The Board of Directors and our Core Leaders would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for making 2008 a great year for the VHRU.
Last year was a very successful year for the VHRU. We have increased our membership to 274. Hopefully everyone will pay their 2009 dues to keep our numbers up. Our new radios worked extremely well and will give us real capabilities in the future. We purchased a second trailer, this one was custom built for our needs. We held two mock exercises, one in Boulder City and the other in Mesquite, which went extremely well.
In 2009 we hope to continue our expansion and add new members. We have a number of planned joint mock exercises, one in Laughlin working with the Emergency Management and Police Department in Bullhead City, Arizona and another with the North Las Vegas PD.
JANUARY
This first General Membership Meeting had a record turnout with 105 members in attendance and 5 possible new members. Thank you all for your support.
Vice President James Swanson has stepped down as our VP; he will remain in the organization as an active member. The Board has selected his replacement, Paul Wagner from the Pahrump Team.
On behalf of the entire organization, the VHRU presented to former Vice President Jim Swanson a VHRU plaque in appreciation of his work as a Team Leader and Vice President over the past years.
A meeting was held recently with a representative from the Las Vegas Chapter of the Salvation Army, Mr. Phil Olivas. Mr. Olivas was invited to address our members this evening and talk a little about his organization and his needs. Mr. Olivas is also seeking any VHRU member who is willing to assist the Salvation Army if they are activated. The volunteers could drive their Mobile Canteen and assist in serving food to First Responders, Homeless, and Police Departments and if the VHRU was activated. Mr. Olivas drove the Canteen to this meeting for VHRU members to inspect.
We recently became a member of a working committee in Pahrump. The Emergency Manager hosts the Nye County Local Emergency Planning Committee meetings on a quarterly basis. Two of our Pahrump Team members represent the VHRU on this committee, Paul Wagner and JJ Lynch. This gives the VHRU the opportunity to get more involved in Pahrump. As a result, Fred Jones their Communications Officer in the Nye County Emergency Services, a former Anchorage Police Officer has joined our ranks as a member.
Good news, we now have two VHRU members on the Pahrump Town Council, Bill Dolan and Frank Maurizio. Congratulations to both our members and we wish them well with their new venture.
Another member Angelo Carvalho will be running for the Town Board, Ward 3 in North Las Vegas. We wish him success.
Late last year we spoke about researching the possibility of obtaining life insurance for our members. A copy of our Treasurer, Frank Bruton’s report was distributed tonight at your table. The Core Leaders have approved the purchase of an Accidental Insurance Policy which will cover all VHRU members in good standing up to $5,000. Life insurance for our group is out of the question with the cost being so high due to the average age of our members. We thank Frank Bruton for his work on this project.
A recent meeting with the Chief of Police in Mesquite was very successful. He has agreed to come on board with us and sent our MOU to the City Attorney for his review and signature. After Mesquite we have only one department left in Southern Nevada that we now need to focus our efforts to get an MOU and that is Boulder City.
A meeting has been scheduled in Bullhead City Arizona for the beginning of February with their Emergency Manager to discuss conducting a joint exercise in Bullhead and Laughlin. More on this next month.
The Laughlin River Run will be held again in Laughlin. The dates are Thursday, April 23 to Sunday morning, April 26th. We are hoping to have a good turnout for this event, as in the past. If anyone can commit now, please let Bob Boerner, Laughlin Squad Leader know. Metro is looking for as many names as possible so they can plan the rooms, meals etc.
In December a number of our members responded to a request by Las Vegas Metro to assist their Emergency Response Teams, K9 and Mounted Units during their training exercise. The event was held at Sam Boyd Stadium. Twenty (20) VHRU members acted as a hostile crowd giving the Response Officers, K9 and Mounted Units a chance to maneuver and practice during an unruly crowd situation.
Our Holiday Donation Program went well with donations in Mesquite, Pahrump, Laughlin, Henderson, Las Vegas and Boulder City. We gave this year $2,774.51 from our Treasury. Mostly food was purchased and utilities were paid for families in need.
The VHRU raffle was a huge success. We raise money for our organization collecting close to $9,000 for our Treasury, less expenses and prize money.
The Winners are:
Noel Inzerille, $1,000
Bill Dolan, $250.00
Carol Bishop, $250.00
Gene Altobella, $250.00
Ted Farace met with Chief Forti, North Las Vegas PD in early January regarding a joint mock exercise to be held in late March. A scenario will be prepared and given to that department for consideration. We are hoping that the PD joins us in this exercise. If for some reason they can’t participate, we would request they send an observer like we did in Mesquite last year. In any event, we will be holding the exercise. The date will be Wednesday, March 25th. We will have a lunch after the exercise for all participating. We expect a good turnout this time being this is in Vegas and not far for everyone to travel. Reimbursement will be given to those who use their vehicles during this exercise as part of our state grant award.
Last week Ted Farace spoke at City Hall before the North Las Vegas Police Department Superior Officers and civilian manager. Approximately fifty were in attendance (50). VHRU handouts were distributed to all. Overall, it went well and we expect some requests for assistance from that department in the near future.
Ted Farace and Paul Wagner will fly up to Carson City and meet with the Chief and Deputy Chief of the Emergency Management Division to discuss our grant submission. A supplemental budget request asking for an additional $15,000 for equipment (additional radios etc) was submitted. We want to purchase and issue mobile radios to the Team and Squad Leaders for their cars, which will give them better capabilities than the hand held radios.
In addition, we are looking to arrange an introduction to the Arizona Emergency Manager in hopes of obtaining funding for the VHRU Mojave County Arizona Team. Unfortunately, we can’t use our Nevada Grant funding for VHRU events held in Arizona.
The Chief of Police in Kingman Arizona was contacted again and a second meeting was arranged to discuss the VHRU, Mojave Arizona Team assisting his department. The meeting has been set for February 20th with the Laughlin Team and Squad Leaders attending.
The Fusion Center now has a laptop computer at the front desk for our use. We are in our 76th week (Over 3,000 hours of volunteer work) covering the front desk. We are hoping to get additional VHRU members to offer their assistance. Please contact Squad Leader Lou Marcano if you can donate 4 hours of your time during the week.
We will again march in the St Patrick’s Day Parade, which is scheduled for March 14th. The permit for allowing the VHRU to participate in the Parade was submitted last week and approved. We plan on meeting for breakfast first at the Fiesta Henderson Casino and then proceed to our staging area in the parade route. An e-mail note will be sent out with further details, times etc.
