And the "old guard" of the Selma Fire Department was so opposed to change...

This is one reason why I was hugely in support of the idea of hiring a full time fire chief in Selma. I knew that we would get better service, better training, and better accountability to the citizens and town. This article speaks for itself. Thanks, Chief McDaniel. From The Selma News.

Council approves Medical First Responder Program for Selma Fire Department
By Kelly Lake, News Editor 29.MAY.08

The Selma Town Council has approved a request by Fire Chief Phillip McDaniel to create a medical responder program within the Selma Fire Department.
McDaniel said the program could mean the difference between life and death in some emergency situations.

A medical responder program is a level of certification the Selma Fire Department could receive that would enable members to respond to EMS calls to assist citizens in times of life threatening illness or injury, according to McDaniel.

“If someone calls 911 with chest pains, an ambulance would be dispatched,” said McDaniel. “But, if an ambulance wasn’t at the Selma station, one from a surrounding community would be sent with a delayed response time. That could mean the difference between life and death.”

He said once the Selma Fire Department starts its first responder program, members can respond in a matter of minutes with basic life support equipment.
The fire department currently has seven certified first responders and one other in training.

The cost of the program would be about $3,000 for initial equipment and the cost of personnel. That money is included the fire department’s proposed budget for the next fiscal year, beginning in July.

The county also provides $4,000 in additional funds to medical responder squads, according to McDaniel.

If the program is approved by the town council and the program would need the approval of Johnston County Commissioner through a public hearing. Thirty days later, the department could begin answering calls.

What a scumbag.

Sometimes, people amaze me. I did a lot of illegal and crazy stuff as a youth, myself. Some things, however, I would not do. I admit to stealing a bunch of traffic signs, and my favorite ones were "SLOW CHILDREN" signs. Why advertise that you have stupid kids in the neighborhood? However, I would not have stolen stuff like an American flag.

I was reading a news story on WTSB's news page about some scumbag(s) who stole American flags from in front of a church. They were for Memorial Day commemoration. That is just plain low.

Mayor Seeks Return Of US Flags Stolen From Selma Church
Selma Mayor Charles Hester is hopeful thieves who stole 8 US flags on display for Memorial Day will do the right thing and return them. The flags and two flag stands were stolen from the front of Selma Baptist Church sometime between May 24 and May 27. The items were owned by Mayor Hester who had placed them in front of the church in honor of veterans who fought to protect our country. In a report, Hester told Selma police he hopes the items, valued at $260, will be returned. Anyone with information about the missing US flags is asked to contact Selma Police at 919-965-8189.

It only hurts when I cough, sneeze, or laugh

Not last night, but the night before I must have really overdone it. I was outside playing with my five year old. His mom bought a "Slip and Slide" type thing. You remember the old Slip N' Slide? It is a long plastic sheet that has water sprinkling on it, you run and dive, then slide to the end. I am a big guy, and I have not done anything like this in some 25 plus years. My first dive really knocked the wind out of me, not having hit the deck like that in years. I played on that slide for about and hour and a half. We both kept sliding over and over. I expected my back to really hurt, but my ribs are what are hurting right now. It feels like when you have a real bad cold and keep coughing so much that your ribs hurt for days. Yeah, that's the hurt. Ouch! A fat guy, a $7 Slip and Slide, and a 5 year old equate to pain for a few days.

Revenge will be mine, though. I also bought two Super Soaker squirt guns. I have wanted to do this stuff with a tyke for years. Thank you, Lord, for my dreams coming true.

I wonder if we will ever see this concept again in Selma

I am a firm believer in the idea that with any budget much larger than the average household, there is wasteful spending. I find areas that I could trim in my own spending. When it comes to government, I find it especially true. I have seen wasteful spending in corporate America as well as in government.

What I find interesting is how budgets are handled in different locations. I found a news article about the town where my mother resides, Bow, NH. The town had a meeting and they actually trimmed the town budget by $400,000. Bow is about the same size as Selma. There is about a $50,000 median income difference between the two towns, however.

Anyway, here is an excerpt from the article.

Bow finally took care of business last night, as residents gathered to finish voting on the annual town meeting warrant. Last night's meeting was a continuation from two weeks ago, when long debate over the annual budget delayed action on the rest of the warrant.

At that meeting, residents voted to trim the proposed budget by about $400,000, from $8.3 million to $7.9 million. Last night's meeting held little such drama, with the votes moving along efficiently and swiftly.

In Bow, the town residents are much more involved in the town decision taking than here in Selma. Perhaps that is why they were able to cut the budget so much. Food for thought.

I ran across this...Obama for Prez!

Something I have advocated for years...a return to Blackjack Pershing

From Crusader Ammunition's web site:

Just before World War I, there were a number of terrorist attacks
on the United States forces in the Philippines by Muslim extremists.
So General Pershing captured 50 terrorists and had them tied to posts for execution.
He then had his men bring in two pigs and slaughter them in front of the now horrified
terrorists. Muslims detest pork because they believe pigs are filthy animals. Some of them simply refuse to eat it, while others won't even touch pigs at all, nor any of their by-products. To them, eating or touching a pig, its meat, its blood, etc., is to be instantly barred from paradise (and those virgins) and doomed to hell. The soldiers then soaked their bullets in pigs blood, and proceeded to execute 49 of the terrorists by firing squad. The soldiers then dug a big hole, dumped in the terrorist's bodies and covered them in pig blood, entrails, etc. They let the 50th man go. And for the next forty-two years, there was not a single Muslim extremist attack anywhere in the world.

Are Johnston County people just out of their flippin' minds?

I stumbled across the 2007 Reader's Choice Awards that The Smithfield Herald sponsors each year. I was looking at the winners for things like best optometrist, best coffee, best bakery, best Chinese restaurant, and some others. I kept saying to myself, "What the..." I could not believe how uncultured some people must be. The best bakery is Wal-Mart? Are you kidding me??? WTF? Hey, Johnstonians! Get out of your trailer park and explore your own county!

The town where I live

Hanging out with a 5 year old

This morning, I got the pleasure of witnessing something from a five year old boy. He has a keyboard given to him for his birthday by his grandmother. It has a plug in microphone to sing along with the keyboard. This morning, he plugged in the mic and started banging away on the keys and broke into song. He kept singing, "I saw God today. I saw God today." It is a line from a song by George Strait. I asked him if he saw God yesterday and if he was going to see him again tomorrow. He had no answer. He just went back to singing the line, "I saw God today" over and over. Then he stopped and said, "Just one more song then y'all can leave church!" I have no idea where he got that, but I was thoroughly amused. Then he immediately started singing "I'm to sexy for my shirt, to sexy for my shirt!" by Right Said Fred, and even made up some lyrics like, "and I don't have my shirt any more because my grandma took it". I have never heard that song in church before. That gave me my laugh for the day.