CHINA LAKE MOUNTAIN RESCUE GROUP
TALUS PILE
MAY 2004 NUMBER 131
TRAINING SCHEDULE
May 10 Mon Meeting Huey, Finco, Bishop
May 12 Wed Stretcher Hut night Training committee
May 15-16 Sat-Sun Stretcher practice Training committee
May 21-24 Fri-Mon Barnard and Heller Hinman
May 29-31 Sat-Mon Morgan and Stanford Rockwell
Jun 4-6 Fri-Sun Kern Peak C. Burge
Jun 14 Mon Meeting Hinman, D. Burge, Runkle
Jun 8-9 Tue-Wed Summer class
Jun 12-13 Sat-Sun Goode, Peak 13040 Rockwell
Jun 15-16 Tue-Wed Summer class
Jun 18-20 Fri-Sun Whitney East Buttress Runkle
Jun 22-23 Tue-Wed Summer class
Jun 26-27 Sat-Sun Lone Pine Peak, NE Ridge Bishop
Jun 29-30 Tue-Wed Summer class
Jul 2-4 Fri-Sat Whitney Basin traverse Rockwell
Jul 10-11 Sat-Sun Summer class day trips
Jul 12 Mon Meeting Botham, Breitenstein, Green
Jul 13-14 Tue-Wed Summer class
Jul 16-18 Fri-Sun Whitney Trail 100th Celebration Rockwell
Jul 20-21 Tue-Wed Summer class
Jul 24-25 Sat-Sun Summer class overnights
Jul 27 Tue Summer class
Jul 28 Wed Summer class party
Jul 30-Aug 1 Fri-Sun Open
Aug 7-15 Sat-Sun Kaweahs Hinman
Aug 13-15 Fri-Sun Merriam and Royce (Pine Creek Pass) C. Burge
Aug 19-24 Thu-Tue Granite Peak, Montana Huey
Aug 21-22 Sat-Sun Open
Aug 23 Mon Summer party
Aug 29-31 Sun-Tue Fishook Arete Runkle
Sep 4-6 Sat-Mon Tuolumne Meadows Finco
OPERATION REPORTS
2003-03 5-8 August 2003
Search Sawtooths, Mono County Daryl Hinman
On July 30, 2003, 46-year-old Fred Claasen of Livermore, California
began a 6-day backpack trip from Mono Village at Twin Lakes in
Mono County, California. His intention was to circumnavigate
the Sawtooth Ridge or Sawtooths in a counter-clockwise direction.
The Sawtooths run roughly in an east-west direction and divide
the Hoover Wilderness in the Toiyabe National Forest on the north
from Yosemite National Park (YNP) on the south. Much of the ridge
is continuously steep on both sides and most of it requires technical
climbing to cross. Its most notable summit is Matterhorn Peak.
Claasen planned to hike from Mono Village up the Robinson Creek
drainage past Barney and Crown Lakes and over the west end of
the Sawtooths into YNP at Mule Pass. He was to continue over
Burro and Matterhorn Passes and back over the east end of the
Sawtooths out of YNP at Horse Creek Pass. Then he was to hike
down the Horse Creek drainage back to Mono Village. Except for
the section over Matterhorn and Horse Creek Passes, this route
is on good, well-marked trails. Horse Creek Pass is Class 2 with
a use-trail and Matterhorn Pass is Class 3.
On August 4, Claasen's wife reported him missing to the Mono County
Sheriff's Office when he did not show up for work that day. The
Mono County Search and Rescue (MOSAR) and YNP Search and Rescue
(YOSAR) teams initiated a search on August 5 that focused on Claasen's
intended route and other trails that he might take mistakenly.
Trail blocks were set up at numerous locations in the area to
interview other hikers.
The call from Mono County requesting assistance from CLMRG came
through the OES and Kern County Sheriff's Office late on August
5. At 2030, Mike Myers phoned me and explained that none of the
five current CLMRG operational leaders (OLs) were available.