FEBRUARY - MAY
Treasurer Frank Bruton has sent in the application form for the VHRU Accidental Insurance Policy. We have paid $288.75 for the first quarter. When Frank receives the documentation we will send the information by mail to those members in good standing (dues paid) for completion. This will include a Beneficiary Form for the files in the event of a claim.
Ted Farace received a notification from the State of Nevada regarding our EMPG Grant application. We were approved for the original budget that was submitted as well as the supplemental budget. We now can purchase new mobile radios for all Team Leaders for their vehicles. More on this in the next couple of months.
In late January a successful meeting was held in Bullhead City with the City of Bullhead City Emergency Manager. Frank Bruton has drafted the MOU between the VHRU and the City of Bullhead City Arizona. It was sent to the Manager the other day for his review and comments. We expect the Emergency Manager to sign this MOU in the very near future.
We have added some new Teams and Squads on our Organizational Chart. We now have a Tri State Coordinator, Joel Barez in Laughlin and two Team Leaders, Bob Boerner in Laughlin and Ben Bacchi in Mojave County Arizona. Each of those teams now has two squads. This was necessary due to the growing number of new members from Arizona. Please see the updated Organizational Chart on our website.
A letter was sent in February to the Director of Emergency Management, State of Arizona to begin a dialogue with our organization. The plan would be to travel to Phoenix and meet with him or his designate, to discuss our expansion into Arizona and seek their financial support. We will be arranging a meeting in the near future.
Next month, March will be a very busy month for our organization. We will be marching in the St Patrick’s parade in Henderson on Saturday, March 14th. For those members who want to participate. We will meet at the Eldorado Casino in Henderson, around 8 am for breakfast. The cost will be covered from the VHRU Treasury. We will have both our trailers in the parade as Bob Boerner and some of the Laughlin Team members will be coming up with the Laughlin Trailer to participate. We will also have some room in cars that will be in the parade for those who have trouble walking. Please try to attend; we would like a good turnout.
At the February meeting we handed out a copy of our planned scenario for the mock exercise in North Las Vegas scheduled for 1000 am on Wednesday, March 25, 2009. We hope as many of our members would respond to participate in this exercise. We will eat after the exercise at the Cannery Buffet for all those who participated. Our staging area will be the Cannery Casino on Craig Road and Loose, just off of I-15. Please mark your calendar and expect a call from your Squad Leader as a reminder as we get closer to the date.
We will be changing our satellite carrier and phones. Most PD’s in Nevada are now using Iridium, World Communications. We will be trading in our four phones and these new phones will cost us $1,195.00 after a $300.00 each rebate with the trade in. The cost will be charged to our Grant budget and will be reimbursable to the VHRU from the State.
We have scheduled a CPR class with our instructor, Frank McCabe for Saturday 3/21/09. He has room for at least 12 members to attend. The classes are, 8:15 am, 10:45 am and 1:15 pm. Please let Frank McCabe know if you want to attend.
The VHRU membership at the end of 2008 stands at 275. We need your help to recruit anyone that you know who has a law enforcement background. Our goal this year is to break 300 paid members.
We are in the planning stages of the River Run. If anyone wants to volunteer, please see Ted Farace or Bob Boerner after the meeting. We need to get the names to Laughlin Metro PD so they can start reserving our rooms for this event. The dates of the Run are April 23rd to April 26th.
On April 7th, Bob Boerner and Ted Farace will fly to Phoenix to meet with representatives from the Department of Public Safety and Emergency Management to explain our expansion into Arizona and to get their support. While we are in Phoenix we will attend the International Association of Chief’s of Police seminar on “Volunteer Programs” on April 8th at no cost to the VHRU.
Update on the St Patrick’s Day Parade. We had 42 members march this year, which was the largest attendance we have had at any parade. Bob Boerner and two others drove up from Laughlin with their VHRU trailer to participate. Thank you Bob and your members. Next year we will try to get double the numbers. It cost the organization approximately $215.00 for breakfast for the participants.
On March 18th the Tabletop Exercise (TTX) was held in North Las Vegas, attended by Ted Farace and on the same day, Paul Wagner attended another Tabletop Exercise (TTX) at McCarran Airport. We will participate with Metro PD and others in a mock exercise at the airport on the schedule date of October 7th. More details on this soon.
We held our mock exercise with the North Las Vegas Police Department and the City’s Emergency Management on March 25th. We had 78 members respond to this event, which was outstanding.
This exercise was important and we needed to get as many members to participate as possible. During the exercise there were a number of Evaluators who rated our performance during the event. These Evaluators come from Metro PD, Clark County Emergency Management and North Las Vegas Emergency Management. Overall, we feel we did very well and we will know more in two weeks after we have the wash up after action meeting to discuss our involvement.
One issue we have to address is the need for two base station radios in our command trailer. Communicating instructions from the PD Command Vehicle to our Trailer would have been a lot easier if we had two base stations, one to communicate with me at the PD Command and the other to dispatch our people. The sign in process and assignments of our teams to the field went very smooth and it was observed by the Evaluators. Head sets for the base station operators to cut down on all the noise from the outside will be ordered. Also, we need to keep the responding members away from the Trailer in the future to allow communications to be easier with less noise, or any interruptions. Over all, we did great. We are now planning two more exercises, one at McCarran and the other in Laughlin/Bullhead City Arizona in the fall.
Don Woodmancy our Secretary was asked to send an article on the VHRU to the Las Vegas Police Protective Association requesting it be included in their semi monthly magazine. This is one way of reaching Metro Officers and advising them of who we are. Also, the Nevada Volunteers have a publication and an article in that magazine would be a good way to advertise our organization.
Adopt-A-Highway program update:
Our Laughlin team had a problem with the Department of Public Works in participating in their road clean up. The DPW requires someone from Laughlin to drive up to Vegas to pick up a road sign, drive back to Laughlin and do the clean up. Once this is complete, someone must drive back up to Vegas again to return the sign. We wrote a letter to the Director and requested him to have a sign in Laughlin in order to save all this wasted travel. It was denied. This is another example of no common sense on the part of the Nevada Government. Laughlin members discussed this and are willing to comply with their demands. The Laughlin Team will coordinate their clean up with the Metro Volunteers and the American Legion Post and the Laughlin Rotary Club who will do their road clean up on the same day.
Our license plate renewal for the Laughlin Trailer was received and we will ask for a new tag, VHRU 3.
We have a VHRU, VHRU 1 tag on vehicles now owned by two of our members. The VHRU 2 is on our Las Vegas Trailer. Now VHRU 3 will be on the Laughlin Trailer.
