What a great place we live in. Recently we have experienced some problems with our police force and even more questions about the judgement of our sheriff's dept. and a few people experienced some displeasure with a few of the attitudes of some of the people manning the entrances to the worst neighborhoodsduring the first couple of days of the disaster,but,... how fortunate we are to have so many wonderful trained rescue volunteers in this area!!!! These people have outdone themselves. The police, the guard, the first responders, the work crews, the churches, and the multitude of everyday Joes (and Janes) that have turned out to help. We are truely blessed!!! Incredible!!!!

:agree:

THANK YOU!!!!!....YOU KNOW IT ISN'T EVERYDAY WE GET A THANK YOU FROM SOMEONE FOR WHAT WE DO.I AM A FIRE FIGHTER/FIRST RESPONDER, WE DON'T ASK FOR ANYTHING ,BECAUSE WE ARE HERE TO HELP NO MATTER WHAT IT IS THAT WE MUST DO!!!!!!!!!!AND IT IS PEOPLE LIKE YOU THAT MAKE "ME" FEEL LIKE I HAVE DONE SOME GOOD FOR SOMEONE ELSE AND HELPED IN EVERYWAY POSSIBLE.

I think when this is all over and Mena gets back on its feet we should throw a huge party for all who helped!!!!!! Thank you!!!!!!! :flag:

To all first responders: A few years ago I was at Wickes and an Hispanic man I knew had an infection of some kind that was blocking the blood flow to his brain. He first started out having the symptoms of a stroke, then seisures, then unconsiousness. As good as dead. The Hispanic family was hysterical. They woke me up screaming and running and trying to revive the guy. They didn't know cpr or what 911 was or how to speak English. I dialed 911, myself pretty hysterical by that point, I translated for them and wrode in the ambulance to the hospital and I can say the first responders were there very very quickly and were all that saved his life. The first responders are angels in my book. True heroes! If any of you have any spare money, this is an organization of people that deserve any help any one can give. there is no telling how many peoples lives that they save or how many peoples minds they put at ease!!! God bless you all and thank you!!!

thank you, thank you, thank you...

I haved loved Mena since the very first time I ever came here to visit .That was 19 yrs ago. I moved here in 1991 and it just breaks my heart to see it damaged and its people hurting so bad. It was veryoverwhelming to me last Friday as I was on my way to work to see the tremendous outpouring of our community out helping each other !! I agree that the volunteers need a special thank you . They are just downright awesome people! Mena will be OK .....it will just be a slow process :pray:

REEEAAAL good idea! :thumb:

I hope we can get some of the best bands from this area and maybe a few good ones from out of town and have a big musical presentation.

They're having a Brisket Dinner at the Baptist Church Thursday evening for everyone. That's a start. :thumb:

Thank you for all of your work to help this community after the EF-3 tornado.

After cowering in the corner of my home, holding my two puppies, and praying as the tornado passed a block and a half away, I am saddened by the destruction of the wonderful neighborhoods, homes, and businesses.

I don't know how to use a chainsaw. But, I can make maps. I hope the emergency personnel who needed maps during the first week after the storm received a copy or had a copy available to use. (More info on the maps in the "Google Earth kmz & pdf maps" thread.) I printed over 300 yards of maps.

Thank you everybody that worked so hard and thank you to everyone who is still working!!!

I love Mena, Arkansas.

Nonfiction, is there any way those 'before and after' maps can be purchased that you know of? Thanks.

Hi Scotto,

The maps can not be purchased. Toooooooo much federal government red tape.

However, I made the maps available on the internet. You can view them on your computer or take the file to a printer. You can download pdfs of the maps from ftp://ftp.geostor.arkansas.gov/DisasterEv...090409_Tornado/. Look for the two zip files with Mena in the name.

I also made a zip file with kmz Google Earth files in it. This is an excellent way to see the before and after aerial photos on your computer. Aerial photos taken after the tornado and the National Weather Service tornado track information are available at http://www.mytinyhome.com/MenaAR_EF3tornado_kmz_files.zip. When you open the zip file there will be 4 files that can be opened in Google Earth. The aerial photos could take some time to open.

Tell me what you think of the Google Earth files.

I just have to mention one more thing in this thread.....A special thanks to The Polk County OEM office....not just Jamie Reeves, but Also Lynn Vandeveer (spelling?) former OEM coordinator.

The many tireless nights of training spent trying to instill the Incident Command System into each Volunteer Fire Dept through out the county has finally paid off and in a HUGE WAY!!

Realistically we cant stop at the OEM office....goes for Polk County SO and Police, and ALL VOLUNTEERS...

But...I must say, over the years of being part of the Ink RVFD I always thought, heck, we wont NEVER need this kind of training....Not in polk county....sound familiar???

If it were not for the continued dedication and hard work of these folks, i would hate to think what it would have been like the night that blue whistler destroyed our lil town......

Kind of like building an Ark in the middle of a drought huh?? As a former volunteer fireman, I just hope that each and every volunteer in Polk County sit back and reflect now on how the persistant teaching of those many hours of classes and trainings paid of just this month!!

Let those that want to continue to ridicule and poke fun at how hard Polk County works at training their VOLUNTEERS, and Polk County will just continue SAVING LIVES AND PROPERTY in a very organized safe manner!!

Thanks again Polk County OEM and Volunteers!! :thumb: