A tribute to volunteer (rural) fire fighters

Volunteer Fire Dept. Station in Mt. Judea, Arkansas, April, 2013.  Mt. Judea is a tiny community in a persistent poverty county in the Arkansas Ozarks, Newton County.   

It took me a while, along my journey as a ruralist, to realize that volunteer fire fighting is a rural issue.  That is, places that rely on volunteer fire fighters tend to be rural places.  More populous and wealthier places, places incorporated as cities, tend to establish and invest in professional, well-compensated fire departments.  After I came to that epiphany, I started taking photos of volunteer fire departments wherever I went, and I feature just a few in this blog post.

Rico Volunteer Fire Dept., in
Dolores County, southwest part of Colorado
July, 2012 

In California, rural folks are especially aware that volunteer fire departments are a rural phenomenon because they have been paying a fire fee (or tax, depending on who you ask) for several years now.  It's been controversial, in part because the money goes to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection rather than to any of the numerous volunteer fire departments that actually defend the homes of California's rural residents.  Read news coverage of the fee here, here, and here.  

Volunteer Fire Dept. in Blairsden- Graeagle, California, in Plumas County,
in the northern Sierra-Nevada Mountains, March 2013.

I am writing this post now because two recent events have highlighted the sacrificial courage of volunteer fire fighters. The most recent was the explosion in West, Texas, last night, in which the town's volunteer fire fighters valiantly fought the blaze at the fertilizer facility until they realized it was getting out of control and moving toward the highly volatile storage tanks.  That is when at least some of them began evacuating the nearby nursing home and apartment complex.  In doing so, they saved many, many lives.  Yet news reports tell us that 3 to 5 of those firefighters are now missing, and they may be dead.  See coverage of these events here and here.  The Dallas Morning News currently features this headline: "Dallas Fire-Rescue captain, West City secretary among those missing after devastating explosion." The current New York Times headline also (awkwardly, language-wise) focuses on the local first responders as likely victims of the blast, "Ruins Searched for Firefighters after Blast at Factory Kills Five."  

Volunteer Fire Dept., Jasper, Arkansas, Newton County
November 2011 

The other event was the December, 2012, murder of two volunteer fire fighters responding to a fire in rural Webster, New York, on Lake Ontario.  The New York Times reported these events here and here.  An excerpt from one of the stories follows:

As Christmas Eve dawned in this suburb of Rochester, local authorities say, [William Spengler, Jr.] set fire to a car, as a trap. When an engine company came roaring down the street, he started shooting at the first responders, most likely from his Bushmaster .223-caliber rifle.

* * * 

The authorities say Mr. Spengler fired shots that killed two volunteer firefighters from long range and seriously wounded two others, and set a “raging inferno.” The police found him dead on a berm about five hours after the siege started, with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

Jondaryan Rural Fire Dept.,
Southern Queensland, Australia, August 2012

So, here's to volunteer (rural) fire fighters, who face a range of perils.  They not only train and courageously respond, they and their communities often have to raise their own funds, as the bottom photo illustrates.

Advertising a fire department fundraiser, Bodega, California
Sonoma County, March 2012 

N.B.  Moments after publishing this post, I came across this on the Dallas Morning News regarding 2011 cuts to volunteer fire departments in Texas.  Here is an excerpt from Christy Hoppe's story:

State lawmakers, struggling to erase a $27 billion budget shortfall two years ago without raising new revenue, slashed money throughout governmnet — including to volunteer fire departments. 

The Legislature cut its annual grants to such fire departments from $25 million to $7 million, leaving many of the 1,400 small communities scrambling. 

Asked if those cuts should be restored, following the fertilizer plant explosion in West that was fought by a volunteer fire department, Gov. Rick Perry said budget decisions are made by the Legislature. 

He also faced similar questions in November 2011 when volunteer firefighters were overwhelmed by wildfires in Bastrop County.

And here is a post script from the NYT, in its coverage of the West explosion.  The story by Manny Fernandez and John Schwartz focuses on one volunteer fire fighter:

Perry Calvin, 37, a married father of two with a third on the way, was one of the missing volunteer firefighters. He had been attending an emergency medical technician class in West on Wednesday evening when a firefighter in the class got a page about the fire at the fertilizer company, said his father, Phil Calvin. 

Perry Calvin and another man drove to the scene together and got there before the explosion. The other man was found dead Wednesday night. 

“It doesn’t look good, but we don’t have anything confirmed yet,” Phil Calvin, the fire chief in the town of Navarro Mills, said Thursday afternoon. About an hour after he spoke those words, he got the news, sitting by the phone at his home in nearby Frost: his son was indeed among the dead. 

Perry Calvin was not even a firefighter with the West department. He volunteered with another department in a nearby town, but had rushed to the scene to help, because he happened to be close. He is the kind of person who would be right at the head of the line, his father said. “He would do what he could to put the fire out or help find people.”

Los Angeles Times features rural volunteer fire department in story about northern California wildfires

The report out of Ben Lomond, population 6,234 but unincorporated, in Santa Cruz County, California, is by Susanne Rust for the Los Angeles Times.  An excerpt follows:

On Friday night, the tired, equipment-strapped crew of Ben Lomond’s volunteer firefighting team was briefed by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection in the mountain town fire station’s airy and unfinished kitchen. 

A collection of lightning-sparked fires had merged into one blaze that was raging in the Santa Cruz Mountains to the west. 

The firefighters were told that Cal Fire’s models suggested in the next 48 to 72 hours, the fire would move into Boulder Creek’s downtown. If the crews were unable to stop the fire there, Cal Fire would pull its reinforcements and allow the fire to funnel down the valley — through Brookdale, Ben Lomond and Felton — toward Route 17, the high-speed mountain highway that connects San Jose and Santa Cruz. 

It was dispiriting news. But local firefighters planned to wage a stand to save the communities, even without the backup.

Rust's story features a couple of quotes from these volunteer firefighters, whose day jobs are fighting fires professionally or working as first responders for urban fire departments in the Bay Area.  This quote is from Todd Ellis, captain of Ben Lomond's volunteer fire district: 

This is my home. These are our neighbors. There’s no way I wouldn’t be here fighting.

Rust also quotes Carl Kustin, a volunteer with the Boulder Creek Fire District:  

We don’t do this for money. We do this because we love our neighbors. We love our crews. And for us, there’s nothing more inspiring than helping others and using everything we have to support people and communities.

