National Fallen Firefighters Foundation Memorial Service This Weekend

Thousands will be attending the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation’s Memorial this weekend in Emmitsburg, Maryland. Firehouse published a story here.

This year’s National Fallen Firefighters Foundation Memorial Service quickly approaches. The service is scheduled for this weekend, October 2-4. The National Fallen Firefighters Foundation hosts the event at the National Fire Academy in Emmitsburg, Maryland each year. This will be the 28^th annual service. The actual memorial service will be held the morning of Sunday, October 4^th and thousands will be in attendance. The names of 122 firefighters will be added to the memorial this year, 103 firefighters who died in the line of duty in 2008 as well as 19 firefighters who perished in previous years. The foundation hosts the memorial service as well as a candlelight vigil and family activities for the kids throughout the weekend. Workers literally spend the entire year planning and preparing for this weekend. And when this weekend is over they will do it all over again.

The National Fallen Firefighters Foundation is a wonderful organization. The foundation not only hosts the memorial each year but continues to care for the families of fallen firefighters by seeing that they get the benefits they deserve. Southwest Missouri has mourned the loss of a few firefighters in the recent years. Steve Fierro of the Carthage Fire Department, Tim Hardy of the Neosho Fire Department, and most recently Tyler Casey of the Seneca District Fire Department. Tyler was killed during the May 2008 tornado. Tyler was killed while getting families in the path of the storm to safety. More information about Tyler is available on the Seneca District Fire Department’s web site. More information on the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation is available on their web site.

Nothing is more heroic than to give one’s life while protecting others.

Texting While Driving Summit

Texting while driving will be the topic of an upcoming Distracted Driving Summit in Washington DC. Read more here.

The Dallas News did an interview with Dallas based AT&T about an upcoming Distracted Driving Summit which will be held in Washington DC. The talking point of this summit will be texting while driving. Chairman and CEO of AT&T, Randall Stephenson, said, “Our goal is to send a simple, yet vital, message to all wireless users: Don’t text and drive.” A study conducted by the Virginia Technical Transportation Institute showed that texting while driving makes people 23 times more likely to get into a crash or near-crash situation. The national average for all ages of people for texting while driving is approximately 26.4 percent. The number jumps to 58 percent nationally when only interviewing teenagers. One method to be explored would require states to institute a law making texting while driving illegal in order to continue to receive federal highway funding.

Texting while driving is a problem and will continue to be a problem no matter what measures we take. It’s somewhat ironic that text messaging was initially introduced to give customers a way of communicating that would not immediately interrupt them in case one party was busy at the time. They could respond when they were available. Now this service that was introduced for convenience is causing a serious safety issue because people don’t have the self discipline to set their phones down while they’re driving. I cannot tell you how many vehicles I have stopped that were swerving from lane to lane, thinking the driver was hammered, only to find a young girl still texting as I approached the vehicle. Sorry ladies but in my experience it’s been the girls guilty of this one. The organizations involved with the upcoming summit have explored creating public service announcements and placing bill boards and placing warnings inside new cellular telephones when they are sold. These are all good ideas but ideas that won’t work. I’ve never known anybody to change their life from a public service commercial. The commercials usually have a good message but people are set in their ways. These methods show that the powers that be are concerned about the problem but ultimately are a waste of money. On the other end of the spectrum, they have explored requiring new laws against texting while driving. This is not going to immediately curb the problem either. Be honest with yourselves, are you going to quit texting behind the wheel because a law says you can’t? Do you not speed because a law says you can’t? The only thing a law will do is give law enforcement a method of punishment when this activity is causing a problem. I’m not fond of giving police yet something else to monitor but I fear that will be the only way. As a general rule people are not self disciplined enough to change their behavior merely because someone tells them something is somewhat dangerous. The only other issue I have with this proposed law is the verbage. Members of the trucking industry have already lobbied to have commercial long-haul vehicles excluded from this law saying they have computers in their cabs for business communications. This really makes me wonder what this law is going to include. Cellular telephones? Any electronic communications? I have no problem with truck drivers having computers in their cabs as long as that computer is only capable of communicating with the company and displaying the global positioning information which they use. Because there is nothing that makes truck drivers any better at driving than a 16 year old. You would think being on the road all that time would actually improve their skills but not the case. I’ve seen some texting teenagers that drive better than some truck drivers. I can think of many different reasons to need a computer or communications terminal in your vehicle. Law enforcement use them regularly. Fire and EMS services use them as well. Crutial information about patients or merely directions to a call are all available at their fingertips. I feel the pros outweigh the cons in their situation.

I will be interested to hear the proposed method to tackle this problem following the summit. As with anything government related, we probably will have another year of planning only to institute a plan that will not work.

