It was the late 1970’s and adult slow-pitch softball was just getting popular in Salina. The great thing about slow-pitch – versus fast pitch – is you don’t have to be much of an athlete to play the game – sorry slow pitch players, that’s the painful truth.
Almost all the slow-pitch teams had sponsors. One particular team was called “The Peacock” after their sponsor, a bar on North Broadway. The team was a mixture of firefighters and friends of firefighters.
The word “average” is probably a generous description for most the players on the team. Our shortstop was a friend of the firefighters by the name “Eddie Koelling.”
Eddie would buzz around the base paths with short, rapid strides which made him appear to be faster than he was. Nevertheless, we called him “Fast Eddie.” He got this nickname not because of his blazing speed, but because of his occupation – Car Salesman.
It was typical of firemen to give out nicknames. And Eddie’s nickname was just in fun because Eddie was the polar opposite of somebody who would slicker you.
For some time, here of late, our shortstop “Fast Eddie” has been competing against a bigger opponent than we ever did on the slow-pitch diamond. The opponents name was “Cancer.”
Eddie gave the opponent as good a game as anybody could have. But, every game has its’ ending and this one ended yesterday.
Some day all of us will see our game come to an end. We can only hope that we play the game as well as “Fast Eddie” – The Peacock Shortstop.
The young man drives up to “Short Stop Fuel” and parks his beat up 4-door late-model Chevy next to the fuel pump – just as he ran out of gas. The forlorn subject steps out of his car, walks across to the store, and up to the check-out counter. He hands the clerk a debit card and says, “$5.00 on Pump 3.”
The clerk swipes the card and the machine flashes the message “Rejected.” By now there’s a young lady and two men in line behind him. The clerk again swipes the card. And again it comes back “Rejected.” Embarrassed, he takes the card and returns to his gas empty car.
The young lady – who didn’t know the gas-needy man – steps forward to the counter. She lays her items for purchase on the counter. As the clerk is ringing up the charge she says, “I also want you to put $20.00 on Pump 3.”
Acts such as these are a regular event in small town America. Just weeks ago a late night storm dropped tornados onto farms in rural Stafford County. At least six of those farms were totally devastated.
Before the sun had crept above the horizon they arrived. They brought their trucks. They brought their trailers. They brought their food. And they brought their hearts.
It’s just one of the special things about rural America. The good deeds might go unnoticed by many, but they didn’t go unnoticed by the storm ravaged victims, nor the young man on “Pump 3.”
Reno County Firefighters responded to a large rangeland fire that was planned as a so-called Controlled Burn. I guess you could say its name changed, it was no longer controlled.
The fire burned close to 600 acres of grassland and required assistance from a number of neighboring departments, including Stafford County. Stafford County sent four brush trucks and two tenders.
The unusually warm, windy weather made the firefight more difficult for firefighters. A number of firefighting tactics had to be incorporated to control the fire. The intensity of the firefight resulted in one Reno County firefighter being transported by ambulance for medical problems.
The fire was fought for close to three hours before it was controlled.
I was the spitting image of Austin Powers’ alter ego – the one and only Mister Jelly rolls himself – FAT BASTARD.
Starting at the top of the six foot two inch frame, what was already a rather large melon had grown to epic size. Fitted ball caps no longer fit. The pumpkin head included a face swollen as though it had been attacked by a hive of angry killer bees.
My back resembled a pan of cinnamon rolls and my front a soon to be mother. Literally, I could no longer be called an emergency responder – more like an emergency waiting to happen.
As posted back in February, my Weight Watchers program had me down thirty-three pounds with seventeen to reach goal.
Guess what – as of today I reached the Big 50.
So, Goodbye FB!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 17, 2012 No. 12-046
KANSANS WISHING TO HELP DISASTER AFFECTED AREAS CALL 2-1-1
The Kansas Division of Emergency Management is advising those wishing to donate to the relief of people affected by the massive storm system that hit the state April 14 to call the United Way 2-1-1 number.
“It seems that as soon as a disaster hits, the calls start coming in from people asking how they can help,” said Angee Morgan, deputy director of KDEM. “Calling 2-1-1 is one of the best and fastest ways to do that.”
Calling 2-1-1 from any phone will allow people to donate money, goods, service or volunteer to help. Contributions can also be made by going online to https://give.liveunited.org/page/contribute/contribution1 or at www.ksready.gov and clicking on the “Donate to Kansas disaster relief” link.
The weather experts had been predicting it for the past week – a perfect storm was brewing for Kansas. Unfortunately, they got it right – Stafford County took a beating last night.
So, how did we do with preparation, response, and recovery?
Preparation. A low injury count is a good indicator of good preparation. Number of Stafford County injuries reported? Zero. Great Job!
