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<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial><STRONG>I'm retired U.S. Coast Guard. I was in
Haiti in 1977. I was in the middle of the Mariel boat lift in 1980. I was in
Grenada in 1982. Civilians have no business traveling into a war zone. I had
allot of interactions with Haitian boat people between 1976-1988.<BR><BR>Hams
are civilians and right now Haiti is a war zone. Hams want to help BUT this is a
grave situation and a place only for the U.S. Military and it's cutting edge
communications systems and weaponry for that matter.<BR><BR>Ham radio EMCOMM can
assist to a point in disasters within the U.S., such as with Hurricane Katrina
but is useless in a war zone in a foreign country. The lack of basic common
sense within the ham community that I'm reading on the www and hearing on HF is
shocking. </STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial><STRONG>73, GUD DX,<BR>Thomas F. Giella,
NZ4O<BR>Lakeland, FL, USA<BR><A
href="mailto:nz4o@arrl.net">nz4o@arrl.net</A><BR>John 3:16
<><</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial><STRONG>NZ4O Amateur & SWL Radio Autobiography:
<A href="http://www.nz4o.org">http://www.nz4o.org</A> </STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV></FONT>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT: 10pt arial; BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=kt2t@arrl.net href="mailto:kt2t@arrl.net">KT2T - Mike Oliver</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=polkares@yahoogroups.com
href="mailto:polkares@yahoogroups.com">polkares@yahoogroups.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Cc:</B> <A title=members@polkemcomm.org
href="mailto:members@polkemcomm.org">members@polkemcomm.org</A> ; <A
title=LakelandARC@yahoogroups.com
href="mailto:LakelandARC@yahoogroups.com">Polk County Fl. K4LKL , Lakeland
ARC</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, January 19, 2010 11:39
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [LakelandARC] Re: [PolkARES] FW:
[WCFARES] Haiti Situation Report - Important Information for All Potential
Volunteers To Haiti</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><SPAN style="DISPLAY: none"> </SPAN>
<DIV id=ygrp-text>
<P>Hi Evans,<BR><BR>I have a passport and can help if
needed.<BR><BR>73,<BR>Mike, KT2T<BR><BR>On Tue, Jan 19, 2010 at 17:33, Evans
F. Mitchell KD4EFM<BR><<A
href="mailto:kd4efm1@verizon.net">kd4efm1@verizon.<WBR>net</A>>
wrote:<BR>> This is an email being forwarded to you from the Section
EC.<BR>><BR>><BR>><BR>><BR>> Evans F. Mitchell<BR>> KD4EFM /
WQFK-894<BR>><BR>> Fla. D-Star Tech Support Group<BR>> <A
href="http://www.florida-dstar.info">http://www.florida-<WBR>dstar.info</A><BR>><BR>>
Polk ARES A.E.C.<BR>> <A
href="http://www.polkemcomm.org">http://www.polkemco<WBR>mm.org</A><BR>><BR>>
BB8330 PIN: 30965B58<BR>><BR>><BR>> -----Original
Message-----<BR>> Subject: [WCFARES] Haiti Situation Report -<BR>>
Important Information for All Potential Volunteers To Haiti<BR>><BR>> On
Thursday Jan 14 The Section Leadership received a request for us to
begin<BR>> collecting a list of Amateur Radio Operators who have Passports
to possibly<BR>> deploy to Haiti.<BR>> I started that process
immediately and have gathered up 29 Volunteers from<BR>> the West
Central<BR>> Florida Section. I also have had volunteers from other parts
of the country<BR>> as far away as Alaska<BR>> calling or writing for
information.<BR>><BR>> No amateur has been Nor will they be deployed by
the State until The FLEOC<BR>> deems it safe<BR>> enough to do so and
they receive an Official Declaration from either the<BR>> Governor or the
President<BR>> or if they receive a specific request from an agency for
amateurs to deploy<BR>> with them. There are serious<BR>> crime and
health problems to deal with at the moment. Repeat NO ONE has yet<BR>> been
deployed NOR<BR>> are there any immediate plans by the FLEOC to do so for
the reasons I have<BR>> mentioned. It would<BR>> appear that the
communications part of the emergency will probably be over<BR>> in about a
week or less<BR>><BR>> In my efforts to help insure the Safety and
Welfare of our volunteers should<BR>><BR>> they be deployed, I
have<BR>> asked many questions. These questions are about items such as
Immunizations<BR>> required (it will be made<BR>> available to those who
are actually deployed) also questions about<BR>> reciprocal licensing or
waivers as<BR>> well as those about equipment needs and limitations if
any.<BR>><BR>> I want to be sure that in addition to all other traffic
coming out of Haiti<BR>> made by our volunteers that we<BR>> hear from
them as at least daily as a minimum or more often as the
situation<BR>><BR>> dictates. We have a number<BR>> of
groups/stations who will be listening up for our guys including myself<BR>>
