{"id":26527,"date":"2024-07-23T03:03:59","date_gmt":"2024-07-23T03:03:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/la-plata-county-search-and-rescue-raising-funds-for-new-radios\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T05:41:02","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T05:41:02","slug":"la-plata-county-search-and-rescue-raising-funds-for-new-radios","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/la-plata-county-search-and-rescue-raising-funds-for-new-radios\/","title":{"rendered":"La Plata County Search and Rescue raising funds for new radios"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"La
La Plata County Search and Rescue often works in the backcountry, where cellphones lack coverage. (Courtesy of Radios for Rescue)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The La Plata County Search and Rescue is raising funds to purchase 50 new 800 MHz radios. The group\u2019s existing equipment is outdated, and replacement parts are hard to come by.<\/p>\n

Other emergency services such as local fire departments and the Sheriff\u2019s Office communicate on 800 MHz radios, paid for by tax dollars,but no similar tax stream exists for search and rescue teams.<\/p>\n

The radios that LPCSAR hopes to purchase are years ahead of the team\u2019s existing radios in terms of technological advancement, leading LPCSAR Director Ron Corkish to compare the old radios to cassette tape players.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019d be really hard-pressed to find a cassette player,\u201d Corkish said. \u201c\u2026 We have these radios that are 10 years old, and now it\u2019s finding batteries, finding antennas, finding replacements, finding places that will work on them. It\u2019s just really that technology has moved on.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new radios cost $3,500 apiece. The agency has already purchased 20 of the 50 new radios it needs, meaning it still must raise about $105,000.<\/p>\n

As Search and Rescue announced its initiative to fundraise for the new radios, Kerry Sprick, chairperson of the Social Advisory Committee at the Glacier Club, was planning the third annual Nashville Songs and Stories Writer\u2019s in the Round event and looking for a charity beneficiary. Sprick connected with LPCSAR, and the 2023 concert raised $70,000 for the first 20 radios.<\/p>\n

Sprick and Corkish formally launched the Radios for Rescue campaign in June 2024. Sprick hopes to announce that they have completely funded the radios at the end of this year\u2019s Nashville Songs and Stories event on Aug. 28.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s event features Jeffrey Steele, Wendell Mobley, Danny Myrick and Megan Linville. Steele, Mobley and Myrick have written with some of the biggest names in country music.<\/p>\n

\"Wendell
Wendell Mobely, one of the 2024 Nashville Songs and Stories Performers. (Courtesy of Kerry Sprick)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Jeffrey
Jeffrey Steele, who has written some of Nashville\u2019s biggest hits. (Courtesy of Kerry Sprick<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Danny
Danny Myrick, a Nashville singer-songwriter who will be performing at this year\u2019s Writers in the Round event. (Courtesy of Kerry Sprick)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Megan
Megan Linville will perform her own music at this year\u2019s Writers in the Round event. (Courtesy of Kerry Sprick)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

After the artists are paid and a donation is given to the Fort Lewis College Community Concert Hall, the proceeds from the Nashville Songs and Stories event will go toward the new radios for Search and Rescue.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, Sprick is soliciting private donations from a variety of local businesses. As of July 18, Sprick said they have raised about half of the needed funds.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone I have met has a personal love for search and rescue,\u201d Sprick said. \u201c\u2026 They\u2019re the group that you never want to need, but when you do, you need them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tickets for the Nashville Songs and Stories Event range from $30 to $75 and are available at durangoconcerts.com<\/a>. Donations to Radios for Rescue are received at swsar.org<\/a> and the La Plata County Search and Rescue website laplatasar.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nashville Songs and Stories concert proceeds to help benefit organization<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26528,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-26527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26527"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26527\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79386,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26527\/revisions\/79386"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26527"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=26527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}