It was a Stoic Look, and dare I say Stoic Feeling.

I, as many of you did, watched some of the footage broadcast this weekend of the events of September 11th, 2001. A lot of it was seen in the days, weeks, and months after that horrid day. However there was this one piece of footage that I personally had not seen. The first Tower had fallen, chaos had ensued, and even more reinforcements from the FDNY were on their way. They were riding into the area and listening to the radio traffic about their fellow fire fighters that were trapped and missing from the falling of the first tower. Most, if not all of these four truck loads of fire fighters all did the same thing when they arrived a few blocks away from the carnage, they dismounted the apparatus and turned towards the Twin Towers to see just to what severity the collapse was. Then they promptly went about their work of gathering tools, equipment and gear to start the long march towards the one Tower that was still standing. It was that walk that was the key in this film footage. There wasn’t any talking amongst them. There was no planning being discussed; they knew what they had to do without being told. There weren’t any smiles, no tears. There were no looks of bravery, no cowardly faces. No one hesitated, nor did they run towards the one remaining Tower. No one seemed mad, upset, or even perplexed. They simply walked straight ahead and no doubt in their mind knowing that if one could fall, its twin could to, and that’s where they were heading. They all had the same demeanor, and the same look. It was a stoic look, very stoic in fact. Every single person in the camera’s eye to either side of them along the streets as the camera lead them down the pavement had different looks about them. Some were visibly shaken, some were crying, some were in shock. There were looks of disbelief, looks of agony and anger, and looks of helplessness. Then there was this group of about 30 fire fighters right in the middle of the road, they were just stoic, steadily walking towards deaths door. Looking at the time table and their location they had about 12 blocks to walk and the last remaining tower would, unknown to them, fall to the ground in three minutes and 48 seconds from that very moment. They hadn’t made it to the Tower when it started its collapse and later footage would show this same group covered in debris white with ash and still underway towards their assignment. They were spared in the collapse and they still had a job to perform. There were many hero’s that day; fire fighters, police officers, secretaries, bosses, janitors, people walking down the street. Servicemen, Government Officials, and I even saw footage of a street vender giving his water away so people could get debris out of their eyes. There were many victims that day as well; men, women and children, fathers, husbands, mothers and wives; sisters, brothers and the list goes on. All of these people, and in fact a Nation were brought together by the selfless, shameful, unthinkable and horrid act of a group that doesn’t number near as many as those that were affected. I heard one reporter say “These people gave their lives for their country”. No that’s not what happened, their lives were abruptly and unjustly taken from them, and we should work each and every day to never forget that. There is a plaque on my wall in my office that says “Excellence – There is no higher honor than human service. To work for the common good is the greatest deed”. Those 3rd, 4th or 5th groups of responding fire fighters that day were exhibiting excellence for all to see. With all of the Monday morning arm chair experts in play there are a lot of should have’s, could have’s and would have’s. The fact is that this Nation took a sucker punch on September 11th 2001, its that plain and simple. To honor all of those that were lost on that day, and each day since as a result of those acts, we should at this point all strive towards Excellence as a Nation.

Auburn / Alabama and Thanksgiving

There have been fist fights, there have been divorces, and last year there were even two murders. Yes, it’s true; check it all out if you wish. My God, what could Steve be talking about this time you may ask yourself? Auburn/Alabama, Iron Bowl, Grid Iron Guts, a football game.

That’s just it too; it really is just a game. Those of you that know me know I am an Auburn fan through and through. I know people who root for Alabama in the same way. I have sat back and watched both sides and both schools have their fanatics, their over the top people, their rude people, their classy people. At the end of the day, when it’s all said and done, it’s still just a game. A game of heart though, a game that has had its high points, and its low points. A game that happens once a year and a game that will live in infamy.

The game will go on, just like life will. Each team will win and lose many more times in the decades and centuries to come. Bragging rights will be lost and gained, and young adults will be shaped into grown men. There will be people call in sick to work Monday, and many Mondays after this. Families will be split, friends will cease to exist, and as you can see from last year people may even die. The game will go on though, long after even all of that.

Enjoy the game, I will. Enjoy your family and friends as they come to watch it with you. Enjoy the tailgating food, fun and camaraderie. At the end of the day even though this is a life changing game, remember it is just that, a game played between two of the greatest schools in the greatest conference in college history.

Public Humiliation of a Wetumpka Seven Year Old

Something happened on November 3rd involving our son Ryan. I have to leave some specifics out right now as the organization involved is still working through their process for correcting the issue. Also we have no problem with the Organization, its offerings to the public or the way in which they have handled this so far. Our issue is with the person in charge of the after school program and the choice of discipline used.

