County Roads & Windfarm Money... WE HAVE A PLAN!

[Varmit]

I dont see the reason to piss away money on a gravel road...what needs to be done is get people to run the equipment tha actually knows how to make a road.  There has to be a crown in the road,  90% of th roads out here are slantd one way or the other or are just low spots..i think it is a big mistake..the county is just going to piss the money away and the county will still be doing a death spiral until nobody wants to live here..what needs to be done is hire a consultant...bring in an outside point of veiw..we need to bring buisnesses here need to give people a reason to stay....just sayin

Tell me something, why would a business come here without a way to transport their goods or services to market? How can an ambulance or fire truck get to place or person that needs their help if they can't get down the road?
BTW, the folks on the road crew know what their doing, problem is that they can only do what they are told to do by those higher up.  A Slanted road is better than a flat one if you think about it. Granted gravel roads will always be in need of repair such is the nature of gravel roads.

As for helping the different townships, sorry but NO.  The issues you mentioned are of seperate government bodies, and should be dealt with as such.

[jarhead]

My hat is off to all volunteer firefighters and I thank them for what they do-------but-----"the life at risk" is mainly the way certain volunteers drive getting to the firehouse and then driving the fire trucks like a striped ass zebra, putting lives at risk, and most of the time going to a grass fire. I fear for my grand daughters lives to let them ride their bikes in town. I know some have been repeatedly warned and turned in by many but just throw a pissy fit and use intimidation and then keep on keeping on. I never was smart enough to heed intimidation. Figure what can happen---whup my sorry ass ? Aint getting no cherry there !!! Eat me? Hell even Jeffery Dahmer can't eat that damn much in a week of feasting . All I say is slow it down and drive somewhat safely---in all likelihood that fire will still be there when you get there.

[Diane Amberg]

Uh. Why are they driving so fast? We call that sirencide. We're only permitted 10 miles over the speed limit, ever. A big heavy pumper doesn't stop on a dime!Even if we get a call for a subject trapped we can't risk hitting someone on the way.
I'll admit, I don't understand how your county fire dept. system works.

[W. Gray]

A quote from my December 10, 2007, post:
"I have only seen the County make a run once--a couple years ago. The tanker driver was driving like a maniac. However, I am sure he thought he was doing his job trying to get to the fire as fast as he could."



This happened almost seven years ago but I remember it vividly. Whoever was driving the county tanker truck was doing so very fast and was on Washington approaching the stop sign at K-99 in Howard. He ran the stop sign at Washington and K-99 without, it seemed, slowing down one bit.

He almost jack knifed the trailer as he turned to go north on K-99. A car ahead of me barely missed hitting the truck as it made the turn. I almost hit that car as the driver made a frantic stop to avoid the collision.

I never heard the siren nor saw the tanker until it suddenly barged through the intersection. This was irresponsible driving but, again, I think the driver thought he was doing his job.

[Diane Amberg]

I know there is there and here is here, but I know of no fire training programs in any state that allow emergency vehicle drivers to drive as fast as they can. I don't know if Kansas has an EVO (Emergency Vehicle Operator's License, requirement, but we do. (No, I don't think we're perfect)  It's a rather lengthy course on the dos and don't and why with a lot of films and such. Then there are many hours of supervised road training that we do ourselves before our drivers are turned loose.  The EVO has to be on our person whenever we drive and if we get do get hit, the investigating officer does ask to see it. Sorry OF, I just couldn't help myself.I don't understand how you can support two different fire companies in one place.Is the ambulance service separate too, or part of the fire company as ours is?

[Wilma]

Diane, our county has a County Fire Dept. that goes to rural fires, mostly grass.  The city of Howard has a city fire department that answers the in town fires.  The county has the EMS.  They are all separate entities with no connections to each other.  Then there is the sheriff's dept. that has no connection to any of them and very little cooperation as I understand it.  The fire departments, however, are mostly volunteer and the same people volunteer for both.  It used to be that an ambulance went to house fires.  I don't know if they still do or not.  I don't believe that a special license is required to drive an ambulance or a fire truck.  Janet, correct me if I am wrong on this.  There was a time that the sheriff's department was in on all emergencies, the sheriff was also the emergency service director.  There was cooperation between the departments.

[srkruzich]

The sherriff is a first responder. When ember died, i was doing cpr and the sherrif showed up 20 min before the ambulanc e got there and assisted me in cpr. 

[Wilma]

Sheriff Hanks is an EMT because he is required to be one.  His wife, Christy, was a paramedic under Janet and the best one she had.  Janet would say so, herself.  While Janet was sheriff and there was an ambulance call it was likely that a deputy would show up just in case there was any help needed.  All the deputies were EMTs, even the part time deputies.  It was required.

[Patriot]

...a consultant for comunity development needs to be hired to give some form of direction for what the monies could be invested in to bring a renewing income to the county....sounds like we are going to have great gravel roads for people to leave the county and spend money in a different county....

As long as he/she suggests a new fire/ambulance or two to make your job a little more cozy, right?

[W. Gray]

Jason Clatt,

You might not have brought up the excessive speed of emergency vehicles, but at least two other people did.