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Thursday, August 30, 2012
Countdown to November 2012: Provisional Voting
Whole Community Participation: CERT Teams in Action from March 2011.
CERT in Action!
Greenbelt CERT Joins Eastern Shore Search-and-Rescue Mission
On March 5th, 2011, 14 CERT members representing several Maryland CERTs assisted in a search for the remains of a missing person. The Delmarva Search and Rescue Group asked for CERT volunteers to join them in assisting the Maryland State Police in the search.
The police instructed CERT members to look for the remains of an elderly man with dementia who had left his farm house in 2006 armed with a pistol and had not been seen since. The police divided the woods near the man's home into four 70-acre sectors for the search and asked CERT members to look for skeletal remains, hairs, pieces of clothing, a metal leg brace, the gun, a belt buckle, or anything unusual.
The CERT worked with other groups in a carefully structured search line. They were issued metal detectors and also worked with officers with search dogs, being careful to always stay behind and downwind of the dogs. With such a large search operation, the high-visibility CERT vests proved especially useful, said Don Comis, a Greenbelt, Maryland CERT member who was part of the search team. "We needed high-visibility clothes to keep an eye on each other in the woods," noted Comis.
The search occurred in the woods bordering a corn farm in Princess Anne, Maryland, a 2.5-hour drive for most of the CERT volunteers. What motivated so many CERT members to show up for an all-day operation so far away on a Saturday? "For me, I guess it was the excitement of getting to do an actual search operation," said Comis, who in the past had also performed traffic control duties as part of his CERT activities.
Although the group was ultimately not able to locate the man's remains, the operation was a good opportunity for CERT members to practice skills and to highlight the vital role that CERT can play in assisting law enforcement and emergency personnel. Chief Jim Jackson of Delmarva Search and Rescue noted that "We had nothing but compliments on how well CERT did and the role they played in the mission. What I saw was a good indication that CERT is serious about the mission and roles they can play in that mission."
For more information, contact Ken Silberman, Greenbelt, Maryland CERT coordinator
Federal court rejects new Texas voter photo ID law
Associated
Press–Aug 30, 2012
WASHINGTON
(AP) — A federal court on Thursday rejected a Texas law that would require
voters to present photo IDs to election officials before being allowed to cast
ballots in November.
A
three-judge panel in Washington unanimously ruled that the law imposes
"strict, unforgiving burdens on the poor" and noted that racial
minorities in Texas are more likely to live in poverty.
The
decision involves an increasingly contentious political issue: a push, largely
by Republican-controlled legislatures and governors' offices, to impose strict
identification requirements on voters. Texas' voter ID rules, approved in 2011,
had been widely cheered by conservatives statewide.
Republicans
around the country are aggressively seeking similar requirements in the name of
stamping out voter fraud. Democrats, with support from a number of studies, say
fraud at the polls is largely non-existent and that Republicans are simply
trying to disenfranchise minorities, poor people and college students — all
groups that tend to back Democrats.
Thursday's
ruling almost certainly prevents the Texas law from going into effect for the
November election, but state Attorney General Greg Abbott said he will appeal
to the U.S. Supreme Court "where we are confident we will prevail."
In
the Texas case, the Justice Department called several lawmakers, all of them
Democrats, who said they detected a clear racial motive in the push for the
voter ID law. Lawyers for Texas argued that the state was simply tightening its
laws. Texas called experts who demonstrated that voter ID laws had a minimal
effect on turnout. Republican lawmakers testified that the legislation was the
result of a popular demand for more election protections.
The
ruling comes two days after a separate federal three-judge panel ruled that
Texas' Republican dominated state Legislature did not draw new congressional
and state Senate district maps "without discriminatory purposes."
"In
a matter of two days, the state of Texas has had its dirty laundry aired out
across the national stage," said Democratic state Rep. Trey Martinez
Fisher, chairman of the Mexican American Legislative Conference. "This
deals with the despicable issues of discrimination, voter suppression, these
are things that we're not proud of."
The
judges in the voter ID case are Rosemary Collyer, an appointee of former
President George W. Bush; Robert Wilkins, an appointee of President Barack
Obama; and David Tatel, an appeals court judge appointed by former President
Bill Clinton.
Tatel,
writing for the panel, called the Texas law "the most stringent in the
nation." He said it would impose a heavier burden on voters than a similar
law in Indiana, previously upheld by the Supreme Court, and one in Georgia,
which the Justice Department allowed to take effect without objection.
