Your link to Northwest Indiana. tm

[sidebar.htm]
		From Our Founder by Robert J. Wichlinski  We learned from the Hurricane Katrina disaster that early warning to impending disaster is tantamount to saving lives.  Had citizens been warned earlier, they would have had more time to escape Katrina’s wrath.  This lesson was reinforced when Hurricane Rita visited Texas.  Folks in Texas may not have known exactly what to do, but they knew they had to get out of harm’s way. While a hurricane will not visit our region, we are not immune from disasters of the same scale as Katrina. We live at the base of the largest source of fresh water in the world.   If that fresh water is polluted or poisoned, millions of lives will be affected…millions of lives constituting one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world.  Anyone or anything that needs to travel across the United States needs to navigate around all that fresh water.  The shortest distance around is RIGHT THROUGH OUR BACKYARD.  If you’re a terrorist or Mother Nature and you want to endanger scores of Americans lives, then “here” is a very attractive place to target.  A natural or manmade disaster in our region will affect steel manufacturing, petroleum refining, power generation & distribution, rail & vehicular transportation, the transportation of natural gas & oil, telecommunications infrastructure, and deep water shipping… all in one efficient, strategic stroke.   We may choose to ignore or deny it, but the fact is that we are vulnerable and we should take the threat very seriously. We may use Katrina to renew our hope in the American spirit evidenced by our outpouring of support and generosity.    But all the aid we send does not somehow atone for our vulnerability and stave off local disaster.  We need to learn from Katrina that it is incumbent upon each of us to know what to do when disaster strikes and be prepared. When disaster strikes others we ask, “what can I do to help?”  We can certainly offer our time, talents and treasure to help those in need.  But as important, we can make certain we are prepared for a disaster in our own backyard.  When disaster strikes, how will you be warned?  When a warning is issued, what are you prepared to do? We now have a new National Weather Service “All Hazards” radio transmitting from Northwest Indiana.  Previously, our area was underserved by the NWS transmitters located in Chicago.  Our transmitter not only issues local weather alerts, but tornado, flood, earthquake, terrorist, HAZMAT and Amber alerts as well.  For roughly the cost of a fire extinguisher or smoke detector, you can own a weather radio which becomes your personal early warning system. When disaster is imminent, the alarm on the radio will sound followed by life-saving information and instructions.  Time is lives… the sooner you know, the sooner you can act.  In the case of a tornado you’ll only have minutes.  Why wait until it’s too late?  Lessons learned from Katrina. For information on where to purchase your weather radio click here. As always, I can be reached via e-mail at b@219.com
		About Us. © 2000,  2001, 2002, 2003 by Onsite Computer, LLC.  All rights reserved. Terms of Use. Robert J Wichlinski Editor.