The Set Up – there was a game being played and in the process the entire group was sat down for the bad actions of only a few. During this time Ryan was bullied to interrupt the adult that was admonishing the group, to ask if they could go back to playing. Now we as parents don’t condone his actions even though it was peer pressure, he indeed should be corrected because he should not interrupt. These two and Ryan were not involved as the original problem and did not understand this group punishment tactic and quite frankly I think it’s a poor management tool as well. (Keep in mind that this is not the only bullying incident that has happened there in the last year, there are numerous accounts).

The Result – Because Ryan gave in to peer pressure and the other two were the instigators, the adult decided they would all be suspended for two days, for being disrespectful. Even after admitting that Ryan was pressured into this, the adult still punished him. Now just a few weeks ago another child had been suspended for two days for choking two children almost to unconsciousness. So by punishing these actions to the same level, the director of the after school program just equalized being mouthy, speaking out of turn, or disrespectful to the same level as trying to physically inflict pain. Just as a foot note, Ryan was asked what disrespectful means by me and based on his answer I assure you that he did not understand their word for punishing him. Better explaining to him his actions might have solved the problem.

The Punishment – Because we were out of town, the Director of the after school program determined that it would be unfair for Ryan to be suspended for the two days. So instead of calling us to discuss it, and here comes the meat of this, Ryan was forced to sit in the foyer of the building and wear a sign that said “I am mean to other children” and “I do not listen to any adult at the (omitted)”. He was placed in the main thoroughfare for all of the many people parading in and out to see him. This was to be for a time period totaling 5+ hours over two days. Needless to say someone came through that had huge issues with this discipline and made a call to the main office, the next day the sign was gone however the 3 hour time out continued.

My punishment opinions for adults notwithstanding, this type of public ridicule, humiliation, hazing, degrading, demeaning or defaming punishment should never be used on an adolescent for any reason. Since returning to town and finding out all of this, we have expressed our great distain and disappointment to the organization and the CEO and COO of the parent organization. As of penning this column today, the program director has been suspended pending a further investigation and we are waiting for the due diligence to run its course. What we still have not gotten is an apology from the director or the organization. They have committed to keeping us informed through the process.

Well, that’s great, and I certainly appreciate their intent to keep us up to date. In the meantime Ryan is horrified to go back to the facility for multiple reasons including the fact that try as you might, there will be animosity now between all of the adults involved with this. In the meantime the thought that there is a person in charge of children that will publically degrade and mentally abuse them is unfathomable to us. This person should immediately lose their employment with the organization. Having them stand outside of the building on her last day wearing a sign that says “I torment children in public by making them wear signs, and now I have been fired” may be a nice touch. Practice what you preach.

This organization has spent 166 years lifting up youth and building character. However there is no room for this kind of higher than thou behavior from adults in an organization that prides itself on bettering the mind, spirit and body. Anyone that would engage in this type of humiliation of a child and justify it in their own mind dare not call themselves an educator or mentor.

That’s where we stand, what say you?

House Burns as Firefighters Watch, Moral Obligations?

On September 29th the South Fulton Fire Department received a call for help and responded, only to sit and watch a house burn to the ground. This has sparked a debate both legally and morally based. Legally, they were completely within their rights to show up and watch, merely protecting the adjoining properties from exposure to the fire. There is a law in that county that if you wish to use the services of the City fire department, then you must pay the annual fee to them. I also understand that the fee is a pay as you go policy because equipment and supplies must be in place prior to you needing assistance that stuff isn’t free, and someone has to build those coffers up ahead of time in order to make those purchases.

Morally, the Mayor, the Fire Chief, and the Firefighters are wrong, plain and simple they shouldn’t have responded at all if they had no intention of helping. As a firefighter for 23 years myself, I could not fathom showing up to a house in our community in a time of need and just stand there. To me firefighters everywhere have a duty to help in times of need. I feel that what these guys did and the decision that they arrived at was wrong, deplorable, and unforgivable. Put the fire out, save the property, and bill them for every cent of what was spent even taking court action if warranted. But to arrive and just stand there watching? Really?

How does Elmore County work? Let me assure you, not like that. You each pay $50 per household and $100 per business tacked on to your property tax. You have paid a fee on your property tax since the 90’s. This was not designed to ensure that someone arrives in your time of need, it was designed to give those departments that will be showing up a little extra help with training, cost of equipment and such. None of it is ever to be used as payroll and in fact most of your local firefighters are not paid a dime. When you dial 911, help will be on the way and no one is going to ask you to pay anything. It’s because we care about helping others, not dollars and cents.