Secret Nuclear Research Facility in Iran

FoxNews reports that the United Nations has become aware that the Islamic regime is building a secret nuclear facility in Iran. That story is here.

FoxNews reported that intelligence agencies discovered the secret construction of an underground nuclear facility in Iran. Reportedly, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reported the construction of the facility to the International Atomic Energy Agency by letter after he learned that the underground nuclear site had been discovered. The letter from President Ahmadinejad claimed the nuclear facility would be used for peaceful purposes such as power production. The United Nations reports that the size of the facility is too small to be used for power production and the secrecy around the project also gives doubt. President Obama said that, “Iran is on notice…” and would have to come clean on their actions at their October 1^st meeting. The President also said, “Iran can choose to give up what the U.S. says is the desire for nuclear weapons and abide by international standards, or it can continue down a path toward confrontation.” The world community as a whole agreed with President Obama’s statements.

I am proud of President Obama for taking a stand against this activity. President Obama made some strict demands and didn’t rule out military action. He did however say he would choose to resolve the situation diplomatically. The President has a history of being weak on these issues and I’m glad he’s taking a stand against Iran. A better test though will be if Iran fails to comply. Will President Obama take military action or is this nothing more than a bluff.

I am curious to see how Iran responds as they have denied inspectors access at this time. The secrecy combined with their unwillingness to cooperate doesn’t support their allegation that this is nothing more than peaceful research.

Man Pleads Innocent to 10 Counts of Negligent Homicide in Ottawa County OK

The Joplin Globe published a story about a traffic accident in Oklahoma that I just find puzzling. Here is the story.

The Joplin Globe reports that a truck driver has turned himself in to Ottawa County officials after being involved in an accident. The story implied that the truck driver was wanted by Ottawa County and is facing 10 counts of negligent homicide. The truck driver is Donald L. Creed of Willard, MO. Mr. Creed is 76 years old. The story states that Mr. Creed turned himself in on Wednesday and was accompanied by his attorney at the time. Mr. Creed entered a plea of not guilty. His bond was set at $20,000. The story states Mr. Creed was driving his truck on I-44 in Ottawa County Oklahoma when he failed to slow or stop for congested traffic. Mr. Creed reportedly plowed into the rear of the congested traffic causing a chain reaction of accidents. The accident involved seven different vehicles and fatally injured ten people. Mr. Creed’s tractor-trailer he was driving is owned by Associates Wholesale Grocers.

First of all this is a terrible tragedy leaving 10 broken families and my prayers go out to them. This story does make me question what happened though as the story is a little light on the facts. Now I’m sure with this being an ongoing investigation that the law enforcement officials aren’t releasing much information if any at all. The first thing that screams at me is if Mr. Creed committed such a terrible crime then why was he released after the accident and not taken into custody at that time. The second thing is he was held on a puny $20,000.00? This guy is accused of killing ten people! This ridiculously low bond amount makes me wonder what else happened that isn’t being publicized. Now Mr. Creed did appear with his attorney which is sometimes an indicator that he screwed up and is trying to get out of it but on the other hand, if I was being accused of something I didn’t feel I was guilty of then I would have an attorney with me to. The questions that come to mind are why did he plow into these vehicles? Was he asleep? Perhaps his brakes malfunctioned? These things should have been checked at the scene and if the judge had this information that may explain the low bond amount. If the vehicle was to blame what action is being taken against the company? Another thing I’m curious about would be Mr. Creed’s CDL DOT physical. Now I admittedly know nothing about the truck driving industry but I really don’t think I have noticed that many truck drivers of Mr. Creed’s age. Did his age play a factor in his poor reaction time?

This is an interesting story and does report a few facts but I feel there is much more going on behind the scenes. I will be interested to find out the details of this incident.

Forestry Service Revitalizing the Public Parks of DC

Found some interesting information on Firehouse. Here’s the story.

The Forest Service will be spending nearly $3 million to revitalize public parks in the Washington D.C. Area. This stimulus money given the Forest Service was earmarked for Wildland Fire Management. The Forest Service will be spending this $2.8 million to revitalize a public park approximately two miles north of the White House in the District of Columbia among others. The Forest Service also notes this park and the other parks are, “riddled with crime.” The Forest Service also proclaims that this effort will produce “green jobs”.

Needless to say, lawmakers are up in arms over the decision to spend wildland firefighting money to fix up Washington D.C. Parks. Specifically the western lawmakers, who’s communities regularly fall victim to large uncontrollable wildland fires. On September 24^th more than 1,800 firefighters battled a wildland fire that swept across Ventura County and threatened homes in multiple communities. The fire destroyed over 1,600 acres of forest and overtook two outbuildings. Firefighters battled the fire for approximately 48 hours and the estimated cost for the second day alone is more than $2.9 million. More here on that story.

