Sanborn County Sheriff Tom Fridley would like county residents and readers of the Sanborn Weekly Journal to be aware of some dangerous scams coming through the mail system. Recently, a county resident received a letter (pictured lower right) that appeared to be from a legitimate bank. With the letter, the person received a check (pictured upper right) that also convincingly had the appearance to be a legitimate document; however, neither document was from the bank they said they were from.

After some investigating, Sheriff Fridley found the bank that the letter and check were supposedly from, and he determined that the addresses on the mailed documents were one number off in the zip code of the bank’s address. Additionally, a huge indicator that the letter and check were sent from a scammer is the fact that the recipient is asked to pay a processing fee in order to process the check. Sheriff Fridley reported that he checked with First National Bank of Omaha in Woonsocket, and a bank employee stated that it could take three to 10 days to process a check that is brought to them to deposit or cash. That time frame can cause problems for the bank customer who received the check because by the time the bank contacts them to let them know the check is a scam, the customer has already spent the money and then has to pay the money back to the bank. Sheriff Fridley stated that this has happened to someone who then had to take a small loan out to pay off the debt to the bank.

…Learn more about the story in this week’s issue of the Sanborn Weekly Journal!

Emergency service personnel from around the area met in Woonsocket on Saturday, March 27, to attend the first of several training sessions to form a regional Rapid Intervention Team (RIT). This group of volunteers will be specially trained in rescuing downed firefighters from a burning building. An RIT is usually only found in larger cities like Sioux Falls because of the number of personnel it takes to perform a firefighter rescue. However, with multiple local organizations working and training together, they hope to add an increased level of safety for both the public and firefighters. The teamwork and camaraderie being built among the organizations is an added bonus to these joint training events.

The volunteers spent Saturday brainstorming, problem solving, and modifying techniques to better adapt to small departments.  Some of the training techniques covered were firefighter mayday communications, safer ways to advance hose lines, basic floor drag, stairway drag, firefighter fall recovery, and firefighter cardiac arrest. 

Organizations participating in this training included Artesian, Town and Country, and Wessington Springs fire departments as well as Jerauld and Sanborn County ambulance. 

…See pictures in this week’s issue of the Sanborn Weekly Journal!