Friday, December 18, 2009

Be a Good Scout - Be Prepared










The Washington Times reported (http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2004/may/10/20040510-122711-8996r/) on Monday, May 10, 2004 that “Metropolitan Police officers took more than a minute longer to respond to emergency calls last year than they did in 2002, according to recent police department statistics. The statistics, contained in the department's fiscal 2005 budget performance report, show that the average response time for the highest-priority calls -- Priority 1 -- was 8 minutes, 25 seconds in fiscal 2003, up from 7 minutes, 19 seconds in fiscal 2002 and 7 minutes, 47 seconds in fiscal 2001.”


Imagine struggling with a carjacker armed with a knife and high on meth. He is trying to take your car and in the back seat is your sleeping infant.
Can you protect yourself or your child for 8 minutes waiting for a police officer to show up? Have you ever wrestled with anyone for 3 minutes? Have you ever been hit by a closed fist by someone who wanted to hurt you?

In the City of San Bernardino, California, the Press Enterprise reported in April 2008(http://www.pe.com/localnews/sanbernardino/stories/PE_News_Local_B_bcalls02.38fd91c.html) that “It took officers an average of 45 minutes, for example, to respond to calls rated as "possibly hazardous." That was the slowest response to such calls in the city -- about 10 minutes slower than the average for the Southern Patrol Area and eight minutes behind the Central Patrol Area.”


Colorado Springs, Colorado reported in their 2008 statistics (http://www.springsgov.com/units/police/miscDocs/2009FastFacts.pdf) that the average response time to emergency calls was 10 minutes and 15 seconds. Their TARGET response time is 8 minutes 90% of the time. Can you wait 10 minutes? What if you are in the unlucky bunch that waits more than 8 minutes and so you wait while being beaten to a bloody pulp, hacked and cut, stabbed and rapes? Be patient, the police are doing the best they can with their resources. What about your children? Do you have the training and stamina to stop an attack?

If you were in Minneapolis in 2008, you had to wait 8 minutes and 33 seconds for someone to come and save your sorry as from the crazy guy (or gal) who wanted to kill you. (http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/results/policeresponse.asp)

The facts show that an attacker needs only a few seconds to inflict irreprehensible and permanent damage to you and your loved ones. You will have to wait several minutes for the police/sheriff to show up – and that is if you live in a metropolitan or well serviced community! If you live “out in the sticks”, you could be waiting 45 minutes or more.

An instructor who was also the chief of police in an Orange County city once told me, “Better to be judged by twelve than carried by six, and beg forgiveness than ask permission.” That chief is now some high-level director at the California Department of Justice. I had heard those phrases before but never gave them too much thought. In the context of law enforcement training, the phrases refer to an officer’s judgment and decision to use deadly force and the consequences of not using such force.


The key word that connects all of these facts and opinions is training. With proper training a person can learn to raise their awareness level to new heights and avoid dangerous situations before any harm can be done. A properly trained person will know how to defend them selves with the hands, take weapons away from an attacker, and protect their loved ones. A person who is armed and has received combat pistol training will be ready, willing, and able to thwart off nearly any kind of violent crime in their presence. Therefore, I think it can go without saying that any tool in the hands of an untrained person can result in an undesired affect, like shooting a hole in your foot or worse.


This isn’t a doomsday prophecy nor is it written for the sake justifying unlimited gun access. It is written to raise awareness to those who haven’t been in the unfortunate position of being defenseless against an attacker while waiting what might be a lifetime for help to arrive. I would even go so far as to say that all of the aforementioned facts are similar to responses by fire authorities and emergency medical services. You should have basic and advanced first aide. You should a have a fire extinguisher in several rooms of your home. Everyone should know where they are and how to use them.

