[LakelandARC] Re: Letter From The Polk ARES E.C.

[Paul Womble]

Dear Polk ARES Members,

 

            Greetings once again, I hope that you all had a wonderful
Christmas and pleasant New Year. Welcome to 2008. For some of you who might
not know, Thom Scott, KF4I, ended his two year term as Emergency Coordinator
Dec. 31, 2007. Over the two year period as our E.C., many strides were made
and the membership of ARES begin to move

ahead and greet things happened. Today, ARES, there are still items and
goals to met and

projects planned to happen. I will bring you up to date on this in a few.

 

            First thing in order, I would like to thank those who supported
me and continue to

Support me as we move forward with 2008. I want to personally thank Loren,
Pat, Dick, Steve, Thom, and many others who have come to the aid of building
Polk ARES and getting this function back in order. I by far can tell you, it
is too much for just one person to do on their own free will. I want to also
thank Polk County Emergency Management personnel, Paul Womble, and Richard
Sharp. These two gentlemen are the driving force behind the repeaters that
we use on a daily basis, and have used in the past for emergency
communications when POLK ARES was called upon. Thank You.

 

            I would like to take a moment and open this up a little more to
what one goal that still stands, needs some focus on this year. As we are
working diligently on creating a "TRUE" Polk ARES Identification Card, the
County and Polk ARES had cleared up some mis-information about certain
items, and with that, ARES is moving forward with it's current membership to
recruit new and old members back to ARES. It is needed to be said, that with
our current man-power, we are still understaffed in the event Polk County

where to suffer a catastrophe, it would cripple even the strongest agency in
the state. Communications would for the less be unbearable, thou, Amateur
Radio Operators always come through, however, the need for those to lead the
way is short. I only ask this, if you are not involved in ARES, please
consider joining. I would look forward to seeing new faces, and even
enlighten to see our younger hams joining us as well. There is plenty of
room for them to play!

 

            For the 2008 year, the main focus is membership, but more then
that, the focus is also on Shelter Operators. With so many shelters around
the county, we are not super-hero enough to be at all of them at one time.
The primary shelters that are around the county are in need of having a team
of operators to assist in communications, traffic handling, and possibly
assisting other friends of the community while at a shelter. There is such a
calming joy that overcomes me when I help someone else, and I get a smile in
return. I just love that. While you read on, please take a moment to think
about what you can do to help out Polk ARES, and Polk Emergency Management,
when it comes to helping out at a shelter near you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

            Event Happenings: Meeting on the LAST THURSDAY of each month

 

January, Directions Finding, or what we call FOX HUNTIN'

 

February: Planning for the up-coming Field Day 2008, MS-150 Bike-a-thon info
and sign-up

 

March: MS-150 PRE-BRIEFING, Thom Scott along with Jason KD4ACG, to talk
about the routes and how Polk County has 90 percent of the race in the
county, why communications is important, and any Q & A that race volunteers
may have for them.

Polk ARES will be supplying communications from the Lunch Stop.

 

April: POST MS-150 briefing, planning meeting for Field Day 2008; gear,
class, who, what, and beverages, and food, and more beverages...

 

May: Hurricane Season Preperations, You have a radio you still can not
figure out? Bring it, you have questions for Paul Womble, bring them. You
have a desire to help out, COME SEE US!

 

June: this is a ways down the path but looking to have a presentation of
DIGITAL HF MODES, not D-Star stuff, but PSK-31, MSFK, RTTY, SSTV, and other
modes..

 

July through the end of the year... I am not that far ahead in thought, but
open to suggestions. Let me or any of the staff members know.

 

Closing notes:

            I want to make sure we all know what is going on here with Polk
ARES. There were several months past when it was made known that Thom Scott
would not seek retaining the E.C. position due to uncertain work
constraints. That is for Thom to talk about and not I, however, the ARRL
STAFF of West Central Florida, along with Neil, W4NHL Section Emergency
Coordinator, feel that I should be retained and reassigned to the post of
Emergency Coordinator - Polk County, effective Jan. 1, 2008, based on no one
submitting a request for consideration for the E.C. position. I will say
this aloud now since I only mentioned this to the ARES group personally, I
will fill in as the E.C. till there has been a replacement made, at which
time, I will retain my current role of maintaining the web site, attending
meetings, and providing educational type of programs that are based on
Amateur Radio Operations. Being a father to an inspiring young ham wana-be,
my son, I tend to have my hands full 24 / 7 with him. even when he is
studying for his Tech Ticket.. I to have made the motion to advance to
General Class this year. I only ask that we do our part and help Polk ARES
grow, back in the early 90's when I first got involved with ARES (and Paul
and Darryl were new hams) it was easy to count 30+ check ins on the weekly
ARES nets, and then there was the SkyWARN nets too. I have been asked a few
times if there would be such a net again? I can only say this, if we had a
need to, then there would be THE NEED TO, 2 or 3 people is not a need. I
think it would be nice to have our SkyWARN members come together and start a
net soon. It would be helpful to many to get that back into action. 

Summertime is coming soon, but we are not out of the fire season yet, not by
a long shot, so we all need to be vigilant for these fires as well as the
storms as they roll through the area. I want to thank you for taking some
time to read this letter, please keep in mind, ARES needs some help still,
but with the staff it has now, it is well off  to a grand start.

I look forward to helping the Amateurs of Polk County out during the time of
need, but further more, I hope to help a group of ARES Leaders achieve that
same goal during their time as well.

 

Sincerely Yours,

Evans Mitchell

E.C. Polk County ARES

 

 

 

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