If anyone else is interested in advertising the VHRU, the plates are available (United We Stand) at $96.00 annually. By the way, the funds collected from the sale of this plate go to a grant program. We will be exploring this grant opportunity to see if we can submit a request for funding through the DMV.
We now have two new teams in Arizona, Mojave Squad A and Mojave Squad B. We have added a few more members to our Arizona Teams since we last met. Ben Bacchi will be our new Mojave Arizona Team Leader.
The River Run is closed to volunteers at this time. We have requested 12 rooms from Metro for those coming down from Vegas. A total of 40 members will be volunteering, about half from Laughlin and Arizona.
The 12 unmarked vehicles and 8 Metro hand held radios have been ordered for our use during this event.
The Riverside Hotel in Laughlin was contacted for rooms for our upcoming exercise on September 23rd. The rate is $45.00 per night, which includes one breakfast buffet and one dinner buffet ticket. We will be looking to cover the cost of these rooms as part of our Training budget with the State.
The scheduled exercise is Wednesday, September 23rd.The Laughlin Team and Squad Leaders along with Ted Farace will meet to discuss the scenario, which hopefully will include Bullhead City PD, Emergency Management and Laughlin Metro.
At our April meeting we made special presentations to three VHRU members for their dedication and time volunteered to cover the security desk at the Fusion center. VHRU Plaques were presented to those members, John Liba, Hector Pelaez and James Smith for their attendance for the past 88 weeks.
Over the past few weeks, 7 police officers were killed in the line of duty. Three were killed in Pittsburgh and four in California.
The Core Leaders, supported by the Board has approved donations of $500.00 each of those police agencies in their honor to show support for fallen officers. Checks were mailed last week along with a letter of condolence to each agency from the VHRU.
Sergeant Dan Lake, North Las Vegas PD sent a recent document identifying issues that need to be improved during the mock exercise back on March 25th. This is no way the final summary; we still will have an after action meeting to discuss the Evaluator’s comments that have not been submitted.
Overall, this exercise went very well and the points of weakness have been identified and will be addressed at our next exercise. Thank you to those 78 members who came out to assist during the exercise.
Team Leader Peter Griffiths had the opportunity to meet a representative from the Department of Homeland Security, Research and Development, Ms. Sandra Gogol Domestic Nuclear Detection Operations at the Cannery after our mock exercise. After there conversation, our information was forwarded to Chuck Westerfield of the DNDO. It was suggested by Ms. Gogol to have Mr. Westerfield attend one of our upcoming meetings. We are awaiting any contact from Mr. Westerfield.
Bob Boerner and Ted Farace traveled to Phoenix to meet with the State of Arizona representatives. The meeting included a representative from the Emergency Management Military Affairs Division and one from the Department of Public Safety, Liaison Officer for Homeland Security Division. The meeting lasted about 90 minutes. Our presentation was well received and both Bob and Ted are optimistic on the outcome. They promise to get back to us within 30 days once they present our information to their senior manages. Additional trips will be required to get the Arizona VHRU off the ground.
Bob and Ted also attended an International Association of Chief’s of Police (IACP) Meeting regarding Volunteer programs. This meeting was attended by members of numerous Police Departments in Arizona, Colorado, Georgia and Nevada. Networking was established and contacts made for the future. We donated 100 Motorola Hand Held, Point to Point radios to six different police agencies for their volunteer programs, further enhancing our relationship for the future. These radios were not being utilized by the VHRU and were in inventory.
Additionally, the Secretary, Don Woodmancy was asked to draft a letter to Ms. Napolitano, Director of Department of Homeland Security, formally the Governor of Arizona. In this letter I will explain our efforts to form an Arizona Team and look for help and assistance from her. Who knows where this will go.
Ted Farace recently met with a new member, Mike Theon, Las Vegas Metro PD. He has joined our organization and brings to the table a skill we don’t have. Mike is an Adjunct Professor at the College of Southern Nevada and his subject matter is Emergency Management. Mike indicated there is nothing in the Metro PD rules for an active police officer to be a volunteer as long as he receives no compensation. We have some Marshals, Constables, Attorney General Reps etc. as members.
Mike is working on his Federal Certification in Emergency Management and plans on retiring from Metro and work for the US Government. We believe we can use him to help put together the upcoming September exercise in Laughlin working with those Laughlin members who agreed to draft a scenario.
In addition, we will be arranging for training classes for all Core Leaders on ICS etc. In the future we will open these classes to those members who want to be certified in ICS. Mike has taken all the certifications required and can teach these classes to us in order for our members to obtain their certification. It is important that we all take these classes in the future. We can hold them on a Saturday at the IAC and the class would be about 3 hours.
We will adjust the organizational chart to reflect this new addition. Copies of our updated organizational chart distributed this evening and will be uploaded to our website.
On April 21st, a mock exercise was held in Nye County. We were asked to participate to support the Nye County Emergency Services group in Pahrump. Paul Wagner was the coordinator and we had eight VHRU members respond. This was low for our group but Nye County only needed a few VHRU members to handle security at the EOC building. VHRU members screened visitors who were authorized entry into the EOC and refuse those who were not. Overall, the VHRU was a very valuable asset for this exercise and well appreciated by Nye County Emergency Services. We plan on doing more exercises in Nye County in the future.
Update on the River Run:
W had 12 unmarked Metro units in the field every evening covering the hotel parking lots and garages. In addition, we had 8 VHRU members assigned to each Hotel in Laughlin in their Surveillance rooms. This was a very positive move by Metro to gain intelligence information on any gang members inside any hotel during the Run. There will be a wash up meeting in early May by Metro to review the River Run event. Once we have the statistics, we will pass them on to our members.
Based on the comments received from Metro PD, they feel this went very well and Metro was very pleased with our help. We want to thank those 38 members who volunteered their time in Laughlin.
While in Laughlin we met with the Chief of Police from Kingman Arizona. He is very willing to sign an MOU. A draft MOU was sent to him for his review along with information from our last exercise in North Las Vegas.
The VHRU has been invited to participate in another mock exercise scheduled for Saturday May 9th In Laughlin /Arizona. The Mojave County Health District will be holding this drill on both sides of the Colorado River. The drill will take place on the Avi Reservation and the VHRU will be assisting the Avi Tribal Police Department with traffic control and crowd control. The drill will center on a Point of Distribution (POD) on the Arizona side at the Avi Event Center. In the event of a pandemic situation, residents of Mojave County will have to come to the POD, which will be the Avi Event Center to get the necessary medicine for their families.
