Late night wake-up calls help

Late night wake up calls may have helped you

It was with great interest I read your viewpoint, “Hiding cell phone accident-data probably cost lives.” In addition, I do agree with many aspects of the dangerous elements regarding driver’s poor decisions, when it comes to driving in busy traffic, while trying to talk on cell phones. 

Yet, I would also like to point out that during the course of my seven-plus years as your Circulation Manager; each dedicated driver, including several with extensive military and / or law enforcement backgrounds, who ever headed down to your Burley Reminder printing press, all admitted at some point; to having a hard struggle staying awake at the wheel. 

As we realized this problem, I would sometimes call the drivers, as they were en route back to the valley with fresh papers, on their long lonesome haul. We would do our best to strike up stimulating conversations, and to see if any new problems had cropped up during the night.

Some were thankful for this protocol and I would encourage any of your current and future managers to follow the same procedure.

In addition, it will be refreshing to read the Express, not suppressing this cell-phone safety-counterpoint.

If beetle infestations occur at Galena Summit, it makes for a stronger pro-cell tower argument, as this will have then made the area even more avalanche-prone, in a territory where young sports enthusiasts have already lost their lives after suffering needless communication delays.

I used to feel much the same way as the anti-monopine huggers. Then my mindset matured on that dark day when, I saw two young girls have their lives agonizingly stripped away from them, for want of an ambulance - if not for saving their lives, at least for relieving their horrible pain and that of their family's.

In this context, the cultural values of our SNRA should include providing these long overdue and potentially lifesaving cell towers.

It is great that an emergency landline will soon be installed at the Galena Overlook. About a dozen years ago, some friends and I stood at that exact spot witnessing a lightning-started forest fire spreading quickly, and wondered if we should dangerously rush down to the Smiley Creek payphones to report it, as none of the twenty witnesses standing there had any way of knowing if the Forest Service had yet been informed.

But what happens if crash victims are nowhere near the soon-to-be installed landline, or if it's disabled, or the crash disables the victims and their vehicles, so that they can't possibly cowboy up to it? In the event of one those probable cases, wouldn't most of us wish that we had the foresight to implement a dynamic back-up plan, logically starting with cell towers, as now most travelers use cell phones?

While it's true that our forebears did not use cell phones, as they recklessly cowboyed over Al Ross's ancient pass; back then they didn't have to contend with monster rigs barreling down the icy highway straight towards each other, at 65 mph +. And why is it that none of the fossilized-Flintstonians came out opposing the raising of the SNRA's Highway 75 speed limit to sixty-five, refusing to acknowledge the inherent and widely documented danger involved in operating a motor vehicle on narrow, twisting mountain roads at such high irresponsible speeds?

Moreover, disinformation in the above letter claims, "At best the proposed tower will provide a narrow band of cell coverage near the top of Galena Summit." This is a Baldy-faced lie, as the Galena tower will greatly fill in the gaps, not serviced by town towers. Extensive surveys conducted for the strongly capitalistic tower company have shown, that another simple cell tower strategically placed, way up yonder in the piney woods behind SNRA Headquarters will greatly augment 95% of the remaining most used recreation areas.

The above letter also states, "Proponents speak broadly of public safety concerns, but ignore the fact that the landline option is in development. They also refuse to acknowledge the inherent and widely documented danger involved in operating a motor vehicle on narrow, twisting mountain roads while talking on a cell phone." This makes me wonder how close these four expert authors have actually followed the issue. Either these pillars of the community are refusing to acknowledge, or have missed my widely published commentary; Cell phones, not cell towers, are the problem:

www.magicvalley.com

blog.sunvalleyonline.com - comment-66873

One of my friends wondered why Homeland Security would want to be involved with SNRA communications. Are we forgetting, the important dignitaries who often enjoy visiting, Idaho? Besides the annual Allen & Company event, in the last five years plenty of powerful figures have visited this area, including John Kerry, Dick Cheney, Hillary Clinton, The President of Mexico, Tony Blair, One of Google's founders - the list is long.

Will Secret Service pointmen politely laugh, when they inform future Presidents who might want to visit this special place, that the SNRA is sadly out-of-bounds for their enjoyment, because we don't have simple back up plans in place for their important safety, and we're crippled by non-coverage without these interactive pillars for our community?