Response. Stafford County staffs the Dispatch Center with one lone Dispatcher. Amy Clausen launched the sirens, handled hundreds of emergency radio traffic messages, and dealt with the temporary loss of both the telephone and the radio systems. Great Job!
Assistant Director Nick Lauffer and St. John Fire Chief Mike Sanders baptized Stafford County’s new Emergency Operations Center. These two individuals did a great job of tracking weather data and passing on the information to those in the field. Great Job!
Law officers and firefighters were the eyes in the field. These professionals tracked the storm in the field and welfare checked those hit by the storm. Mixed right in the middle was a storm caused structure fire that firefighters suppressed. Great Job!
Recovery. How Stafford County did with recovery could be described with one word – “Amazing.” Friends, neighbors, and families mobilized with the speed and efficiency of a manufacturing assemble line process. The recovery effort is a shining example of what’s special about living in a rural community. Great Job!
A special thank you to everyone who helped with this tragedy.
Our hearts go out to those who lost so much to this violent storm.
*Special thanks to Barton County for helping with Dispatch and Pratt County with telephones, and to Red Cross.
A detached storage building on a Northern Stafford County farm was destroyed by a fire early this morning. The fire was reported by a passing motorist. The owners were out of town.
Firefighters quickly arrived to find the structure already mostly consumed by the fire. Crews quickly extinguished the remaining fire and then overhauled the remains. The cause of the fire was determined to be a heat lamp.
A family pet perished in the fire.
The year was 1973. This was Terry Vague’s sophomore year at Salina Central High School – two years away from graduation and a full life ahead. So it seemed.
Terry and I were in the same wood shop class – a classroom staged with big square wooden drawing tables at the front of the room and the work area with power saws in the back. There was no wall separating the two.
It was me and Terry and a few others that day – sitting at our drawing tables. Terry had his back to the power saw area and I was facing it.
A couple other classmates were working in the power saw area. They were getting ready to run a rough cut two-inch thick piece of walnut through the table saw. The kick-back guard on table saws can be a pain in the neck, so this one had been removed.
As the students started to push the walnut board into the blade, it resisted. And in the blink of an eye the board was launched from the saw. The board flew thirty feet through the air where it struck Terry in the back of the head. Terry was killed instantly.
I’ve witnessed a number of lives lost from safety short-cuts during my lengthy emergency service career. There’s always a strong safety response after the accident. Safety at once becomes paramount. But, it never brings back those lost.
Flash forward to this past weekend in Stafford County. We had a farmer that decided they didn’t need to follow the open burn policy. The person burned without calling into dispatch and they also burned at night – both clear violations.
The fire department responded to the illegal fire and extinguished it. Nobody got hurt or killed. But, that doesn’t mean there wasn’t danger. The reason it’s illegal is “IT IS NOT SAFE!”
How many boards were pushed through that Salina Central High School guard-less table saw before the deadly one? Hundreds, maybe thousands. But, that didn’t make it safe.
Firefighting is an inherently dangerous occupation. But, we don’t need to do things to make it more dangerous.
Terry Vague and many others didn’t have to die – and we shouldn’t need more lost lives to learn the lesson.
Emergency representatives from small communities must choose carefully the educational conferences they attend – time and money both being a major concern. Here in Stafford County we set a goal of at least attending the annual conference for each of the disciplines – fire, EMS, EM.
The emergency management piece of that goal was met the past few days in Salina.
The presenters were from the EPA, the State of Kansas, the State of Colorado, Wichita State University, the Railroad, Hospitals, and Kansas Counties.
The Kansas Department of Emergency Management folks put a lot of work into providing the participants with a great educational conference. I’m sure that I speak for many in saying, “Thank You.”
If you missed the conference – be sure and catch next years.
There’s a new face to the emergency service full time staff in Stafford County. Davin Graves was selected to fill the position vacated by T.J. Rockenbach.
Davin isn’t new to Stafford County. He graduated from St. John high school and was a volunteer for Stafford County both in EMS and Fire.
Welcome aboard Davin!
What’s your plan for next week?
Don’t forget to put down the Storm Spotter Meeting for Tuesday evening, April 3rd @ 7 p.m.
The meeting will be at the County Annex in St. John – 210 E. 3rd – first building east of the Courthouse.
Tell your mom, your dad, and your friends!
Hope to see you!
Most citizens respect the job firefighters perform, but few understand the time and effort firefighters spend preparing to do the job. One thing firefighters must do is study and plan for special risks. And that was exactly what firefighters were doing Thursday morning.
Northern Natural Gas has a main distribution center just north of the Stafford County line in southern Pawnee County. Stafford County Firefighters would be the first ones that Pawnee County would call for assistance if a major incident took place at this facility, so it was nice that we were invited to participate in the session Thursday.