The
decision comes the same week that South Carolina's strict photo ID law is on
trial in front of another three-judge panel in the same federal courthouse. A
court ruling in the South Carolina case is expected before the November
election.
During
an appearance in Houston in July, Attorney General Eric Holder said Texas'
photo ID requirement amounts to a poll tax, a term that harkens back to the
days after Reconstruction when blacks across the South were stripped of their
right to vote. The attorney general told the NAACP that many Texas voters
seeking to cast ballots would struggle to pay for the documents they might need
to obtain the required photo ID.
Last
December, South Carolina's voter ID requirement became the first such law to be
rejected by the Justice Department in nearly 20 years. Republican presidential
candidate Mitt Romney said the attorney general made a "very serious
error" by blocking it. Romney said the requirement is easy to meet and
will stem voter fraud.
"We
don't want people voting multiple times" and "you can get a photo ID
free from your state. You can get it at the time you register to vote,"
Romney said.
Assistant
Attorney General Thomas Perez, the Justice Department's chief civil rights
enforcer, has said the Texas and South Carolina photo ID laws will hinder many
citizens, particularly minorities, in exercising their right to vote.
Across
much of the South, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is viewed as an overly
intrusive burden on the states — a relic once used by the Justice Department's
civil rights division to remedy discriminatory practices that no longer exist.
Under Section 5 of the act, Texas, South Carolina and all or parts of 14 other
states must obtain clearance from the Justice Department's civil rights
division or a federal court before carrying out changes in elections. The
states are mostly in the South and all have a history of discriminating against
blacks, American Indians, Asian-Americans, Alaskan Natives or Hispanics.
Last
year, new voter ID laws passed in Kansas, Mississippi, Rhode Island and
Wisconsin. In addition to Texas and South Carolina, Alabama and Tennessee
tightened existing voter ID laws to require photo ID. Governors in Minnesota,
Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire and North Carolina vetoed new photo ID laws.
This
year, Pennsylvania enacted its own law and voting-rights groups who filed suit
in an effort to stop it are appealing to the state Supreme Court. A hearing is
scheduled for Sept. 13 in Philadelphia. The Republican administration of Gov.
Tom Corbett says a U.S. Justice Department inquiry into the state's tough new
voter identification law is politically motivated. The department is requesting
the state's voter registration list, plus any database of registered voters who
lack a valid photo ID that the law requires voters to show before their ballots
can be counted.
In
Wisconsin, a county judge ruled in July that the state's new photo ID law
impairs the right to vote. In an appeal, Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van
Hollen, a Republican, is arguing that the ID law doesn't impose an undue burden
because voters can get free state ID cards.
Election
administrators and academics who monitor the issue said in-person fraud is rare
because someone would have to impersonate a registered voter and risk arrest. A
report by the Brennan Center for Justice determined that new voting
restrictions could suppress the votes of more than 5 million young, minority,
low-income and disabled voters.
Associated
Press writers Mark Sherman in Washington and Will Weissert in Austin, Texas,
contributed to this report.
DHS\FEMA. Lessons Learned Info Sharing at LLIS.GOV
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
One Years Supply? Healthy Babies Coalition Launches Text4Baby Contest
National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition Launches Text4Baby Contest
In
honor of Infant Mortality Awareness Month in September, Healthy Mothers, Healthy
Babies Coalition is announcing the text4baby
2012 Fall Sign-up Contest . Text4baby
is a
FREE, nationwide texting service delivering critical health and safety tips and
resources to pregnant women and moms with babies under age one. During the
contest period of September 1 through September 30, anyone who enrolls in
text4baby will be entered to win a year's supply of Johnson's Baby products,
courtesy of Johnson & Johnson, text4baby's Founding Sponsor. Moms can
register online , via Facebook , or by
texting BABY (or BEBE in Spanish) to 511-411. The Office of Minority Health is a
partner of the text4Baby campaign.
Whole Community: CERT Newsletter
Dear CERTers,
There’s a lot information in this GovDelivery. We hope you’ll find
all of it helpful and interesting.
Latest Issue of National CERT Newsletter
The CERT National Program Office is pleased to announce that Volume
4, Issue 3 of the CERT National Newsletter is now posted. Please click
on the following link to access the new issue:
https://www.fema.gov/library/viewRecord.do?id=6215. We hope you enjoy this issue of the newsletter which
focuses on CERT program activities in the central States. The previous issue
covered local program activities in the eastern States, and we hope that the
next issue will focus on the western States and territories (Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho,
Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, Pacific territories, South Dakota, Utah,
Washington, and Wyoming). If you have a newsletter story, please send
it now to cert@dhs.gov.
