The Unit was contacted by the Pierce County Department of Emergency Management at 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday the 27^th of September. The Pierce County Sheriff had received a cell phone call from two horseback riders in the Greenwater area. From the garbled transmission it was determined that one or both of the subjects were injured. The Sheriff asked for Mountain Rescue Volunteers to search for the lost horsemen. Two members responded; they were: Ken Capron and Rick Wire. They were asked to meet at the Greenwater Fire Station as soon as possible. After stopping by the Cache for the rescue truck, they arrived at the fire station to learn that both subjects were found and they were walking out on their own. Both returned to the Cache in time to participate in that night's board meeting.

Report provided by Tom Miner, Pierce County Sheriffs Deputy

We went up on Thursday with 4 divers, 1 SAR coordinator, 4 Mt Rescue and 2 ESAR/TMRU members. We met Skagit at the Texaco and they had one Mt Rescue member. They also brought their food unit and comm van to support us.

We decided to go with the mission despite having such a low turnout from the volunteers. I needed the divers and they had a training day on Thursday so I got them for 8 hours at regular time vs many overtime hours on the weekend.

We reached the girders and sent out three divers with TMRU swiftwater in support positions. They searched the girders to about a 90% POD. We found a kayak paddle, probably his. This is the red item I saw from the air when we scouted it in September.

If he was there we feel that the force of the water has dismembered him. The wood and other debris in those girders was so mangled from the pressure of water straining through the steel beams that a human body in the same position would not survive intact for long.

Skagit is satisfied and will not be doing any further searching pending any new evidence or leads. They were very appreciative of our efforts.

These minutes as published are unofficial and subject to approval at the next regularly scheduled board meeting. Convened 19:35.

BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Alan Givotovsky, Fran Martoglio, John Kirkman, Russ Brinton, Chris Berryman, Gus Bush, Victor Caro, Rick Wire, Ken Capron, Stan Kartes, Bill Weber.

OTHER MEMBERS PRESENT: Jim Andrues, Roger Ternes, Maria Ternes, Jeff Sharp, Tracy Berryman, Wendy Stefaniak, Rod Scott.

• Monthly report accepted as presented for 9-1-00 through 9-30-00 (Full report is attached to the official meeting minutes.)
• Victor met with Tracy to discuss the financial reporting on the kits.

KIT REPORT: Tracy Berryman

• Sales for the month of September are attached to the official meeting minutes.

OPERATIONS REPORT: Gus Bush

• Three missions in September:
• Mt. Adams, Skagit County Cascade River Recovery, and Government Meadows.
• See Rucksack for further details.

TRAINING REPORT: Russ Brinton

• Helicopter training: 26 people attended the training on both weekends. October 21 will be Chinook training to finish up the Helicopter training.
• Russ is setting up re-certification in MOFA and is looking at setting it up every other year.

EQUIPMENT REPORT: Ken Capron

• Ken ordered new yellow webbing.
• Fran made a motion to cover the service on the truck for up to $600 with a limit of an additional $1000 for repairs.
• Ken re-packed all the rescue gear in the truck.
• Yellow webbing is 12 feet long and the 30 foot brown webbing is retired.

COMMUNICATIONS: Stan Kartes

• The older VH-16 radio batteries went bad, and Stan made the motion for selling the VH-16 radios to the Unit members. It was passed.
• Stan made a motion to buy 2 new radios with batteries, speaker microphones and chargers-not to exceed $2000. It was passed.
• Stan made a motion to tie a pager review with the membership review. It was passed.
• A discussion was made about call-outs versus pages.

SAFETY & EDUCATION: Rick Wire

• No report.

MEMBERSHIP REPORT: Chris Berryman

• New members Marianne Kaufmann and Todd Lokey. Welcome aboard !

FINANCE REPORT: Bill Weber

• No activity.

SAR Council: Fran Martoglio

• Wendy Stefaniak is taking over Fran's place as the SAR Council Representative.

MAST: Bill Weber

• No activity.

OLD BUSINESS:

• Cache remodel: Fran made a motion that before the next general meeting we will purchase 30 folding chairs not to exceed $1000. Motion was passed.
• Chris received an email from Mike Gauthier about stocking the barrels at the Rescue Cache at Mt. Rainier.

NEW BUSINESS:

• Fran is nominated for President.
• Ken Capron is nominated for Vice President.
• Fran made a motion to secure two seats for the 2001 Rigging for Rescue class. The motion was passed.

Meeting adjourned at 21:25

Respectfully yours,

John Kirkman, Sec.

The following members attended the Kit party on October 4th:

Chris & Tracy Berryman
Gus Bush
Fran Martoglio
Ken Capron
Bill Weber
Tim & Pam Greminger
Rick and Joan Lorenz

They made 210 Kits.

The Kit parties are held from 7:00 to 9:00 P.M., the first Wednesday at the Cache. If you need directions, call 531-2120.

We need your help!

Unit elections were held at the October membership meeting and the following officers were elected:

Fran Martoglio, Unit Chairman

Ken Capron, Unit Vice Chairman

They will both serve a two year term starting in January.

COME ONE - COME ALL - DON'T MISS THIS!!!

The Unit's Annual Banquet will be held on Wednesday, November 15^th at the Mountaineers Clubhouse at N. 30th and Carr in Tacoma!

It will be a PotLuck Dinner so please bring a covered dish (appetizer, salad, bread, hot dish or dessert).

Dinner will start at 6:00 P.M. The awards program and presentation will begin at 7:00 P.M.

Please feel free to bring family, friends or potential new members! The banquet is a great way to meet or touch base with lots of members you may not see often during the year. If you have any photos or letters you would like included in the Unit archive please bring them to the banquet.

©Copyright 2000 Tacoma Mountain Rescue