A swearing in of new reserve deputies brought the pool of available reserves to a total of five. Bryon Ekberg and Josh Ward were sworn in with the Sanders County Sheriff's Office, Monday afternoon, to assist the Sheriff and full-time deputies in their law enforcement endeavors. With the height of fire season and the county fair right around the corner, the help is coming right on time.

The new reserves successfully completed an 88-hour classroom course under the direction of Deputy Tim Kelly, as well as plenty of time at the shooting range. Ekberg was awarded top honors for his 100 percent accuracy on the testing and exemplary scores at the shooting range. Both were presented a special token in the form of a Leadership Coin, with an inscription reminding them that the correct execution of their duties would "be the most noble thing they would do for the rest of your life."

Following the training, the swearing in was a formality, with Sheriff Rummel, Deputy Kelly, Administrator Theresa Milner, Ekberg's wife Jennifer and son Josh, and the press as witnesses.

Wednesday, three more reserve deputies were sworn in, bringing the total count to eight in the reserve pool. New inductees on Wednesday included Daniel Jones, Brandi Jones and Jason Thornton.