There is a meeting scheduled at the Avi Reservation that Ted Farace, Bob Boerner and Paul Wagner will attend to better understand what the Health District requires from the VHRU.
Before May 9th, everyone will be notified by your Squad Leaders on the time and location where we will meet to drive down to Laughlin. Most likely we will meet at the Fiesta Henderson Casio, rear parking area to car pool down and back. We will be working on obtaining rooms at the Riverside for Friday night, May 8th for those driving down that night. On Saturday morning we will car pool down and back if those members can’t go the night before.
Ted Farace has been invited to speak before the Las Vegas Repeater Association, (Amateur Radio Operators) breakfast meeting on May 16th at the Desert Pines Golf Club. This is another way of advertising the VHRU.
The Accidental Insurance Beneficiary form was mailed out this month (April) to all members in good standing. Everyone is requested to complete this form and send it back to the VHRU for the file.
JUNE
At our May meeting we had as our guest, Deputy Chief Gary Schofield, Las Vegas Metro Police Department. Chief Schofield wants to discuss the Downtown Area Command Surveillance program and again seek our assistance. Anyone interested in volunteering to work 4 hours at the DTAC let the coordinator know.
Update on the recent Mock Exercise on the Avi Reservation, assisting the Mojave County Health District.
To summarize, the event went very well and our presence was very much appreciated by both the Tribal Police and the Mojave County Health District. We had 43 members respond to Laughlin and then across to Arizona. A big thanks those who drove from Pahrump and Mesquite to help out. This was our first Homeland Security exercise in Arizona and we are planning more in the future. The Team Leaders in Laughlin and Ted Farace will be meeting with both the Tribal Police and Mojave County Health District to discuss an MOU with each agency in the event they need our assistance in the future.
A thank you letter to the VHRU was distributed to all attending tonight from the Fort Mojave Tribal Emergency Management.
The Linda Farace Memorial Scholarship Fund Awards -2009
It’s that time again to select five recipients for an award of $1,000 each, to be used toward tuition at a college or junior college.
Those who received an award last year (2008) are not eligible to submit this year. These individuals will have to wait until 2010. This is the fair way of giving everyone a chance to receive an award.
The award consideration is open to members in good standing (paid their annual dues for at least 2 years). This year we will allow Honorary Members to submit a request for consideration, if they so choose.
Applications should be completed and mailed to the VHRU at 9811 W. Charleston Blvd. Ste 2-142 Las Vegas 89117. You must include a copy of the acceptance letter from the college for the fall semester.
The VHRU held another CPR class in May. In attendance were 15 members. We will be scheduling more classes in the future and suggest everyone take this 3 hour class, at no cost to you.
We have submitted a request to be considered for Surplus Government equipment through the State of Nevada. As a follow up, additional documentation was requested and has been submitted to the State. We are awaiting their decision.
On June 12th their will be a meeting in Nye County to discuss a planned Point of Distribution (POD) exercise. The VHRU has been invited to participate. Paul Wagner and or JJ Lynch will attend and obtain more information. Nye County would like to conduct a similar exercise like the one we just completed in Arizona.
Please mark your calendar, Thursday, October 15; we will be having our exercise in Laughlin. At this time we are in the planning stages, which could take us to the Arizona side with a possible simulated plane crash at the Bullhead City Airport or some type of attack on the Davis Dam facility.
Our Amber Light permit has been submitted to the Nevada Highway Patrol. This year we require a letter from the police agencies we support, Letters are in the process of being prepared and will be sent to the NHP for approval. Copies of the permit will be distributed to the Core Leaders only, at this time.
In May Ted Farace was invited to speak at the breakfast meeting of the Las Vegas Repeater Association. The presentation was well received with many questions. At the end, this group offered their assistance with the VHRU radio communications in the future. A dialogue will be continued with them and we may ask that they participate in one of our exercises to see how their radio system would work as backup to our Clark County Mutual Aid Network.
Ted Farace spoke with Assistant Sheriff Flynn and requested he approve the VHRU to place our VHRU Tri-Fold brochures at the Metro Fingerprint Bureau. This will be a good way of reaching all those retired law enforcement officers coming to Clark County seeking a Concealed Permit or their HR 218 cards. Sheriff Flynn asked that we send him a brochure, which was done and he indicated this would not be a problem to achieve.
Tonight we have distributed the Clark County School District Maps of Las Vegas. This map should be kept in your car, if activated. It’s a good tool to find the location of the event or staging area. We used this map during the exercise in North Las Vegas last month. Please place this with your other VHRU equipment. Over time all VHRU members will be issued this map.
At our June General Membership Meeting we had a guest Stan Perkins from the Las Vegas Repeater Association. The members of this association are HAM operators and have available communications equipment that could assist the VHRU. Stan’s presentation was well received and printed information was handed out to all attending.
We received a letter from the Director of the Nevada Homeland Security regarding our letter to the Director Janet Napolitano in Washington. We were seeking her help in assisting the VHRU with its expansion into Arizona. In addition, a note was received from Rick Eaton, Nevada Homeland Security Director basically telling us to contact Homeland Security Department in Carson City to discuss the VHRU and its role in Nevada.
Arrangements have been made to meet with the Nevada Homeland Security Director, Rick Eaton on July 8th in Las Vegas at the State Office Building.
Over the past three years we have donated $500.00 to the John Bailey Memorial Fund. John Bailey was the first and only FBI agent killed in Nevada. The Board has approved another donation of $500.00 this year. A check for $500.00 was sent on behalf of the VHRU.
The Fusion Center has not been fully staffed for a number of months. We have been covering this assignment for the past 95 weeks. The Captain at the Fusion Center has asked the Metro MVP’s to cover the desk as a result of the VHRU not being able to fully staff this position. It was agreed at the Core Leaders meeting last week to end our commitment and move onto some other assignments within Metro, such as the DTAC Surveillance program. A letter was sent to Captain Primas at the Fusion Center giving notice that we will no longer provide coverage at the front desk effective July 1, 2009.
On Wednesday, June 17th, Paul Wagner and Ted Farace were invited to observe the Clark County School District EOC operation. They were holding a mock exercise simulating an earthquake, which affected four schools in the valley. The EOC was well staffed and the exercise was very productive being this was their first exercise. The School District will be conducting exercises every quarter and we hope to be more involved at the next one under the supervision and direction of the School Police. Our MOU is still being reviewed by the Chief of the Clark County School Police.