Another LA Times story discussing the Ben Lomond fire is here.  Prior posts that feature volunteer fire departments, among others, are here and here. 

Rural volunteer fire departments under strain from population loss, COVID, other factors

Frank Morris reports today for NPR, with this vignette out of rural Paradise, Kansas, population 49, in the central part of the state: 

FRANK MORRIS, BYLINE: More than 250 square miles of freshly scorched earth stretch out in three directions from tiny Paradise, Kan. In December, winds gusting up to 100 miles an hour pushed a wall of flames headlong across the rolling pasture here, torching farms and killing thousands of animals. Thick smoke, ash and dust blocked out the sun. Volunteer Fire Chief Quentin Maupin thought he'd never see his kids again when the raging blaze suddenly swept across his firetruck.

QUENTIN MAUPIN: That wall of fire was - I don't know - probably 60, 80 feet high - and both hands on the steering wheel, just holding on, thinking, this is probably it because you could hear the plastic melting and cracking. The stickers, the reflectors, the plastic flashing lights - it melted all that stuff on that truck.

MORRIS: Maupin was alone in the 18,000-pound pumper truck because, like many rural fire departments, his is chronically short-staffed.

MAUPIN: It's tough. You know, it's rural Kansas, and there just isn't that many people out here anymore. And young people - that's the other thing. Normally, our policy is you need two people on a truck. But that day, there wasn't anybody here, and I knew we just got to get a truck out there right now.

Morris also mentions rural Mississippi, and the struggle for volunteer fire departments to balance budgets and buy new equipment when typical fundraisers like spaghetti feeds or crab feeds can't be held in the era of COVID.  

Stories with similar themes out of the rural mountain west are here and here, though these focus on ambulance and EMT services.  Prior posts mentioning volunteer fire departments are here.  This one, in particular, features lots of photos of volunteer fire departments from around the country.  

Volunteer firefighting in rural America.

The gemeinschaft quality of rural communities is exhibited in the culture of volunteer firefighting departments, which are prevalent across the country. In various social and economic ways, ruralities support these volunteers, who play a vital role in the communities in which they serve. Volunteer firefighters are relied on for public health and safety in many areas that lack official fire departments, or are located far away from them.

I spoke to an old friend of mine who serves as a volunteer firefighter in the Capay Valley. I will refer to him under the pseudonym "Jim," since he must purportedly buy everyone in the department ice cream if he talks to the media. Jim lives between the unincorporated town of Rumsey,CA and the town of Guinda, CA, the latter which has a population of 254.

Jim and his wife, who are from the city originally, are newcomers to the Capay Valley and one of the few young couples who live there. They say they decided to move there because they were attracted to the slow-town atmosphere and the farming lifestyle. Jim says that he decided to join the volunteer fire department because it sounded fun and seemed like the best way to get to know people in the community. Being a volunteer firefighter actually helped Jim and his wife to find their jobs and helped them gain credibility in the eyes of locals who were, at first, skeptical that the young couple meant to settle down. Jim says that joining the volunteers was the fastest way to gain acceptance in the tight-knit valley community.

Jim explained that recruits go through extensive fire safety and water rescue training before becoming volunteers. When he is on duty he carries a beeper with him everywhere. If it goes off, he must show up to the volunteer meeting place, no matter what time of day or night it is. His wife said that the volunteers' wives often commiserate over being woken up in the middle of the night to beeping. Even, during the fire off-season, volunteers still respond to a number of calls, many of them car accidents in which the volunteers are often first to respond.

Jim reports that, like the general population of Capay Valley, the members of the volunteer firefighting department are aging . Jim is one of the only volunteers, in the department who is under 40. This raises serious issues for the fire department, which is especially relied upon during the volatile California fire season. Every Capay Valley local remembers the devastating fires of 2008, in which over 2,780 fires burned across the state and 23 people were killed.

Many of these fires were fought by volunteers, some coming from out-of-state, and even out of the country. If younger recruits aren't found for the department over the next ten years, the region could face serious troubles during the fire season. Finding young recruits for a rural volunteer fire department can be especially difficult under the current rural paradigm, in which rural populations in general are rapidly aging.

Fire Prevention Fee - Vital or Villan?

When it comes to fire safety, rural communities suffer from a combination of spatial isolation, lack of public services, and reliance on volunteer services. Yesterday's San Francisco Gate article reported on yet another burden threatening rural areas: a proposed $150 fire prevention fee that will "apply residential and other habitable structures in rural areas throughout the state, where 90 percent of property owners and residents already pay local taxes for fire protection services."

Many rural residents feel a fee, particularly one this high, will divert funds away from local fire safety endeavors. For example, rural voters self-tax themselves in order to meet their fire safety needs and a fee such as this will make it harder get local voters to pay more. Staci Heaton, lobbyist for the Regional Council of Rural Counties in Sacramento, noted, "[w]hen people get a bill from the state, we worry (they) aren't going to be willing to tax themselves again. So if local fire districts need more revenue, they aren't going to get it."

Rural communities are no strangers to fending for themselves. Some believe locals are most qualified to create tailored solutions to their specific problems. No wonder people like John Hallman, a Napa County resident who has lived in rural Berryess Estates neighborhood for more than two decades, is concerned that the fee might make it hard to continue individualized community fire protection efforts. Until fairly recently, the remote town of Berryess Estates held the "dubious distinction of being one of the most at-risk communities in Napa County for catastrophic wildfire" according to a March 2011 article in the Napa Valley Register. This rural town, home to roughly 600 full-time and part-time residents, faces significant spatial isolation, with "the closest volunteer fire department is more than 20 minutes away in Pope Valley (posts on rural communities' reliance on volunteer firefighters can be found here and here), with Cal Fire in Middletown being the next quickest responders" and transportation into town is limited to a narrow two lane road. In an effort to address this problem, locals like John Hallman banded together and worked quickly to create a unique solution for a local problem. They formed the Fire Safe Council in 2004, met with fire prevention experts from Cal Fire and the Napa County Fire Department in 2005 and by 2007 the council was in full active planning. The group sought and received multiple grants and alternative funding, and with the new revenue was able to remove all the dangerous vegetation and have created a firebreak 200 feet wide and 3 1/2 miles long to protect homes.

