Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue (SAR) held their annual awards and recognition banquet recently at the sheriff’s office in Pendleton.
Volunteer Julie Hendren was named SAR Volunteer of the Year. According to the sheriff’s office, the SAR volunteers spent 396 hours on missions and 708 hours on volunteer training time in 2018. UCSO SAR responded to 21 active searches during the year.
The unit is a non-profit program that relies heavily on volunteers, donations from citizens and grant funding. There are currently 25 volunteer members. In addition to volunteering for missions, these volunteers spend a lot of time training and preparing for missions.
During the banquet, Bill Morris received the Mission Hour Award for responding to 16 missions with a total of 75 hours volunteered. Hendren and Travis Lundquist were acknowedged for receiving their Type II Field Searcher certification.
Kevin Scheibner, Lundquist, Josh English and Craig Russell were also recognized for their contributions to the unit’s rope rescue program. Emergency manager Tom Roberts was recognized for his ongoing contributions to SAR, including obtaining grants for a drone and tracked UTV and for volunteer recruitment.
