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HUGULEY — On Monday evening, Chief Deputy Richard Carter led members of the Valley Lions Club on a tour of the newly named Jason Fuller Training Center.

For years, the two-building complex was the home of the Valley Rescue Squad, whose search operations are now handled by local law enforcement and fire departments.

The training center is located near the intersection of Phillips Road and Highway 50. It’s a two-building complex with a kitchen and classroom area on the south side and a large area to house vehicles, dive boats, rescue equipment and many other items on the north side.

“We have had women’s firearm training programs and Taser training in this building,” Carter said of the kitchen. “We blacked out the windows because of that.”

There have also been some training where law enforcement officers were pepper-sprayed. There’s a shower area in the building where officers could quickly be cleaned up.

The two buildings are in for some modifications.

“We are trying to get quotes on the work to be done,” Carter said. “Our goal is to have the kind of place where people from all over the state could come to in the event of storms in the area. It might take a couple of years to get the needed work done, but we want it to be a place we are proud of.”

The larger building is a place where lots of items are stored.

“It’s packed full of stuff,” Carter said. “We have a lot of vehicles stored there. We also have bags used to pick up trash along the roads and insulation that has been given to us by Knauf. We keep lots of supplies there like bottled water. We want to share what we have with all of our agencies.”

Carter said he wanted the public to understand that the sheriff’s office does not seek funding from the county for the training center.

“We get the funding from forfeitures and from proceeds from the sheriff’s rodeos,” he said.

Among the vehicles stored there is a dive boat and a dive trailer containing all the needed equipment for a full operating unit.

The man the training center is named for, the late Jason Fuller, was a member of the sheriff’s office dive team and was very dependable to see that the equipment needed for dives was always in tip-top condition. His untimely death last year was a deep disappointment to anyone who knew him.

“We all have great memories of Jason,” Carter said. “We want to have a first-rate training center to bear his name.”

Carter said that everyone in the sheriff’s office is looking forward to the March 19 Grillin’ for Girls event and the March 26 Captain Jason Fuller Motorcycle Ride. Both will be fundraisers for the Tallapoosa County Girls Ranch.

Tickets for Grillin’ for Girls are $25 each. Participants can either eat on site at Valley Community Center or take their steak dinner home with them. An auction will be taking place that evening.

“We have some really good things being donated to it,” Carter said.