Now imagine that we just had The Big One. For those not familiar with The Big One, I’m not referring to the Big O, but rather a catastrophic earthquake. All of the United States has historically been seismically active, from the East Coast to the West Coast. Don’t believe me? Go to http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsus/ and check out what the United States Geological Survey has to say on the subject. If you thought 8 minutes was long, try waiting days. Several days. You have a few cuts, a broken arm, no food, no water, no phone service, no heating, no shelter. Then the idiot rioters begin in the ghetto/barrio (when was the last time you saw blue-collar middle class people riot?). They spread out and figuratively (and literally) fan the flames of violence with no law enforcement to stop them or even slow them down. Whatever your motivation, get training, get prepared, and don’t be the one who needs rescuing from something that you could have and should have handled yourself.

Some Important Earthquakes http://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/EarthSC102Notes/102QUAKES.HTM

1755 - Lisbon, Portugal
Killed 70,000, Raised Waves in Lakes all over Europe
First Scientifically Studied Earthquake

1811-1812 - New Madrid, Missouri (8.8)
Felt over 2/3 of the U.S.
Few Casualties

1886 - Charleston, South Carolina
Felt All over East Coast, Killed Several Hundred.
First Widely-known U.S. Earthquake

1906 - San Francisco
Killed 500 (later studies, possibly 2,500)
First Revealed Importance of Faults

1923 - Tokyo
Killed 140,000

1964 - Alaska
Killed about 200
Wrecked Anchorage.
Tsunamis on West Coast.

1976 - Tangshan, China
Hit an Urban Area of Ten Million People
Killed 650,000

2 comments:

  1. With the recent 4.5 quake in Humboldt, California and now the 7.0 quake in Haiti, we should take heed and be prepared!

    ReplyDelete
  2. http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2010riad.php

    http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Maps/region/N_America.php

    ReplyDelete

Greg Sebourn

The Beauty of a Storm

The Beauty of a Storm
Orange County, Ca.

My Grandma - A Eulogy

LET'S TALK ABOUT 1914 FOR A MOMENT.



FOR STARTERS, GRANDMA WAS BORN TUESDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1914 IN HER FAMILY'S ATWOOD RANCH HOUSE.



IT IS WORTH NOTING THOSE ALSO BORN IN 1914:

JACK LALANNE

JOE DIMAGGIO

DANNY THOMAS



AND WHO DIED IN 1914:

JOHN MUIR, THE FAMOUS NATURALIST FOR WHICH NUMEROUS ROADS, PARKS, HOTELS, AND NATURE RESERVES ARE NAMED.



IT IS ALSO WORTH NOTING THAT IN 1914 WOODROW WILSON SIGNS MOTHER'S DAY PROCLAMATION AND BABE RUTH MAKES HIS MAJOR LEAGUE DEBUT WITH THE RED SOX. MOTHER'S DAY AND BASEBALL- TWO OF MY FAVORITES!! (PERHAPS HER NICKNAME "BABE" CAME FROM BABE RUTH???)



GRANDMA WAS BORN INTO A PERIOD OF TIME FILLED WITH TURMOIL. IN JUNE OF 1914 ARCHDUKE FRANZS FERDINAND WAS ASSASSINATED. WITHIN ONE MONTH WORLD WAR I RAGED ACROSS EUROPE. TWO DAYS AFTER HER BIRTH HOWEVER, GERMAN AND BRITISH TROOPS INTERRUPTED WWI TO CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS. (PERHAPS THEY PAUSE KNOWING THAT A GREAT WOMAN WAS BORNE) WORLD WAR I CONTINUED UNTIL THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES IN 1919.



ALTHOUGH SHE WAS ONLY 5 YEARS OLD, SHE SAW THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS CREATED AND THE 19TH AMENDMENT WAS APPROVED BY THE U.S. CONGRESS GUARANTEEING THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN TO VOTE.



