MAGNOLIA SPRINGS - Longstanding hard feelings between two of four Search and Rescue groups operating in the county seem to have spiked of late due to fundraising efforts by one of the groups.

Lower Alabama Search and Rescue (LASAR), which serves the Lillian-area by and large, has been doing its yearly fundraising, but officials with South Baldwin Search & Rescue Inc. of Magnolia Springs say some people in the area served by SBS&R are unhappy with LASAR's solicitation efforts.

Bob Woodward, chief of SBS&R, said last week that LASAR fundraisers are representing themselves as being the Search and Rescue agency responsible for the area south of Interstate 10.

According to Woodward, about three years ago the four Search and Rescue groups in the county met at the 911 Center and, with Alabama Marine Police serving as mediator, divided the county into four "quadrants." That was done at LASAR's insistence, Woodward said.

"The other three agencies don't solicit door-to-door, nor do we condone that," said Woodward.

But Steve Duckworth, commander of LASAR, said LASAR's fundraising efforts are not new to the other Search and Rescue squads.

"The last time I talked with one of the guys from South Baldwin (Search & Rescue) they were okay with this," Duckworth said of LASAR's fundraising efforts.

"It has come to my … attention that solicitors are working in (the) south Baldwin County area asking for donations to support Search & Rescue," said Mary Emmett in a letter recently sent to certain area fire department representatives who deal with the media. Emmett is secretary/treasurer of SBS&R.

"Calls I have received are from the Mary Ann Beach (Road) and Magnolia Springs area, and these people are unhappy with the individuals involved," she said.

According to Emmett, the four Baldwin County members of the Alabama Association of Rescue Squads (AARS) have the following "approximate jurisdictional areas:"

North Baldwin Sheriff's Search & Rescue in Bay Minette, north of I-10;

Daphne Search & Rescue in Daphne, south of I-10 and west of Alabama Highway 59, less lands south of Baldwin County Road 32 and the Fish River/Marlow area;

LASAR in Lillian, lands east of Highway 59 and south of I-10; and

SBS&R in Magnolia Springs, west of Highway 59, including Fish River and areas south of County Road 32, including Mobile and Weeks bays.

Duckworth said LASAR has been fundraising in this manner for approximately three years, but this is the last year LASAR will solicit funding support west of Highway 59.

"We have a certain area we're covering based on agreements," said Duckworth, who noted contracts with LASAR's fundraisers were already set.

Asked if LASAR might solicit funds in a town such as Silverhill, Duckworth said yes. Solicitors ask for $40 per household.

While Woodward said he was told LASAR's fundraising contract would be up at the end of the year, Duckworth said the contract will run through next July.

A LASAR solicitor has been to Woodward's and Emmett's houses soliciting funds, Woodward said, noting LASAR solicitors are "basically going everywhere. The least they could do is stay on the east side of (Highway) 59.

"They're giving all the Search and Rescue organizations a black eye," Woodward said of LASAR.

"We're hurting for money just like everybody else. We don't get any county funds … for another two years," said Woodward, a reference to what he described as approximately $17,000 each Search and Rescue group gets annually from the county's tobacco tax revenues.

Woodward said SBS&R got into AARS last year and has delayed in doing so by LASAR's objections. Duckworth said there has been a "little contention" between the two groups in the past.

"We have survived thus far on the generous support of local fire departments, the Baldwin County Commission, Homeland Security grants and individual contributions," said Emmett in her letter.

"Of course, we need money, but we will only knock on doors if we have been called to search for someone."

Woodward said most of the complaints received in connection with LASAR's solicitation efforts came from Magnolia Springs and County Road 1 areas. He put the number of those complaints at six to eight in a week's time.