Uniting groups may not be the best thing

Our new Sheriff, Daryl Wheeler, has made good on his campaign promise to bring back the Search and Rescue group formerly known as Bonner County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue, Inc. This group is headed by Ron Korn and is also known as the Orange Group.

North Idaho Search and Rescue also known as the Blue Group, is presently 50 members strong. They have proven themselves very capable these past seven years with many search and rescue missions for the sheriff’s office. This group is dedicated to our community, and work with each other closely in order to give the very best of themselves to each and every search.

The BCSR members were invited to join NISAR, so that they could go out on searches with NISAR. They declined to do so. Why didn’t they join?

Sheriff Wheeler is trying to mend fences with the BCSR group, just to tear down the relationship built with the NISAR group. There is mistrust of BCSR and Ron Korn by the NISAR group. By trying to unite these groups, you will lose many trained and talented members of NISAR, Sheriff Wheeler. Is this uniting really for the good of our community? What the community loses in trained and talented members may far outweigh what could be gained by this action.

Perhaps the discord is not over Mr. Rich.

STEVE BARTON

Sandpoint