WINSLOW —  Two local game wardens and two Sugarloaf Ski Resort officials were among those recognized Wednesday at the Maine Warden Service’s annual Awards and Recognition Ceremony at the Winslow Veterans of Foreign Wars hall.

Warden Brock Clukey of Andover, who has patrolled the “woods” district of Andover since 1999, received the Exemplary Service Award for his “unwavering” enforcement efforts.

Warden Dave Chabot of Greene and his dog Ruby received the 2013 Maine Warden Service K9 Search and Rescue Award for their efforts in trying to help find a missing Appalachian Trail hiker, and then, on the same night, successfully tracking and finding a missing 6-year-old autistic girl.

Sugarloaf Ski Resort’s vice president of mountain operations, Richard “Crusher” Wilkinson, and Danny Barker, director of snow surfaces, received the Maine Warden Service Association Merit Award for their help with two major searches last year in March and July.

According to the Warden Service, Clukey:

* Apprehended a person who was ice fishing with 18 lines — 13 lines too many.

* Apprehended four people ice fishing using live bait in waters deemed artificial lures only. He also spoke with several fishermen who were leaving their lines unattended.

* Helped with the apprehension after a foot chase of two New Hampshire fishermen dipping a closed smelt brook on Sturtevant Pond in Magalloway Plantation near the New Hampshire border who didn’t have current Maine fishing licenses.

* Apprehended a person fishing in violation with more than two lines in a native trout pond, addressed numerous slot-limit violations in trophy brook trout waters, and cited people for intentionally keeping fish alive.

* Chased, caught and arrested two all-terrain vehicle drivers on charges of operating under the influence in two separate cases.

* Apprehended eight people hunting deer over bait, seized two buck deer killed in violation, located and summoned a hunter on a charge of illegal bear baits, made several cases involving shooting from motor vehicles and helped catch four separate night hunters.

He accomplished all of the above while still being a dedicated member of the Warden Service Color Guard Team, teaching OUI enforcement to other officers and being an active member of both the Incident Management and MARC teams.

Chabot and Ruby spent all day Aug. 14 searching the mountainous terrain in the Reddington area for missing Appalachian Trail through-hiker Geraldine Largay. That night they returned home and were again called out, this time to help Kennebec and Winthrop police find a missing 6-year-old autistic girl.

On March 3, 2013, wardens were called to Sugarloaf to search for a missing 17-year-old skier who skied outside the resort’s boundaries and spent two nights in a wooded gorge along the Carrabassett River in Carrabassett Valley.

According to the award document, Sugarloaf’s Mountain Operations opened their facilities as a staging area. Throughout the search, Wilkinson ensured that wardens directing the search had whatever assistance the resort could provide, including food for the searchers, on-mountain transportation and the full support and local knowledge of Ski Patrol and Mountain Operations personnel.

On July 24, 2013, Sugarloaf again opened its doors to wardens searching for Largay during a weeks-long effort.

Barker assisted wardens daily with local knowledge of the search area, transportation up the mountain for the missing hiker’s family, equipment and helped safely recover a Maine Search and Rescue horse that had fallen through a logging bridge.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com

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