San Juan County Sheriff’s Department took time out in this season of “giving” to celebrate several award-winning members of the force.

Deputies Felix Menjivar and Jeff Asher were honored by the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission for a swift and potentially life-saving rescue of a crew of four whose 22-foot crabbing boat ran aground on Low Island in the midnight hours of July 8. Despite darkness and rough waters, they were able to locate and rescue the stranded crew, whose injuries ranged from bruises to broken bones, and transport them back to Friday Harbor for medical treatment.

Sheriff Rob Nou presented detective Brent Johnson with a departmental award and a plaque for “dogged determination and basically non-stop work” over the course of the seven-month investigation of the Hammel murder and arson case. Johnson was the department’s lead investigator in the case.