4 A
❘
SATURDAY EDITION
❘ JUNE 4, 2016
Siuslaw News
P.O. Box 10
Florence, OR 97439
DISASTER PREP
B Y D AVE R OBINSON
Special to the Siuslaw News
ccording to the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA) and
the Red Cross, the mantra for disas-
ter preparedness is: Get A Kit, Make A Plan
and Be Informed. Trust me when I say that
survival is not a kit. Knowledge is more
important than “stuff.” Preparedness and
survival is all about a plan, your kit is sim-
ply a big part of your plan. I must admit
that building a kit is more fun than making
a plan, but it is all about a balanced
approach to coming out ahead in the event
of a disaster.
For the past few columns, I have been
providing a shopping list and a list of tips
for building a 72-hour kit. I firmly believe a
72-hour kit is only a good start. Your plan
should be to extend your kit to a 14-day
supply as most disasters don’t know to stop
at 72 hours.
After seven weeks, those who participate
will have a well-rounded starter kit that
should see them through most emergencies.
Because we all have different needs, every-
one’s kit will be different. Some of us have
babies in the house, so those families will
want to stock up on infants’ things, others
will have folks with special needs and those
requirements must be considered as you
build your kit and make your plan.
For those reasons, I don’t recommend
buying one of the kits on the market, as
they will probably not meet your family’s
complete needs during an actual emergency.
So having said that, let’s get to it!
A
Things to buy for Week 5:
1. Gloves. Latex or non/latex, plus a
good pair of work gloves.
2. Paper plates, cups and utensils.
3. Canned vegetables, soup/stew.
4. Toilet paper (lots) and paper towels.
5. Travel sizes of personal hygiene items,
dental care, soap, feminine care, deodorant,
etc.
RYAN CRONK , EDITOR
❘ 541-902-3520 ❘
Opinion
Kit building: Weeks 5 & 6
6. Disinfectant wipes.
7. Supplies for baby, elderly or special
needs.
Tips for Week 5
Select an emergency contact person
residing out of the area for family members
to contact in case they are separated.
Sometimes it’s easier to connect a phone
call out of the area than it is to get through
locally.
Keep a copy of this seven-week list in
your car when you go shopping. Check off
items as you go.
Make sure that all adults and teens in
your household know how to shut off water
and utilities.
Never use a portable generator in an
enclosed area. Follow the manufacturer’s
instructions.
***
Funny thing about disaster preparedness,
our parents and grandparents simply “put
up” their garden produce, butchered a half
of beef and froze it and otherwise laid up
stores for the winter months. The current
generation goes to the store nearly every
day to decide what to have for dinner, has
no idea what to do with real flour and is
nearly crippled without electricity.
With all the microwaveable conveniences
and our fast-food on-demand mentality, the
thought of actually preparing in case some-
thing goes wrong is often times a foreign
concept.
Nevertheless, there are some of us who
remember life without microwave ovens
and Hamburger Helper. Some who have
lived through events that knocked out
power and weather that precluded safe trav-
el. Improving conditions during times of
difficulty can be as simple as having some
extra food on hand, or a camping stove or
alternative lighting or maybe just fresh bat-
teries for the flashlight.
Things to buy for Week 6:
1. Blankets and small pillows. A good
quality sleeping bag is a good substitute.
2. Towels. Set aside some extra towels
and if you are preparing a go-bag for each
family member, a towel is a must-have.
3. Extra clothing and outerwear, and stur-
dy, comfortable footwear.
4. Small photo album with current photos
of family members and pets
5. Assorted crackers and nuts (low salt or
salt-free are best to reduce thirst).
Tips for Week 6:
Do you have home fire extinguishers?
Are they rated ABC? If so, check with your
local fire department to have them inspect-
ed and learn when they should be replaced.
Residential fires are the most frequent dis-
asters and having a working fire extinguish-
er can mean the difference between minor
damage and losing your home.
Consider using five-gallon plastic buck-
ets with lids for storing your supplies. They
are light, strong and dust-, water- and bug-
proof, and relatively inexpensive.
Remember to pick up a “lid lifter” at your
hardware store. You can also ask if they are
“food grade” plastic. Markings on the bot-
tom of the bucket tell the tale.
Mark your storage containers with a per-
manent marker.
Also mark expiration dates and plan to
rotate supplies every six months. Some
folks use the change to Daylight Savings
Time to remind them it’s time to change out
the old stuff for new.
______________________
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.