The Qualifications Committee (QC), having anticipated this problem,
had approved several previous OLs, including me, to act as an
OL as appropriate. Because of the current shortage of SAR operational
opportunities for CLMRG members,
I accepted. Terry Mitchell called the roster, which ironically
produced only one member, Mike Franklin, able to go. I called
Mono County Sheriff Sergeant Rob Weber to tell him that we would
be there at the requested time of 0700 the following morning.
Mike and I met at the hut and were on the road by 0230 to make
the long drive to the search base at the Bridgeport airport.
The search strategy for this day was to continue with the previous
day's effort and add the extensive area encircled by his route,
which included the Sawtooths and the drainages to the north.
This assumed that, for some reason, Claasen would attempt to cross
the difficult ridge rather than go around the easy passes at either
end as planned. Besides CLMRG, YOSAR, and MOSAR, there were search
teams from Inyo County SAR and the U.S. Marine Corp Mountain Warfare
Training Center near Bridgeport and helicopter support from the
Army Air National Guard in Sacramento and YNP.
Mike and I were assigned to search down the Blacksmith drainage,
which runs north from the Sawtooths to the Robinson Creek drainage.
An Army Blackhawk helicopter flew us to Glacier Lake. After
searching the area around the lake, we were fairly certain that
no one had been there for some time. Descending from Glacier
Lake, the route soon became a maze of boulders and thick vegetation,
and most of our focus was on negotiating this difficult ground.
We arrived at Mono Village and were driven back to the search
base by late afternoon. That night we enjoyed a bar-b-cue dinner
at the Mono County Jail.
The following day focused on the same areas as the previous
day but added WOOF search dog teams. Mike and I were each assigned
to accompany a dog and handler team. Unfortunately, because of
a number of issues, the requested helicopter support did not arrive
until after 1400, so much of the day, few teams were fielded.
Mike's team was assigned to search the area along the north base
of Matterhorn Peak. They were flown in and out by the Blackhawk
helicopter and completed their assignment within three hours.
My team was assigned to search the possible campsites near Crown,
Barney, and Peeler Lakes along with the accompanying drainages.
We were inserted above Crown Lake by the YNP helicopter at 1500.
After hiking 14 miles to complete our assignment, we reached
Mono Village and were driven to search base at 2230.
Mike drove the entire way to Ridgecrest because I was so tired.
We took two Inyo County SAR members to Bishop on the way and
got back to the hut at 0400. The search was to continue for at
least two more days, but because no OL was available, CLMRG did
not send a second team when further assistance was requested.
2003-04 19 July 03 Search Kern County
Deborah Breitenstein
At about 0920 on Friday, 18 July, Sgt. Rutledge paged
to request support for a follow-on search
for Ronald Rosepink (refer to Operation Report 2003-02 in The
Talus Pile Number 129 (October 2003).
I accepted the call. Terry Mitchell agreed to coordinate. Al
Green, Tom Sakai, Dennis Burge, Tom Roseman, Dan Bishop, and Ellen
Schafhauser also committed. Shafhauser could not field because
of
a minor back injury but provided transportation and support at
search base.
I picked up the vehicle and group gear, and we departed from the
Von's parking lot at 0500 on Saturday, 19 July. We arrived at
Bear Valley at 0700. By 0830, the teams were fielded along a
ridgeline and proceeded west down to Bear Valley searching a substantial
area of underbrush that was not covered during the previous search
efforts. After lunch, six teams (3 CLMRG teams) were re-fielded
on the east side to search some of the drainages that dropped
down into the housing areas bordering the ranch.
We were debriefed and released from the search by 1600 and home
by 1800.
We found no sign of Rosepink in this search but managed to clear
a substantial portion of the search area. Dan Bishop did locate
a dead deer by scent. Other debris and clue sightings were inspected
and rejected as evidence.
2004-04 (2004-OES-0079) 18 February
2004 Transit Santa Barbara Tom Sakai
On Wednesday, 18 February at 0800, Sgt. Mike Kirkland
of the Kern County Sheriff's Office, called our pager to relay
a request from Santa Barbara County to assist in the search for
Brad Whittell, age 23, from San Jose, California. He had been
visiting friends in San Diego for the weekend and was returning
home to San Jose. He apparently decided to stay in the Santa
Barbara area for a while and was last seen heading up the Rattlesnake
Canyon Trail at 1500 on Monday, 16 February in search of two little
boys. The boys were the sons of a woman at the trailhead who
could not locate them and thought they might have gone up the
trail. He gave her his cell phone before starting up the trail.
