Sgt. Chris Soderlund is acknowledged for his leadership and dedication to the Malibu community
As visitors storm to the beach to escape the heat, authorities continue to ensure the beaches are safe for all.
The team that enforces and ensures the safety of all visitors is the Malibu Beach Team.
Provided by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, its annual enhanced summer enforcement begins on Memorial Day weekend and continues through the weekend after Labor Day. The goal of the Beach Team is to keep the beaches and highways safe for residents and the millions of visitors who come each year to enjoy Malibu’s beaches.
To show their gratitude, one family has continued to show their appreciation to the beach team for their outstanding job byprotecting their beaches.
Dermot Stoker said it began in 1995 when the City Council was considering getting rid of the Beach Team due toeconomic reasons.
“I thought, well if we get rid of the Beach Team, the Pacific Coast Highway turns into 21 miles of triage, so I was just appalled that they would even consider that as a governing body in the city,” Stoker said.
Since then, the Stoker family has hosted a barbecue at Zuma Beach and honored the team for their hard work.
“I made burgers and hot links and a big pot of baked beans and brought some sodas down and we just had a very smallkind of celebratory barbecue,” he said. “I wanted to kind of celebrate with the Beach Team.”
This year’s celebration was held on Friday, Aug. 16, at Zuma Beach.
“It’s a little decompression for the deputies to sit down and break bread with some of the residents and know that they’reappreciated,” he continued. “That was my motivation.”
Stoker also praised Sgt. Chris Soderlund of the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station for all his dedication to the Malibu community.
“Chris is amazing. I mean, he’s very dedicated, he’s got his finger on the pulse of everything involving safety, and I sure hope he gets promoted to lieutenant soon, because he’s really got his head on his shoulders,” Stoker said. “He’s great with people and a great leader. The beach team responds to him and all the deputies that work with him respond to his leadership, and he’s just a great guy with a great family.”
After the barbecue, Soderlund thanked Stoker and his family for their continued support of the Malibu Beach Team.
“Each year, he shows his appreciation for the great work the men and women of the Malibu/ Lost Hills Station do everyday,” Soderlund said. “The barbecue is one of the highlights of summer we look forward to each year! The food was great and the camaraderie even better.”
With fire season approaching, Stoker said the Malibu West Volunteer Fire Brigade has been working hard in training.
What started with 10 volunteers and now has grown to 35, Stoker said the brigade’s members are very dedicated and look out for one another.
“The guys on the Malibu West Volunteer Fire Brigade —they show up, these guys are very dedicated,” Stoker said.”Malibu West is a very unique neighborhood and everybody really looks out for one another here, so that’s why we have such a robust membership.”
Stoker wrote a Letter to the Editor this week to thank the members of the fire brigade for dedicating hours of training to become more efficient in combating fires. To read his letter, go to page 2.
