4 A
❘
SATURDAY EDITION
❘ JUNE 11, 2016
RYAN CRONK , EDITOR
Siuslaw News
B Y D AVE R OBINSON
Special to the Siuslaw News
or the past several columns, I have
been listing items to purchase to
complete a 72-hour disaster prepared-
ness kit. As I have mentioned, a 72-hour kit
is only a good start. Fourteen days is much
better and more if you can manage it.
Building an emergency kit does not need
to break the bank. Picking up a few extra
items now and then will build up over a
period of time and before long your pantry
is filled with supplies that will carry you
through a disaster.
But for now, the primary plan is to “just
do it” and a 72-hour kit is a great start.
F
Kit building: Week 7
defense. It’s less expensive than pepper
spray, reaches out at least 20 feet and tem-
porarily incapacitates anyone intent on
causing you harm.
4. Sunscreen.
5. Granola or dry cereal.
6. Extra pet food. Also if your pet
requires medication, get some extra for
them as well. And don’t forget, your pet
requires water.
7. Fire extinguisher. Be sure it carries the
ABC rating. If you need training in its use,
contact your local fire department.
Tips for Week 7:
Things to buy for Week 7:
1. Small tool kit. Include a wrench (slip-
joint wrench like “Channellocks” or water
pump pliers) for shutting off utilities, ham-
mer, nails, screwdrivers, screws, duct tape,
zip ties, etc. This is one aspect of the kit
that can grow, swell and improve with
every trip to the hardware store.
2. Signal flares.
3. Insect repellent. While we’re on this
topic, I have recently read about people
using wasp/hornet spray for personal
Be sure to include pets in your plan.
When you leave town, take your go-bag
along. Disasters don’t always happen while
you’re at home. At that point it becomes
your “get home” bag.
Keep your car’s gas tank above half tank.
You never know when you get that call in
the middle of the night to go visit your ail-
ing, wealthy aunt in the hospital. Not a time
to be out of gas with none available.
Remember, survival is not a kit. Survival
is a plan and the kit should be a part of your
YESTERDAY’S NEWS
plan. It is best to keep your kit in a single
location, not strewn about the house, some
things in one closet, other items in the base-
ment and yet other things stacked in the
garage. Try to set aside an area for all your
gear and supplies.
When the power goes out and things are
mildly chaotic at your house, you don’t
want to be searching in the dark for your
stuff. Make sure the battery powered lantern
is the most easily-located item in your
inventory.
The power seldom goes out during day-
light hours. Flashlights, lanterns and other
lighting devices are the first things you will
want to get operational.
Happy prepping!
This concludes the seven-part series on
Building Your Kit.
______________________
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.
VIEW FROM UPRIVER
Missing
W ESLEY V OTH
For the Siuslaw News
––––––––––––
S
ometimes a break from the political
landscape, medical issues, any form
of social media, even one’s own
hearth and home, can be restorative. For
me this past weekend was especially so
because I was in the part of Oregon that I
know best, an area in the Detroit Ranger
District of Willamette National Forest
near Breitenbush Hot Springs. Thanks to
a special Forest Service program designed
to better connect people to the public
forests, my grandfather built a cabin there
the year I was born (1952) and I have
been there regularly and for extended
periods all my life.
He built the cabin so that his grandchil-
dren might experience the paradise he
believed was rapidly being destroyed, and
to have some balance to a city life; it did
this far beyond his dreams, changing the
trajectory of our entire family. Because of
it my father became a wildlife biologist
and environmentalist rather than the med-
ical doctor he had planned to be, and my
generation have all chosen to live in rural
places next to creeks or rivers.
There are areas near our cabin that are
still what we used to call virgin forest,
and have remained relatively undisturbed
by human activity. Most of the wildflow-
ers, tree species, vegetation, butterflies
and mammals from my grandparents’
days are still abundant.
Missing, however, are most of the
amphibians and quite a few of the birds I
remember from boyhood or even two
years ago. Some birds we always see that
EDITOR @ THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM
Opinion
P.O. Box 10
Florence, OR 97439
DISASTER PREP
❘ 541-902-3520 ❘
weren’t evident this time were gray
jays, Clark’s nutcracker and wood-
peckers other than flickers.
We did not hear hermit thrushes
while hiking in to some of the lakes
we like to fish this time of year,
and there were none of the usual
waterfowl nesting there. Flittering over
the lakes the most common birds in the
past have been Vaux swifts; this year
none. It brought to mind that when I was
a child, the summer evening sky not only
at our cabin but even in Portland was
filled with nighthawks; by the time I was
an adult, we rarely saw them.
When I was growing up, going to any
of the lakes in the Cascades following
snowmelt meant cascades frogs breeding
by the gazillion, and their egg masses and
tadpoles. No more. It has been years since
I’ve seen a single one. I also did not find
red-legged frogs, tailed frogs or the juve-
nile form of the pacific giant salamander,
common in the past in the places where I
looked.
Of all the amphibians I used to see
there, only the rough-skinned newts con-
tinue to be abundant. I did see something
I hadn’t before — honeybees at a high
mountain lake far from road or any
human-tended hive.
One of my daughters who hiked in and
fished with me especially loves wildflow-
ers, and spent quite a bit of time photo-
graphing old friends like northern
starflower and its more delicate counter-
part American starflower, bunchberry,
twinflower, bear grass, inside out flower,
coral root, wood strawberry, columbine,
queen’s cup, penstemon and Indian paint-
brush. Because going up in elevation took
us back in time, in many places the wild
rhododendrons were at their peak.
The whole experience was rejuvenat-
ing, the fishing wonderful, but the species
missing even away from obvious forest
plunder and destruction is sobering.
MOMENTS IN TIME
The History Channel
On June 19, 1864, the most successful and
feared Confederate commerce raider of the war,
the CSS Alabama, sinks after a battle with the
USS Kearsarge off the coast of France. After
three years and 75,000 miles, the Alabama
needed overhauling and was taken to France,
where the USS Kearsarge was lying in wait.
On June 16, 1884, the first roller coaster in
America opens at Coney Island, New York. The
coaster traveled 6 mph and cost a nickel to ride.
The name Coney Island is believed to have
come from the Dutch Konijn Eilandt, or Rabbit
Island.
On June 18, 1923, the first Checker Cab
rolls off the line in Kalamazoo, Michigan. In
1922, with some 600 Checker Cabs on the
streets of New York City alone, owner Morris
Markin went looking for a bigger factory and
settled on Kalamazoo.
On June 14, 1954, more than 12 million
Americans “die” in a mock nuclear attack, as
the United States goes through its first nation-
wide civil-defense drill. The event stood as a
stark reminder that the world was now living
under a nuclear shadow.
On June 13, 1966, the Supreme Court
hands down its decision in Miranda v. Arizona,
establishing the principle that all criminal sus-
pects must be advised of their rights before
interrogation. Ernesto Miranda had been arrest-
ed and not told he didn’t have to say anything.
On June 17, 1972, five burglars are arrest-
ed in the Democratic National Committee
headquarters at the Watergate complex in
Washington, D.C. An extensive investigation
unveiled a scheme of political sabotage and
espionage, which ultimately resulted in the res-
ignation of President Richard Nixon.
On June 15, 1986, stock-car driver Richard
Petty makes the 1,000th start of his NASCAR
career, at Michigan International Speedway.
“The King” would extend his record to 1,184
career starts before his retirement in 1992.
(c) 2016 King Features Synd., Inc.
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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