Warning System

WASHINGTON - After Firestone tire failures on Ford Explorers led to a national outcry over vehicle safety, Congress ordered a watchdog agency to create an early warning system for dangerous automotive defects. With the computerized system expected to be running by spring, the automobile industry is pushing for tight restrictions on the release of the data - a measure that safety groups say could gut the reform enacted by Congress in 2000. The early warning database is known as ARTEMIS, or Advanced Retrieval (Tire, Equipment, Motor Vehicles)

I think a siren warning system in Howard County is needed. Carroll County has a siren warning system to warn its citizens of weather emergencies. I have written to the Howard County government suggesting this, but it has fallen on deaf ears. Hurricane season is coming. We've had tornadoes. People are not always near a computer to get alerts, nor does everyone have a cellphone on which to get alerts. It is time for Howard County to step up further to protect its citizens. And while we're talking about it, what is Howard County doing to adhere to the Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards (PETS)

PORT DEPOSIT -- When it rains, Rob Flayhart gets nervous. Even last week's showers, the result of a wave of storms moving slowly across the Northeast, had the mayor of this small town on the Susquehanna River feeling uneasy. He knows that heavy rains in Pennsylvania or New York can have serious consequences on his town of 700 residents. So Flayhart is anxiously awaiting President Bush's signature on a bill that would allocate money for an early-warning flood system serving towns along the 444-mile Susquehanna River - from Cooperstown in upstate New York to Havre de Grace at the top of the Chesapeake Bay. The bill contains $2 million to improve and operate a flood forecasting and warning system managed by the Susquehanna River Basin Commission, a multistate federal agency.

This Wednesday, Nov. 9, at 2 p.m., the FCC and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, will conduct the first-ever nationwide test of the national Emergency Alert System, or EAS. EAS participants broadcast alerts and warnings regarding severe weather alerts, child abductions and other types of emergencies. The EAS alerts are transmitted over radio and television broadcast stations, cable television and other media services. Although local and state components of the EAS are tested on a weekly and monthly basis, there has never been an end-to-end nationwide test of the system, according to FEMA.

PORT DEPOSIT -- When it rains, Rob Flayhart gets nervous. Even last week's showers, the result of a wave of storms moving slowly across the Northeast, had the mayor of this small town on the Susquehanna River feeling uneasy. He knows that heavy rains in Pennsylvania or New York can have serious consequences on his town of 700 residents. So Flayhart is anxiously awaiting President Bush's signature on a bill that would allocate money for an early-warning flood system serving towns along the 444-mile Susquehanna River - from Cooperstown in upstate New York to Havre de Grace at the top of the Chesapeake Bay. The bill contains $2 million to improve and operate a flood forecasting and warning system managed by the Susquehanna River Basin Commission, a multistate federal agency.

PORT DEPOSIT - While walking along this riverfront town's Main Street in September to see firsthand the flood damage from Tropical Storm Ivan, Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. turned to Mayor Robert Flayhart and said: "We were lucky. It looks like Port Deposit dodged the bullet, right?" Flayhart agreed. But it was through no kindness of Mother Nature that this 19th-century community escaped the full wrath of the storm. Much of the credit goes to the Susquehanna River Basin Commission, a little-known federal agency on the banks of the Susquehanna River in Harrisburg, Pa., that now faces its own threat - not from rising water, but from federal budget cuts.

PANGANDARAN, Indonesia -- The blare of ambulance sirens sparked rumors of a new tsunami yesterday, prompting hundreds of jittery residents to panic and flee for a time to higher ground as the death toll from Monday's devastating wave reached 531. Searchers continued to pull bodies from the rubble in this coastal resort on Java as survivors returned to the remnants of their homes to see what they could salvage. About 275 people remained missing, authorities said. Some might have been pulled out to sea when the 6-foot wave receded.

Government offices, libraries closed for holiday Harford County Government offices will be closed Friday for Independence Day. The Harford County Waste Disposal Center, Waste to Energy, senior centers, Harford Transit and Harford County Public Library all will be closed Friday. Visitation Day at farm bureau The Harford County Farm Bureau's annual Visitation Day is from 1 to 5 p.m. today at Jarrettsville Nurseries and North Harford High School. Both sites will offer visitors a look at farm animals and educational displays.

Harford Transit has announced that bus service is being extended to serve the Abingdon Catholic Charities Housing Complex on St. Clair Road in Abingdon beginning tomorrow. The new route will provide direct bus service to the complex from about 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays. Residents at the housing complex will have access to Harford Transit's bus services to various areas of the county. By providing a direct link on the bus routes 2 and 2A, Harford Transit will allow residents to travel to shopping areas, medical appointments, educational facilities, hospitals and recreational activities.

Russia apparently cannot afford to launch several new satellites for monitoring U.S. nuclear missile strikes, so the Congressional Budget Office has explored a truly strange gesture of post-Cold War goodwill:Have the United States pay to put six of the satellites in orbit -- "enough to give Russia 24-hour coverage of U.S. missile fields," according to a CBO letter obtained by The Sun.The Aug. 24 letter to Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, a South Dakota...