The local effort has diminished the threat of future fires. This has not only provided peace of mind to those worried about their homes and possessions but has also had the positive economic effect of lower insurance rates for some residence, new insurance services being offered, and slow improvement on overall property values. However, the firebreak needs to be maintained. There is no guarantee that the state would use the funds to maintain it, which would put the burden of approximately $25 a year on the town members. While it may seem nominal to some, Hallman doubts residents would be willing to pay that on top of the hefty $125 fee. After all rural communities were hit hardest by the Great Recession and face higher rates of poverty and unemployment.

Many rural residents don't think this fee will translate into more effective fire prevention, and many have concerns as to the transparency of how these funds will be distributed. However, Governor Jerry Brown and other proponents insist "[t]his funding is vital to support wildfire prevention efforts, arson investigations and other important Cal Fire programs." Its no secret that California is undergoing a budget crisis, but taking money from rural communities who already face a myriad of economic difficulties does not seem fair to me.

If you would like to see if you live in a "state responsibility area" and will be affected by this fee, go to links.sfgate.com/ZLFP

South Fulton, Tennessee to rural residents: Pay up or watch your house burn

What should happen when you see your house burning down? Most people would probably answer that you should call 911 and wait for the fire department to arrive. Then, the fire department should try to save your property.

If you live on the outskirts of South Fulton, Tennessee (population 2,354), taking those steps might not be enough. That's because those residents who live outside the city limits do not receive fire protection unless they pay an annual $75 subscription. And, the punishment for failing to pay your subscription, is to watch your house burn.

As reported by the Associated Press, earlier this month, a couple watched their mobile home go up in flames while firefighters parked down the street and observed. And this isn't the first time this has happened. Last year, national media outlets reported when the South Fulton Fire Department refused to show up to a burning house until a subscribed neighbor called to make sure the fire did not spread to their property. The homeowner who lost his house in that fire claims he simply forgot to pay the fee that year and even offered to pay whatever amount the fire department wanted to put out his house. The fire department refused and he lost everything.

According to ABC News, the city of South Fulton has had the "pay to spray" arrangement in place for more than 20 years. David Crocker, South Fulton's mayor, says that a strict refusal to put out fires for non-subscribers is the only way to ensure that the subscription fees are paid. And the subscription fees are the only way the city can afford to assist rural residents who live outside the city limits. If a single exception is made he argues, nobody will pay their subscription fees.

Although Mayor Crocker might have a valid point, the fire earlier this month was allowed to burn for an entirely different reason. Vicky Bell said she and her boyfriend intentionally did not pay their subscription fee this year because they did not think their house would ever catch fire. For that reason, they also did not have fire insurance on the property. They did not refuse to pay their subscription fee based on a belief that the fire department would show up and put out the fire anyway. Instead, they took a chance and lost.

Mayor Crocker's tough stance might convince some people to pay their fire subscription, but others will continue to play the odds and refuse to pay. If those homes happen to catch fire though, everyone loses. The homeowners themselves will have lost all of their property and nearby neighbors, including those who paid the subscription fee, will be left with a smoldering mess next door. Property values will decrease, insurance rates will go up, and people who once owned a home will be left homeless.

In an era of tight municipal budgets, there does not seem to be an easy solution. Perhaps the city could impose a fine on those who require fire services but are not subscribed to the service. If the fine is sufficiently high, it would prevent people from taking the calculated risk of refusing to pay the subscription fee in favor of picking up the tab if the fire department is ever needed. For instance, if the fine is 20 times the amount of the annual subscription fee, someone would have to decide that they were unlikely to need fire services in the next twenty years in order for it to make financial sense not to pay the fee. The higher the fine, the more likely it is that people will subscribe.

Another alternative would be for the rural residents to quit relying on South Fulton's services altogether and establish their own fire department. As discussed recently on this blog, volunteer fire departments can provide fire services to people in rural areas. The startup cost might make such a move prohibitive however, as fire equipment is not likely to be cheap. The annual cost for residents might not be any cheaper than the system currently in place either.

As governments continue to face budget problems and contract services, it is more and more likely that rural places will face these types of problems. Rural residents are faced with the prospect of less access to government services if they refuse, forget, or are unable to pay subscription fees. If the problem becomes more widespread and the costs are prohibitively high, it seems likely that people will leave their rural homes to avoid the hazards associated with having no fire coverage.

On the more rural areas of Northern California hit by the deadly fires in October

A few stories this past weekend in major California newspapers have focused on the consequences of the early October wildfires in Mendocino County, as opposed to more populous Napa and Sonoma counties.  The Los Angeles Times reported under the headline, "Wildfires devastate California pot farmers, who must rebuild without banks or insurance," and the San Francisco Chronicle story was headlined "Deadly Mendocino County Fire under the radar of Wine Country devastation."   This lede from the Chronicle story sums up the rural v. urban angle (or at least degrees of rural ....) between these regions/counties:

Like thousands of other North Bay fire victims, the traumatized residents of the bucolic Redwood Valley are sifting through rubble, negotiating with insurance agents and struggling to figure out how they are going to rebuild their fire-scarred lives. 

The only difference is that the hellish inferno that rolled through their community two weeks ago went virtually unnoticed by a world mesmerized by the flaming disasters closer to San Francisco. 

The Redwood Valley Fire was not exactly ignored, but it was a side note during a historic week of calamity in Northern California — subordinate to the conflagrations that destroyed much of Santa Rosa and ripped through Wine Country towns in Napa and Sonoma counties. 

But the aftermath is no less horrible for the 1,759 farmers, vineyard keepers and pot entrepreneurs who live in this rural community between Ukiah and Willits — a place isolated enough for stagecoach robber Black Bart to use as a hideout and, about a century later, for Jim Jones’ Peoples Temple cult to set up shop before moving on to bigger things.

It's interesting that journalist Peter Fimrite refers to Mendocino County as the "North Bay." I'd agree with that characterization for Napa and Sonoma, but not once you get as far north as Mendocino.  Nevertheless, his "per capita" point is well taken (by me, at least):

The fire that swept through the community early in the morning on Oct. 9 killed eight people, blackened 36,523 acres and destroyed 545 buildings, about a quarter of the homes there, fire officials said. It was at least as damaging, per capita, as the cataclysmic blazes to the south.

Fimrite quotes George Gonzaelz, the battalion chief for the Mendocino unit of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection:

It’s probably the largest modern disaster here in Mendocino County.  But nobody is paying attention.

And that, it seems, is par for the course when it comes to rural America.  I wrote a post making a similar point after the Butte and Valley fires (in Napa and Lake counties) two years ago.