Linda Finco agreed to be the operations leader (OL) initially
but had to back out when she remembered she had an important meeting
at work the next morning. So I became the OL. Terry Mitchell
and Sheila Rockwell did the call-out, which got three members:
Bud Gates, Dave Miles, and Bob Rockwell.
We left the hut at 1145. After a detour to my house to pick
up directions to the command post (CP) and the point of contact's
phone number, we proceeded on our long drive. I notified the
CP that we were on our way and gave them our estimated time of
arrival. I, unfortunately, had not given them my cell phone number.
When we got to Santa Barbara at 1550, I called the CP to get
clarification on some of the directions. I learned that the victim
had been found in good condition and that the Office of Emergency
Services (OES) had been notified two hours before at about 1400.
OES, however, had not notified our SAR coordinator in Kern County
so that we could be turned around in transit.
We were redirected to their rescue hut, where we got more details
of the search. It turns out the woman who had been given the
cell phone found her sons nearby a short time after Whittell had
left the trailhead. She could not make contact with him, but
was able to give the phone to a couple who were starting to hike
up the trail. They did not see Whittell, so they left a note
on his vehicle. When Whittell had not called by that night, the
man looked through the speed dialer on the cell phone and reached
Whittell's father in San Jose. The father drove to Santa Barbara
and, after talking to the man, reported his son missing some time
Tuesday morning.
Whittell was "found" when he called his father to let
him know where he was and discovered that his father had reported
him missing. It seems that Whittell had come down a different
trail Monday night, which put him in the Isla Vista area, and
had spent most of Tuesday wandering around the Santa Barbara area
looking for his car.
After hearing this tale, we could only wonder as we drove back
to Ridgecrest. We were back to the hut by 2040 and home before
2100. I was reminded that on long transits, it's a good idea
to check in with the CP periodically to get updates.
2004-05 28 February 2004 Search and
Recovery Frazier Park Linda Finco
Saturday morning at 0200, CLMRG received a page from
Sgt. Mike Kirkland to assist the Kern County Sheriff's Office
(KCSO) in a search for a plane crash in the Frazier Park area
of Kern County. The only additional information Sgt. Kirkland
provided was that it was snowing and that the teams were encountering
some steep terrain. Sheila Rockwell coordinated the callout with
help from Carol Burge. Bob Rockwell, Al Green, Bud Gates, Dan
Bishop, Dave Doerr, and I committed to the search. We met at
the hut at 0300.
We loaded up our vehicles, left at 0320, and arrived in the Pine
Mountain area around 0630. The snow was pretty steady on the
drive from Frazier Park to Pine Mountain but was beginning to
let up. In Pine Mountain, we met Sgt. John Diederich and a Frazier
Park team member. Based on various eyewitness reports on where
the plane crashed, Frazier Park had been searching the upper slopes
since 2200 Friday night from a fire road accessible by SnoCats.
Witnesses reported seeing the plane crash around 2100 Friday
night. A few reports conflicted on the exact location, but most
reports, including the report by one of the Frazier Park team
members, put the location up the canyon around the 7000-foot level.
While we were discussing what to do, another witness came to
ask if we were looking for a plane crash. He had been caring
for his sick dog Friday night when he saw the fire from his porch.
He located the site based on two trees in front of his house.
We went to the porch to have him point out the location. Based
on this information, we told Sgt. Diederich we were willing to
start hiking from the town heading in the approximate direction
reported by this witness. A GPS location was also estimated based
on the reporting party's (RP's) observation, which we would use
as a guide.
We geared up and started up the ridge to the east of the canyon
around 0730. The terrain was brushy, but hiking was not difficult.