LETTERS
feeding dry corn to the
deer, and lots of it. I per-
sonally have found four
dead deer with their stom-
achs completely packed
full of corn that has
swollen up after consump-
tion, and I’m sure this was-
n’t a pleasant way to die.
Please don’t feed the
deer. It’s illegal. It harms
the animals and upsets the
natural chain of life for
wild animals. Store-bought
apples with paraffin-coated
peels and plastic stickers,
dried corn, oats and barley
are not natural food
sources.
Brian Gray
Dunes City
Disappointing
outcome
I was disappointed to see
that residents of the
Siuslaw School District
failed to pass the bond
measure for a new high
school. As a retiree on a
fixed income, I also under-
stand that we only have a
limited amount of money to
spend. However, failing to
pass this bond measure will
have an unintended ramifi-
cation that we might not
have thought about —
namely, the quality of our
health care.
We are in a situation in
Florence where it is
extremely difficult to find health care
providers who want to move to our communi-
ty. One of the issues that is often raised by
potential employees is the educational system
in Florence. What doctor is going to want to
send their children to a school that is unsafe
and inadequate when they can find another
community that obviously values educating its
children more, providing them with a first-
class educational system from kindergarten
through high school?
I hope that Siuslaw School District will con-
tinue to work on a plan to improve our educa-
tional system in Florence and the surrounding
area that it serves and present another bond
issue in the future that will be presented in
EDITOR @ THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM
detail to property owners for their approval.
It is not only important for the education of
our children, it is important for all of us who
want quality health care in our community.
Patricia Reno
Florence
Don’t feed the deer
The reason I’m writing is to let folks know
why it’s illegal to feed the deer.
I live on a beautiful piece of property just
south of Florence in Dunes City. We have 165
acres and pretty much have a nursery for does
and their fawns, and bucks visit during the fall.
The last few years someone locally has been
Bernie’s claim to fame
Bernie Sanders’ one claim to fame after a
long stint at the public feeding trough (politi-
cian) is being the chair of a senate committee
in charge of overseeing the Veterans Affairs.
As we all have been made aware of, the
Veterans Affairs has been and is still a horrible
disaster. And now, there are those of you that
would like to make him president.
Let’s give America a chance to be great
again and put Bernie out to pasture.
Martin Cable
Dunes City
YESTERDAY’S NEWS
MOMENTS IN TIME
The History Channel
On June 11, 1509, King Henry VIII of
England marries Catherine of Aragon, the first
of his eventual six wives. When Catherine
failed to produce a male heir, Henry divorced
her against the will of the Roman Catholic
Church, thus precipitating the Protestant
Reformation in England.
On June 9, 1772, colonists, angered by the
British Parliament’s passing of the Townshend
Acts restricting colonial trade, board the HMS
Gaspee, an armed British customs schooner,
and set it aflame. When British officials arrived
to investigate the incident, they found no one
willing to identify those involved.
On June 12, 1924, the first Bush president,
George Herbert Walker Bush, is born in Milton,
Massachusetts. Bush served in the Navy during
World War II and survived a harrowing ordeal
when his torpedo bomber was shot down over
the Pacific.
On June 8, 1948, a hand-built aluminum
prototype labeled “No. 1” becomes the first
vehicle to bear the name of Porsche. Dubbed
the Type 356, the sports car used modified
Volkswagen drivetrain components.
On June 7, 1962, the banking institution
Credit Suisse opens the first drive-through bank
in Switzerland. The branch featured eight glass
pavilions, seven outfitted for left-hand drive
cars and one for right-hand drive vehicles.
On June 6, 1981, more than 500 passen-
gers are killed when their train plunges into the
Baghmati River in India. The rail accident was
caused by a Hindu engineer who slammed on
the brakes to avoid a cow, considered a sacred
animal.
On June 10, 2002, Clint Messina and Rose
Houk steal a Krispy Creme doughnut delivery
truck and lead Louisiana police on a 15-mile
chase, leaving a trail of doughnuts behind. As it
involved cops and doughnuts, the incident kept
late-night comedians busy for days.
(c) 2016 King Features Synd., Inc.
L ETTERS TO THE
E DITOR P OLICY
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Siuslaw News and will not be returned.
Write to:
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WHERE TO WRITE
Published every Wednesday and Saturday at 148 Maple St. in Florence, Lane County, Oregon. A member of the National
Newspaper Association and Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association. Periodicals postage paid at Florence, Ore.
Postmaster, send address changes to: Siuslaw News, P.O. Box 10, Florence, OR 97439; phone 541-997-3441; fax
541-997-7979. All press releases may be sent to PressReleases@TheSiuslawNews.com.
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