These kinds of decisions really bug me. This money was given to the Forestry Service to battle wildland fires, to save lives and property. The Conservation Department, who has the responsibility of protecting our public lands from fire, is as strapped for cash as any other public safety agency in this economic depression. The Conservation Department has dissolved multiple jobs due to inadequate funding leaving them with inadequate staff and equipment to effectively do their job. Now rather than using this money where it was supposed to be, some congressman has decided the landscape outside his window is a little grim so we should take someone else’s money to fix it up. Oh but it will create “green jobs” as demanded with the stimulus money. What about the jobs that the Conservation Department has had to dissolve because of inadequate funding. Inadequate funding that this stimulus money could correct. And what is the definition of a green job? A job that will be beneficial to the environment? I would argue that extinguishing a fire that is producing tons of carbon monoxide is beneficial to the environment.

Now the only justification that is given is that renovation of public parks cuts down on crime. I must admit I’ve never met a major criminal who cared about the condition of the trees or the flowers at the park. I would believe that to renovate and maybe add adequate lighting would deter crime from that area. However, when we deter crime in one area we usually move that crime to a different area. And what does any of this have to do with wildland fire fighting?

As much as anything, it is ridiculous that this administration cannot follow the very laws that they themselves make. They have taken money that was to be used for one thing and for no good cause, taken it from its rightful beneficiary and used it for some purpose to benefit themselves. That is very close to the statutory definition of stealing.

Racism is up according to the White House

I’m sure by now we’ve all heard about the congressman than yelled, “Liar” at President Obama. I found this article that alleges that the Congressman was motivated by racism when making this comment.

This editorial details an interview with Former President Jimmie Carter. President Carter is speaking out about his opinion of South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson’s actions. President Carter states Congressman Wilson’s comment was racist.

Why is it that now that we have an African American president that anytime anyone doesn’t agree with him then they must be racist? None of the previous Caucasian presidents ever discounted a minority’s objection claiming the disapproved because they were racist. Now I am not saying I completely approve of Congressman Wilson’s actions because I do not. I do think the Congressman just chose to verbalize what everyone else was thinking. Congressman Wilson was actually correct. The numbers that President Obama was alluding to were actually skewed. However, Congressman Wilson should have shown some professionalism and handled his objection in a civil manner.

Very few times since President Obama took office have I heard him actually respond to concerns voiced by the republican party (especially with the healthcare agenda). I can remember on several occasions where the president, or Democratic Party as a whole, has discounted someone’s views claiming that they were a racist. Now sadly I can’t say that this is completely not possible because it is. Unfortunately there are lowly people in this world that dislike President Obama merely because of his skin color. But I don’t think everyone that disagrees with him feels that way. There are some people left that truly care about the well-being of our country.

If President Obama, or any of the Democratic Party, would debate the objections that are voiced then some of the skeptical members may change their views. Resorting to claiming racism isn’t doing anyone any good or solving any issues.

An uninvited guest

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,549280,00.html?test=latestnews

Fox is reporting an Aspen, Colorado resident was attacked by a bear in his own home.

This guy heard his dogs barking downstairs so he goes to check on the situation and when he gets down there he gets struck in the back of the head by a bear. The story says he did not sustain any life-threatening injuries and was treated and released at a local hospital.

My first instinct is to ask if the guy’s door was locked but does a locked door really stop a big bear? The story doesn’t state whether this guy lost consciousness when he was struck but if he did he’s lucky he didn’t turn into supper. I would assume that he did lose consciousness because by the time officials got there the bear was gone. I really know nothing about bears but I just know that I would be in shock if I went downstairs and found a bear waiting for me.

Officials have set up a trap for this bear in the neighborhood and say the bear will be euthanized if it is located. Officials are reporting that they responded to 16 bear sightings in last August and that number is up to over 200 bear sightings this August. Officials say bears are coming into the city due to residents not disposing of trash and not storing food properly. This is very tempting when bears are currently preparing for hibernation, eating 20,000 calories a day and eating for 20 hours out of the day.

Coast Guard taking heat for training

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/09/11/coast-guarg-fires-boat-potomac-river/

Found another story that got my attention on Fox. Apparently the Coast Guard is getting all sorts of heat because they conducted a training exercise on the Potomac at the same time the president was at the 9/11 Memorial Ceremony. The story says that the White House is demanding an apology but the Coast Guard is refusing claiming they done nothing wrong. Apparently this training exercise made the news causing major interruptions because it was reported that shots were fired on a vessel. The scare escalated to the Federal Aviation Administration holding flights out of Reagan International Airport. Now because of this story they are further degrading the Coast Guard claiming they shouldn’t have even been conducting training on September 11 as it is a day of remembrance of the terrible tragedy in 2001.

