Cass County Communications System

[realgeo]

Howdy, everyone!

The first storms of the season have come and gone and, from the sounds (or lack thereof) of it, part of the Communications System in Cass County appear to have received an "F" for lack of operation yesterday afternoon and evening.

It seems odd that with all of the money that's been spent to upgrade and power failure-proof the system, that a simple power outage in the Weeping Water area takes down the bulk of EMA's communication ability.

I know this is a Scanning forum, but I think that the taxpayers have a right to know why this isn't the first time that this has happened, who should be held accountable for such failures, and why their tax dollars are obviously not being spent on top-notch power and radio gear that will stay running even when OPPD's lines aren't supplying power.

73s

[IrvingtonVFD43]

They shoulda hooked up with ORION over the OPPD system. The towers and infrastructure was already in place across Cass County, and I'm sure OPPD has a double-redundancy backup system.

I hate to be the Firefighter or Sheriff that ran into real trouble and called out a mayday.....just to get a out an range tone on my portable, my signal too weak to hear, or worse yet, no power at the repeater.

...What a real shame...

[obijohn]

Originally Posted by realgeo

Howdy, everyone!

The first storms of the season have come and gone and, from the sounds (or lack thereof) of it, part of the Communications System in Cass County appear to have received an "F" for lack of operation yesterday afternoon and evening.

The strange thing is that the tower owner at Weeping Water has a backup generator for their cell
equipment, but they won't let Cass County use it.

The generator at the EMA building wouldn't start. I guess Bill forgot to check the battery.

Thank God that the power stayed on long enough for the Sheriff's Office to page-out
Eagle Fire and Rescue after the tornado struck.

[realgeo]

Originally Posted by obijohn

The generator at the EMA building wouldn't start. I guess Bill forgot to check the battery.

You know - I'm sure that being prepared and thinking PROACTIVELY would be rudimentary duties for someone in the position of EMA Director. With that in-mind, wouldn't the Storm Spotter Training class, held one week prior to the storms, have been a natural "trigger" for someone to go and test-run the generator to verify that it would start? What about a weekly start-up test? Why wait until it doesn't work and say, "Oh, gee - the battery was dead and we can't start it"?

Did anyone see the story that KETV Channel 7 did?

Originally Posted by obijohn

Thank God that the power stayed on long enough for the Sheriff's Office to page-out
Eagle Fire and Rescue after the tornado struck.

Obijohn - did Cass county actually page Eagle out prior to the loss of power at Manley? Lincoln 911 has the same capability and I'd say that Lincoln probably paged them out on their South paging channel sooner than Cass County did. Lancaster County was aware of the dangerous nature of the storm far longer than Cass County would've been and spotters in the area were talking to Lincoln - not Plattsmouth.

Outrageous, I tell you. I know the detractors will be here soon, but this is not a one-time deal as we all know.

73s

[obijohn]

Originally Posted by realgeo

Obijohn - did Cass county actually page Eagle out prior to the loss of power at Manley? Lincoln 911 has the same capability and I'd say that Lincoln probably paged them out on their South paging channel sooner than Cass County did. Lancaster County was aware of the dangerous nature of the storm far longer than Cass County would've been and spotters in the area were talking to Lincoln - not Plattsmouth.

Yes, I heard the page go out on 154.385. It's a good thing I had multiple receivers going
on different channels, because 6200 was yacking away on 154.815 when they did the page.

I assumed that Cass got a headstart on notification due to 911 calls from the affected area.

Channel 6 TV actually got a jump on reporting the storm...they had "storm chasers" in the area.
Don't tell Bill!!!

[43g70]

That generator is probably just big enough for cell provider, even than, the county could have spent grant money on a generator. But knowing how things operate in Cass, they would have bought a propane thing, not a real desiel one.

[realgeo]

Originally Posted by obijohn

Yes, I heard the page go out on 154.385. It's a good thing I had multiple receivers going
on different channels, because 6200 was yacking away on 154.815 when they did the page.

I assumed that Cass got a headstart on notification due to 911 calls from the affected area.

Channel 6 TV actually got a jump on reporting the storm...they had "storm chasers" in the area.
Don't tell Bill!!!

Hey, Obijohn!!

Yeah - the quote from the Storm Spotter training on 03/17 was something like: "We will NOT tolerate 'storm chasers' in Cass County. We'll have ya' arrested and taken to jail". No kidding.

Aside from the "if you sneeze without permission, you'll be sitting in a cell at the LEC overnight" attitude from the host, Mr. Brian Smith's presentation was, as usual, very informative and instructional. His presentations are pretty much the same year-in and year-out, but the information is always good and you never know when you're going to pick-up a new tip! He's been around to see a few storms in his time and his brand of "subtle humor" always makes for a good class!

That's good to hear that they at least had that much communication! As a side note, 154.815 is now referred to as "Cass Tactical".

The KETV7 report I'm referring to did a good job of covering the damage and clean-up efforts, then the report turned to putting our EMA Director on the spot about reports from those in Eagle who indicated that the sirens in Eagle went off 5 to 10 minutes AFTER the storm and tornado(es) had passed.

The reply went something like this: "Well, people shouldn't rely upon the sirens - they need to keep tuned to television and their weather radios because sirens take someone pressing a button to make them work and obviously they didn't go off when they needed to".

While the advice is sound, the overall theme, in my opinion, had that "cya" tone to it.

Well, I guess I'll quit now. Those of us in Cass County seem to know the "atmosphere" in which we live, so there's no use in beating it to death!

It's just irritating to observe failures like this time after time when a good sum of money has been spent to (supposedly) ensure that these kinds of embarrassments stop happening.

73s to one and all!

[BNSFrailfan]

Originally Posted by realgeo

Hey, Obijohn!!

