by Ladonna Clark KBØOUO
Special thanks to all those who helped with the Preparedness Fair:
Bruce KY0Z and his wife Arlene
Jim KA0KCVand Barb KC0HLB
Wayne WH6BUL
Mark KC0WQK and Sabrina and McKenzie Chastain
March 31st was the annual Sarpy County Preparedness Fair. It's the time that community organizations and agencies come together to showcase and demonstrate preparedness, both in the face of manmade and natural disasters.
In addition to the hams that helped with the club booth, there were other hams in attendance. KC0WQH, Mike Opocensky and his oldest son also showed up and were there a while in the morning. KB0ZZT, George was in uniform for the Bellevue Police Dept. Viper Unit. KC0PUN, Harry Whalen was in uniform for Sarpy Co. 911 Center and in charge of the 911 booth. A new Ham KC0ZRD, Cindy Carlstead and KC0SHX, Dale Rouse were assisting CERT with their booth, N0POM, Ron and one of the members of the LEPC set up the County/LEPC booth which Ron manned. The club was well represented with members working for not only the BARC Booth, but several others as well. The Salvation Army provided hotdogs and chips for lunch, and I actually got to eat a hotdog, before Mother Nature determined that thunderstorms were a needed addition to our day!
N0POM had a computer set up showing the weather fronts on radar moving in and it was a popular table for visitors as well as various workers from other booths who dropped by to check out the radar after the tornado watch was issued! Due to the tornado watch that was posted about 11:30, REACT and Brian from National Weather left early. Brian was called back out to National Weather due to the storms moving in. BARC members Barb and Jim Westcott, were then in charge of National Weather's booth which was next to ours.
About 12:00 N0POM, and Larry Lavelle, received word from National Weather that they were going to need spotters posted in the field. Ron packed up the LEPC T.V., his computer and monitor, and his tornado display, (which never got set up due to the issuance of the tornado watch) to head home and get his Storm Spotter Gear. He and I conferred for a few minutes to determine whether or not the EOC was going to be opened. It was decided that because of Jim and I being at the Preparedness Fair, that we would have the spotters check into the Douglas Co. Net with Dar W9HZC. Ron contacted Dar to let him know what was going on and why our spotters would be checking into their net, until it was decided whether or not the storm was a one shot deal or long term. If it was going to be long term, then I and maybe Jim were going to go to the EOC to bring up a Spotter Net in Sarpy Co. and have the Sarpy Storm Spotters handed back to us.
About 12:30 p.m. as Ron put out the call for Spotters to get ready to go to the field, Bruce and I had walked outside to check out a couple of displays and took a look at the weather. At 1:00 when the call for spotters went out and it looked pretty ominous, we decided we should pack up the booths. Yes plural. I dismissed Bruce to head for a spotter point, and Jim, Barb and I packed up The BARC booth, the LEPC booth, and National Weather's booth with help from KC0SHX, Dale. Jim and Barb took charge of National Weather's stuff for Brian. I loaded the BARC stuff and the LEPC stuff. KC0SHX, Dale stayed and packed up the CERT stuff. I was loaded and leaving the Fire station about 1:45 and the storm was moving in fast. As I turned onto Cornhusker Road it started to hail and rain. By the time I got home and unloaded the worst was by, but the spotters stayed out awhile until National Weather gave the all clear and Dar started releasing spotters. That was about 3:00 p.m. or at least close to the time the Preparedness Fair was to end, and the storm pretty much had sent most of the interested public home or kept them at home, so I don't think leaving early cost us any publicity or new class members.
We were only there for about three hours. However they were a productive three hours. We had several inquiries about the class; picked up two new club members, one of whom was KC0SHX, Dale; picked up several reservations for the All Communicators Picnic; received a t-shirt order from a member; handed out some information to the public, explained the radar to interested general public, and talked to some young people about amateur radio. Not a bad day all in all!
Hopefully next year's Preparedness Fair will be at the New Mall Site where we could reach even more people. Nothing definite yet about that, but it has been suggested that if possible it should be moved there by some of the attendees. Whether it happens or not will be decided by the organizers of the event.
In the meantime, get and stay prepared!