Niagara County has a sister county up in St Clair County, Port Huron, Michigan, dedicated to homeland security and emergency management. This is a fine sister. She can walk and chew gum at the same time. St. Clair’s Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management can communicate with County citizens the 7 Signs of Terrorism and still give the Weather Report on what natural disturbances may be in store for Port Huron on any given day.

St Clair’s mission is to provide for the safety of County residences and visitors along with its neighboring communities. This is accomplished through a multi-hazard planning process that involves mitigation, preparation, response and recovery combined with a strong working relationship with all levels of government and the private sector. Our sister is committed to providing a quality service to those people with a continuous goal of improving those services. Our sister is authorized through federal, state, and local legislation to provide an emergency plan for the county and communities. This plan is a multi-hazard plan that addresses natural, technological and terrorism incidents. Emergency planning involves people from all agencies and at every level of government in St Clair County. County Officials and local leaders are required to act in the most prudent and efficient manner when called upon during emergency events. Coordinated events during past emergency situations have reduced the loss of life, property damage and the disruption of St Clair citizens’ daily lives. Our sister is prepared to deal with terrorist incidents and constantly communicates with County residents and visitors to:

• Be alert and aware of the surrounding area. The very nature of terrorism suggests that there may be little or no warning.
• Take precautions when traveling. Be aware of conspicuous or unusual behavior. Do not accept packages from strangers. Do not leave luggage unattended.
• Learn where emergency exits are located.
• Think ahead about how to evacuate a building, subway, or congested public area in a hurry. Learn where staircases are located.

Our sister reaches out to make sure St Clair residents understand that knowing what to do is the residents’ best protection. Residents must be prepared to cope with an emergency for up to 72 hours until help arrives? Disasters can happen anywhere at anytime. Residents must prepare in advance for a disaster. Residents must plan ahead by having a Disaster Plan ready and having a Disaster supply kit available to them whether they undergo an evacuation or are confined to their home for a period of time.

Niagara County should just do it like “Sis”!

See St. Clair’s website at http://www.stclaircounty.org/offices/emerg_mngmt/.

The bread and butter for Niagara County are roads and bridges. Without them, we are nothing. These roads and bridges need to be pounded into shape, cleaned up, manicured, or, if that is not possible, replaced. Niagara County is contemplating investing about $25 million for roads and bridges to serve its citizens over the next five years.

To be able to move people and things across our County
byways is the essence of functionality for our County community. Civic pride needs to be huffed, puffed, and buffed as our expert engineers and skilled trades people work miracles transforming raw materials into safe, crisp, and clean new roadways and rock solid new spans and arches.

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Memorial Day is a time of reflection in Niagara County of the enthusiasm and faith felt for the fallen heroes we miss so much.

I had the honor of participating as the guest speaker at the Memorial Day ceremonies at the Mt View Cemetery in the Town of Cambria.

I shared my experience as a 1^st Air Cavalry squad leader of losing four of my fellow troopers in Vietnam and Cambodia.

I described that, upon my return home, I was assigned to the 3rd Army Honor Guard. As an Honor Guard member, I had the sacred duty and responsibility to serve fallen heroes by returning them to their families for their final flag ceremonies and salutes at gravesite.

Trying to express the feelings still felt, I shared with those gathered at the quiet, pastoral cemetery a poem by poet Danny Mahlon Underwood.

Fallen Hero

I stare at the casket draped with the nation’s cloth.
I’m momentarily startled as the guns go off.
Another fallen soldier being laid to rest.
I struggle to breathe, for this tightness in my chest.
The bugler so smooth as he hits every note.
It is hard to swallow because of this lump in my throat.
Tears fall like rain as I look to the sky.
No matter how many times I hear it,
“Taps” still makes me cry.
The bugle now silent as we pray for the dead.
I gather myself as I bow down my head.
Lord bless the heroes who have given their lives.
Comfort their children, their husbands and wives.
Let us not forget they have given their all.
Let the bugle be silent; let no more soldiers fall.

(http://www.dannymahlonunderwood.com/)

Let us never forget in Niagara County those heroes fallen

Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep – Distress signals flash all around us as we each in the moment can find ourselves reaching for help in times of need. The County is a beacon on guard 24/7 to receive those signals, interpret their meaning, and step to the plate to lend a helping hand up and bring critical resources to bear where there is otherwise little income or other assets available. Whether it is Emergency Aid to Families, Utility Shut-Offs, Homeless Placement, Child Protective Services, or Adult Protective Services. the Department of Social Services team is at the ready! Whether it is Exigent Medical Circumstances or an Environmental Crisis, the Department of Public Health team is at the ready! Ours as a County is but to do our best for our children, families, and citizens to relieve the distress of humanity, a highest of community callings.

Life can hit you and yours when you least expect it. It comes out of nowhere in a moment and sucks the wind right out from under your sails. You are left in its wake dazed and clueless. In a world where exigent circumstances are just around the bend, where can you look for the net that will break your fall, the heroes that will throw you on their backs, the protectors of your environment, and the problem solvers that will lend you a hand up to meet your needs for resources, healthcare, housing, and relief for your vulnerability? Every day Niagara County sends out its troops – the hard charging deputies, the incident commanders, the environmental inspectors, and the problem solvers to care for your well being, health, and basic survival. This is the essence of Niagara County.