A nearly 20-year-old Maryland State Police helicopter that crashed in darkness and fog over the weekend, killing four people, was not equipped with an advanced electronic system that helps prevent pilots from slamming into the ground in low-visibility conditions, federal transportation officials said yesterday. Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board said they were still working to determine the cause of the crash in Prince George's County, the deadliest incident in the 38 years state police have been flying medical evacuation missions.

Government offices, libraries closed for holiday Harford County Government offices will be closed Friday for Independence Day. The Harford County Waste Disposal Center, Waste to Energy, senior centers, Harford Transit and Harford County Public Library all will be closed Friday. Visitation Day at farm bureau The Harford County Farm Bureau's annual Visitation Day is from 1 to 5 p.m. today at Jarrettsville Nurseries and North Harford High School. Both sites will offer visitors a look at farm animals and educational displays.

Harford Transit has announced that bus service is being extended to serve the Abingdon Catholic Charities Housing Complex on St. Clair Road in Abingdon beginning tomorrow. The new route will provide direct bus service to the complex from about 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays. Residents at the housing complex will have access to Harford Transit's bus services to various areas of the county. By providing a direct link on the bus routes 2 and 2A, Harford Transit will allow residents to travel to shopping areas, medical appointments, educational facilities, hospitals and recreational activities.

PANGANDARAN, Indonesia -- The blare of ambulance sirens sparked rumors of a new tsunami yesterday, prompting hundreds of jittery residents to panic and flee for a time to higher ground as the death toll from Monday's devastating wave reached 531. Searchers continued to pull bodies from the rubble in this coastal resort on Java as survivors returned to the remnants of their homes to see what they could salvage. About 275 people remained missing, authorities said. Some might have been pulled out to sea when the 6-foot wave receded.

PORT DEPOSIT -- When it rains, Rob Flayhart gets nervous. Even last week's showers, the result of a wave of storms moving slowly across the Northeast, had the mayor of this small town on the Susquehanna River feeling uneasy. He knows that heavy rains in Pennsylvania or New York can have serious consequences on his town of 700 residents. So Flayhart is anxiously awaiting President Bush's signature on a bill that would allocate money for an early-warning flood system serving towns along the 444-mile Susquehanna River - from Cooperstown in upstate New York to Havre de Grace at the top of the Chesapeake Bay. The bill contains $2 million to improve and operate a flood forecasting and warning system managed by the Susquehanna River Basin Commission, a multistate federal agency.

PORT DEPOSIT -- When it rains, Rob Flayhart gets nervous. Even last week's showers, the result of a wave of storms moving slowly across the Northeast, had the mayor of this small town on the Susquehanna River feeling uneasy. He knows that heavy rains in Pennsylvania or New York can have serious consequences on his town of 700 residents. So Flayhart is anxiously awaiting President Bush's signature on a bill that would allocate money for an early-warning flood system serving towns along the 444-mile Susquehanna River - from Cooperstown in upstate New York to Havre de Grace at the top of the Chesapeake Bay. The bill contains $2 million to improve and operate a flood forecasting and warning system managed by the Susquehanna River Basin Commission, a multistate federal agency.

This Wednesday, Nov. 9, at 2 p.m., the FCC and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, will conduct the first-ever nationwide test of the national Emergency Alert System, or EAS. EAS participants broadcast alerts and warnings regarding severe weather alerts, child abductions and other types of emergencies. The EAS alerts are transmitted over radio and television broadcast stations, cable television and other media services. Although local and state components of the EAS are tested on a weekly and monthly basis, there has never been an end-to-end nationwide test of the system, according to FEMA.

DON'T WE already have enough to worry about? There's global warming, a hole in the ozone layer, AIDS, the deficit, radon, killer bees in Texas, walking catfish in Florida . . .Now they tell us we've got to worry about asteroids, too.Asteroids, as you may recall from old Star Trek episodes, are the crumbs left over from creation. Asteroids are bigger than meteors and smaller than planets -- sort of mid-size lumps of rock that or bit the sun and that are anywhere from half a mile to 600 miles in diameter.

PORT DEPOSIT - While walking along this riverfront town's Main Street in September to see firsthand the flood damage from Tropical Storm Ivan, Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. turned to Mayor Robert Flayhart and said: "We were lucky. It looks like Port Deposit dodged the bullet, right?" Flayhart agreed. But it was through no kindness of Mother Nature that this 19th-century community escaped the full wrath of the storm. Much of the credit goes to the Susquehanna River Basin Commission, a little-known federal agency on the banks of the Susquehanna River in Harrisburg, Pa., that now faces its own threat - not from rising water, but from federal budget cuts.

Howard County is considering buying a system that would enable public safety officials to contact hundreds, or possibly thousands, of residents an hour by phone to disseminate information in an emergency. Known generally as "community call-back systems," the computer-based programs act like an automated phone bank. Several manufacturers offer different versions, but generally the systems can place calls to homes in a selected area and provide information to residents through a prerecorded voice message.