Deploying Green Energy For TC Search And Rescue
Sonora, CA – Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Office is deploying green energy e-bikes needed for help in future rescue efforts.
The image box shows the Trek brand bikes bought at Sonora Cyclery at 13867 Mono Way and arrived shortly after the 2025 year began. The eight electric-battery-powered bikes were purchased with a $56,000 grant from a Sonora Area Foundation awarded in September to enhance the team’s search capabilities. The need for the bikes was realized after last summer when there were three major back-to-back missions for missing persons: John Avila and Beth Watson, who were rescued, and Michael Moore, who was unfortunately found deceased.
“During the Avila search and the Watson search, our SAR team utilized out-of-county e-bike teams to cover numerous miles of search area and we are looking forward to the ability to deploy our own team locally in the future,” shared Boujikian.
As we reported here in September, an anonymous donor, inspired by the rescue of Watson, approached the Foundation with a request to identify and address SAR’s most urgent needs, as earlier reported here.
“Our SAR team has begun training with the bikes with the goal of having a trained team that is deployable for missions by summer,” shared sheriff’s spokesperson Ashley Boujikian, adding, “We remain grateful to our community, including the Sonora Area Foundation and the generous community donors for their ongoing support of our Search and Rescue Team.”
