Anything Can Happen

Be prepared.

The Boy Scout motto. Or is it the creed? I know it’s not the oath, which I can still recite from memory: "On my honor I will do my best for God and my country, to obey the Scout law, to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight."

"Be prepared" also stuck with me. I try to stay on top of things. I’m the one who plans camping trips because I can’t stand to get to the mountains and find out we’ve left matches or tent poles behind. Same with car trips. I have to have my maps and all the gear needed to get efficiently from Cheyenne to Tucson.

Following 9/11, I accepted the challenge from Tom Ridge. I stocked up on water jugs, canned food, and duct tape. I had a little fun with my eight-year-old daughter Annie and labeled each water jug: "For Terrorist Attack Only." She looked at that and quipped: "What you gonna do – throw it at them?" I laughed. Funny how kids can get right to the heart of absurdity.

But we are prepared for the terrorists here in Cheyenne. No less an authority than the U.S. Homeland Security Department gave Laramie County the highest grade in its survey of emergency responders’ ability to communicate during a disaster. We join other can-do place such as Washington, D.C.; Minneapolis-St. Paul, San Diego; Columbus, Ohio; and Sioux Falls, S.D. Those places getting the worst preparedness grades were Chicago, Cleveland, Baton Rouge, Mandan, N.D., and American Samoa.

Ability to communicate (and lack thereof) was brought home during the World Trade Center attacks and the Hurricane Katrina disaster. There are blizzards, earthquakes, tsunamis, wildfires, and terrorist attacks to contend with. I am pleased that we are prepared here. Homeland Security has discovered that emergency crews in two-thirds of 6,800 communities surveyed still can’t communicate effectively.

In a Jan. 3 Associated Press story, some low-rated communities said they needed more money. Others just can’t get agencies to cooperate. The newly empowered Democrats say they are going to fix the problem. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) is appalled at this state of unpreparedness. He said this: "If it didn’t have such potentially devastating consequences, it would be laughable."

Let’s see what Wyoming’s newly disempowered Republican congressional delegation will do with the issue. Obviously they helped us get some dough from Homeland Security in the past. How will the state fare now that Enzi, Thomas, and Cubin are in the minority, shunted off to oblivion by a wave of Democrats? Will that wave pass by red states like WYO?

"Be prepared" may be the best mantra for our age.