There were some ways in which the Tennessee situation could have been handled differently. Those will always be up for debate. However I can assure you that myself and other firefighters I have spoken to about how it was handled all feel that this was a major FAIL!! Firefighters all of the country risk their lives everyday running into situations that others are running away from. They are known for being the guys and gals you can count on in your time of need. In my humble opinion that view has now been tarnished for all of us. Municipalities or individual departments should not be allowed to conduct what amounts to nothing more than extortion., yet they should have a way of recouping cost if that’s how the community wishes for it to be. Put the fires out, argue about $75 later.

I havent pondered in a while, so I did today.

I haven’t pondered in a while and I wanted to make sure that I did so before the Government decides to tax me for it. Speaking of which, please don’t send any money because if I make money at this then I will have to also get a business license. I can’t afford that.

Here's a ponder that affects us all. This last Wednesday Joe Biden was all over the news explaining to us that our economy was growing and our people are getting back to work and our country is producing and that the "Summer of Recovery" is hugely successful. Now by this afternoon you will hear about how our economy has stalled, there are nearly 500,000 new jobless claims this week, and that the GDP is falling. So on Wednesday Joe Biden was on TV telling us that everything was great and rosy, and now here on Friday we find out it's not. No big surprise for me. However it did bring a smile to my face not because people are in trouble and our economy is in the tank but because I was reminded of someone just like this, "Baghdad Bob". For those of you that don't remember Baghdad Bob he was the Iraq Information Minister during the Gulf War. No matter how bad things were this clown was on TV telling the world that everything was just fine, as the American Tanks were rolling through the streets of Baghdad behind him in the background.

I find it odd how all the news coming from the White House sharply contrasts with the actual numbers on the economy and jobless rates. Yet it's almost like Captain Hope and Change and Joyful Joe don't really get it. Just like with the rest of this administrations reign, this week has been one big fairy tale for them. I don't understand where this administration and past administrations pride is placed. Generally speaking when Im in charge of something I surround myself with smart people, without regard to race, creed, color, or political affiliation. I want whatever I'm working on to explode with excellence and could care less how I got there is always the end product is great. I think there are smart people that could make decisions for this country that call themselves Democrats or Republicans, those are the types of people that someone sitting in the chair of the Presidency should surround themselves with. There's no doubt in my mind that Captain Hope and Change and Joyful Joe want to be highly successful, however the policies and ideas they keep coming up with and putting their stamp of approval on are driving this Country in the dumper.

Barack Obama has surrounded himself with people that he felt are the smart ones. However when the results of your work are not with the majority of the people, then it may be time to pull out a different playbook. The United States of America is certainly the largest community he has ever tried to organize, and it is becoming an utter failure. Yet he stands there at the helm of the ship ignoring the cries for help as it is going down, while he concentrates on trying to figure out how to blame the iceberg being there on someone else.

When Barack Obama entered the race for the Presidency he knew what the job description was and he knew that he would have to deal with policies, procedures and issues from not only the previous administration but from past administrations going back a long way. The very minute he was sworn in these policies procedures and issues became his to deal with. Just as whoever follows him will have to inherit and deal with problems. Now as the country enters a sink or swim time, many in Washington seem to be surprised. They are surprised that all the stimulus money is not driving the economy in a better direction. The reason is simple, the current administration has scared everyone to the point of uncertainty and they are hanging on to their money. Why should they spend more when they are facing the possibility of higher taxes?

It is certainly time for a change because all hope is almost lost. My hope is that this administration will wake up and smell the coffee, read the writing on the wall or whatever other analogies to use. Many in Washington are beginning to wring their hands and prepare to bury their heads in the sand in hopes that something will turn around soon. Others are doing so hoping that their constituents forget that they have done a bad job as mid-term elections are unfolding. Which brings me to the real meat of this ponder, could it hurt to have a complete turn over? Maybe it really is time that Mr. Smith goes to Washington. New faces, new ideas, new eyes looking at old problems may very well be what this country needs to jolt the life back into it. It got its start 234 years ago, could 2010 be the next starting point? Speaking for myself, I sure want change now more than ever.

Oil Release Is Bad, But There Are Some Good Things Too

Let me tell you what I saw and heard on the Gulf Coast this week. I spent a week down in the New Orleans area, made a few stops along the way as well. I talked to other Environmental folks like myself, and some unlike myself. I spoke with fishermen, and just plain people. We ate at the local owned restaurants and talked to those people as well. I was surprised at what I heard there, versus what I am seeing here.