On Thursday Paul Wagner, VHRU member Mike Thoen and Ted Farace went to Laughlin and meet Team Leader Bob Boerner to review possible scenarios for the upcoming October VHRU exercise. The scenario will be a simulated aircraft crash into the Riverside Hotel while attempting to make an emergency landing at the Bullhead City airport. We will see how many members will respond. We have reserved 35 rooms for this event at the Riverside Hotel for those who can participate.
Paul Wagner attended the first kickoff meeting for the full blown exercise in North Las Vegas coming up on November 10th. More details will be forthcoming and that information will be passed on to the membership. Please mark your calendar for that date to participate.
Last week Ted Farace received a letter for the Department of Public Safety, Emergency Management Division notifying all grant recipients that they will be audited for the funding received during the past year. The State has hired an individual to conduct on site visits and conduct reviews of all the operations of those entities who have received funding. We expect the VHRU to have an audit and review sometime late 2009 or early 2010.
Ted Farace spoke with the Homeland Security representatives at the Arizona Department of Public Safety in Phoenix. They advised the proposal the VHRU had made is still be reviewed. We expect to hear from them soon on a decision to support a VHRU organization expanding into Arizona starting with starting in Mojave County.
JULY - SEPTEMBER
In July, Ted Farace had the opportunity to meet with the Nevada’s Homeland Security Director, Rick Eaton in Las Vegas. They spent over an hour talking about the VHRU and our mission. Ted was asked by Director Eaton if the VHRU would like to become part of the Nevada Citizen Corps Council. Ted agreed and a contact will be made by a representative from Rick Eaton’s office to get this going.
Ted Farace attended a meeting with Sgt. Lake from North Las Vegas PD regarding our recent exercise and our participation in the larger exercise planned for November. Sgt Lake gave Ted some feed back on the VHRU performance. In essence, the review was good but a few items we need to address before our next exercise. One major issue was communication with the press. Under no circumstances are we to talk to the press or be interviewed. The correct procedure is to refer any press to the Public Information Officer (PIO). This is an Incident Command System (ICS) policy, which we must comply with in the future.
Sgt Lake mentioned he received a call from the State of Arizona Department of Public Safety inquiring about the VHRU. This is in regard to our proposal to start a VHRU organization in Arizona. Positive feedback was given to the Arizona authorities.
Incident Command System (ICS) Training: Sgt. Dan Lake of the North Las Vegas Police Department is a certified instructor for FEMA. He has offered the VHRU an opportunity to attend his classes and become certified or allow the VHRU to do its own training and testing. The lesson plan was given to the VHRU to conduct its own training and a schedule will be made for the Core Leaders.
This is very important that all the Core Leaders and our members have at least the basic ICS training (100). Our member, Mike Thoen who teaches ICS at the College of Southern Nevada will do our training. Training dates and location will be sent out to all. We will try to do this by Teams and Squads.
On August 4th, Paul Wagner and Ted Farace flew down to Phoenix to meet with the Homeland Security people and the Department of Public Safety, Emergency Management. It appears they are very interested in developing a VHRU Arizona team. On the same day, Ted will try to arrange a meeting with the Arizona Director of Homeland Security.
This past Thursday the Las Vegas Metro PD Downtown Area Command (DTAC) Surveillance program commenced. We are hoping we can keep this going and recruit more volunteers to fill the open spots. We have 32 volunteers so far. The first few days went pretty smooth and we received our access cards to the secured parking and also access to the sub station after hours. If anyone wants to help by donating 4 hours during the week, please see Ted after the meeting.
On July 20th a lunch meeting was held with Assistant Sheriff Flynn along with our VP, Paul Wagner and Ted Farace. A list of issues was discussed, including placing our VHRU pamphlet in the CCW/HR 218 area in the Fingerprint Bureau. We will be able to reach every former law enforcement officer who applies for either permit. Copies of our VHRU booklet were delivered to Assistant Sheriff’s Flynn’s office last week to be sent to the Fingerprint Bureau.
September 11th is around the corner. The New York Police Association, the Las Vegas Ten 13 Club will be holding their annual ceremony at the Metro Police Memorial Park and all are invited. This year we will be having a BBQ in the park near our Memorial. All VHRU members and their spouses are encouraged to attend the ceremony and eat after.
On August 28th we have been asked to assist with the Bullhead City Arizona with their “Regatta on the Colorado” event. We would provide security and act as spotters at various locations along the Colorado. The event is scheduled for August 28th and will run into the late afternoon on the 29th. We will be asking our members who are interested in driving down on August 2929 to meet at the Fiesta Casino in Henderson to car pool down and back. For this event, the uniform will be our VHRU hat, shirt and shorts due to the excessive heat, which is at least 10 degrees hotter than Vegas. Shorts should be beige in color.
There is a kickoff meeting scheduled for August 26th at 1400 hrs in Bullhead City at the Emergency Management office (Table Top), which will be attended by the Arizona and Laughlin Team Leaders. Updates to follow.
Regarding our Scholarship Fund donations to members, the time is running out and we need the applications to be submitted for consideration as soon as possible. We will draw the five names prior to the August General Membership Meeting.
The first Incident Command System (ICS) training class (100 series) was held at the College of Southern Nevada for all the Core Leaders. The instructor was VHRU member and certified instructor, Mike Thoen. The class went very well and we are planning more dates in the future. Our goal is to have every member in the organization, ISC 100 certified.
Paul Wagner and Ted Farace attended the third Table Top meeting with the North Las Vegas PD. Previously submitted was a memo to Sgt Lake, North Las Vegas PD, outlining four objectives the VHRU would like to achieve during this upcoming exercise. These objectives are:
- Organization
- Communication
- Deployment
- Response
This exercise will be monitored by Federal HSD (Homeland Security Department). We are hoping to have a good turnout as we had previously. The date of the exercise is November 10th.
The Kingman Arizona MOU is still under review and we expect this to be signed in the near future.
Chief DeVries of the Kingman PD is the chairperson of the upcoming Arizona Chief’s and Sheriff’s Association meeting. Chief DeVries made arrangements for Ted Farace to address the Association members in September at the Aquarius Hotel in Laughlin. This will give the VHRU exposure for those police agencies in Arizona.
Bullhead City Arizona had sent back the MOU with some changes. Frank Bruton and Ted Farace met with the Bullhead City Attorney on August 24th in Bullhead to discuss the changes. A new draft MOU was prepared and sent to the Emergency Manager for review by the City of Bullhead City Risk Manager.