Here's an excerpt from the LA Times story focused on the pot industry's losses.

Because the marijuana culture of Northern California has survived in secrecy for the last 50 years, and mostly still does, no one can know the exact loss to the industry. 

The threat of losing a year’s crop and cash reserves pushes many growers to take risks a grape farmer neighbor might not. 

When the fires broke, farmers thrashed over four-wheel-drive roads with horse trailers full of hastily cut marijuana. Some defied evacuation orders to save the crops. 

Others left, and lost everything.

Lots of posts about California's pot industry--with a focus on Mendocino, Humboldt, and Lake counties (the so-called Emerald Triangle) can be found in this blog. 

Postscript:  "As deadly fires burned Redwood Valley, delays, confusion about evacuation orders" in the Los Angeles Times on November 5.  An excerpt follows: 

But a Times review of police and fire dispatch calls that morning describe a chaotic scene in which officials debated when to send evacuation orders. The recordings provide an overview of communications that night as the fire swept through the valley but do not provide a full sense of what firefighters and law enforcement were doing on the ground. The county so far has declined to provide additional records. 

The dispatches and interviews show the county issued an evacuation order in Redwood Valley more than an hour after the fire was first reported there. During that time, several Redwood Valley residents phoned 911 dispatchers to say they were trapped by fire.

Firefighters struggled with a lack of manpower and equipment in the rural county, which relies heavily on small fire departments and volunteers. State and local engines, including the Redwood Valley volunteer fire department, were sent to battle fires that had started earlier in the night in the adjacent Potter Valley.  

Trying to save a rural(ish) fire protection district

(c) Lisa R. Pruitt 2021

I was in Bodega Bay, California (population 1,077) this past week and saw many signs, on both homes and businesses, regarding the need to save the "Fire Protection District."  Here's an excerpt from an April, 2021 story in the Sonoma County Gazette outlining what is going on: 

Firefighters and paramedics. They aren’t really known for just standing around or letting things happen.

They’re action people. No matter what.

That’s the point Lori Anello, wife of Captain Lou Stoerzinger, who serves with both the Two Rock Volunteer Fire Department and Bodega Bay Fire Protection District, was making.

“It is not in their nature to just stand by and be a spectator with a radio in their hand while waiting for additional resources to arrive,” Anello said in her statement.

Anello, along with a handful of wives and community members spoke or wrote on behalf of the safety of the firefighters and paramedics serving in the Bodega Bay Fire Protection District, which is currently facing possible closure due to dwindling revenue sources.

“Despite policy and procedure, despite industry standards and rules, if someone is in trouble, whether trapped in a burning building, my husband and his coworkers will risk everything to save a life,” Anello said.  

In recent months, the Bodega Bay Fire Protection District has responded to some dangerous calls: 

In early April, a car rolled off of Bodega Head. 

Eleven days later, a beloved community chef died in an accident on Highway 1.

And yesterday morning, a swimmer went missing off of Duncan’s Coast, just north of Bodega Bay.

Each time the truck is out, only one firefighter is left behind in the station. Nobody feels great about the option.But it’s all they’ve got right now.

“Leaving one firefighter behind is playing a dangerous game when it comes to emergency response and puts the members at a high risk,” Jack Thomas, president of the Professional Firefighters of Sonoma County, said during the March 22 Special Board meeting of the Bodega Bay Fire Protection District.

(c) Lisa R. Pruitt 2021

That special meeting came after Measure B – the community embroiled effort to raise funds for the fire district and west county high school district via transient occupancy tax – failed.

On the agenda of this special meeting? Budget cuts. And more specifically, staffing cuts. Again.

Rhianna Menzies, wife of Josh Menzies, a Bodega Bay firefighter and paramedic, was also getting her turn to speak. Josh has served with Bodega Bay for 6 ½ years and when he was hired, Rhianna said, the district was operating at a 3-0 staff but had a “healthy size of volunteers to make up the difference.”

“Just two years ago the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors agreed to provide funding for a fourth person and fast forward to the failure of Measure B,” Rhianna said. “Now Bodega Bay is forced to cut their staffing to 3-0 once again. But at what cost? Lives are put at risk when a crew is forced to wait for back up because in an emergency, every second counts.”

Over time, county and state policies have limited the resource bucket from which the fire protection district can draw. As a post Proposition-13 district, the district’s AB8 rate is 3.9%, or less than half of the county average. Additionally, the district is limited by what land is actually taxable, since state and county land use policies have rendered roughly 2/3 of the land within the district untaxable.

All told, despite sending more than $10 million to the county in property tax, Bodega Bay receives just $310,000 for its fire protection district. That $310,000 comprises 15% of the fire district’s entire budget. Another 60% comes from a voter approved parcel tax of $524 a parcel, likely one of the highest in the state, according to Dan Drummond.

(c) Lisa R. Pruitt 2021

The other 25% comes from grants and other one-type funding sources, often provided by the County of Sonoma. And still, the county found the district runs $900,000 short.

“That’s enough to keep us just exactly where we are,” Herzberg said.

A recent post about how rural ambulance and rescue services are struggling, particularly in the West, is here.  

Post Script from Sonoma Press-Democrat: on July 20, 2021, "Bodega Bay, other regional fire departments, get consolidation funding."   

Fighting Fires in Rural California

The tragic fires in California have been burning for a coupla' weeks now, and many of us in The Golden State have experienced at least minor consequences, e.g., bad air, from them. While wildfires in the West are often associated with rural places and exurbia, we do occasionally hear of evacuations from cities, such as that from the Goleta/Santa Barbara area a few days ago.

This morning 's New York Times gives us a different angle on fires in the rural West. It is the tale of the volunteer fire departments in tiny Elk and Comptche struggling to stave off fires in hard-hit Mendocino County, California with very little government assistance. (Both Elk and Comptche are wide spots in the road that don't even merit entries on U.S. Census Bureau website, but are noted on wikipedia, which lists Elk's population as 208).

Here's an excerpt from Carol Pogash's story:

When he spotted a small fire two weeks ago atop a steep hill outside this blocklong town, Charlie Acker, 57, the president of the local school board and a volunteer firefighter, jumped inside his stubby red 1965 fire truck and, with a skid and a prayer, drove up the nearly vertical incline to check out the situation.