Thank you, and please keep
those stories coming wherever you live!
Please Update Your Registration Profile
Today!
Local CERT Program
coordinators/managers, if you haven’t refreshed your profile in the national
CERT registry in the past six months, please do it now! You’ve probably
conducted at least one more round of the CERT Basic Training, so please update
those numbers and other information on your program activities. Please be sure
to note if your program is working with teens/high school students or with
colleges/universities. To update your profile, please go to https://www.citizencorps.gov/cc/secure/index.do. If
you are new local CERT program, please register! You’ll find information and
assistance at the CERT Program Registration
Support Page at http://www.citizencorps.gov/cert/registry.shtm.
Supplemental Training Modules Support the Expanding CERT
Mission
The CERT National
Program Office is also very pleased to announce publication of six new
supplemental training modules, now available for download. The supplemental
modules will train CERT members in new skills and increase CERTs’ capacity to
support local emergency services and public safety. Local CERT program
managers/coordinators should determine which of the modules will address local
training needs. We hope that all of the modules will be helpful. The materials for
each module are in Word format and PowerPoint, and can be tailored to fit local
training needs. Review the
supplemental training modules on the Training Materials page of the National
CERT website or at the links below and start planning for your next supplemental
training today.
CERT Emergency
Communications
In this four-hour module, CERT members will learn: 1) the role of
CERT in communications during an activation; 2) how to use a communications
plan; 3) the use of different communication modes and strategies; and, 4) how to
use communication devices. https://www.fema.gov/library/viewRecord.do?id=6223
CERT Exercise Swaps
This module includes two four-hour units to train CERT teams to
design and conduct exercises for each other. CERT members will learn: 1) FEMA
exercise guidance and HSEEP concepts; 2) criteria for well-designed CERT
exercises; 3) steps and documents used in designing and conducting an exercise;
and, 4) challenges and smart practices for conducting a CERT exercise.
Participants will begin the exercise swap design process as part of the course
work. https://www.fema.gov/library/viewRecord.do?id=6361
CERT Firefighter Rehab
This four-hour module trains CERT members to safely set up and
perform the non-medical functions of firefighter rehabilitation. CERT members
will learn: 1) the definition of and need for firefighter rehab; 2) the
physiological threats to firefighters; 3) an overview of what happens at the
scene of a fire; and, 4) how CERT members set up and what they do in the rehab
area. https://www.fema.gov/library/viewRecord.do?id=6360
Flood Response for CERTs
This four-hour module will train CERT members to: 1) relate CERT
Basic Training skills to flood response; 2) identify a flood and the dangers of
working around floodwaters; 3) work safely and efficiently with sandbags; and,
4) construct a sandbag barrier correctly. https://www.fema.gov/library/viewRecord.do?id=6359
CERT Tools for Leadership Success
In this four-hour module, CERT members will learn: 1) how CERT
Basic Training concepts relate to leadership; 2) the characteristics, skills and
responsibilities of team leaders, and how leaders and team members interact; 3)
different styles of leadership and how they apply to CERT situations; and, 4)
examples of how CERT leaders run successful team operations. https://www.fema.gov/library/viewRecord.do?id=6225
CERT Traffic and Crowd Management
In this four-hour module, CERT members will learn: 1) how CERT
Basic Training skills relate to crowd and traffic management; 2) effective
communication strategies to direct traffic and crowds; 3) crowd management
skills and how to put together a basic crowd management plan; and, 4) using
traffic control devices to safely manage traffic in various situations and how
to put together a basic traffic management plan. https://www.fema.gov/library/viewRecord.do?id=6358
Please keep in touch!
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If you have a topic for another CERT supplemental training module, please let us know at cert@dhs.gov. Please put “Training Topic” in the subject line.
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Please let CERT practitioners and advocates around the country know your ideas about any aspect of CERT at the CERT Online Forum. Share your suggestions and comments at http://community.fema.gov.
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And if you know of others who would be interested in receiving CERT news and updates, please have them subscribe at the following website: http://www.citizencorps.gov/cert/subscribe.shtm.
Thank you!
Sincerely,
National CERT Program Office
Federal Emergency Management Agency
September is National Preparedness Month. Pledge to Prepare by joining the National Preparedness Coalition now! Empower yourself and help coordinate preparedness activities for your family, neighbors and co-workers and those with whom you may study or worship. |
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