JoCoSAR Blog

"Will Kill Every Blood-Sucking Bird or Beast of Prey" 1884

This is an excerpt from Death, Daring, and disasters  Search and Rescue in the National Parks.  The  "attitude" is recognizable, but the style is amusingly dated.  Enjoy!

Summer of 1884  Yellowstone National Park

The wife of Professor Wm. Allen of Madison, Wisc. while at the Grand Canyon (of Yellowstone), was attacked and fearfully bitten by wild beasts. Her two sons came to her assistance, and with much difficulty succeeded in rescuing her.  They had no arms with them, having been informed at the Mammoth Hot Springs Post Office that hunting in the Park was strictly prohibited.  She was terribly bitten on her hands and face before the insatiable blood-suckers could be choked or smoked off.  Mrs. Allen is highly indignant at the secretary's order prohibing the killg of animals in the National Park.  She declares they ought to be shot, no matter how enchanting their song may be.  These were the only wild beasts she encountered during her tour in the Park.  When she comes again she gives fair notice that she will come armed to the teeth, and will kill every blood-sucking bird or beast of prey, unless the assistants are on hand to furnish them with food sufficient to amuse them while she is tending to her own business.

—Livingston (Montana) Enterprise, Park Notes, 8-4 1884

Eight most blood thirsty animals  (birds and little beasts)

Survivalist's Revenge

Survivalism |sərˈvīvəˌlizəm|

noun

1.    the policy of trying to ensure one's own survival or that of one's social or national group.

2.    the practicing of outdoor survival skills as a sport or hobby.

DERIVATIVES

survivalist |sərˈvaɪvələst| noun & adjective

Is there any doubt as to whether Jim McNutt  embodies this philosophy or whether he "walks the walk"?

Here is another chapter for the McNutt legend:

Many of you probably know that Jim is a serious gardener who quite literally lives year-round off what he grows in his beautiful raised beds.  His garden is bountiful and he produces more than he can eat.  (Summer training sessions usually include a "take all you can use" produce offering from Jim.)

But there are many critters from insects to mammals that appreciate the splendor of Jim's garden and will opportunistically poach on his produce.

Making rounds recently on his new sprouts he noticed a single, suddenly sickly, cabbage plant.  Suspicious that this plant had not shriveled through neglect or dissatisfaction with its soil. Suspicious, Jim carefully dug it up and found the root tips were all missing with a mass of maggots wriggling where the root tips should have been.  What did this serious, organic, survivalist gardener do?  You have to ask?

Of course, he ate them!  No garlic, onions or cooking, just quick and definitive justice (photo below of the actual "meal").  No, they don't taste like chicken—he said they really had no taste—perhaps just the taste of "sweet revenge."

The young seedling was gently replanted in maggot-free soil where it has remained, a bit peeked, but still alive a week later.  Jim is thriving.

                                            

SAR Numbers For 2008

You might be surprised to learn how much time the members of SAR donated to SAR and, therefore, Josephine County in 2008.

Volunteers contributed 10,736 hours of their time for missions, public events, meetings, maintenance and training.  There were 27 missions  which includes searches, rescues, crime scene security, evidence searches and assistance to other counties.  This hourly total is actually low as many errands and jobs done by individuals didn't get reported, e.g., I, for one, am guilty of this as I forgot to turn in my hours as corresponding secretary last December.

Oregon's minimum wage was  $7.95 an hour last year.  At that rate we saved the county a minimum of $85,351.20.  Obviously, if you consider any of us worthy by skill-level, seniority or duration of service to be worth more than minimum wage, the amount we saved would be substantially higher. There is also the cost of our equipment that we spared the county.  This January Oregon's minimum wage rose to $8.40 an hour so our value is going up, too.

Thank you!

SAR History Part 2

Vic Purpuree, one of the original 10 members of SAR, its second captain and self-appointed SAR historian started a scrapbook of SAR news stories, photos, and memorabilia 42 years ago.  What a treasure-trove of irreplaceable "archaeologic" information on SAR's early beginnings. Stashed in a storage bin in the deep and, literally, very dark corner of the barn attic, a total of 5 albums of SAR memories with a combined thickness of 14.5 inches were "unearthed" yesterday.  The first and thickest album maintained by Vic for 25 years is 5.5 inches thick, but it is now in a state of some disrepair and will need some TLC.  A little digital salvage of this material may be in order.

We will be looking at bits of SAR history from this archive every so often.  History does tend to repeat itself- there will be much to learn.  Stay tuned.

  

  

JoCoSAR- Coming of Age (Part 1)

It is impressive how much JoCoSAR has changed in its 42 year history.  While the facilities, equipment, training and professionalism of search management have been upgraded and modernized, it is noteworthy that the affection and appreciation for SAR was there from its inception.  Going through old SAR files It is heart-warming to see in so many hand-written notes the gratitude and goodwill our community has always had for what we do.  

A little SAR history.  

Josephine County SAR was officially incorporated on March 3, 1967.  There were 10 (all male) original members who bought their own uniforms, drove their own 4-wheel drive vehicles, and paid for their gas and training. Women weren't admitted until 1976 and that was against a bit of opposition.  Back then, anyone wanting to join SAR had to pass a background investigation, then appear before the board with their sponsor, and, if approved, would then need the approval of the membership who voted by secret ballot (using black or white marbles for "no" and "yes" votes).  And members could be dismissed without cause.  Membership dues was $13 a year (equivalent to over $83 in 2009).  Vic Purpuree created (re-tailored) the class A uniforms from sheriff uniforms that had been replaced with a new design and he has been our only quartermaster for 42 years.  He continues to be the oral historian for the organization.  He and Don Bellum are the last of the original Josephine County Search and Rescue team who have lived SAR's history.

Below is the SAR facility in 2004 just before we moved to our current facility.  For new members, check-out the earlier post with "before" and "after" pictures showing the membership pitching in behind the motive force of Bill Hickerson to finish off our classroom.  

It was in 2004 that SAR accelerated its transformation into a more professionally organized and operated organization.  The new facility was purchased in October of 2004 giving us the large barn for vehicles with a great future classroom and overhead storage, Sara's office/conference space, a separate radio shack with access to fields for many kinds of training exercises.

The impressive growth in the capabilities of SAR wouldn't have been possible without strong visionary leadership that kept SAR from becoming dated and static.  SAR is only as capable and personally satisfying as we the members make it.  We make our own present and future- for better or not.  

Morse Code Versus. Cellphone Text Messaging- a Race

Hardcore ham operators love Morse code (known to the cognoscenti as CW for continuous wave).  No, it isn't a dead language and it hasn't been replaced by cell phones and email.  In a major emergency when the cell tower doesn't work, the landline is out, the internet is disrupted and even if the power is out; the prepared ham operator can communicate with most all of Oregon and often as far as the east coast (and beyond) on ham radio frequencies and batteries (a car battery can be used in a pinch).

So for those intrigued with CW and for the masters of the art, below is a video that pits cell phone text messaging against Morse code transmission of the same message.  Place your bets before viewing- how close will it be?

 .  

FYI:  It is no longer necessary to pass a test establishing competency in sending and receiving code to get a ham radio license- even for the highest level license ("expert").  Want to know a little more about the dots and dashes?  Here is a Wikipedia link about Morse code.