Yeah - the quote from the Storm Spotter training on 03/17 was something like: "We will NOT tolerate 'storm chasers' in Cass County. We'll have ya' arrested and taken to jail". No kidding.

Aside from the "if you sneeze without permission, you'll be sitting in a cell at the LEC overnight" attitude from the host, Mr. Brian Smith's presentation was, as usual, very informative and instructional. His presentations are pretty much the same year-in and year-out, but the information is always good and you never know when you're going to pick-up a new tip! He's been around to see a few storms in his time and his brand of "subtle humor" always makes for a good class!

That's good to hear that they at least had that much communication! As a side note, 154.815 is now referred to as "Cass Tactical".

The KETV7 report I'm referring to did a good job of covering the damage and clean-up efforts, then the report turned to putting our EMA Director on the spot about reports from those in Eagle who indicated that the sirens in Eagle went off 5 to 10 minutes AFTER the storm and tornado(es) had passed.

The reply went something like this: "Well, people shouldn't rely upon the sirens - they need to keep tuned to television and their weather radios because sirens take someone pressing a button to make them work and obviously they didn't go off when they needed to".

While the advice is sound, the overall theme, in my opinion, had that "cya" tone to it.

Well, I guess I'll quit now. Those of us in Cass County seem to know the "atmosphere" in which we live, so there's no use in beating it to death!

It's just irritating to observe failures like this time after time when a good sum of money has been spent to (supposedly) ensure that these kinds of embarrassments stop happening.

73s to one and all!

Now that's sad. A county spending hundreds of millions of dollars for a system that they don't even use. Tax payers would be pissed off if they heard that.

[IrvingtonVFD43]

Originally Posted by 43g70

That generator is probably just big enough for cell provider, even than, the county could have spent grant money on a generator. But knowing how things operate in Cass, they would have bought a propane thing, not a real desiel one.

Off topic, but Isn't this the same county a few years back that threw a fit over their dissatisfaction over a County roads shed and pulled the contract over a few thousand dollar difference on the total construction cost?

How things operate in Cass County

Kicked a proposed Wal-Mart out of Plattsmouth due to special interests--I can and cannot see reason for this one.

A proposed hog processing plant that packed up and went elsewhere due to political wrangling?

Now if Cass county were forward thinking, perhaps if those 2 businesses were in Plattsmouth, the extra pocket change generated would have bought them that generator. Or am I wayyyy off kilter on this?

[Dak48]

Wow, almost sounds like the wild days of Fred Tesch!

[realgeo]

Originally Posted by IrvingtonVFD43

Off topic, but Isn't this the same county a few years back that threw a fit over their dissatisfaction over a County roads shed and pulled the contract over a few thousand dollar difference on the total construction cost?



Kicked a proposed Wal-Mart out of Plattsmouth due to special interests--I can and cannot see reason for this one.

A proposed hog processing plant that packed up and went elsewhere due to political wrangling?

Now if Cass county were forward thinking, perhaps if those 2 businesses were in Plattsmouth, the extra pocket change generated would have bought them that generator. Or am I wayyyy off kilter on this?

Morning, Rich!

100% on-target with everything you said above! We're also the same county that showed Chip Davis (Mannheim Steamroller) to the door when he wanted to build a GRAND outdoor Amphitheater northwest of South Bend. In that case, the County Commissioners catered to special interest demands from a nearby Golf Course rather than seeing the revenue potential from such an operation. Cried the Golf Course, "Oh, it's going to be too loud and too many people will be in the area. Take your operation elsewhere!"

Cass County has long been a backwards county with ZERO forward-looking leadership. The County Commission is long overdue for an overhaul. They waste money and make decisions that avoid "rocking the boat" for their mostly farming constituents. Lord forbid "city folk" trying to bring progressiveness to the Board. The "Lone Ranger" on the Board knows how that's working!

Enough said. This is already way off-topic!

73s

[realgeo]

Originally Posted by Dak48

Wow, almost sounds like the wild days of Fred Tesch!

Man, that's a name I haven't heard in awhile! 10-4, though!

73s

[obijohn]

Originally Posted by Dak48

Wow, almost sounds like the wild days of Fred Tesch!

He and Marilyn have both passed on...RIP.

And you're right. Those were the "wild days".

[IrvingtonVFD43]

Threw out Chip Davis, eh? He is a very reasonable and incredibly nice gentleman. I used to deliver to his residence near Ft. Calhoun once a week, when I worked for FedEx Express, which I am returning to at the end of April. (Regaining my 10+ years of service)

Maybe he will propose to Washington County. They like ethanol plants most any stuff that is pro-growth.

E' nuff said.

[topnik]

Originally Posted by IrvingtonVFD43

Off topic, but Isn't this the same county a few years back that threw a fit over their dissatisfaction over a County roads shed and pulled the contract over a few thousand dollar difference on the total construction cost?



Kicked a proposed Wal-Mart out of Plattsmouth due to special interests--I can and cannot see reason for this one.

A proposed hog processing plant that packed up and went elsewhere due to political wrangling?

Now if Cass county were forward thinking, perhaps if those 2 businesses were in Plattsmouth, the extra pocket change generated would have bought them that generator. Or am I wayyyy off kilter on this?

...or was home...

...to the King Korn Karnival, right?

Forward thinking?

Ahem.

[BNSFrailfan]

Originally Posted by IrvingtonVFD43

They like ethanol plants most any stuff that is pro-growth. E' nuff said.

No you wouldn't. If the wind comes out of the east. You'll get that rotten smell of corn starch coming right up to your door step. Not a very good thing to smell just as your getting out of bed in the morning. As for the Pig plant. They wanted to build that stupid thing right in that huge corn field right across from where we go to Railfan at. Now that would really suck.