On August 28th and 29th the Colorado River Bash or the River Regatta will begin. Bullhead City has asked for volunteers to help the Police Department with parking and traffic control on the 28th. The Laughlin and Mojave teams will cover the assignment on the 28th. The next day, we will need at least 25 volunteers to act as spotters along the Colorado River on the Nevada and Arizona side. The Laughlin and Mojave County Teams will have about 15/20 volunteers. We need to support this from Vegas etc. Let me know tonight if you can help. We will meet at 5:30 am the Fiesta and car poll to Laughlin. Frank McCabe will be towing our command trailer down to Laughlin the night before so we are ready with our communications on Saturday morning.
Paul Wagner and Ted Farace went to Phoenix two weeks ago at the request of the Arizona Department of Public Safety. They met with representatives from the ADPS, Emergency Management and Military Affairs, the Volunteer Coordinator for the State of Arizona and a representative from the Human Resources area. Discussions centered on background checks and it was agreed that they will accept the VHRU background check. Metro Prints and written verification of police experience by the VHRU. If a VHRU member wants to assist inside a ADPS facility, he or she must comply with their full background check, including a polygraph, drug testing etc. The Arizona meeting went well and it was agreed that the VHRU will fall under the Arizona Department of Public Safety.
Frank Bruton drafted a MOU, which was sent to the ADPS for review. A sample State of Arizona ID card was mailed to the ADPS for consideration. If approved, I will issue new ID cards for the Arizona Team members.
Bob Boerner and Paul Wagner attended the Fort Mojave Tribal Conference this month. This was a great opportunity to meet other Native American Leaders and gives the VHRU organization more exposure in Arizona.
Update on our Laughlin exercise to be held on October 15th. Lt Evans, Las Vegas Metro will be meeting with Bob Boerner and Ted Farace on the 27th. Additionally, a letter of introduction was sent to the Fire Chief of Clark County asking for a contact in the Laughlin Fire Station to arrange a meeting. A copy of our scenario was e-mailed to Terry Donohue the Riverside Security Manager asking for a meeting as well.
We have 20 volunteers so far from Las Vegas and about 15 from Laughlin/Arizona Teams. We are hoping to get at least 60 VHRU members to participate. We have a few rooms left so let me know if you can drive down on the 14th and stay over and participate on the 15th.
On November 17th, Paul Wagner and Ted Farace will be flying to Carson City to attend a full day workshop, working with Emergency Managers from across the State and the topic is Tribal-Local Jurisdiction. I was asked to make a short presentation describing the exercise we held at the Avi. I have a go ahead from the Fort Mojave Tribal Emergency Manager to use his material for this presentation.
For your information: A letter was sent to the Pahrump Town Board requesting VHRU be considered as a recipient of obsolete or surplus vehicle such as an Ambulance. This was suggested by our member Bill Dolan who sits on the Town Board.
Paul Wagner attended the kick off meeting of this coming New Years Eve assignment assisting Las Vegas Metro PD. Paul will continue to represent us and brief us as the time gets closer on what we will be asked to do.
An issue was raised by one of our members regarding the recent news article concerning the H1Ni flu. In the article it indicated that Medical personnel would be vaccinated first. We are in the process of checking further on this to see if the VHRU would be considered the same and receive those shots. We may be activated to assist at various Las Vegas High Schools that would be the Point of Distribution (PODS) for Clark County.
There has been no word back from the Clark County School Police on our draft MOU. Ted Farace called and left a message to see what the status is.
The fall is coming and they expect a heightened Flu season across the country. There is a possibility the VHRU may have to provide security at PODS to citizens of Clark County if they are activated.
September 11th is approaching and the offer for all law enforcement officers and their spouses to attend a memorial has been extended by the New York Police Club, Las Vegas Ten-13. The location of the memorial is the Police Memorial Park on Cheyenne behind the Metro Police Academy starting at 11 am. Food will be served at the Memorial for all those attending.
The Linda Farace Memorial Scholarship Fund awards were made last week. The members below were selected and checks for $1,000 were mailed to the respective colleges. This year we gave out $6,000.
Members who submitted applications:
- Richard Macklin
- Claudia Piontek
- Christian Magrabi
- Pat Stringer
- Ben Bacchi
- Andy Parisi
On Friday, 9/25/09 we conducted our quarterly Adopt-A-Highway clean up for Pahrump and Las Vegas. Thanks to those Core Members who assisted.
On Saturday, September 26th we held our second Incident Command System (ICS) training class. We had 31 members in attendance. Test sheets were delivered to the North Las Vegas PD for processing through FEMA. ICS certificates will be issued and sent to those who attended.
On Saturday, October 24th we will be holding another training class at the College of Southern Nevada. The school is located at 700 College Drive in Henderson. An e-mail will be sent in the beginning of October reminding everyone of that date. Please mark your calendar. Our goal is to have every member certified in the basic ICS 100 class.
The River Regatta exercise, from our point of view was a success. Our radios worked extremely well and thanks to Don Woodmancy our dispatcher. He did an outstanding job deploying our people and kept the flow of communications open. Bob Boerner has to be commended for his role working at the Bullhead City Emergency Operations Center (EOC), documenting all the radio assignments and passing it on the EOC Commander. Next year we will have lunch available at the sign in time with water; no deliveries to posts will be made. We will also assign a second person to the EOC to assist Bob Boerner.
Laughlin Squad Leader Bill Stehle and Ted Farace attended the River Regatta Hot-wash meeting in Bullhead City on the 14th. There were many issues that the Regatta Committee will have to address next year. For the VHRU, only a few, water down the parking area, more signs directing people etc. We may be asked next year to place signs along the river at our spotter positions indicating to the participants how far to go before the Regatta ends.
The Downtown Area Command (DTAC) has been running smoothly. We have 30 members who have stepped up to participate. One big issue we face is two to three members working the same shift and only one monitor and control to operate the cameras. It was suggested the VHRU invest $400.00 to purchase a second monitor to show our support for the program. The Core Leaders have approved this expenditure from our Treasury. When two members work they can add more value by splitting up the cameras to watch. In the near future Metro will be adding a few more cameras and the time is right to help.
Las Vegas Veterans Parade is coming up on November 11th. The VHRU application to march was sent last week. The registration cost to enter was $25.00. We hope this year we can get a decent turnout. We will have the VHRU trailer in the parade as well and some vehicles for those who can’t walk. Most likely a breakfast will be held at a local Casino nearby, prior to the March.
Ted Farace contacted the Arizona Department of Public Safety regarding their support for the creation of a VHRU Unit. Ted was advised that our paper work will be presented to the ADPS Director on August 28th for his review and approval.
