[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 16725]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




     ECKERD COLLEGE SEARCH AND RESCUE TEAM CELEBRATES 40 YEARS OF 
                          OUTSTANDING SERVICE

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. C.W. BILL YOUNG

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, November 3, 2011

  Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize the 40th 
Anniversary of the Eckerd College Search and Rescue (EC-SAR) team, one 
of the most unique and successful programs of its kind anywhere in our 
nation.
  It is a privilege for me to represent Eckerd College and to have seen 
first hand the outstanding work of the students, faculty and staff who 
run the search and rescue program. Eckerd is a beautiful small private 
waterfront college with not only a tremendous academic reputation but 
also one as a leader in water sports and water activities.
  The Search and Rescue Program was started by a group of students in 
1971 to provide safety services for the college's water sports 
activities. By 1977, the program had become so successful and had 
attracted so much interest that it expanded to provide routine and 
emergency search and rescue services to the Tampa Bay boating 
community. Since then, the students; who are trained in technical 
rescue, boating safety, seamanship, searching, fire fighting, de-
watering, navigation, medical response, and piloting rescue vessels; 
have worked side by side with the United States Coast Guard and a 
multitude of state and local agencies to save lives and rescue stranded 
boaters. In fact, the Eckerd Search and Rescue team was one of the 
first units to respond to a disastrous shipping accident in 1980 which 
destroyed one span of the massive Sunshine Skyway Bridge.
  Mr. Speaker, the students and staff of Eckerd College give back to 
our community many times over through this superb program. They receive 
and respond to more than 500 calls per year and throughout the 
program's history have handled over 15,000 calls for assistance. This 
weekend, many of the program's organizers and volunteers from the past 
40 years will gather to celebrate the history and accomplishments of 
this unique and valuable program. It is my hope that my colleagues in 
the House will join me in saying thank you to all those who have been a 
part of the Eckerd College Search and Rescue program for a job well 
done.

                          ____________________