When you see a firefighter be sure and thank them for their efforts – for the emergencies and the time they spend training, studying, and planning for risks.
Her name is Jean Smedley. She lives in the town of Salina, Kansas – population 50,000. Approximately three weeks ago Jean had total hip replacement surgery. The post-surgery plan was to recuperate a few days at the Salina hospital, then go home. That was the plan.
Unfortunately, several days after the hip operation, while still in the hospital, came the unexpected – two minor strokes. The after-effects of the strokes weren’t serious, but Jean definitely wasn’t going to be able to go home alone.
Jean is 92 years old and has no children, other than two adopted ones – Steve and Rosie Moody, residents of a little town by the name of Stafford, Kansas.
The Internet lists the population of Stafford as 1,042, but that count probably includes a few farm animals and family pets. Little towns are a great place to live, but you do need to answer the question, “Where will I get medical care?
Fortunately, Stafford is home to the one and only county hospital. And, luckily for Jean, one of the feature offerings provided by Stafford County Hospital is physical therapy.
Jean will go home to Salina next Monday, but like many others she’ll treasure her time in Stafford. Jean’s message to the health care workers at Stafford County Hospital?
A great big THANK YOU!
You drive by the crumpled vehicles in the median, steam rising from the still warm engines, broken parts on the pavement crunch beneath your vehicle’s tires. You envision trauma, possibly even death. But, do you ever wonder what it’s like to be the rescue team?
Looking at a picture or driving by an accident scene is much different than working an accident. It’s akin to the difference between losing a loved one and being a consoling friend, or like watching a YouTube video of a young kid being beaten by a group of thugs, versus being the beaten kid.
Each part of the experience is different.
For starters, what you see is but a fraction of what the rescuer sees. The obvious is that you don’t see the patient – the blood in all it’s red versions, pale yellow marble-looking fatty tissue, protruding bones, and body parts encased by metal like shrink wrap plastic.
Then there are the non-patient sights. The personal bible crumpled in the back seat, an empty child car-seat, a single partially unlaced boot lying on the shoulder of the roadway.
Only the rescue team will sense the smell and taste. The scene’s odor flows in through your nostrils down to the back palate striking the taste buds near the base of the tongue. You sense the sweet taste of antifreeze, the homeless person odor of diesel fuel, the rotten egg smell of battery acid, and soon the smell of your own perspiration.
As you drive by you might experience some sound – the buzz of the rescue tools. But, you won’t hear the change of the engine as it strains from a difficult cut. You won’t hear the sound of twisting, cutting metal. You won’t take in the short necessary messages between rescuers. Nor will you hear the words of impending doom spoken from a soul about to leave this life.
Touch is another sense that only the rescuer experiences. Popping bubble wrap is the feel of air pockets beneath the skin caused by a punctured lung. The twisting pressure of the Jaws tool pulls sideways on your grip, your hands slick with the slime of diesel fuel and motor oil.
And, most profoundly you won’t sense the pressure. Maybe you think you understand the pressure because you were an athlete back in high school or you have had to meet a short deadline with a project at work. But, no life lies in the balance of a basketball or a football game or a missed deadline. The outcome is hurt feelings, not loss of life.
Saving a life is the goal of the rescue team, but the clock is ticking.
Will they get the patient rescued in time? The right rescue cuts in the right spots equal many minutes difference. Ticktock, ticktock. Will the medics deliver the proper care in time? Spending too much time can be the minutes the surgeon needed. Ticktock, ticktock. Did you park the trucks correctly to protect the scene, did you disconnect the battery so a spark doesn’t ignite the standing fuel? Skipping steps that require extra time can kill too. Ticktock, ticktock.
And what pay do these heroes get for this life saving work they do? Surely it mirrors the salaries of those who play games. Ironically, it’s the opposite – many do it for no pay, and the others do it for a modest sum. Rescue workers provide their life-saving service for the right reasons.
So, here’s the point of this story.
You’ll never fully understand what a rescuer goes through, but that doesn’t mean you can’t appreciate what they do. There’s a famous song by the group Queen called “Under Pressure.” When you hear that song in the future, stop and think about rescuers and what they do.
And when you see one, tell them “Thank You.”
It was 5% not 15%. That was a significant difference that a journalist wouldn’t get wrong. And, that fact alone would make the previous blog I wrote better if not for the fact that it wasn’t the only inaccuracy.
I was told – not by anybody official – that there was 200 signatures turned in. So, it seemed safe to surmise that the required number – in the 150 range – would be met. It wasn’t.
I won’t comment on the true number that was reached because I would most likely get that wrong too. But, it did fall short of the required number.