Overall I think this is a big load of crap. The Coast Guard said there were no suspicious boats in the area and there were no shots that were fired during the training exercise. The Coast Guard said this was a typical training exercise as they conduct every other day. And all the interruptions such as the FAA grounding flights was a result of a news story from the Cable News Network (CNN). This story was uninformed and a perfect example of the scare that journalism can produce when reporters don’t bother to fact-check and just air whatever in case it is happening so they can be first. Journalism overall puts more impact on being first rather than being correct and it shouldn’t. This reporter believed that there were shots fired because they heard, “Bang, bang, bang,” over the radio. The Coast Guard stated they used this transmission, and this transmission alone, to simulate shots being fired during their training exercise. How many professional agencies do you think would use the words, “Bang, bang, bang” if they were taking fire? Not to mention the Coast Guard uses encrypted radio transmissions for normal operations. The only reason this radio traffic was not encrypted was because they were training. This being another clue that this wasn’t an actual situation. And even the White House is questioning the timing saying that this is a day of remembrance. Does the White House actually expect everyone to do nothing on this day? I don’t get off work for 9/11. Do any of you? And the White House would be the first to point fingers if something happened and their training was not up to standard because they were sitting around all day.

The fact of the matter is no one would have even been aware of the Coast Guard’s activities if this crumby reporter hadn’t put out a bogus story. This reporter put out this story even after calling the Coast Guard themselves and being told that nothing was taking place. I thank the men and women of the Coast Guard, as well as the other services, for their sacrifice and their commitment to this great country. Please do not let a little bit of stupidity inhibit you from doing your jobs.

Stolen Diamonds or Given Away

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,546542,00.html

While browsing through FoxNews I found another glowing display of intelligence. A North Carolina man is reporting $1.5 Million dollars worth property stolen from his rental car.

Peter Kaplan reported to New Mexico authorities that he had $1.5 Million dollars worth of diamonds stolen from his rental car. Mr. Kaplan said he stopped for a quick drink between the airport and the jewelry store that he was en route to. Mr. Kaplan said he was only out of the vehicle for a few minutes but his jewelry had been stolen.

I don’t know about New Mexico rental cars but all the ones I’ve ever been in come equipped with door locks. The economy is in the dumps and you’re going to leave your briefcase containing $1.5 Mil in diamonds in the passenger seat for all to see and expect someone not to help themselves? I don’t condone a thief’s actions but when you make it so easy it’s hard to feel sorry for the victim. A little target hardening goes a long way.

The bottom line is there are going to be bad guys in this world no matter what we do. Especially thieves during these hard times. Take action to protect yourself like locking your doors. A very simple deterrent that usually works.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,546047,00.html

Another story from Fox. This is natural selection.

A man robbed a bank in Bethlehem, PA recently and police have positively identified the suspect. The robber, Lloyd Barclay, entered the bank and placed a note on the counter in front of the teller. When the suspect pulled the note from his back pocket he also grabbed his wallet and in so doing also placed it on the counter. The suspect fled the bank with $800.00 but LEFT HIS WALLET.

Authorities say the wallet contained two different photo ID’s, his social security card, and the suspect’s CRIMINAL IDENTIFICATION CARD! He’s been in prison before! Wonder if he made their case for them that time too? Really couldn’t help but laugh at this one.

How about they lock him up for a little while longer this time since it apparently didn’t work the first time. I guess the Pennsylvania judicial system doesn’t work either.

Another Missouri Man Going to Prison

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,546142,00.html?test=latestnews

I found this while browsing Fox News. Levi King plead guilty to three more counts of murder today in Lubbock, TX.

Levi King, whom the story implies is from Pineville MO, plead guilty to murdering the majority of a Texas family in 2005. Mr. King killed the husband, wife, and 14 year-old son at their residence in Texas. The 10 year-old daughter somehow escaped Mr. King and survived to call 911. My heart goes out to this poor girl. Having her family stripped away from her is bad enough but to have witnessed it would be unimaginable. Apparently this wasn’t the first people Mr. King had killed. Authorities say Mr. King was responsible for the shooting deaths of two others who’s bodies were found in Pineville MO in 2005. Mr. King had already plead guilty to these murders and was awaiting arraignment in Texas.

I will never understand how anyone could get to such a state that they would be able to personally justify killing another person. I really don’t remember this story and have no idea what Mr. King’s motivation was. Not that it would justify his actions.

King received two consecutive life sentences for the two that were found in Pineville. Texas has not arraigned Mr. King as of yet. The sentence Mr. King will receive in Texas will take precedence over the Missouri sentence.