Knowing that every other volunteer firefighter in this community of 100 residents was battling a larger blaze nearby, he used his cellphone to call his wife. She roused a crew of young kayakers who cater to tourists in this picturesque old logging town at the edge of the Pacific, some 140 miles north of San Francisco, and joined Mr. Acker on the line.

CalFire, the state fire agency, had promised to send a helicopter, but it ultimately was sent instead "to a higher rent district." When Acker sought more firefighters, he got 13 state prison inmates.

Pogash's story plays up not only the resourcefulness of these volunteers, but also the sense of community -- or gemeinschaft --associated with rural places. Pogash notes the contributions of local stations that let fire engines run tabs for gasoline; restaurants, caterers, and a market that provided free meals for firefighters; a hardware store that donated supplies; and landscapers that carried away brush at no charge. Locals donated more than $4,000 in cash to the effort, and many also participated in the effort in a hands-on way, with rakes and shovels.

Pogash writes:

Residents expressed both pride and shock that they mostly had to fend for themselves. “This community of rugged individualists pulling together is part of the reason we love where we live,” said Deborah Cahn, who with her family owns Navarro Vineyards. “But isn’t this what government is supposed to do?”

Now there's a rarity--at least in rural mythology: a rural resident invoking the need and desire for government assistance. Perhaps as owner of an upmarket winery, Cahn is not what I call a "traditional" rural resident. She may be a relative newcomer who does not share the anti-government attitudes typically associated with rurality. Indeed, it is possible that there are so few traditional rural folks in pockets of California, particularly these so close to the coast, that self-reliance is not so great a value there. Nevertheless, residents of Elk and Comptche certainly showed they could be self-reliant in a way that served not only their individual interests, but those of the entire community.

Rural addressing a "digital quilting bee"

I have been following the process of rural addressing in my home county, Newton County, Arkansas, as it is covered in the Newton County Times, and I found interesting a story from the Feb. 18, 2010 issue that described the process. Newton County is currently at the stage of assigning identifying numbers to county roads. The Arkansas Geographic Information Office (AGIO) is involved in the process, most recently in supplying maps of the county divided into nine areas "designated around the county's rural volunteer fire department service areas." Adrian Clark of AGIO is quoted as describing the project as a "digital quilting bee" with each county being a square in the statewide map, or "road files." The goal, he notes, is to be able to locate people, places and events by a physical address.

The role of the county's volunteer fire departments in this process is interesting--they are essentially the nodes at the center of each of the nine areas. Also, rural fire departments assisted in the process of locating and verifying roads on the state's master maps. Beginning in the northwest corner of the county with 1000, county roads will progress numerically around the county, to 9999 in the southwest corner. In each segment, the road numbers would begin closest to the main fire stations and radiate outward. Roads farther from the station would have higher numbers.

The story notes that "addressing is essential for modern services as home mail and parcel deliveries or enhanced emergency 911 telecommunications. Newton County is the last county in Arkansas to undergo the process." The county decided only last April to join this project, undertaken by AGIO.

Small town government run amok (Part VIII): New Mexico county literally loses (as in, misplaces) a fire truck

The Albuquerque Journal reported today out of Mora County, New Mexico, population 4500.

Fake invoices, stolen records, a firetruck gone missing and thousands of public dollars paid to family members for little to no work.

Those are just some of the findings against the Mora County Volunteer Fire Department issued by the state Auditor’s Office on Wednesday. The 86-page report details years of alleged fiscal misappropriations by county officials, which could eventually result in future arrests.

In total, investigators found an estimated $335,000 in unsubstantiated purchases and numerous violations committed by employees of the county, including potential embezzlement and fraud.

Here are quotes from the State Auditor, Brian Colon, and his report:

It appears a particular family and group of friends dishonestly benefited from the county’s taxpayers’ public funds.  

At the end of the day, it all just adds up to a complete breakdown in the system.  People who were placed in supervisory positions failed to do their job.

A fire truck valued at $81,000 is among the assets missing.  

The story also quotes county County Attorney Michael Aragon, who initially brought the issues to the attention of the state after his office completed an initial investigation in 2019. 

It’s even more offensive because these funds were specifically allocated to provide public safety and protection. It’s just heartbreaking.

My own theory on this is well known to those who read the blog:  too little human capital in such locales and therefore too few checks and balances on those with power.  You can find a few other posts about volunteer fire departments here on Legal Ruralism, too.  

Rural ambulance service under threat, especially in the West

This topic has been covered by two major media outlets in recent months.  First the New York Times' Ali Watkins reported a few months ago out of Wakashie County, Wyoming, population 8,533.

Then NPR's Aaron Bolton reported yesterday out of Dutton, Montana, population 316.  Bottom line:  

[S]agging [Medicare and Medicaid] reimbursement and volunteerism mean rural parts of the U.S. can no longer rely solely on volunteers but must find ways to convert to a paid staff.

The lack of anonymity and community aspects of this story caught my attention, though the following excerpt focuses on other practical and fiscal issues, too.  

Communities need to find ways to stabilize or convert their volunteer programs, or private services like his will need financial support to keep responding in other communities...

But lawmakers' appetite for finding ways to fund EMS is limited. During Montana's legislative session earlier this year, DeTienne [until recently Montana health department's EMS and Trauma Systems chief] pushed for a bill that would have studied the benefit of declaring EMS an essential service, among other possible improvements. The bill quickly died.

Back in Dutton, the EMS crew chief [Colleen Campbell] is thinking about her future after 17 years as a volunteer. Campbell says she wants to spend more time with her grandchildren, who live out of town. If she retires, there's no guarantee somebody will replace her. She's torn about what to do.

"My license is good until March of 2022, and we'll just see," Campbell says.

I can't help thinking about the parallel between EMS volunteers and volunteer fire departments, which have been the subject of many posts over the years.    

Postscript:  On July 8, NPR ran this story on the expanding urban-wildland interface in relation to fire danger, and it includes the topic of volunteer fire departments and their struggle to respond adequately to wildfires.

"Metrocentrism" in coverage of the Delta fire

Near Burney California, along Hwy 299, looking East, July 2016 

I had to cancel a weekend trip to Ashland, Oregon for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival because of the Delta Fire that broke on last Wednesday along I-5, just north of Redding.  A stretch of I-5 from there to about Dunsmuir was closed, with the detour taking folks east on Hwy 299 to Burney, then back northwest on Hwy 89 through McCloud to I-5.  At one point, my fellow theatre-goers and I considered leaving early enough to take the detour and still make it to Ashland for our 1:30 PM matinee, but I had driven both legs of this detour at some point in the last two summers and I knew that, even in optimal conditions, it would add hours to the journey.  That said, I contemplated getting to stay in the cute old hotel I had seen in McCloud this summer.  In the end, we cancelled our trip.  Just too many unknowns.