We have been invited to attend an All Hazards Training class on January 30, 2010 sponsored by Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Dept. Bill White and Peter Griffiths from the Core Leadership will attend representing the VHRU.
On September 15th Ted Farace attended the Las Vegas Amateur Radio Club as a guest speaker. There were 60 members in attendance and my presentation was well received. A couple of those amateur radio operators are former law enforcement officers and I’m in the process of trying to recruit them to join VHRU. Next month we will have as our guest the Vice President of that club.
On September 18th Ted Farace was a guest speaker at the Arizona Sheriff’s and Chief’s Association annual meeting at the Aquarius Hotel in Laughlin. The conference was well attended with representatives from across the state of Arizona.
There were over 100 Chief’s of Police, some Sheriff’s and the Arizona Director of Public Safety. Ted had the opportunity to introduce myself to the Director and talk a little about the formation of the VHRU in Arizona. Our VHRU pamphlet was distributed to the members attending. Ted will try to attend next year to give everyone an update on our activities in Arizona depending on our progress during next year.
A couple of weeks ago, I gave Metro’s Assistant Sheriff Ray Flynn our VHRU brochure to be placed at the Metro Firearms Bureau for distribution. We received two calls the other day as a result from possible new members. This is working out well as a means to recruit new members.
Laughlin Squad Leader Bill Stehel will be attending a two day seminar in October representing the VHRU, sponsored by the Arizona Department of Emergency Management. This seminar will focus on major events such as the N1H1 flu pandemic.
A Holiday Party has been planned by the Chicago Police Association and they have extended and invitation to VHRU members to attend.
(Flyer handed out this evening). The cost is $25.00 for a buffet dinner. If anyone wishes to attend, please let me Ted know so I can arrange tables.
Our Laughlin mock exercise on October 15th is just around the corner. A meeting was held with the Clark County Fire Department, the Riverside Hotel Security Director and Metro last week. A draft full scale scenario was sent to these individuals to make changes, add or delete anything regarding their function. Prior to the exercise, a short meeting has been scheduled for 1 hour to go over the exercise with all involved in Laughlin.
North Las Vegas Exercise, November 10th is coming closer and on Friday, September 10th and September 28th, two full day planning meetings were held in North Las Vegas. Ted Farace and Paul Wagner attended these meetings representing the VHRU. The planning for this upcoming exercise on November 10th is extreme and a lot of work for all involved.
A lot of different entities are participating and it should be a huge success after all the effort that has been put into the planning. Representatives for Homeland Security Bureau in Washington DC are now involved and are running the exercise.
Ted Farace was asked by Sgt Lake, North Las Vegas PD, Emergency Manager for the City, to assist with all the volunteers reporting to this event. Ted will work along side of members from the City of Las Vegas Emergency Management Office.
Paul Wagner will be assigned to the Police Command Vehicle to handle the radio communication between the PD and our VHRU Command Trailer. Don Woodmancy will be our Dispatcher in the Command Trailer and Frank McCabe will provide security at our Command Trailer.
Fred Sansone will be assigned to check everyone in at the staging area. Gas reimbursement forms will be handled by Hector Pelaez, and the overall operation of the Staging Area Command will be the responsibility of Squad Leader Jerry Benson to make sure everything is runs smoothly.
Our Command Trailer will not be at the same location as the staging area. It will be next to the site of the event (off Brooks Street, south of Cheyenne).
The staging area for those responding will be at the Prentiss Walker Memorial Park on June Avenue off of Martin Luther King Blvd. (South of Cheyenne Avenue). The Laughlin Trailer will be used as the staging area to sign in and out for this exercise as well as issuing spare radios and deployment of those participating. Maps will be prepared and instructions for all responding will be handed out at our October meeting.
We are considering a buffet lunch for those who participated to be held at the Cannery Hotel Casino on Craig Road.
On Sunday October 4th at 4 pm, the History Channel will be broadcasting a 2 hour documentary on “The Day after Disaster” The subject of this documentary involves a bomb that has been detonated in Washington DC with more that 50% of population killed. Disaster planning is the key to this situation and will be the focus of the program. The Department of Homeland Security is sponsoring this special and everyone should try to watch it.
OCTOBER
At the October General Membership Meeting, photos were shown to all attending the 2010 Raffle prize, an FBI National Academy Commemorative 9 MM Beretta. In addition, VHRU member Bobby Thomas donated a Smith and Wesson 38 caliber hand gun. These will be raffled off in January to help raise funds for the VHRU. The goal of the raffle this year is to start raising money for a VHRU building fund. We intend to push hard with the Bureau of Land Management to donate land to the VHRU. A number of local Senators and others will be approached to gain their support in achieving this goal The raffle tickets will be $20.00 each or 6 for $100.00. At the April 2010 General Membership Meeting the raffle will take place. You do not have to be there to win. More on this in January when the tickets go on sale.
Thanks to Laughlin Team Leader, Bob Boerner who donated this beautiful Commemorative hand gun and Bobby Thomas for his donation of the .38 caliber revolver.
Update on the recent mock exercise in Laughlin/Arizona, simulated plane crash.
- We had 46 VHRU members in attendance.
- Metro Volunteers numbered 15
- Radio communications worked well
- Fire Department deployed Fire Units to Riverside and our Communication Trailer.
- Hotel Security played a little but not enough. Same for Bullhead City Emergency Management, they could have done more with our resources.
- Metro had a limited participation, Lt. Evans only, as an observer.
- Hot wash has been scheduled for Friday, November 6th in Laughlin
- Our new base radio console looks professional and worked well for the operators. Additional base radio’s will be purchased and installed over the next few months.
- We will be looking into a muffler for the Generator to help cut the noise in the Trailer.
Copies of the scenario and supporting documentation were mailed to the Clark County Fire Department, Sheriff Gillespie, Assistant Sheriff Flynn, Sharon Harding, LV Metro Volunteers, Rod Parish Arizona DPS and to Metro Emergency Management. Copies will be sent to the State in the normal way with our quarterly reports, (December- 09).
Holiday Party - Chicago Police Association Holiday Party is set for Saturday, December 12th at 5 pm. Please let he Board know tonight if anyone wants to go, so we can arrange tables. Flyers have been placed at your tables with the information and cost.
November 10, 2009 is the date for the full scale exercise in North Las Vegas. This will be the most important exercise we will participate in since we started the VHRU. We have a small part but an important role, which we believe will give us exposure.