The Stafford County Hospital folks, as well as Stafford County residents in general, should be very happy with this morning’s news – but also realize that another chance for success is probably the last chance.
And, I promise to refrain from writing about numbers forever more.
A petition with the necessary fifteen percent signatures of the populace has been turned in. The petition will require a special election concerning the issuance of a special bond to cover Stafford County Hospital’s expenses. The minority has spoken.
For any red-blooded American this process should make them sick to their stomach. America was built on the foundation that the majority rules. Yet, this silly process only requires a puny fifteen percent of the populace.
So, the minority has spoken. Remember them.
Remember them when nursing homes close.
Remember them when the Stafford High School closes.
Remember them when Stafford restaurants close.
Remember them when ambulance expenses go up because of volunteer departures.
Remember them you need an ambulance and there are none because volunteers have left.
Remember them when you need medical care and the closest facility is forty minutes away.
Remember them when the population plummets.
Remember them when your taxes skyrocket because there are fewer taxpayers to pay the bill.
Hopefully, somebody will float the hospital a loan to keep it open until the special election so the majority can have the opportunity to speak – and the only damage is the $8,000 expense of the special election.
The minority has spoken. Remember them. And thank them often.
* I will get a copy of the petition signatures and post the names of them immediately afterwards.
The inscription inside the front cover of the little red book read, “Christmas 1977” – Steve – We decided to give you this tremendous book as you will begin to see how it can influence your life – Our Love, Aunt Lizzie & Uncle Lloyd.” The book was titled, “The Greatest Salesman in the World.”
“The Greatest Salesman in the World” is a story about a young camel tender named Hafid who is given a gift of ten scrolls, each scroll with a secret to success. The beauty of the story – as author Og Mandino knew – was the secrets can be applied to any career or just life in general.
This past week fourteen Stafford County students began the journey to become an Emergency Medical Technician EMT. So I thought, “What better idea than to examine how Og Mandino’s secrets could help ensure the success of an EMT student.”
The Power of Good Habits
Good habits to an EMT can be the difference between life and death, both for the patient and for the EMT.
Replace your equipment and supplies after each usage – practice your skills and study your protocols.
Wear your gloves, ensure the scene is safe before entering, and take command of the scene.
Live Each Day as if it were Your Last – Greet Each Day with Love in Your Heart
Mandino listed these as two separate secrets. I combined them, because it seems impossible to have one without the other.
Just yesterday Stafford County crews worked a fatality accident. The gentleman who lost his life left a wife and four young children. Emergency workers are taught the lesson of living each day as it if were your last way too many times. It shouldn’t take more than once.
Once you’ve learned the reality of how quickly life can end, greeting each day with love in your heart only seems natural.
You Are Natures Greatest Miracle
An EMT is given a peek into the world of the rich as well as that of the poor. It gives you a unique perspective. Some people’s homes are filled with gold, others with tin. To the holder, the tin is as valuable as the gold.
All people are nature’s greatest miracle. You’ll learn that lesson after a few road trips with each.
Master Your Emotions
Few jobs will invoke stronger emotional response, both with you and the customer. People that are sick or injured have a flood of emotions that are only superseded by those of their loved ones.
Success or failure – life or death – might depend upon how well “you” master your emotions.
The Power of Laughter
Emergency workers learn this secret quickly and practice it often. I would only add a small bit of advice. Laughter can be a powerful secret to success, but it must be used in the right place at the right time. The family or public will not understand. Keep smiles and laughter out of sight from the public during the emergency.
Multiply Your Value Every Day – All is Worthless without Action
Here’s another two secrets that seem to go together. Multiplying your value every day doesn’t mean you must strive to attain a promotion or advancement, although that isn’t a bad thing. What it means is you should strive to be the best you can be at what you do. Read, listen, watch – you’ll be amazed at what you learn.
And remember that talking about doing something isn’t doing it. Likewise, talking about what somebody else needs to do is usually of absolutely no value.
Pray to God for Guidance
This last secret needs a little clarification. I don’t believe the words were intended to be taken literally. You probably aren’t going to get an email from the Big Guy, no matter how much you pray. So, maybe a better choice of words for this secret would be, “Do what God would want.”
I personally think God would want us to – “Follow the nine secrets.”
Stafford County emergency crews started the day early this morning by working a fatality accident on North Highway 281. Two semi trucks collided north of St. John under heavy fog conditions. Law enforcement is conducting an investigation of the accident. Further story and pictures can be found on St. John News Online.
The day ended with another accident. A large windmill toppled onto a person that was clearing some of their property with heavy equipment. The patient was transported by Stafford Emergency Service workers.
It was a busy day for Stafford County emergency crews.
Stafford County Emergency Service
