Beaverhead Search and Rescue News

On Wednesday, April 7th, the Beaverhead Search and Rescue held its monthly meeting. The meeting was called to order by Commander Lawrence Morrisroe at 7:00 P.M. There were 19 members who attended in person and 6 that participated by zoom.

First order of business was the acceptance of John Hopper’s resignation. John was one of the original members of the Beaverhead Search and Rescue. He has been an outstanding asset to the organization participating in many of the searches/rescues, trainings, and other S&R events during his 45+ years of active service. He has always been one to volunteer for whatever needed to be done. John has always been one of those quiet get ‘er done type guys when it came to the fish derby, auction, or searches throughout Beaverhead County. He definitely knows his way around the county. John, thank you for your many years of service to the unit. Your knowledge, hard work and dedication will be greatly missed. If you see John out and about, please thank him for his dedicated service.

During the past month there was one call out to critique. On April 1st the unit received a call about a stranded dog on a cliff at Red Butte. The unit had 9 individuals respond: Tara Remely, Trent Cottom, Jason Erickson, Dan Cahill, Mark Smith, Marc Sanders, Chuck Maddox, Cole Cottom, and Dalton Tamcke. Cole and Dalton, being residents in the area, were the first on scene and were able to rescue Mutt (dog’s name) from the ledge before other members got very far out of town.

There were two training opportunities during the past month and each were discussed during the meeting. The first was a joint training with Madison County. Tara Remely and Tom McKnight drove to Sheridan to participate in an evening training with the Montana Civil Air Patrol. Members of the Air Patrol explained what they can do in response to searches that occur across the state. They also explained the procedures for activating them in the event of a search.

There were three members who drove to Silver Star on Wednesday April 7th to participate in jet boat exercises with Madison County. Mel Rice, Chuck Maddox, and Ray Gross met with Madison County S&R member, David Welch to observe and participate in an exercise with their river jet boat on the Jefferson River. Two and a half hours were spent on the river giving them an opportunity to see firsthand the usefulness of such a boat in river and possibly lake rescue situations.

The last item of business discussed was whether or not to have the annual auction. After much discussion, it was decided to once again have the auction. However, the format is going to be completely different. The S&R has 4 huge storage units full of precious items that have been waiting to be sold for two years now. Rather than having an item-by-item auction, it was decided to auction off the entire contents of each storage shed, one at a time. There are so many things to sell it would take three days to get through everything. Bidders will be given the opportunity to go through each unit probably the day before the auction. Stay tuned for more particulars.

Beaverhead Search and Rescue wants to remind everyone, we do live in Montana where “If you don’t like the weather wait 5 minutes and it’ll change”!! Be safe out there.. Enjoy our great outdoors but be prepared for the most unexpected to occur. “In The Business of Saving Lives”, Your Beaverhead Search and Rescue…

Submitted by: Mel Rice, Public Relations