State Agency Urges Pennsylvanians to Prepare for Hurricane Irene

by Jonathan Weaver

As Pennsylvania residents are recovering from experiencing earthquake tremors earlier this week, they might quickly have to prepare for hurricane winds and heavy rains this weekend.

Hurricane Irene is expected to travel up the East Coast this weekend and impact state residents, prompting Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) Director Glenn Cannon to warn homeowners yesterday.

“The approaching hurricane means all residents should be sure emergency supplies are ready in our homes, and to secure outdoor items so they don’t cause more damage when the winds come,” Cannon wrote in a press release. “As this week’s historic East Coast earthquake reminded everyone, being prepared at all times is critical.”

PEMA Deputy Press Secretary Ruth Miller said the agency has had conference calls with the National Weather Service all week and updated weather conditions as of Thursday evening.

“From what I understand through the National Weather Service, we expect to start feeling the effects of the storm sometime Saturday afternoon/evening in the eastern part of the state,” Miller said. “The track of the storm could still change if it moves further out to sea. If the storm moves further east, the impact will be lessened in Pennsylvania.”

Miller said time is a luxury Pennsylvanians have and shouldn’t waste it.

“People should take the time now to prepare emergency kits for their home and create emergency plans for their families,” Miller said. “With a natural disaster like this, once the danger has passed, emergency responders can not reach everyone right away, so people really need to be prepared to survive in their own homes without outside assistance for at least three days.”

A disaster preparedness kit includes:

- flashlights and extra batteries

- portable, battery-operated radio and extra batteries

- a first-aid kit and manual

- emergency food and water

- non-electric can opener

- essential medicines and prescriptions

- cash, credit cards and important legal documents

- sturdy shoes

Regardless of area, Miller encouraged all residents to be prepared for this weekend’s storm activity.

“The earthquake earlier this week, we couldn’t predict and didn’t know was happening. But this we can, and emergency preparedness starts at home,” Miller said. “We encourage all citizens, whether you live in the eastern part of the state that may have more impact than someone in the western part of the state, we encourage everyone to take care of those things now.”

If residents are ordered to evacuate, they should do so without hesitating, and should take important papers with them including:

 - checkbooks;

 - driver’s license;

 - credit card information;

 - birth certificates;

 - Social Security cards or other forms and documents proving ownership/identity

Agency officials urge residents to never drive into low-lying areas or over roads and bridges that are already under water. Just a few inches of moving water can sweep away the average car.

Individuals and families need to have a communication plan in place in order to contact or find each other if separated. As the storm approaches, residents should listen to and closely follow instructions from local and state authorities.

For more information on emergency preparedness, residents are urged to visit www.ReadyPA.org or call 1-888-9-READYPA (1-888-973-2397).

Updated emergency information can also be found at alert.pa.gov, where residents can sign up for text messages and/or e-mails.

So far, Hurricane Irene will be the only one to impact Pennsylvania. But hurricane season runs through November 1.

The History of Flag Day

The flag erected at the crossroads of Routes 28/66/422 by Furniture World East in Kittanning flies high above the hills as a monument to our freedom.

(Information edited from www.usflag.org)

The idea of an annual day specifically celebrating the Flag is believed to have first originated in 1885. BJ Cigrand, a schoolteacher, arranged for the pupils in the Fredonia, Wisconsin Public School to observe June 14 (the 108th anniversary of the official adoption of The Stars and Stripes) as ‘Flag Birthday’. In numerous magazines and newspaper articles and public addresses over the following years, Cigrand continued to enthusiastically advocate the observance of June 14 as ‘Flag Birthday’, or ‘Flag Day’.

On June 14, 1889, George Balch, a kindergarten teacher in New York City, planned appropriate ceremonies for the children of his school, and his idea of observing Flag Day was later adopted by the State Board of Education of New York. On June 14, 1891, the Betsy Ross House in Philadelphia held a Flag Day celebration, and on June 14 of the following year, the New York Society of the Sons of the Revolution, celebrated Flag Day.

Following the suggestion of Colonel J Granville Leach (at the time historian of the Pennsylvania Society of the Sons of the Revolution), the Pennsylvania Society of Colonial Dames of America on April 25, 1893 adopted a resolution requesting the mayor of Philadelphia and all others in authority and all private citizens to display the Flag on June 14th. Leach went on to recommend that thereafter the day be known as ‘Flag Day’, and on that day, school children be assembled for appropriate exercises, with each child being given a small Flag.

Two weeks later on May 8th, the Board of Managers of the Pennsylvania Society of Sons of the Revolution unanimously endorsed the action of the Pennsylvania Society of Colonial Dames. As a result of the resolution, Dr. Edward Brooks, then Superintendent of Public Schools of Philadelphia, directed that Flag Day exercises be held on June 14, 1893 in Independence Square. School children were assembled, each carrying a small Flag, and patriotic songs were sung and addresses delivered.

In 1894, the governor of New York directed that on June 14 the Flag be displayed on all public buildings. With BJ Cigrand and Leroy Van Horn as the moving spirits, the Illinois organization, known as the American Flag Day Association, was organized for the purpose of promoting the holding of Flag Day exercises. On June 14th, 1894, under the auspices of this association, the first general public school children’s celebration of Flag Day in Chicago was held in Douglas, Garfield, Humboldt, Lincoln, and Washington Parks, with more than 300,000 children participating.

Adults, too, participated in patriotic programs. Franklin K. Lane, Secretary of the Interior, delivered a 1914 Flag Day address in which he repeated words he said the flag had spoken to him that morning: “I am what you make me; nothing more. I swing before your eyes as a bright gleam of color, a symbol of yourself.”

Inspired by these three decades of state and local celebrations, Flag Day – the anniversary of the Flag Resolution of 1777 – was officially established by the Proclamation of President Woodrow Wilson on May 30th, 1916. While Flag Day was celebrated in various communities for years after Wilson’s proclamation, it was not until August 3rd, 1949, that President Truman signed an Act of Congress designating June 14th of each year as National Flag Day.