The exercise involves a 4.2 earthquake centered in North Las Vegas. Power outages, water flow interruptions, roadway damage as well as building collapses. For this exercise, Ammonia leak which creates a dangerous plume of toxic fumes from the US Foods location on Martin Luther King and Cheyenne.
Assignments of some Core Leaders have already been made:
- Coordinator at Staging area (Jerry Benson)
- Police Communications Vehicle- ICP ( Paul Wagner & JJ Lynch)
- Sign in and Out VHRU members (Fred Sansone)
- Gas Reimbursement forms. Only those coming from outside Vegas and those assigned a team in their vehicle will be reimbursed. (Hector Pelaez)
- Team Assignments & Radio’s – vehicles (Frank Bruton)
- Staging vehicles & issuing a number etc. (Angelo Bevilacqua & Marty O’Driscoll)
- Coffee pick up (Frank Bruton)
- Staging area Trailer (Bob Boerner and Robert Manlove)
- Security at our main Communications Trailer (Frank McCabe)
- Ted Farace has been designated as an exercise Controller and Evaluator for the VHRU and will report to the on site senior Controller, North Las Vegas Fire Chief Terri Davis
North Las Vegas advised they will be supplying box lunches to all individuals participating in this exercise.
We will supple hotel rooms for those members driving up from Arizona, Laughlin, Mesquite and Pahrump to participate in this exercise.
A letter was sent to the Chief of Police of Hoover Dam requesting a meeting. We will follow up with him to set up a date to discuss the VHRU assisting his agency. In the near future we will be meeting with the Chief of Police for the Piute Nation and the Clark County Fire Department, offering our support.
The Las Vegas Metro PD Downtown Area Command advised that they will need to place a second hard drive at the DTAC before we can use a second monitor. We agreed to assist Metro with this project by purchasing a second monitor for our use with the surveillance cameras. The purchase of this monitor is on hold now. The VHRU is now in its 20th week of volunteering to man these cameras.
Thanks go to Bill Stehle on his donations to the Laughlin Food Bank in the name of the VHRU.
Veterans Day Parade is coming up on Wednesday November 11th the day after the North Las Vegas exercise. We are planning on having breakfast before we march at the Stratosphere Hotel Casino. A show of hands to get an idea of how many members are willing to march on November 11th.
The 20010 annual dues are due. The dues are the same this coming year, $30.00. If you pay up front for a three year ID card the cost is reduced to $70.00. Please try to get your checks in early to save a lot of administrative work in the beginning of the year.
NOVEMBER
At the November General membership Meeting we had as our guest speaker Bill Smith, Emergency Coordinator Clark County Ares-Races to give us a short overview of his organization and its mission. Bill conducted a power point presentation explaining how ARES/RACES work. The presentation was well received and we thank Bill for tasking time out to join us.
It’s that time again to collect the annual dues. If you have not sent in your check, please try to do so as soon as possible. If you want to take advantage of the $20.00 savings by renewing for 3 years, please send in your check for $70.00, payable to the VHRU, otherwise the dues are $30.00 for 2010.
As we have mentioned over the past few months we are trying to build an Arizona VHRU. Meetings have been held in Phoenix to discuss this proposal. The Department of Public Safety was very interested but at this time the Director decided to hold off supporting a VHRU group in his state. We will continue to build our presence and focus on Police Department by Police Department to obtain MOU’s, mainly in Mojave County. We are a little disappointed but we are not giving up on this expansion.
Robert Petrusek has decided to step down as the Laughlin Squad Leader for health reasons. Robert Manlove has agreed to take over this role. Our thanks go out to Robert Petrusek for all his help over the past few years and he will remain an active member. Welcome Robert Manlove to his new role.
As you know, we participated in the full scale exercise in North Las Vegas a few weeks ago. We deployed 21 teams to assist with a total response of 64 VHRU members. Our radios worked extremely well and we assisted in a number of assignments.
As part of a full scale exercise, representatives from the Department of Homeland Security were present to observe. There were also Evaluators in the field to review operations of units involved and report on their performance. The written report on the VHRU was outstanding and comments were made for other agencies in this exercise to consider utilizing the VHRU in the future. The only issue we had, we were under utilized. We could have been deployed in many more situations during the exercise. This was noted by the Evaluator in his report to the DHS.
The VHRU has set a goal for 2010 to try to obtain land from the Bureau of Land Management for a VHRU building one day in the future. Meetings will be set with various government representatives in Nevada to seek their assistance.
For those who are interested, the Bullhead City- Laughlin River Regatta is scheduled for August 14th. If you plan on helping in 2010, please mark your calendars. More on this in early 2010.
There is a National Level Exercise (NLE) in the pipeline for May of 2010. The scenario as of now is the detonation of a Nuclear Bomb in Las Vegas. California is also participating with a second device found and disarmed and subjects apprehended. It’s not clears at this point where we fit in. North Las Vegas and Henderson PD have an interest in utilizing the VHRU. We may be split between two police agencies. More details on this event in early 2010.
Paul Wagner, VP and Ted Farace had planed a trip to Carson City to meet with the Chief and Deputy Chief of the Emergency Management Division. This was canceled by them and a new meeting has been set for 12/4 in Las Vegas. The purpose of this meeting is to review our proposed budget and discuss other VHRU business including the upcoming 2010 National Level Exercise (NLE). More on this at our January meeting.
On Saturday, November 21st the VHRU was activated to assist in Nye County Emergency Services in Pahrump with the distribution of the H1N1 Swine Flu shots. A Point of Distribution (POD) was opened in the Nye County Emergency Services building and the VHRU was asked to handle security and traffic control at the facility. Twenty three (23) VHRU members participated and were assigned. In addition we were offered the N1H1 Swine Flu shot if any VHRU member wanted it.
New Years Eve is just around the corner. We will be asking members to help out this year again covering the various Metro sub stations. If anyone is interested in helping that night, please see Paul Wagner.
Every year the VHRU makes donations around the holiday season to families in need. This year we will do the same. Las Vegas, Henderson, North Las Vegas, Laughlin, Mesquite, Pahrump and Boulder City will receive funds to distribute. We will donate the total of approximately $3,500 from our Treasury.
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department has lost a number of officers killed in the line of duty this year, the last being this past week. The Core Leaders have agreed to donate $500.00 to a fund being established to help the families of those officers killed in the line of duty.
There is no meeting in December and we look forward in 2010 to another successful year.
On behalf of the Board of Directors and all the Core Leaders, we wish every one a happy holiday season and a safe and healthy new year. Ted Farace
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