steve also maintains the information for CARES on the AAC website - its well worth a surf to check out items of interest to SARA members as well. This issue is already running a bit later than I intended but Brett is setting up an automated website for the processing and distribution of SARA Happenings and I'm getting used to things. My intention was to have this edition sent out during the first week of the month - and its already the second week. If you actually receive this even later, blame the computer (any computer). SARVAC/ACVRS NEWS #4 For those of you who are not subscribers to the above newsletter, here is the address :- Send an email to: sarvac@mb.sympatico.ca with the word 'subscribe' in the subject line and you will be added. To whet the appetites, here is a listing of the articles in Edition #4 News from Quebec -- Carol Namur, the SARVAC Director for Quebec, has submitted a very interesting and informative article about SAR in Quebec, please enjoy the article by linking to: http://www3.mb.sympatico.ca/~jlavery/quebec.htm Team Profile: Labrador West Ground Search and Rescue Team by Craig Porter The team has a webpage complete with training photos that can be seen at http://www.crrstv.net/GSART/ . Please feel free to drop in and have a look and please sign the guestbook. SARVAC Tax Campaign Web Site Active - Surf in To Get Involved! Search and rescue volunteers in Canada commit thousands of dollars out of pocket, and volunteer countless hours to training and response with the ultimate goal of saving lives. SARVAC has initiated a campaign, asking the Federal Government to allow SAR Volunteers to deduct up to $1000 of SAR expenses from their income tax. Go to http://www.sarvac.org/taxcampaign.htm Click on the words 'Tax Campaign' to enter the site. News from Newfoundland and Labrador -- Article has some interesting reports of SAR activities on the East Coast and lists their website http://www.cagsar.nfld.net for more. Sixth William G. Syrotuck Symposium on Search Theory and Practice -- contributed by Chris Long, Washington State SAR Coordinator. Information on SARSCENE 2001 and the concurrent symposium is available at the Whitehorse District SAR website: http://www.wdsar.yk.ca <SARSCENE 2001> and the National SAR Secretariat's web site: http://www.nss.gc.ca <workshops>. Now the cynics among you will be suspecting that I've included the previous swath of information from someone else's newsletter because I'm short of material. I have two things to say in reply - one, it's a widely used practice to use second-hand material in e-newsletters - and two, the cynics are correct for a change. Please, please send me your news and other interesting tidbits for the next newsletter. Starting with this one, I'm planning on putting the newsletter together during the first week of each month. That way the 1st day of every month will be your wake-up call (as in - "Oh my gosh, I told everybody I'd send something for the next SARA Happenings and here it is September (or whatever) already."). SARA Happenings is designed to keep everyone's enthusiasm fuelled by linking the groups with SAR information. If you haven't anything particularly technical to impart, then how about some social news about the groups? One big thing about the organisation is the number of friends we make in it. Let's keep in touch. Now, I don't know about you, but I found that one of the hardest things to learn in search and rescue were all the acronyms used. I still run into ones that baffle me - how about Serabec/Casara from the above mentioned SARVAC/ACVRS News article on Quebec? Any takers? It took me some head scratching to translate SARVAC into Search and Rescue Volunteer Association of Canada, and even then I cribbed by seeing it in someone's address. Do we have an acronymaniac or an acronymaster out there who'd like to contribute a glossary for publication in a future SARA Happenings? (By the way, there's no prize for figuring out the one in the heading of this paragraph - I'm just looking for revenge.) In the last newsletter I had an item for Brett Wuth who was looking for feedback on spontaneous volunteer situations. He would still like to hear more suggestions so I'm running the paragraph again. During the Koopmans search (out of Lethbridge in June) over 250 untrained people volunteered. This strained the management resources of the City Police and the SAR Groups. Pincher Creek SAR would like to set up a pre-plan for dealing with spontaneous volunteers. If you have suggestions, or knowledge of what has worked in similar situations please contact Brett Wuth wuth@acm.org 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 gpsurvey@telusplanet.net
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