By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent

Two residents of Juab County wanted the county commission to request that the sheriff reinstate the county search and rescue team.
Chris Bowles and Ann Coombs, both long-time members of the East Juab Ambulance Association, said that the team members were of great value to the county and wanted to know why Sheriff Alden Orme had disbanded them and what the commission could do to have them reinstated.
“We think what has happened is a disservice to the community,” said Bowles.
According to state statute, said Jared Eldridge, county attorney, one of the duties of the sheriff, granted him by the state legislature, is that he is to “manage the search and rescue services.”
Any elected official in the county is granted the authority, by the state legislature, to mange the office that person is elected to without interference from another elected office.
“I cannot tell Pat Ingram, county clerk/treasurer, how to operate her office. The sheriff cannot tell me what cases to try,” said Eldridge.
“Can the sheriff do what he is doing? He has that authority.”
Bowles said that the men on the old, traditional sheriff’s posse or search and rescue team, were well-trained for response to many catastrophic events. They were willing to spend their own time and money to be equipped and were willing to take the time needed to serve the community.
A man with Alzheimer’s wanders away from home, a hunter or hiker is missing, a group of school children is stranded in a flood, a scout is lost in the mountains and search and rescue members are on-hand.
Search and rescue is a life-saving vocation. The ability to save a life is often dependent upon how quickly the person can be found and accessed.
If the missing person is one of a loved ones, the expectation is that well-equipped, well-trained search and rescue professionals to bring that loved one home safely.
“You don’t have any control over this? There is nothing that can be done until the next election?” asked Coombs.
Val Jones, commission chairman, said the commission had talked to the sheriff and had hoped that, perhaps, everything would work out and that the sheriff would reconsider his actions. However, that did not appear to be the case and Orme did not seem to think that was the direction he wanted to go.
Bowles said she thought that the recent loss of a county resident in a drowning accident proved that the men, and their training, could have been of a great benefit to the county in this situation.
“My husband, a trained diver, could have walked out the door at the same time that I was paged out with the ambulance,” she said.
His equipment sat by the door ready to grab.
Time was of the essence, she said. Cold water drownings can sometimes be revived if help arrives quickly enough.
“I don’t know that it would have made a difference,” she said.
“We do not know that it would not have made a difference,” said Coombs.
The two women wanted to know if the county had any liability if those trained were available and were not used.
They also questioned whether there had been extra expense for the county law enforcement to be staffed at the Little Sahara Sand Dunes during Easter. Traditionally, they said, the search and rescue service had played a big roll in enforcement but this year they were not used.
“You are going to have to pay for new guys to be trained,” said Coombs. “That will be an expense for the county taxpayer.”
Commissioners said that even though it was charged that the sheriff made his move for political reasons, there was nothing that could be done other than meet with him and suggest that he reconsider.
“Can he do what he is doing?” asked Eldridge. “That is one area where he has the authority.”
“I know the men have taken it as a slap in the face,” said Jones.
Bob Day, county buildings and ground supervisor, asked if he, as a county resident, knew one of these well-trained men and called on them to help him if he had need of their services could the sheriff send them back home?
He could do that, said Eldridge.
“We’ve been hoping and wishing that this would work,” said Jones. “We had these guys here a couple of weeks ago. We can’t replace these guys. We had a lot of hope that this would work. We talked to the sheriff and he acted like this was not the way he wanted to go.”
In response to the question of whether a petition circulated among the residents of the county would make a difference, Chad Winn, commissioner, said it would not hurt.
“That is your right as a county citizen,” he said.
Eldridge said that all of the officials, including the county commissioners and the sheriff, were elected by the people. The commission could not order the sheriff to do what they wanted him to do.
“You are our bosses,” said Eldridge.
LuWayne Walker, commissioner, once served on the search and rescue team but had taken a leave of absence when he became a commissioner because of the time requirement.
He said he understood the frustration of the women but the commission had talked to both sides in this conflict and could do little more.
“You can call him in to an ambulance meeting and ask him what his reasons were,” said Jones.
He said he thought the ambulance crew, who have voiced grave concerns about disbanding the sheriff’s posse, should deal directly with the sheriff.
The search and rescue crew is affiliated with the National Association for Search and Rescue and with the state but they are no longer deputized.