Typical Hwy 89 traffic, when not being used as I-5 detour 

Burney, California, July 2016.

I was intrigued to see the Los Angeles Times coverage of the I-5 closure discussed the impact it was having on businesses in Dunsmuir, a town of about 1,600 at the southernmost edge of Siskiyou County.  The headline read, "Interstate 5 still closed, businesses slumping as Delta Fire continues to burn north of Redding, Shasta County."  I, in contrast, had been thinking about the positive economic impact the closure was surely having on the towns of Burney and McCloud.  (While these towns are not that much smaller than Dunsmuir, they are farther removed  from the thrum of I-5, especially Burney).  Indeed, as I had plotted my summer 2018 travel through far northern California (partly documented here and here), I had looked for accommodation in Burney.  I found very little of the "charming" variety I was seeking and ultimately decided to stay in Dunsmuir instead. 

Burney Falls State Park, July 2018 

When I drove through Burney this summer, I noticed a sign as I approached the intersection of 299 (coming south/southeast on 89) that said "Welcome to Burney, A Full Service Community."  I regretted not stopping to take a photo of that sign, and I've since pondered what it is meant to convey.  It was situated so that tourists entering Burney having come from Burney Falls State Park would see it.  Perhaps the hope was that tourists would stop, knowing Burney has lots of services, like the laundromat and tire store I photographed when I passed through in 2016.  On that trip through Burney, I stopped at a Subway to get my son a sandwich.  I see they also have a McDonald's.  A quick yelp search revealed a couple of gas stations and the Pit River Casino.  I wonder if these businesses have been price gouging the tens (could it be hundreds?) of thousands of motorists trying to get from Redding to points north or from Oregon to Redding and points south.

A bit farther down the road from Burney toward Redding are Round Mountain (with its award-winning, path breaking Health and Wellness Center), Montgomery Creek and Bella Vista.  Of course, all of these communities have volunteer fire departments, if few other services.

Traveling northwest from Burney, the only significant town is McCloud, a charming community with stunning views of Mount Shasta.  The town celebrates it lumber industry past (and present?) in various ways, including its annual festival and in the school's mascot, the Logger.  When I passed through this summer, it definitely struck me as the kind of place I'd enjoy spending a few days, though not when the air quality is poor, as it is now.

July 2018

Yard sign, McCloud, California, July 2018

"Downtown" McCloud, California, July 2018

Law and Order in the Ozarks (Part LXVI): Fair time

The August 18, 2010 issue of the Newton County Times features mostly news of the county fair and nothing about law and order issues except a press release from the Arkansas Highway Safety Office about a state-wide "booze and belts" enforcement campaign.

In addition to pictures of Miss Newton County and the fair parade, and a feature on Newton County's Farm Woman of the Year, a front-page story reports on a Jasper restaurant, the Boardwalk Cafe, which has "gone solar" after being topped with 13 state-of-the-art photovoltaic panels that produce 3000 watts of sun power. The story indicates that the cafe is believed to be the first solar-powered restaurant in Arkansas.

In another front-page story, the two candidates for Jasper mayor are featured. One has been on the Jasper City Council since 1994 and is chief of the city's volunteer fire department. The other has also been a volunteer fire fighter. The story says he has been employed by the city for 10 years, but it does not indicate in what capacity.

Law and Order in the Ozarks (Part XVII): No crime in an ice storm

The past two issues of the Newton County Times have been focused on the ice storm that hit Arkansas and other parts of the mid-South in late January. Stories about the storm and its aftermath feature in both the Jan. 29, 2009 and Feb. 5, 2009 issues. In the former, which went to press on the second day of storm, there is a photo of ice-laden tree branches and the headline, "Winter storm makes travel treacherous." The story reports that the Sheriff's office set up an emergency command center at the jail. The county judge said that while no roads were closed, several roads were blocked by downed power lines and tree limbs. He reported that emergency vehicles were making rounds with the assistance of tire chains. A second front-page article reports a burn ban in effect until further notice and links the ban to the onset of the spring fire season. The fact that several homes in the county have recently burned is not mentioned.

The Feb. 5 paper features the headline, "County recovering from ice storm; fire ban still in effect." It also has front-page photos of the ice storm and a Jasper residence that burned the night the storm began. The story reports that some parts of the county were still without power a week after the storm. Somewhat ironically, the county's command center for responding to the storm had been moved from the jail to the Newton County Nursing Home after a back-up generator failed. To respond to the needs of the many county residents without power, volunteer fire departments that had back-up power were opened to serve as "warming centers." An emergency shelter was also established at the county's Senior Center, though only woman took advantage of it. She was reportedly given a bed at the nursing home.

For more on the storm's consequences in places that reflect various degrees of rurality, read stories here (also about Northwest Arkansas, with a focus on rural power) and here (about Kentucky).

Law and Order in the Ozarks (Part XVI): Keeping the jail open?

The big criminal justice story in the past few issues of the Newton County Times is once again the county jail. The headline in the Jan. 8, 2009 issue is "Plea being made not to close jail," and the story recounts the situation with the more-than-a-century-old county jail, which the state Jail Standards committee is seeking to close in March.

In November, county residents approved a 1/2 cent sales tax to finance construction of a new jail, but voters did not approve a second 1/2 cent sales tax to maintain the facility. The county is considering a second vote on this latter tax, but officials including the county's attorney, appear not to be moving quickly to get the matter on the ballot. Also, while the county's attorney has indicated that he plans to seek "leniency by state officials" to keep the jail open, he had not yet contacted them in early January. The story notes that this will be a difficult time to sell construction bonds.

In other stories:

• County officials were sworn in, including a new county judge who ran as an independent. All others are Republicans.
• The Jasper Volunteer Fire Department has received a $3K grant from the Arkansas Rural Fire Protection Program, but it is short on firefighters and is recruiting so that it can improve its ISO rating and lower the fire insurance premiums of residents. This seems particularly timely since the paper has reported three residential fires in recent weeks.
  