Before I go any further, I am not taking up for BP. If in the end it is proven that something they or someone else did caused or lead to this disaster in the Gulf, then those people need to have their butt nailed to the wall, and nailed hard. However, there are a lot of things going on down there that you have no idea about. Things that had I not heard and seen for myself, I wouldn’t know about today either. NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox, MSNBC, CNN – no one is telling of the things I saw. They are busy haggling about who did what, whose fault it is, Govt this and Govt that.

BP has set up claims centers all across the Gulf Coast, even the areas that have yet to see the oil. You can go to any of these centers to make a claim. Now you have to be able to substantiate your claim, meaning you better have the paperwork to back up the fact that you want $100,000 from BP for last month’s losses. That’s right, a month at a time. In addition to that, they will give you a portion up front, right then until they can verify the rest by doing an accounting of your paperwork. The point here is that they are putting money in people’s hands quickly, and working out the details of the rest later once it’s verified. At the same time, they are making sure that the people who truly have a loss get that compensation. So you do have to do a little more than just say “Hey, I lost $10,000 last month and you owe me”. You do have to prove it.

Every morning on one of the largest Talk Radio stations, BP is there for two hours taking calls and talked to people about how to make claims, what they can claim, where to go, when to go and so on. If someone calls in and has had trouble, they go to work on not only fixing that problem, but then also making sure that there are mechanisms in place to make sure that others do not experience what that person did.

BP is hiring fishermen, their boats and their crews as fast as they can, and training them. This fleet you will hear about in the coming days/weeks as the locals that are getting involved to help in the clean up. Each one that we had the chance to talk to will be making slightly more than they would if fishing. In most cases they are out of the fishing business because of closed waters. However, and this is a down side, in some cases people are leaving fishing to do this work.

Restaurants are open for business, seafood is available, and yes there are even Oysters available. Although, I stayed clear of the little slimy piles of goo myself, but the group with me had their fair share for sure. Now in a few months, the locals are going to go nuts down there because the ‘local’ Oysters are going to run out. There are Oysters in other parts of the world, there are even shrimp in other parts of the world, but the locals are big on their stuff, and it’s their stuff that they are accustomed to eating. Not the Blue Point Oysters. For now though, there are waiting lines everywhere to get in to eat and the prices are not skyrocketing.

Most importantly, you don’t hear about the three Environmental Professors that were in the area making the circuit talking on TV and radio about the spill. One was from LSU, one from Texas, and one from the east coast so two of these guys know oil for sure. I learned something from them and that is how resilient Mother Nature is. Even as bad as this is, they all agreed on one thing – it’s not going to take decades to recover from this. Years, yes, decades no. However they all stressed that all efforts at this time should be on two things, stopping the leak and capturing oil. Not holding hearings on who is at fault and not arguing about what regulations should be in play.

After All I heard and saw down there I came to a few conclusions. Is this release of oil bad? Absolutely and it’s the worst in the history of the world. Can it be fixed? Sure, but it will take time. Are people being affected? No doubt, but at the same time that the world is dealing with the largest release of oil, BP is now dealing with the largest coordination of payouts as well. We live in an instant world and a world where we say “How dare they mess up what we have”? No one got upset about the second largest of oil released, even though it did make it to our shores, because it was in some other Country, not our problem. (No, it wasn’t the Valdez)

We see the pictures, we hear the news, we may even know people affected and we get all of this at a moment’s noticed. What is not being seen are the people being taken care of financially, the locals saying “I don’t want a handout, I want to work for my money even if it means trolling for oil”, or the lines to get in the business’ in the area to spend money with them. Americans are tough, times are even tougher, but I bet we come out on top. There will be lots of sad stories, but you must know that at the same time, there are currently and will be to come, happy ones as well. When it’s all said and done, let’s get the people responsible for this and hold them accountable, for now, let’s do something to help.

The County is on the ball!!!

Just as promised, the County is out there making temporary repairs to the mud slide in our neighborhood. That’s a good thing!! Let’s hope that soon they have a plan to end the problem under the roadway for good. Ultimately, that is what is needed.

I fully understand that things take time, and in this case they didnt want to move too fast not knowing all of the details. At the same time though, with the rain today and more rain expected on Friday, there just wasnt time to develop a long term plan. They are currently stacking cages with rocks in them to slow the speed of the run off. That should help and buy some time.