Bishop, Gates, and Green waited with Rockwell as Doerr and I
brought up the rear. In a low spot, both Doerr and I could smell
something like burnt fuel. The other members had noticed a similar
smell in the general area. Base requested our GPS location, which
we provided. We decided to split into two teams and continue
up trying to locate the direction of the smell based on the shifting
winds. A little farther up, we could smell burning wood, which
got us excited until a Frazier Park team on the fire road stated
that they had built a fire that was putting out more smoke than
heat. By that time, we had found the search team's tracks from
the previous night and saw we were within a few hundred feet of
the fire road and their fire. The KCSO's helicopter had been
searching earlier, but the low cloud cover prevented it from searching
the GPS coordinates based on the RP's accounts. Now with our
GPS coordinates and a slight lift in the cloud cover, the helicopter
flew over the area again and within a short period located the
crash site. Bishop, Green, and Gates were just a short distance
away from the site and found it with the help of the helicopter.
Rockwell, Doerr, and I also hiked over to the crash site, which
was in the canyon around the 6500-foot level. It was now around
1000. We were told not to disturb the crash site. There were
conflicting reports about whether the plane had four people or
just one person on board, and from what we could observe, there
was only the pilot. We passed this information back to base.
We sat off to the side to wait for the sheriff, NTSB, and FAA
personnel to arrive and inspect the crash site before anything
was moved. They arrived around 1130. By now, the weather was
clearing. The helicopter had already returned to Bakersfield,
so after NTSB inspected the site and the pilot was removed from
the wreckage, we had to raise the pilot to the fire road about
500 feet above us for transportation. The sheriff and Frazier
Park team members recovered the pilot and secured him in a stretcher.
China Lake members started up the hill with the rope, slings,
and pulleys to set up the raising system, a single pulley tied
to a tree. We raised the stretcher and arrived at the fire road
around 1300. We loaded into the SnoCats and got back to Pine
Mountain around 1400. We had a late lunch or early dinner and
were back in Ridgecrest by 1840.
2003 summary of operations
Operation Talus Pile Date Type Location Leader
2003-01 128 18 Apr 03 Transit Red Rock Canyon Breitenstein
2003-02 129 4-6 Jul 03 Search Kern County Finco
2003-03 131 5-8 Aug 03 Search Sawtooths, Mono County Hinman
2003-04 131 19 Jul 03 Search Kern County Breitenstein
2003 operations by type
Incidents Alerts Mobilizations Transits Searches Rescues Recoveries
Total
0 0 0 1 3 0 0 4
*One search became a recovery.
2003 operations by month
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
0 0 0 1 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 0
2003 requesting counties
Kern Mono
3 1
2003 subject outcomes
Found uninjured Found injured Found dead Not found Self-rescued
Total
0 0 0 2 3 5
Palisades
4-6 July 2003
By Bob Huey
Jim Vijay and I tramped the west side of the Palisades on 4-6
July 2003.
July 4: We hiked over Bishop Pass (3 1/4 hours) and cross-country
to Thunderbolt Pass at 12,300 feet (2 1/2 hours)-a 4,000-foot
gain. We carried a 3-person tent we intend to use on the Wyoming
trip, a 50-foot, 9-mm rope, and ice axes. We left our crampons
in the car.
July 5: We climbed 2,440 feet to near the top of Polemonium and
returned to camp (10 hours). We ascended the chute from the west
to the top of the U Notch. The chute was loose rock and scree.
When we first entered the chute, a large boulder came down from
high up. None came down while we were in the chute until we knocked
one loose from the top on our way down. At the U Notch, we met
other climbers who said they knew the route to the top of Polemonium
but took us up a 5.4 crack to a 5.7 face near the top, where Jim
and I rappelled back down. We found the real route to the gendarme
and turned back at the exposed 5.3 ridge because we carried only
one rope, which didn't give us enough to rappel down.
July 6: We went up the third class chute 600 feet toward Thunderbolt.
We didn't take crampons or a rope. We found ways around the
hard snow patches early in the morning, but turned around on a
sandy, sloping third class shelf because it felt prudent to use
a rope to make one move above it and because coming down to the
shelf would have been dangerous. We hiked out and considered
doing Aggassiz or Goode but went out for Mexican food instead
and got home at a decent hour.