SHE LIVED THROUGH MANY NOTABLE EVENTS. LIKE THE 1933 LONG BEACH EARTHQUAKE OR WHEN ATWOOD FLOODED ALONG WITH MOST OF ORANGE COUNTY IN 1938 AND THE FLOOD-WATERS CLAIMED MORE THAN 50 PEOPLE, 43 OF WHICH WERE FROM ATWOOD! ALL OF THIS DURING A TIME THAT WE READ ABOUT IN SCHOOL AND KNOWN AS "THE GREAT DEPRESSION". SOMEWHERE IN ALL OF THAT SHE FOUND THE LOVE OF HER LIFE, GRANDPA LEO, GRADUATED HIGH SCHOOL, GOT MARRIED, AND HAD KIDS!



THEN THERE WAS WORLD WAR II. FROM PEARL HARBOR TO HIROSHIMA, GRANDMA WAS RAISING MY UNCLE BOB AND MOM ARLINE. WITH AIR-RAID SIRENS AND BLACKOUTS SHE WAS A WIFE AND MOTHER. WHAT A TIME TO RAISE CHILDREN! I BET GRANDMA'S PARENTS WERE ABEL TO TELL HER A THING OR TWO ABOUT RAISING KIDS IN WARTIME.



GRANDMA WAS THERE WHEN THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA HELD THEIR 3RD ANNUAL NATIONAL JAMBOREE IN 1953. SHE SAW AIRBASES OPEN IN '42 AND CLOSE IN '99. SHE WATCHED WALTER KNOTT START UP HIS BERRY FARM AND WALT DISNEY TURN ORANGE GROVES AND STRAWBERRY PATCHES INTO DISNEYLAND!



SHE SAW THE HORSE AND CARRIAGE FADE AWAY INTO HISTORY AND SPACE TRAVEL EXPLODE BEFORE HER WITH THE FIRST LUNAR LANDING. JUST IMAGINE HOW MUCH TECHNOLOGY HAS CHANGED OVER THE LAST 100 YEARS. FROM TUBE RECTIFIERS TO SUPERCONDUCTORS; FROM TRANS-ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH CABLES TO SATELLITE TV.



SHE SAW MORE IN HER 93 YEARS THAN MOST OF US WILL EVER READ ABOUT, LET ALONE LIVE THROUGH!



OF THOSE 93 YEARS IT IS MY HONOR TO HAVE BEEN HER GRANDSON FOR 35 OF THEM. SHE WAS MY MOTHER WHEN MOM HAD TO WORK. SHE WIPED MY NOSE AND PUT FOOD IN MY MOUTH. SHE LET ME PLAY WITH GRANDPA EVEN THOUGH SHE NEEDED HIM TO TAKE HER TO THE STORE. SHE WAS MY GRANDMA AND I WILL MISS HER IMMENSELY.



JUST LOOK AROUND THIS ROOM; SHE DID THIS. SHE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR BRINGING SO MANY GOOD PEOPLE INTO THIS WORLD AND TOGETHER TODAY. THIS IS HER LEGACY.



A Dedication To My Loving Wife, Stacey. Thank you for all you do for me!

Brad Paisley - I Thought I Loved You Then


I remember trying not to stare the night that I first met you
You had me mesmerized
3 weeks later in the front porch light taking 45 min to kiss you goodnight
I hadn’t told you yet but I thought I loved you then

Chorus
Now you’re my whole life now you’re my whole world
I just can’t believe the way I feel about you girl
Like a river meets the sea
Stronger than it’s ever been
We’ve come so far since that day
And I thought I loved you then.

I remember taking you back to right where I first met you
You were so surprised
There were people around
But I didn’t care I got down on one knee right there
And once again I thought I loved you then

Chorus
Now you’re my whole life now you’re my whole world
I just can’t believe the way I feel about you girl
Like a river meets the sea
Stronger than it’s ever been
We’ve come so far since that day
And I thought I loved you then.

I can just see you with a baby on the way
I can just see you when your hair is turning gray
What I can’t see is how I’m ever gonna love you more
But I’ve said that before.

Now you’re my whole life now you’re my whole world
I just can’t believe the way I feel about you girl
Well look back some day at this moment that we’re in
And I'll look at you and say I thought I loved you then
And I thought I loved you then...