Idaho Governor again wholeheartedly agrees with Mr. Banholzer

http://www.mtexpress.com/index2.php?ID=2005124281&var_Year=2009&var_Month=01&var_Day=07

The Cell Catcher in the Galena Rye

“Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some unconnected game in this big field of SNRA and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody’s around - nobody big, with cell phone reception I mean - except me. And I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the reception area cliff- I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That’s all I do all day. I’d just be the cell catcher in the SNRA and all. I know it’s crazy, but that’s the only thing I’d really like to be.”

The Cell Catcher in the Galena Rye

"Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some unconnected game in this big field of SNRA and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around - nobody big, with cell phone reception I mean - except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the reception area cliff- I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I do all day. I'd just be the cell catcher in the SNRA and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be."

Got a twofer in today’s Idaho newspapers

The first one was called TVs effects may be much greater than we realize. (Letter 4, plus comments at bottom)

A funny thing about this is that when I forwarded this article onto my psychology instructor from last year, I e-mailed her the comments link, rather than the story link. After a few seconds, I realized that the distraction that probably contributed to this boo-boo was the TV! Usually I have some soft cable radio playing in the background, but this week with the Olympics going on, seeing Michael Phelps shower alongside Dana Torres greatly distracted me.

The second letter was another cell zinger. This time the Times-News titled it Cell phones, not cell towers, are the problem. I had tried to submit this letter as an extended 540-word commentary, but they didn’t go for it. I wasn’t sure that I could whittle it down enough, so that it would still hold all of my strong points, but I did my best. The only strong point I left out was about how sometimes we can use cell phones as a tool for keeping drivers chipper and alert on long road trips, by starting up a stimulating conversation with a friend for a few minutes, when highway fatigue start slipping in.

Phrases not used in the final commentary can still be used later for a rebuttal or another commentary. It’s always good to have a few well thought out counterpunches at ready stand-by in the event some harsh critic attacks your article.

Civilizing cells bells

While the Galena Summit anti-cell-tower crowd may have a legitimate complaint about the potentially dreadful manners of drivers who might blab on the phone, while distractedly driving over Galena’s slippy slope, when taken in context with the multitude of benefits that a lifesaving tower could provide, they have blown this argument out of proportion.

As with most tools, we can use cell phones for a mix of good and bad purposes. Parents can call to check on their children during extended voyages, to remind them how tenderly they care about them, whereas somebody barreling in the opposite direction might be verbally abusing a victim at the end of their line.

If we become receptive to a Galena cell tower, it will then become drivers choices to use their potentially lifesaving phones in responsible ways - just as in ranges where cell phones already work. Travelers will have the option to ignore their phones if they ring on dangerous curves, or even turn them off, until there is a real emergency.

We can utilize cell phones as lifesaving tools, even on dangerous icy roads. I have worked an abundance of nighttime delivery jobs, where we would sometimes fight the sleepies, driving on mostly barren roads into the wee hours, without much stimulation besides a scratchy AM radio. Soon, my co-workers and I discovered that by simply calling each other to check in and converse for a few minutes, over our hands-free sets, that is was usually stimulating enough, to help keep us safely awake for the remainder of the night.

While some tower-naysayers claim that life-threatening incidents around Galena are exceptionally minimal, readers need simply Google Galena Idaho Crash to discover hundreds of harsh scenarios, which would have likely ended with outcomes that were more fortuitous, had not this zero-reception-bar area, been crippled by non-coverage.

One member of the anti-tower throng claims that if there is an incident, then it’s only ten minutes to the Smiley Creek phones. That zippy statement is shortsighted, as it does not consider one-car rollovers, Forest fires raging over both lanes, head on crashes or avalanches that block both lanes and renders vehicles (and drivers) inoperable, and a dozen of other unfortunate circumstances, “that nobody could have ever foreseen.”

When our miracle technology, better blankets the SNRA’s beautiful woodlands, will drivers use their phones responsibly? Perhaps some will not. It’s easy to envision a few who will pay less than full attention on hairpin turns, while stupidly yammering away on cell phones. Often these types are the same oblivious individuals who, while steering with one finger, might munch on a slippery pickle sandwich, sip a cold pop, apply an emergency splotch of eye shadow, or blast the radio too loud to hear an ambulance coming.

How people decide to use or misuse, the great gift that the Campbell’s and Idaho Tower are trying to provide, is a mostly separate issue, from the tower itself. If we discover that people senselessly chattering away while driving, has become an Idaho epidemic, than we should follow other states lead, and mandate hands-free use for travelers in motion. Meanwhile we Idahoans should be more thankful for the potential of this far-reaching miracle technology and for the great mixture of people who make it possible.