A Nice Climb of Mt. Russell
29 June 2003
By Bob Rockwell
On 29 June, Tom Sakai and I, with guests Daniel Krasner, Richard
Piotrowski, and Len and Sarah Lochmiller, climbed Mt. Russell
by a way I have been thinking about for years. If it isn't the
most direct and minimum-energy route from the North Fork of Lone
Pine Creek, it's close.
We left camp at Upper Boy Scout Lake and ascended the drainage
to the northwest that heads directly for the Southeast Face of
Mt. Russell. The first half of this pretty valley has grassy
meadows, waterfalls, and a small lake that dries up in late summer.
Getting to within a couple of hundred feet of the headwall at
its end, we climbed up and right until above the headwall, then
headed left across the base of the Southeast Face for the Sierra
Crest. As I had thought would be the case, this was pretty much
all class 2 and on good terrain.
Crossing the Sierra Crest into the Arctic Lake drainage at almost
precisely 13,000 feet quickly placed us in the broad couloir next
to the Fishhook Arete that leads up to Russell's South Face.
We ascended the nice class 3 right side described in R. J. Secor's
guidebook, gained the summit ridge, and walked over to the true
summit.
This route has three "pieces": Piece 1 is the drainage
ascent to the Southeast Face. Piece 2 is the traverse under the
Southeast Face, over the Sierra Crest, and into the broad couloir.
Piece 3 is the climb from there to the summit. Piece 1 has been
traveled by many people on their way to Russell-Carillon Pass,
and Piece 3 is a very popular finish route to the summit. Piece
2 is an obvious connection between them, but Secor told me he
hadn't heard of anyone doing it. That's surprising.
Of course, once crossing the Crest, access to the Fishhook Arete
and other Russell South Face routes is immediate, and this way
avoids the roundabout way to East Face Lake and up and down Whitney-Russell
Col. We traveled leisurely and took 10 hours from the time we
started up from camp until we got down to Whitney Portal.
Taboose Pass
17-20 July 2003
By Bob Rockwell
Thursday, 17 July: Bob Huey, John Ellsworth, Jim Vijay, and I
started in.
Friday, 18 July: We all climbed Mt. Ickes.
Saturday, 19 July: We parted company with John, who climbed Arrow.
Bob, Jim, and I climbed Vennacher Needle.
Sunday, 20 July: We came out, climbing Peak 12851 at Taboose
Pass on the way.
We came out a day early because of the spotty weather. We lucked
out for most of the trip, with the poorer weather pretty much
happening all around us but not on us. Most of the trail on the
east side of Taboose was uncomfortably hot. On the west side,
the temperature was nice, but the mosquitoes made up for it.
Check https://members12.clubphoto.com/robert634908/1471382 for
pictures of this trip.
SUMMARY OF PAST TRIPS
Date Location Participants Notes
Jan 19 Snowshoe to Lone Pine Lake Toler, Rockwell, Sakai, and
guest
Jan 24-25 Thimble To Corkscrew Peak Huey, Rockwell, Hinman, Myers
Left Saturday after dinner. Started hike Sunday 0700. Back to
cars 1700-1800.
Jan 30-Feb 1 Piute Pass Peaks Rockwell, Runkle, and guest Fought
winds for an hour and then turned around and came home. Next
morning, Runkle & Rockwell hiked to Lower Boy Scout lake.
Feb 8 Wildrose Sakai, Rockwell, and guest
Feb 13-15 Mt. Russell Rockwell, Runkle, and guest Richard Piotrowski
Hiked to Lower Boy Scout Lake on Friday, to Upper Boy Scout Lake
on Saturday. Made it to about 12,500' on Sunday before snow turned
us back.
Feb 16-20 Pear Lake Hut Hueber, et al 4 members, 3 guests. One
day it snowed, next day clear skies, great for skiing.
Feb 22 Whitney Trail Rockwell, Huey, Bishop, Franklin Day snowshoe
hike up the Whitney trail to about 9700' from the road closed
sign at 6600'.
