4 A
❘
SATURDAY EDITION
❘ MARCH 5, 2016
Siuslaw News
P.O. Box 10
Florence, OR 97439
DISASTER PREP
B Y D AVE R OBINSON
Special to the Siuslaw News
I
read somewhere that “The best
kit is the one you have with
you.” We can have our homes
prepared to the max, but if we aren’t
home when disaster strikes, it does
us little good.
If I had my way, any disaster would
take place while my family and I are
comfortably at home, but we can’t
schedule storms or earthquakes. The
reality is I personally commute to
work 20 miles from home and spend
eight or more hours a day in my
office there. My wife spends all day
at her job 30 miles from home in
another direction. The likelihood of at
least one of us being stranded away
from home in an emergency is very
good.
So let’s play a game of “Let’s
Pretend.” If you were stranded even
20 miles from home during a disaster,
would you have what you need with
you to get by? And by the way, all the
stores are closed and the ATMs won’t
work because the power is out.
If you ask most people, “What
would you do if you were in another
RYAN CRONK , EDITOR
❘ 541-902-3520 ❘
EDITOR @ THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM
Opinion
Getting home
city during an emergency?” Most
people would say, “I’d get home as
soon as possible.” Have you consid-
ered that you just might not be able to
get home? Trees, power poles, power
lines, building debris, massive traffic
jams with everybody else trying to do
the same thing, busted bridges and
roads flooded are all realistic reasons
why your best option may be to sit it
out for a few hours.
If the emergency is an earthquake,
make sure you’re out of the tsunami
zone and sit tight. If you have your
kit with you, you’re good.
So what’s in a kit? Everyone’s kit
will look different depending on your
specific needs. We all have the same
four basic needs: (1) food, (2) water,
(3) shelter and (4) security. (Maslow’s
hierarchy of need notwithstanding.)
Good, strong walking shoes are a
must. If you take some kind of main-
tenance medication, then you should
have your meds with you, at least
three or four days worth.
It’s called a “Get Home Bag.” Yours
will look different than mine, but water,
YESTERDAY’S NEWS
food and shelter are the basics.
How about some extra clothes?
And the shoes you wear to work are
probably not the ones you want to
wear to walk any distance. Consider a
small water filter, like a LifeStraw or
Survival Spring. Both are available
for about $20. Just do an Internet
search to find one.
And a plan. Talk it over with your
family. “If I get stranded at work,
here’s what I’m going to do ...” Then,
lay out the plan to reunite your fami-
ly. This isn’t done out of fear, it’s
done with a “just in case” mindset.
Having a plan is every bit as impor-
tant as having a well-equipped back-
pack.
Get a bag, get started and just
imagine what you’d do if you were
stranded some distance from home.
______________________
Dave Robinson is the postmaster in
Bandon, Ore., and author of “Disaster Prep
for the Rest of Us.” He may be contacted at
disasterprep.dave@gmail.com. Visit his
website for more disaster preparedness tips,
www.disasterprepdave.blogspot.com.
MOMENTS IN TIME
The History Channel
On March 11, 1861, delegates from South
Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama,
Georgia, Louisiana and Texas adopt the
Permanent Constitution of the Confederate
States of America. It provided for six-year
terms for the president, who was ineligible for
successive terms.
On March 10, 1876, the first discernible
speech is transmitted over a telephone system
when inventor Alexander Graham Bell sum-
mons his assistant in another room by saying,
“Mr. Watson, come here; I want you.” Bell had
received a telephone patent three days before,
filing just hours before another inventor, Elisha
Gray.
On March 12, 1888, agreeing to cooperate
with a policy adopted by Congress, China
approves a treaty forbidding Chinese laborers to
enter the United States for 20 years. The
Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 barred immi-
grants based on race and nationality for the first
time.
On March 7, 1923, The New Republic pub-
lishes Robert Frost’s poem “Stopping By
Woods on a Snowy Evening.” The poem, begin-
ning with the famous line “Whose woods these
are, I think I know,” has introduced millions of
American students to poetry.
On March 13, 1942, the Quartermaster
Corps of the United States Army begins training
dogs for the new War Dog Program, or K-9
Corps. Tens of thousands of dogs had served
during World War I, the most famous being Rin
Tin Tin.
On March 8, 1951, the Lonely Hearts
Killers, Martha Beck and Raymond Martinez
Fernandez, are executed in the electric chair in
New York. The couple had schemed to seduce,
rob and murder women who placed personal
ads in newspapers.
On March 9, 1981, a nuclear accident at a
Japanese power plant dumps 16 tons of radioac-
tive waste into Wakasa Bay. Despite the risk to
people eating contaminated fish, the public was
not told of the spill for more than a month. Fish
in the area displayed mutations for several years
afterward.
(c) 2016 King Features Synd., Inc.
L ETTERS TO THE
E DITOR P OLICY
LETTERS
Trump’s tyranny
I was wondering one night, if
Mr. Donald Trump were to
become President, would he send
my Chihuahua back to Mexico to
be a stray in the streets? But, alas,
I’d probably see him back here
since he’s good at digging under
walls.
Maybe he would ship my
Afghan back to Afghanistan’s
war zone — because he’s proba-
bly Muslim — I hope he’s good
at dodging bullets. My Borzoi
would probably be spared depor-
tation since Trump is such a pal
of Putin, and my white French
poodle might be able to remain
since he is, after all, white.
Then, there’s my Saluki —
back to Egypt he goes since he is
Muslim and from an unstable
region of the world. And, my
Shih Tzu’s doomed to return to
China since Trump is not too
fond of them either.
Aye, aye, aye, aye!
I would put nothing past — I
hate to say it — a “President
Trump.” He would say, “Get
them out of here” to anyone he
doesn’t like, torture them and off
with their head without blinking
an eye — some kind of person,
yet alone a President — danger-
ous and despotic.
Julie M. MacFarlane
Florence
Candidate
cannibalism
The GOP truly deserves more
public acclaim for the “rich”
entertainment value offered by
their candidate cannibalism.
As a disintegrating party, with-
out a doubt, they reconfirm the
vast potential offered through a
tyranny of small ideas.
Rand Dawson
Siltcoos Lake
The Siuslaw News welcomes letters to
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Postmaster, send address changes to: Siuslaw News, P.O. Box 10, Florence, OR 97439; phone 541-997-3441; fax
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Pres. Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, D.C. 20500
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461
TTY/TDD Comments: 202-456-6213
www.whitehouse.gov
Gov. Kate Brown
160 State Capitol
900 Court St.
Salem, OR 97301-4047
Governor’s Citizens’ Rep.
Message Line 503-378-4582
www.oregon.gov/gov
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden
221 Dirksen Senate Office Bldg
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-5244
541-431-0229
www.wyden.senate.gov
FAX: 503-986-1080
Email:
Sen.ArnieRoblan@state.or.us
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley
313 Hart Senate Office Bldg
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-3753/FAX: 202-228-3997
541-465-6750
State Rep. Caddy McKeown
(Dist. 9)
900 Court St. NE
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1409
Email:
rep.caddymckeown@state.or.us
U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio (4th Dist.)
2134 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515
202-225-6416/ 800-944-9603
541-269-2609/ 541-465-6732
www.defazio.house.gov
State Sen. Arnie Roblan (Dist. 5)
900 Court St. NE - S-417
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1705
West Lane County Commissioner
Jay Bozievich
125 E. Eighth St.
Eugene, OR 97401
541-682-4203
FAX: 541-682-4616
Email:
Jay.Bozievich@co.lane.or.us