~

A dozen reasons why…

Lifesaving cell towers should be welcomed into our wilderness

A dozen years back, some friends and I witnessed the immediate aftermath of a horrific head-on crash, twelve miles north of Ketchum. A little girl from Challis was splayed out bleeding profusely on the centerline and another trapped in one of the wrecked cars. Several locals stopped to help, but we found nobody in the group had yet called for an ambulance. I sped back to the SNRA Headquarters to call 911, but unfortunately, both young girls died from their wounds. I often wondered if they might have survived, had we been able to notify emergency technicians sooner via cell phone. As we saw that dreadful day, when it comes to harsh scenarios like this, every second counts.

Soonafter, I vowed to get a cell phone and keep it with me, fully charged and with a spare battery at all times, in event of a similar crisis. Since then, local backcountry-sports- enthusiasts have been snared and even killed by avalanches. Mountain bikers have flipped over their handlebars and smashed their faces onto unforgiving rocks or been accidentally pierced by sharp hardwood branches. Horses have thrown riders and gnarly motorcycle incidents have whisked away too soon, some of our most beloved friends and family members. All this within close proximity to Galena and the surrounding SNRA.

Undoubtedly, some of these incidents would have had more fortuitous outcomes had not this cell phone area been crippled by non-coverage.

Moreover, automobiles have been quickly caught in ravines or pinballed off roadside snow-banks and then back into traffic, spinning at 65 mph to uncertain fates on Highway 75. Countless campers with their vehicles have tangled together with outsized migrating mammals. There have been more than a handful of bad boating incidents, where a lifesaving cell phone might as well have been tossed to the barren wind, due to zero reception bars.

Hunters have become bewildered in the frozen tundra and skiers wedged unwell in tree wells. Hardy lumberjacks have snapped bones in the cold Pole Creek range. Once, about ten years back, a group of us sight-seeing at the Galena overlook saw a lighting started fire, blazing in the mountains and didn’t know if we should rush off to Smiley Creek to alert the authorities, having no way of knowing if they had yet been informed.

Having a few cell towers dot the landscape seems a small price to pay when the lifesaving benefits are considered. We should allow no more tower delays, because as we’ve learned all too well, every second counts. Simply letting our evermore-bustling Galena area helplessly remain in the telephonic Flintstone ages is not the answer. Rather, we should receptively embrace these beacons of safety -and if Idaho Tower can stealthily integrate, some of these lifesaving communications relays into our SNRA’s woodlands, then the more power to them!

Mostly, the Campbell’s and Idaho Tower should be lauded for their adroit business acumen, positively shifting this dark reception spot of Idaho into a soaring new age.

Some in the community are welcoming these long overdue beacons-of-safety cell towers.

Over a dozen years ago, some friends and I witnessed a horrific crash, twelve miles north of Ketchum. Several people were severely injured in a head-on crash and nobody in the group had yet called for an ambulance. I sped back to the SNRA to call 911, but unfortunately, two young girls died from their wounds. I often wondered if they might have survived, had the emergency technicians been notified by cell phone sooner, as every second counts in these harsh situations.

Soonafter, I vowed to get a cell phone and keep it with me, fully charged and with a spare battery at all times, in event of a similar emergency. Since then, local sportspersons have been caught and even killed in avalanches several times. Mountain bikers have flipped over their handlebars and smashed their faces onto unforgiving rocks or been accidentally pierced by sharp hardwood branches. Horses have thrown riders and motorcycle incidents have whisked away too soon, some of our most beloved friends and family.

Undoubtedly, some of these incidents would have had more fortuitous outcomes had not our unenlightened cell phone area of Idaho been crippled by non-coverage.

Moreover, there is more: Automobiles have been quickly caught in ravines or pinballed off roadside snow-banks and then back into traffic, spinning at 65 mph to uncertain fates on the icy roadway. Countless campers and their vehicles have tangled together with outsized migrating mammals. There have been more than a handful of bad boating incidents, where a lifesaving cell phone might as well have been tossed to the barren wind. Hunters have become bewildered in the frozen tundra and skiers wedged unwell in tree wells. Once a group of us standing at the Galena overlook saw the immediate aftermath of a lighting started fire, blazing in the mountains, with nobody knowing if the forest service had yet been called.

Having a few beacons of safety seems a small price to pay when the lifesaving benefits are considered. Letting our evermore-bustling Galena area remain a cell phone acme of barrenness is not the answer in this age. As dingy as it may sound, we should embrace these disguised pine tree lifesaving cell towers with receptive warm hugs.