By Dewey Terrill and David Gilbert
JC Post
There is a new Geary County Marine Unit that has been formed to provide life saving assistance on Milford Lake and other water ways. The members of that unit have just obtained dive certifications Jeff Freeborn of Flinthills Scuba, following training at Beaver Lake in Arkansas. The next step will be to continue the journey to become a Certified Public Safety Dive Team. They will make a return trip to Beaver Lake in two weeks, to obtain their Advanced Diver Certification.
The entire process was the idea of Geary County Sheriff Daniel Jackson when he took office. The county is home to Milford Lake, the largest man made lake in Kansas. He wanted to provide the Geary County community and those who visit Milford Lake with more readily available life saving measures, specially during the summer months and holidays when there are large increases of recreational boaters and boating activities.
From that idea the Geary County Marine Unit was formed through talks with members of the Sheriff’s Department and the Junction City Fire Department. Both Jackson and Junction City Fire Chief Terry Johnson sent out a request for interest in a joint dive team within their departments.
Deputies and firefighters submitted letters of interest to be a part of the dive team, and on July 31st and August 2nd, Jeff Freeborn conducted underwater testing of all applicants. Those test results, along with a swimming assessment conducted by Junction City firefighter Jason Lankas, who also holds lifeguard and swift water rescue swimmer certifications, were provided to Sheriff Jackson and Chief Johnson,. Using the results a dive team was selected, which is comprised of the following Geary County Deputies and Junction City Firefighters.
Team Leader: Lt. Thad Jones
Sgt. Shawn Weeks
Sgt. Kirt Nichols
Deputy James Regalado
Deputy Jason Everson
Deputy Clint Arnold
Fire Fighter Jason Lankas
Fire Fighter John Shepek
Fire Fighter Todd Bogenhagen
Fire Fighter Yeriela Bell
Fire Fighter Paul Rabek
The unit will be able to serve not only Geary County but other areas in Kansas when called to assist.