as well as from SATERN stations,<BR>> Local Clubs such as the TARC club and
by MARS/SHARES members who by<BR>> direction are supporting<BR>> SATERN
communications. I am also making arrangements to get a VHF Repeater<BR>>
placed on board one of<BR>> the Navy Hospital or supply ships to provide in
country comms between<BR>> amateurs in and around the<BR>>
Port-Au-Prince area.<BR>><BR>> Those Hams who are tasked to deploy by
the State will have their basic<BR>> expenses re-imbursed. Things<BR>>
covered are gas, meals and lodging (if necessary until actual departure)
BUT<BR>><BR>> ONLY if the FLEOC has<BR>> an official declaration as
outlined above.<BR>><BR>> If I receive valid requests from a
church group or others such as the<BR>> Salvation Army I will contact
those<BR>> who have volunteered and the personal expenses involved and
workman's<BR>> compensation coverage will have<BR>> to dealt with by the
individual and the non-government organization<BR>> requesting
them.<BR>><BR>> Here is the Official Florida Amateur Radio Operators
Deployment Policy:<BR>><BR>>
============<WBR>=========<WBR>=========<WBR>=========<WBR>=========<WBR>=<BR>><BR>>
Florida Disaster Amateur Radio Volunteer's Deployment Policy<BR>><BR>>
It is the Policy of the State EOC and supported by All Three Florida<BR>>
ARRL Section's (there are similar policies in place by other states)<BR>>
that:<BR>><BR>> All mutual-aid deployments from the state-to-county, or
from<BR>> County-to-county or Out of Country from Florida will be
coordinated<BR>> through the State Emergency Operations Center (SEOC) in
Tallahassee<BR>> and all incoming volunteers unless given a direct
assignment will be<BR>> staged at the appropriate Staging area in each FDEM
Area.<BR>><BR>> No amateur radio operators should be physically
responding to a disaster<BR>> area without having a mission assignment and
tracking number assigned<BR>> by the Florida Division of Emergency
Management and/or your Section's<BR>> leadership. (Exceptions would be
those Hams already working specifically<BR>> as Served agency volunteers
and are covered by that agencies Workman's<BR>>
Compensation)<BR>><BR>> NO Self-Deployments by individuals or groups
will be allowed and you will<BR>> be turned back and sent
home.<BR>><BR>> We want everyone to be protected by Workman's
Compensation and Florida's<BR>> Good Samaritan's laws from the moment they
leave their home until they<BR>> complete their assignments and return home
AND that by utilizing this method<BR>> we can keep better track and control
of where the Amateurs are actually<BR>> assigned AND are NEEDED as
requested by the county, or countries effected<BR>> by the
disaster.<BR>><BR>> All Amateur Radio Operator Volunteers must be signed
up on one of the three<BR>> Florida Section's Databases. The one used here
in West Central Florida is<BR>> <A
href="http://aresdb@ab2m.net/">http://aresdb@<WBR>ab2m.net/</A> and those
volunteers who have completed the<BR>> required minimum training courses or
have had previous experience in the<BR>> Katrina<BR>> and Wilma
hurricanes dispatched by the FLEOC will be given preference when<BR>>
selections for assignments are made.<BR>>
============<WBR>=========<WBR>=========<WBR>=========<WBR>=<BR>> Number 1
on the list to do, is to continually pass the word that self<BR>>
deployment by people trying to get to Haiti will meet strong resistance
from<BR>><BR>> all the various law enforcement agencies. The
infrastructure is not in place<BR>><BR>> to support these type of
deployments and they would become part of problem,<BR>> not the solution.
People without passports or other non authorized people<BR>> will be
arrested, incarcerated and eventually deport to the USA (With a rap<BR>>
sheet).<BR>><BR>> I know that all of are trying to help in any way we
can, but lets keep this<BR>> in perspective and let us not get overly
excited. I will try to keep<BR>> everyone informed as I can<BR>><BR>>
and your attendance to our WCF ARES Nets on Monday evenings at 7:30 PM
on<BR>> the NI4CE Repeater System will allow me to do so.
Thanks.<BR>><BR>><BR>> 73,<BR>><BR>> Neil H. Lauritsen, Sr.
W4NHL / NNN0TFH<BR>> WCF ASM/SEC<BR>> ACS Radio Officer/ARES Emergency
Coordinator<BR>> Cell
727-643-1670<BR>><BR>><BR>><BR>><BR>><BR>><BR>><BR>><BR>><BR>><BR>>
------------<WBR>---------<WBR>---------<WBR>------<BR>><BR>> Yahoo!
Groups Links<BR>><BR>><BR>><BR>><BR>><BR>>
------------<WBR>---------<WBR>---------<WBR>------<BR>><BR>> This
e-mail contains proprietary information and is confidential. You are hereby
notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this message is
strictly prohibited. Yahoo! Groups
Links<BR>><BR>><BR>><BR>><BR><BR>-- <BR>Mike Oliver,
KT2T<BR>+1-863-738-2334<BR><A href="mailto:kt2t%40arrl.net">kt2t@arrl.net</A>
-or- <A
href="mailto:mwoliver%40gmail.com">mwoliver@gmail.<WBR>com</A><BR></P></DIV><!-- end group email --></BODY></HTML>