• A Dollar General store will open in Jasper, with 9100 square feet.
• Two county schools are receiving USDA grants to provide fresh fruit and vegetable snacks to students.
• The University of Arkansas Agricultural Extension Service is offering a 12-week StrongWomen Program for middle aged and older women two mornings a week at the Carroll Electric community room. The fee is $12. (Too bad this is being offered at a time when so many women are at work).

Law and Order in the Ozarks (Part CXXIX): High-profile violent crimes

Several high-profile crimes have been reported in the Newton County Times during the first half of 2021.   

First, the January 13, 2021 issue featured the front-page headline, "Two men arrested for suspected homicide, arson near Fallsville."  The story reports that the Deer and Ozone [volunteer]  fire departments were called to the scene of a house fire west of Fallsville around 3:35 pm on January 9.  "While battling the blaze, firefighters found the body of a male subject inside the residence.  It is believed to be that of the homeowner.  Evidence at the scene and subsequent information received confirmed investigators' suspicions that a homicide and arson ha occurred." 

A later story, in the March 3, 2021 issue, reports that charges were filed in the case.  The dateline is Oark:

Formal charges were filed Tuesday, Feb. 23, against a 61-year-old man and his 34-year-old son in connection with a suspected murder and arson event in early January, online court records show.

The story continues that the two are charged with first-degree murder and two counts of endangering the welfare of a minor, along with penalty enhancement of committing offenses in the presence of a child, while Steven Stepp (the 34-year-old charged) is also charged with arson, residential burglary, tampering with physical evidence, abuse of a corpse and felony with a firearm.   

The two men were identified after the deputies found a .22 caliber revolver in the front yard of the burned residence, along with a trail leading from the burned residence, where there were more .22 shells and empty beer cans.  

The Stepps were identified as the neighbors and they lived in separate residences on the same property.  

The story is not clear at all--is quite poorly written--but it appears that the Stepps were neighbors of the murdered man, Jerry Don Cantrell.  An interview with Cantrell's son indicated Cantrell was "having problems with the Stepps."  The story continues: 

At about 2:45 the following morning, Clarksville Police got a call from Angela Stepp and her daughter, Jessica Stepp, of Clarksville, who are related to Steven and Vernon [the suspects]. [The story later discloses that Angela is Vernon's sister-in-law] 

They told Clarksville Police that [the Stepp men] had told them they had killed man and burned his house.  They were told that Steven and Vernon [Stepp] would kill them if they told the police and that they were armed for the encounter with law enforcement, the affidavit said.

The involvement of the Clarksville Police is interesting because Clarksville is 16 miles from Oark, the story's dateline, and even farther from Fallsville, where these events occurred.  Clarksville is the county seat of Johnson County, which is also home to Oark, and Fallsville is in Newton County, to the north.  

The story later discloses that Cantrell had supervised visitation with Vernon Stepp's grandchildren.  He told police that Steven went to Cantrell's residence with him and Steven got into an argument.  Steven then left Cantrell's residence, while Vernon stayed.  Vernon said Steven returned a short time later with a .357 pistol and holster.  He said Cantrell produced a pistol-grip shotgun from under the kitchen table and pushed Vernon to the floor.  Vernon said Cantrell fired a shot over the Stepps' heads and Steven fired twice at Cantrell with the .357.  The suggestion is self-defense and/or Steven's defense of his father.  

Steven Stepp told police he burned the house because he was scared.

Will be interesting to see how this case is tried.   

The May 19, 2021 issue features a front-page headline, "Charges filed in matter of stolen school truck."  Here are the details:

Conner Ray Rigsbee, 22, was formally charged in Newton County Circuit Court, last May 5, on charges of theft by receiving, a Class C felony, and possession of drug paraphernalia, a class D felony.  

Court filings allege that last April 23, sheriff's deputy ... was dispatched to the Deer School to investigate a report of a 2006 Chevrolet pick up truck. 

The night before, multiple deputies were attempting to locate Rigsbee in the same area.  He had allegedly stolen a pistol from his mother earlier in the day.  

* * *

Rigsbee later stated he traded the gun and he bought tje truck from someone he had never met before.  Rigsbee was found to have in his possession a glass pipe having a crystal-like residue. 

The May 12 edition featured two more crime headlines:  "Man dies from self-inflicted gunshot wound," with the dateline St. Joe, and "Man sentenced for setting fire within [Buffalo National River]," dateline Fort Smith.  The former story is actually more interesting than it sounds at first blush because the man who shot himself did so after the vehicle in which he was a passenger--a vehicle driven by a woman--was pulled over by the National Park Service for routine traffic violations.   The man, during the "contact," was "determined ... to have possible, non-extraditable warrants from another jurisdiction, along with a lengthy criminal history involving firearms, drugs, assault and domestic violence."  Later, presumably after the suicide, the two were identified "as persons of interest in a shooting incident in Pulaski County [Little Rock]." 

The April 21, 2021 issue reports the headline, "Pregnant woman stabbed," for which the dateline is Harrison.  Here's the lede:  

Authorities say a man formerly from Missouri was in custody Friday on suspicion of stabbing his girlfriend Thursday night in Bellefonte.  

The story reports that the victim was 27 weeks pregnant with the perpetrator's child.  He reportedly attacked her "without provocation as she was lying on the couch."   He will reportedly face two counts of capital murder for the attack.  None of the wounds "damaged vital organs and weren't life threatening," though she suffered "multiple cuts and stab wounds to the arms, back, shoulder and face."  

Another story from that issue is headlined, "Man runs from deputy second time."  The lede states that the Newton Coutny sheriff "said a 33-year-old man on a four-wheeler ran from a deputy Wednesday night for the second time and was airlifted for treatment of injures."  Although on a four-wheeler, the driver took the sheriff's deputy on a chase through parts of two neighboring counties.  The man is wanted on multiple warrants from different jurisdictions, including for speeding and possession of controlled substance.  The "second time" in the heading refers to the man's arrest in August, 2020 after he failed to appear in court on charges from a pursuit in February of that year.  

A field of honor forever

On the surface, Shanksville, Pennsylvania seems like most other rural towns.  It has a population of 237.  93% of the population is white.  The town has a general store, a couple churches, a post office, and a volunteer fire station.  A short “drive” on Google Street View shows American flags proudly waving from flagpoles.  But thirteen years ago today, an open field just outside Shanksville became the site of utter tragedy. 

We remember. 

