No Singing sirens:
”
I’m inquiring about the sirens that were used during WWII. Are
they ready to be used again and where are they located? Thank
you.
”
Interesting question, caller. The Red Phone went to Gilroy’s
Public Information Officer Joe Kline for this one.
No Singing sirens: “I’m inquiring about the sirens that were used during WWII. Are they ready to be used again and where are they located? Thank you.”
Interesting question, caller. The Red Phone went to Gilroy’s Public Information Officer Joe Kline for this one.
“For many years, Gilroy had one or two loud air horns,” Kline said. “One was located at the old fire station on Fifth Street. These were used primarily to alert firefighters and volunteers who were away from their home phones when a major fire occurred. This was back in the days before pagers and cell phones.”
Kline went on to say that although they were fairly effective – keep in mind that the city was much smaller then – the horns were discontinued in the 1980s.
He added that he joined a Bay Area committee of public information officers about two months ago, formed to address the problem of community notification for non-self-alerting emergencies.
“A self-alerting event would be, for example a large earthquake,” Kline said. “When one hits, everyone knows to turn on the TV or radio for information. An example of a non-self-alerting event would be a toxic spill, certain terrorist or hostage situations, dam failures, etc. The purpose of the committee is to find the best way to alert the community to turn on their TV or radio.”
He said that another alert system is being considered.
“Although still in the study phase, there is a possibility that a new siren or audible alert system might just be the answer to prompt residents to activate other methods of public information dissemination.”
Chairs mean trouble: “I thought I’d comment on this situation allowing students to bring folding chairs to high school. I can’t understand columnist Dennis Taylor or the school caving into those six nitwits and allowing the folding chairs at the school. This establishes a dangerous precedent that could end up with everyone in the school, approximately 2,000 students, bringing chairs and even someday them attempting to bring sleeping bags. Can you visualize 2,000 students going from class to class carrying their chairs? Can you imagine what the campus will look like with the broken chairs thrown around or some of the problems with stolen or misplaced chairs? And of course, the storage. Anyhow, I’m afraid they’re in for big trouble. Thank you.”
Your voice has been heard, caller. But Red Phone bets the students haven’t even thought about bringing those chairs to school with this recent nasty weather.
And although the Red Phone occasionally thinks of bringing a sleeping bag to work for a quick nap under its desk, it can’t imagine high school students wanting to do such – though it would make for quite the photo opportunity.
Proud of Pride: “I wanted to comment on that special Pride insert you guys have been doing recently. I really like it. The stories are all positive and it’s really all about community and life in the area. And some of those photos are really great. I’ve noticed that the photos run really big and that makes them have so much more impact. So I just wanted to say good job with that. I really like it.”
The Dispatch staff appreciates your call. The recent Pride inserts take a lot of work to complete and the staff puts in long hours to come up with the final published product. And for you to take a moment to call into the Red Phone and let everyone know you appreciate the work makes the staff feel appreciated as well.
Readers: Want to complain about bad driving? Or maybe offer up a compliment? The Red Phone is here to listen to your woes (but encourages happy thoughts), so give it a call at 842-9070 or send e-mail to
re******@gi************.com
.