Spring’s Sprung

Finally! Spring has appeared to have begun. Rain (not snow) is cleansing the streets and lawns. Dirty snow piles are melting away. Tulips are peeking out of the soil. Albany government has missed another budget deadline and hope springs eternal that the Albany actors have not inflicted any more harm on counties than usual. The NCAA Final Four is the center of the universe for rabid North Carolina, Memphis, UCLA, and Kansas University basketball fans. KU Class of 1969! Rock Chalk! Jayhawk! KU! Toxicity in the culture – name-calling, blame gaming, and sky falling – could give way to a new beginning once again. Life in Niagara County is good!

Bicentennial Birthday Bash

Oh what a time we had at the Bicentennial Birthday Bash! I invited my daughter Kate to accompany me to the March 11, 2008, Official Opening Day of the Niagara County Bicentennial and party hardy at the Bicentennial Birthday Bash, which was presented by the Niagara County Bicentennial Committee. This occasion was to celebrate the official split of Niagara County off from Genesee County on March 11, 1808. Hosted by the ever delightful County Legislature Chair Bill Ross (”Coach”) and the always vigorous County Clerk Wayne Jagow (”Town Crier”), we enjoyed a historical re-enactment of the signing of the resolution splitting off Niagara County, had slices of a scrumptious birthday cake, scrutinized the incredible Bicentennial Quilt, viewed exhibits of original historical County documents, held our hands over our ears as cannon fire came across the Courthouse square, took in the sounds of bells pealing throughout the County community, and admired the authenticity of the drum & fife, and other historic re-enactors. Niagara County - what a place in which to live! If you want to join the party and celebrate our Bicentennial, check out http://www.niagara2008.com/index.html.

Plan To Participate To Plan - Yes, We Can!

Our Niagara County communities have a once in a lifetime opportunity at the grassroots level to self-define what we are, based on facts on the ground, even if they are sometimes brutal facts, and chart our way to a shared preferred future that will be better for this generation of Niagara County communities and the many to follow. But, are we ready? Or, is the poison in our Niagara County communities too strong, too much, and too pervasive to permit us to participate to plan, based on years of distrust, despair, partisanship, nihilism, money/power/control driven mindsets, downward spiraling, negativism, and shark in the water media frenzies? One has to look to oneself and one’s core values to answer such questions. I and my family are ready to plan to participate to plan - we always have in all we have done and all we do. My community friends also are ready. (Caveat: keeping company with positive fellow travelers is an asset when facing such challenges.) The Niagara County community members I have met building their businesses, farms, families and lives are ready. We can plan to participate to plan, yes, we can! But, for those who can’t, step aside and let the “can do” Niagara County communities and their “can do” community members take on the challenging tasks to define our present and take us to a better future. If you can, plan to participate to plan by looking into the Niagara Communities Comprehensive Plan website at http://niagaracounty.com/ProjectOverview.asp, e-mail what grassroots facts you have to share about the state of the particular Niagara County community in which you live to comprehensiveplan@niagaracounty.com, and plan to constructively and positively participate to plan in the following public meetings - mark your calendars well:

• April 23, 2008 - 7:00 pm in the Niagara County Community College

Faculty Dining Room - Student Center - 2nd Floor Room G 212

•   June 25, 2008 - 7:00 pm in the Niagara County Community College

Faculty Dining Room - Student Center - 2nd Floor Room G 212

•   August 27, 2008 - 7:00 pm in the Niagara County Community College

Faculty Dining Room - Student Center - 2nd Floor Room G 212

•   October 1, 2008 - 7:00 pm in the NiagaraCountyCommunity College

Fine Arts Theater - Fine Arts Building - 1st Floor Room F155

**All meetings will be held at Niagara County Community College

3111 Saunders Settlement Road, Sanborn, NY

unless otherwise noted.

A Whole New Media World!

It’s a whole new media world for County communities! And I had the opportunity to be part of it as a panel member presenting on “Communicating in a New Media World” at the January 28 – 30, 2008 Legislative Conference of the New York State Association of Counties in Albany. My panel peers were light years above and beyond my mere love of blogging to better communicate information with Niagara community members. I showed off my County Manager Blog on http://www.niagaracounty.com/ and on http://buffalo.yourhub.com/. Fellow panelist Kyle Hughes, Owner and Editor, NYSNY.com (http://nysnys.com/), detailed how we all need to go to a virtual on-line subscriber news service and see the news as it happens real time. Our last but not least panelist Rob Johanson, Mid Hudson Media, http://www.midhudsonmedia.com/, wowed us all with real time streaming media, website development, and complimentary downloadable files of information. Our audience of attentive county officials seemed ready to take that leap into this new world and take new media to the streets in their hometown county seats. Blog, Virtualize, and Stream On County Brothers and Sisters!

BLOG Eureka - Water!

Eureka - Water! Niagara County has many wonderful, special and unique attributes. But nothing surpasses our blessing of being water-laden – water, water, …water everywhere! While we are floating in this magnificent resource, the US Southeastern States are starving for water. So, in a first phase to be followed by others, Niagara County is targeting North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee for a first rate touting that our southern brothers and sisters should move away from there (SE US) to a place you should want to be. A place that is perfect for heavy water use business and enterprise is waiting for you in this here Niagara County. Ya all come, you hear!