I remember.  On that Tuesday morning, I woke up for school and went to the kitchen. My father was there, staring at the television.  I was eleven years old at that time.  I had felt confusion, fear, and sadness.

United Airlines Flight 93 was one of four civilian airplanes that were hijacked by terrorists that day.  Flight 93 had departed Newark, New Jersey and was supposed to arrive in San Francisco hours later.  Instead, it crashed in a coal strip mine located less than ten miles from Shanksville. 

Some speculate that the hijackers were planning on using Flight 93 by striking the White House or the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.  But they failed.   

Their plans failed because of the heroic actions of the passengers who stood up against the terrorists.  Passengers fought back against the hijackers in an effort to regain control of the airplane., or at a minimum, keep the terrorists from crashing into the White House or the Capitol Building.  As a result, Flight 93 crashed right outside Shanksville.

Volunteer firefighters from Shanksville immediately arrived at the scene to aid any survivors.  A retired New York firefighter says,

[Shanksville residents are] Smalltown USA, but they have the biggest hearts.

After the September 11 attacks, people from across the nation arrived in Shanksville to pay their respects to the passengers and crew of Flight 93.  On the day that Osama bin Laden was killed in 2011, at least 675 visitors came to the site. 

Early today, people again gathered at the crash site to commemorate the thirteenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks.  Bells rang forty times in honor of those passengers and crew. Currently, the visitor center is under construction, but a stone wall is already engraved with the names of all the passengers and crew of Flight 93. 

Yesterday, the United States Congress awarded the Congressional Gold Medal to each person who was killed by the terrorist attacks.  For those who died on board Flight 93, there is a distinctive gold medal.  This medal “features an image of the sandstone boulder that marks the area of the impact site, and the hemlock trees at the edge of the field.”  The medal also describes the crash site as, “A common field one day, a field of honor forever.”

On the reverse side, forty stars representing the forty passengers and crew encircle the U.S. Capitol Building, perhaps to symbolize that the passengers and crew protected that structure.  Placed between the stars and the Capitol Building, the following is inscribed:

We honor the passengers and crew of Flight 93 who perished in a Pennsylvania field on September 11, 2001.  Their courageous action will be remembered forever.

As I flipped through the channels on this anniversary, I saw various documentaries that are offered to reflect on this incident.  These television programs primarily focused on the twin towers and the Pentagon, and repeated the devastating images of airplanes crashing into these structures.  For me it was too much to see the graphic images over and over again.  But one thing I noticed was that Shanksville and Flight 93 were rarely mentioned.  The media focused too much on the graphic images, and gave little to no attention to Shanksville and the heroes aboard Flight 93.

Here are my questions to you:  What do you remember from that day?  Do you remember much media coverage over the crash in Shanksville?  Or was most media coverage concerned about the twin towers in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.? 

Law and Order in the Ozarks (Part CXII): Groceries and guns

The Feb. 6, 2013 issue of the Newton County Times reports on several major happenings, with the lead story being the re-naming of Bob's AG Supermarket after its purchase by the Harp's chain, based in Springdale, Arkansas.  Bob's had operated in Jasper since 1967 and is the grocery store I grew up with, having also gone to school with Bob's children.  The good news is that Jasper still has a grocery store and residents are not forced to go to Harrison, 20 miles away, for groceries.  Read reports about the demise of rural grocery stores here and here.

In more substantive news, the Quorum Court (equivalent of a Board of Supervisors) adopted Resolution No. 13-01, "A Resolution Supporting the Individual Right to Bear Arms as Established by the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United Staes of America and Supported by the Laws of Nature and God for Survival and Self Defense."  The resolution is similar to a non-binding resolution approved by Arkansas's state lawmakers last month, urging the federal government not to limit Second Amendment rights.  Among other things, the resolution states:

WHEREAS, the individual right to keep and bear arms is fully germane to the right to life-survival and self defense and the right of liberty ...

At the same meeting the Quorum Court appropriated funds to the Sheriff's office for "computers and to help meet detention costs."  The appropriations included $3,603 from the a Northwest Arkansas Economic Development District grant for the purchase of computers that law enforcement officers can use in the field, as was phone signal boosters.  The Quorum Court also appropriated $793.48 received from the state for unclaimed property and $15,300 in general funds to the County Special Detention Fund.  The County has received $34,061.94 from the federal government for the "purpose of patrolling and rescuing on government lands, of which $4,200 is in service contracts for local fire departments, and the remainder is Tittle III budget funds for personal services.

In other news, the Arkansas Dept. of Rural Services awarded $61,000 to the Jasper Volunteer Fire Department for the purchase of a new tanker truck.

U.S. Congressman Tim Cotton has set a townhall meeting for February 9 at the Huntsville City Hall.

Law and Order in the Ozarks (Part XCI): Deer school coach arrested on drug charges

The top story in the Oct. 12, 2011 issue of the Newton County Times is about the arrest of the Deer High School basketball coach, John Thompson, age 33, on drug charges. Deer is a tiny school in the southern part of Newton County. It has been the subject of a number of posts this year, mostly discussing the school's efforts to avoid consolidation. Read more here and here. This is Johnson's first year of teaching at Deer School.

The story indicates that the 5th Judicial Drug Task Force and the Clarksville police arrested Thompson on Oct. 5 in Clarksville. Clarksville is in neighboring Johnson County, which has a population of about 25,000. Thompson is charged with "intent to deliver a controlled substance, pills." Officials have not specified the "type of controlled prescription narcotics" at stake. A Clarksville police official states:

Thompson was not part of a long-term investigation, only about a week or so. "He just popped up all at once. We were watching him. He wanted to buy pills."

Thompson posted $2500 bail two days after his arrest. He will appear in court on November 14.

I will be interested to see how the Deer-Mt. Judea School Board handles this matter given that basketball season--very important in these parts--is in full swing. Will they replace Thompson mid-year and, if so, how? I will also be interested to see if further investigation reveals any efforts by Thompson to sell drugs to the Deer students.

In other news:

• The county judge (chief administrative officer of the county) was injured in a logging accident in the community of Ben Hur. He is being treated at Cox hospital in Springfield, Missouri. The story is a reminder of the fact that many people in Newton County still make their living from timber.
• The Jasper Volunteer Fire Department is loaning flue brushes to all interested residents as part of National Fire Prevention Week.
• Community meetings with U.S. Postal Service officials regarding proposed closure of the post offices at Vendor and Ponca have been set.