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After a major earthquake or other disaster, communicating with loved ones and local emergency services becomes a great concern to everyone. More than likely the telephone landlines and cell towers will be non-functional for at least a few days, so we might look to amateur radio operators to help fill the void. Here are a few examples of disasters where they have played a important communications role: 9/11: "Hams" helped coordinate emergency services and pass along vital information when some local communications proved unreliable. Hurricane Katrina: The largest disaster response by U.S. amateur radio operators was during Hurricane Katrina. More than a thousand ham operators from all over the U.S. converged on the Gulf Coast in an effort to provide emergency communications assistance. Subsequent Congressional hearings highlighted the amateur radio response as one of the few examples of what went right in the disaster relief effort. Hurricane Frances: On Sept. 2, 2004, ham radio was used to update weather forecasters with information live from the Bahamas. On Dec. 26, 2004, an earthquake and resulting tsunami across the Indian Ocean wiped out all communications with the Andaman Islands except for a single amateur station that provided a means to coordinate relief efforts. The 2008 Sichuan China Earthquake: Amateur radio operators in the People's Republic of China provided emergency communications after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and U.S. hams did similar work following Hurricane Ike. Boston Marathon officials relied on ham operators when the cell phone systems were instantly overloaded. Whether it's a big station, or small and portable, hams enjoy the security of knowing they can get a message through in almost any situation without depending on a fragile infrastructure that can fail or be overloaded. With the support of the Four Seasons at Beaumont Emergency Preparedness Program and HOA Board, we feel confident that at least a basic level of communications can be provided to the community. Soon we hope to have a centralized communications facility operational and ready for "the big one." Our website is W6FSB.com. Our meetings are on the last Friday of the month at 10 am in the Lodge Ballroom. See you there! ~ Pete Hersey, KJ6NRR 34 FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | APRIL 2014 | CLUBS & GROUPS CLUBS & GROUPS | FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | APRIL 2014 35 Does the idea of sitting with strangers and sharing your private thoughts frighten you or cause you to shut down? This is not at all surprising. Most of our generation has grown up with the idea that nothing gets shared out of the family, that having a "stiff upper lip" is appropriate, and that crying is bothersome and inappropriate. But sometimes what our families taught us does not serve us well now. Most of us say and do things every day that might not have been tolerated in our families when we were growing up. But change is difficult, no matter how much we might want it. And when we are not sure we want it, change becomes onerous. But far from impossible. Several men have approached me to talk about how they struggled with grief, and how they won that struggle. The first step was to acknowledge to themselves that they needed help, then to share that need with someone else. They found that by saying out loud that they were struggling, they could move to the next step which was to find a modality that was acceptable to them. In most cases a group, especially a bereavement group, was what they chose. There they learned that they were not alone in their struggling, that others were experiencing the same difficulties especially with making their struggle more public, and that their sense of masculinity was enhanced rather than diminished by learning to open up and walk the path lighted ahead by others. This process is shared by most of us, men and women alike. So whether you find yourself unable to stop crying, or you wish you could shed a tear, or you simply want some acceptable company, come to our group. If you don't like it there is no obligation to return. If you want to join us, we welcome you. We meet in the Arts and Crafts room at the Lodge on Mondays from 1 to 3 pm. We make the room private. We take a pledge of confidentiality. You can simply show up at 1 pm or you can reach me by telephone at (951) 922-0934 or email at lauriemlarson425@ gmail.com. All contacts are confidential. ~ Laurie Larson Bereavement Group Amateur Radio Club Sydney Poitier, noted Oscar winning actor, now 87, still sits down every day and writes stories that often become books. It's part of his daily routine. Here's an excerpt of what he said: "Unfortunately, I came from a culture in which nothing was written down, and I had to depend on whatever the oral history was. A comment here, a comment there. I don't think we tell our stories enough, and I think it is absolutely essential that we do – and keep the pace of doing it as frequently as we can. When we die, we are going to be taking with us to the grave an enormous amount of information, experience, points of view, positions, attitudes. We should leave some of those parts of ourselves behind." The message is clear: age and activity should never get in the way of writing your family history. Start with yourself, and as memories come to mind, add various events and family members. Little by little your history will evolve. So whether young or old, there's no better time to get started than now. Info., Willis Fagan, Club Captain, (951) 769-4482, wefbev@verizon.net. ~ Willis Fagan Discovery Club At our March meeting, we welcomed two new members and announced a promising rapprochement with two outside Writers' Groups for collaboration on special projects; for example, between a music composer and one of our lyricists. The priority is given to a music composer from here at Four Seasons. Two presentations were offered and discussed by the club members. Pat Cummings introduced several of her books published on religious and spiritual themes and explained how she learned to do it. She said she is enthusiastic about it, which she is literally as the Greek origin of the word indicates: en theos = in God. The second presentation was made by Willis Fagan on "Family History." He showed the book he wrote about his own family's history and traditions, describing his journey through his research back to the fourth generation and his writing about it with accuracy and emotion, so that his book will be interesting to read and easy to use by his family's next generations. We will continue to meet every first Tuesday of the month at 1:30 pm. Visitors are welcome. Please contact josephlaurin@ verizon.net for more information. ~ Joseph Laurin Writers' Club Jack Simonson of Shining Rock passed away on February 15, 2014. He was born on December 6, 1930 and lived in Four Seasons for five and a half years. He is survived by wife Lynette Simonson and sons Jay, Kurt and Blake. Farewell friend…

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