Mar 7 Pinto Peak Rockwell, Sakai, Huey, Hinman, guests: Sue Faris
and Bill Chapman Day hike. 3400' gain, 9 miles round trip.
I was too shy to socialize, and I didn't know how to drink,
so I went camping.
--David Drake
TRANSITIONS
Adrian Kai Riendeau
Birth date: 4/3/2004
Birth time: 4:13 a.m.
Birthplace: Ridgecrest Regional Hospital
Weight: 6 lbs. 14 oz.
Length: 19 inches
Based on Linda Homer's report:
Elaine, our secretary, went into labor on Friday, April 2
about 9:30 p.m. She and Larry arrived at Ridgecrest Regional
Hospital about 2:30 a.m. The doctor got to Elaine just in time
to catch Adrian Kai as it took her only three minutes to push
him out. He weighed 6 lbs. 14 oz. and was 19 inches long.
All seemed well for a few hours, but the doctor noticed that he
was having breathing difficulties, and his blood didn't appear
right. Fortunately, the doctor didn't waste any time to have
Adrian flown to Loma Linda. After the helicopter left the hospital,
Elaine and Larry drove down. Elaine had 11 hours to recover from
delivery before this ordeal began.
The short version of the story is that Adrian is progressing very
well. He was on oxygen at Loma Linda, and when he didn't need
that anymore, he got to go home. Fortunately, Elaine's parents
arrived Wednesday to help with Adrian's older brother Noah.
Mom Elaine reports:
Thanks to all for the prayers. Adrian Kai Riendeau was able
to return to Ridgecrest on April 19/20. He is now one month old,
weighs 9 lbs. 2 oz., and is 21 inches tall.
Michael Franklin and Alisha Caster
CLMRG member Mike Franklin and Alisha Caster met two years
ago at our summer mountaineering class and married Saturday, May
8 at St. Ann's Church in Ridgecrest.
Mike is the son of Sally Franklin and the late Tom Franklin.
He graduated from Burroughs High School in 1987 and from Cal Poly
San Luis Obispo in 2001 with a bachelor of science degree in computer
science with magna cum laude honors. He is an engineer at the
Naval Air Warfare Center, China Lake.
Alisha is the daughter of Sam and Paula Caster. She graduated
from Burroughs High School in 1997 and from CSU Stanislaus in
2002 with a bachelor of arts degree in psychology with magna cum
laude honors. She is a case manager at Desert Area Resources
and Training.
Russ Huse
Al Green reports:
To those of you who knew Russ Huse:
I received a message today from Barbara Auld that Russ died yesterday
morning (5/1/04). He was 96. Russ was a charter member of CLMRG
and was one of our Honorary (Life) Members. He was active with
us up to his retirement from China Lake in 1975. He and his wife
Edith moved to Westlake Village soon after retiring.
Edith's address:
2076 Hillsbury Road
Westlake Village CA 91361
Ali Aminian
Patty Kline, Chair of the Sierra Peaks Section of the Sierra
Club, reports:
The year started with a tragic loss of our friend and
fellow climber Ali Aminian. I remember the fun and cross-country
climbs I did with Ali last summer. I was able to join the SPS
group of six on a strenuous and successful climb of the U-Notch
on North Palisade (an SPS Emblem Peak). Ali was very strong and
enjoyable to have on the trip. Two weeks later, Ali led a California
Mountaineering Club trip to Banner Peak and Mount Ritter, another
SPS Emblem Peak trip that I joined. With wonderful snow conditions,
Ali was really enjoying the climb and descent. Ali . . . kept
the pace and did [his] usual powering in the mountains. We hiked
in, climbed both peaks, and hiked out in two days!
I think of his family often. If you would drop them a line and
let them know how Ali came into your lives, they would be comforted.
*****
Go to https://www.simpsoncity.com/hiking/news/LAtimes011504.html
for a Los Angeles Times article about Ali. Refer to Operation
Report 2004-02 in The Talus Pile Number 130 (February 2004)
for the CLMRG report.
ON THE MOUNTAIN
We climbed out of timber,
bending on the steep meadow
to look for berries,
then still in the reddening sunlight
went on up the windy shoulder.
