If You Ask Me / By Martha Knight

 My friend Rex must have been among the 86 percent of FEMA’s staff who were sent home when the government shut down.

He has plenty of seniority—he’s an information officer who has been with them practically since FEMA was created as something to replace Civil Defense.

Recently I was kidding him that now he has so much pull that they even site disasters for his convenience, with torrential downpours and flooding and mudslides within a short commute from his Denver digs

However, some employees are being recalled because of Tropical Storm Karen. TS Karen aspired to become a hurricane on land, and that’s the kind of thing the Federal Emergency Management Agency is supposed to deal with.

Well, we can always go to NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), can’t we?  

Maybe not. Set the browser to noaa.gov and you will land at a splash page that says this, in stark black on white:

“Due to the Federal government shutdown, NOAA.gov and most associated web sites are unavailable. Only web sites necessary to protect lives and property will be maintained. See Weather.gov for critical weather information or contact USA.gov for more information about the shutdown.”

There are some weather sites still up, using satellite information and private sector services.

At Ready.gov I find this: NOTICE: “Due to the lapse in federal funding, this website will not be actively managed. This site was set up to help us prepare for disasters.” Natural disasters, apparently, not those artificial ones caused by a government derailment.

Karen forced FEMA to begin calling back some workers. Its contingency plan calls for it to reactivate hurricane centers that are in the path of a hurricane or tropical storm, so it did reactivate the one in Miami.

There were some 800 Louisiana National Guard civilian technicians who were laid off. NOAA did the same with 55 percent of its staff.

Wednesday there was a congressional hearing that had been scheduled to look into FEMA’s emergency alert system. But no one from FEMA was available to attend.

Here’s what will keep functioning:

the service that sends out Social Security checks;

the active military;

air traffic controllers, federal correctional institution staff, such as those at FCI McKean;

NASA mission control (people who are needed for supporting the Space Station);

the U.S. Postal Service.

Here’s what will be part of the shutdown:

federal services for providing seniors and young children with food (WIC);

county-based and local veterans’ services;

veterans’ pensions, education programs for veterans;

access to all national parks from the Statue of Liberty to Yosemite, and all national museums including the Smithsonian;

the Small Business Administration and loan programs and guarantees;

the National Institute of Health and its research programs, and acceptance of patients into clinical trials;

consumer protection programs from child safety to financial security (bank audits?);

environmental Protection Agency (EPA) inspections of chemical facilities and water supplies, and enforcement of clean air laws;

granting of permits and reviews of plans for energy and transportation project;

loans for projects in rural or poor communities;

a major portion of our border control, food inspection and terrorist detection programs.

Way to go, Congress.

I don’t know whether it is still the case, but the local Free Methodist Church (which now calls itself Open Arms Community Church) hosted the Women, Infants, Children (WIC) program for years. Two Fridays a month, parents came to qualify for the program and to receive vouchers for purchasing essential foods at stores. The Free Methodist Conference which owns the real estate, although it had closed the local church (or society) and taken its treasury, and was no longer receiving regular income from them, its officials decided to let WIC keep on using its church building, as always, free of charge even for utilities.

The WIC program is heavily used, here, and helps support the nutrition and health of people below, at or slightly above the poverty level. Pregnant women are included, so WIC helps support the healthy development of the unborn.

•    •    •

Jackie Tarbox left a message in my voice mail letting me know that Rosemarie Pritt Cummings is another member of the Class of 1943.

I had mentioned Doris Mitchell, who is in a nursing home and wasn’t able to attend the alumni dinner-dance last Saturday night and wasn’t in the photo. But I had not mentioned Rose. I wasn’t aware that she was in that graduating class.

Thanks for bringing that omission to my attention, Jackie. Rose was the secretary-receptionist at American Extract and Barrentan Lab, for lots of years. Striking with her beautifully coiffed, prematurely grey hair, and always poised and professional, she was the welcoming presence and voice with a smile for the company. Hubby Francis “Pampy” Cummings worked in the plant, and was the longtime scoutmaster of Troop 560. Or was it 561? Someone will be sure to tell me.

It is helpful when readers let us know when something is omitted, or something needs to be added or clarified, or there is more to be known about a particular matter. Keep those cards and letters coming, folks! And phone calls and emails too. 642-7552; drymar@gmail.com.

Peace.