A shadow followed us up the mountain
like a black moon rising.
Minute by minute the autumn lamps
on the slope burned out.
Around us the air and the rocks
whispered of night . . .
A great cloud blew from the north
and the mountain vanished
in the rain and stormlit darkness.
John Haines in Czeslaw Milosz's anthology
A Book of Luminous Things
SHERIFF'S APPRECIATION DINNER
By Loren Castro
Sheriff Mack Wimbish welcomed members of 10 volunteer search and rescue groups to his annual appreciation dinner at Hodel's Restaurant in Bakersfield on 26 March 2004. The represented groups were Bakersfield, China Lake Mountain, Cooks, Desert, Divers, Indian Wells Valley, Kern Valley, Mounted, Southern Kern, and Tehachapi.
CLMRG members in attendance were Debbie Breitenstein and guests
Gene and Judy Breitenstein, Tom Sakai and guest Carol Sakai, Ellen
Schafhouser and guest Bob Lowe, and me
Our Contributor of the Year was Bud Gates.
Our members were recognized for longevity awards as follows:
5 years:
Dave Doerr
Bud Gates
15 years:
Werner Hueber
40 years:
Carol Burge
Tom Sakai had a winning ticket for a door prize, and I was sitting
on the lucky chair that won our table's centerpiece.
SERGEANT JOHN DIEDERICH RETIRES
The new Honorary Member
Sergeant John Diederich of the Kern County Sheriff's Office
has been elected an Honorary Member of the China Lake Mountain
Rescue Group. The only other time a person who was not a prior
member of CLMRG was given this award since 1983 was Sheriff Carl
Sparks, who retired in 2002. Sergeant Diederich's nomination
reads as follows:
"Sgt. John Diederich has been one of the most supportive
and helpful deputy sheriffs in the history of CLMRG and the Kern
County Sheriff's Office. John was the sergeant in charge of SAR
for Kern County from the middle of 1990 to 1992 and has been again
since early 1997.
"He has worked in every way possible to provide us with needed
equipment and support. John was the driving force that provided
the insurance coverage now in place for our public education events.
He also deserves credit for replacing our worn out vehicle with
a new Ford Explorer.
"It has been obvious that this role was more than a job for
John. He was deeply involved in making the SAR resources in Kern
County as professional and effective as possible.
"CLMRG has benefited greatly from his tenure, and to list
him as one of our Honorary Members is to honor us."
Refer to The Talus Pile Number 123 (April 2002) for the
history of our Honorary Member category.
The retirement party
Sgt. John Diederich retired from the Kern County Sheriff's
Office on 19 March 2004. His retirement party was at Hodel's
Restaurant in Bakersfield on 10 April 2004. Al Green, Tom Roseman,
Debbie Breitenstein, and Janet Westbrook represented CLMRG at
the party.
2004 OFFICERS
President Debbie Breitenstein 939-0716 deborah.breitenstein@navy.mil
Vice-president Paul DeRuiter 939-4517 paul.deruiter@navy.mil
Secretary Elaine Riendeau 939-6577 elaine.riendeau@navy.mil
Treasurer Dave Doerr 939-8077 david.doerr@navy.mil
MRA Representative Tom Sakai 375-7404 tsakai@ridgenet.net
CLMRG gratefully acknowledges recent gifts from the following
friends:
Janet Hammond Bradbury, California To honor her son, Steve Lester
Southern California Edison
Check our web page at https://www.clmrg.org.
All telephone numbers in The Talus Pile are area code 760
unless noted otherwise.
Newsletters from other rescue groups are in the hut.
Excerpt from In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson
"Garland was a professional photographer in Sydney until
his partner, Lisa Menke, was appointed chief warden of Kinchega
National Park up the road. He took a job as the regional tourism
and development officer. His territory covered 26,000 square
miles, an area half the size of England, but with a population
of just 2,500. His challenge was to persuade dubious locals that
there are people in the world prepared to pay good money to vacation
in a place that is vast, dry, empty, featureless, and ungodly
hot. The other part of his challenge was to find such people."