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Planning
for our Future
Lawrence Planning Director Michael
R. Sweeney
 New Year
Planning
After
the holidays one thing to keep in mind and take stock of
is your family’s preparedness to deal with an
emergency situation at home.
This could range from a house fire, to localized flooding
to trying to prepare for more drawn out situations like a
pandemic flu.
A number of websites, such as the Massachusetts Emergency
Management Agency and the Federal Emergency Management
Agency’s website at www.fema.gov provide easy to
understand for families seeking to better prepare
themselves for such emergency situations.
Making copies of important paper work and working with
other family members to create a phone tree or simply
making sure that information about a family member’s
doctor and prescriptions are readily available can be
helpful to put together before an emergency situation
presents itself. The more each of us can do to ensure
that we are ready to deal with a vary of situations, the
better we are as a community.
For many people this can be a scary topic to deal with,
but present day realities require us to be proactive and
many people find that by addressing the things they can
control, it helps to put a manageable framework on
difficult situations. FEMA’s website offers an
excellence guideline to help families prepare.
Learning ahead of time where the utility and water
shut-offs are in your home and creating a clear
communication plan for family members in the event of
emergency can go a long way during a crisis situation.
You should take a few moments after the New Year to
familiarize yourself with these guidelines and see how
prepared you are. You should also check the batteries in
the fire alarms in your home.
Finally, if you have not already, take the time to go out
and get yourself a flu shot.
Remembering
Joann Weber
A few years ago I had the pleasure of spending part of my
summer in the announcer’s booth at LeLacheur Park.
Working as a color commentator on the radio at WCAP radio
(980 AM) for the Lowell Spinners was a great joy and
privilege. I met a number of people from WCAP and the
Lowell Spinners who were the nicest people. They were
professional, warm and sharing.
One of the people that I had an opportunity to enact with
was Joann Weber, owner of the Lowell Spinners.
She was a gracious, warm and engaging human being who
went out of her way to make you feel welcomed and at
home, not in the phony way that so many people today
seemed to pride themselves on. She was genuine and
sincere and it came through the minute you met her. She
was just a regular, down to earth person who loved
baseball, loved her Lowell Spinners and went out of her
way to let the fans of the team know how much she
appreciated them.
Joann Weber died recently after a three year battle with
pancreatic cancer.
Survived by her husband Drew Weber, her daughter Kate and
son Michael Weber, I know her presence will long be felt
at LeLacheur Park.
The Weber family have asked those who want to remember
Joann to make a donation to the Lustgarten Foundation
which is involved in Pancreatic Cancer research or to a
charity of your choice in Joann’s memory. To make a
donation visit them on line at www.lustgartenfoundation.org or call 1-866-789-1000.
*Send your questions comments to ValleyPatriot@aol.com
The December, 2006
Edition of the Valley Patriot
The Valley Patriot is a Monthly
Publication.
All Contents (C) 2006, Valley Patriot, Inc.
We publish 10,000 newspapers and distribute in Andover,
North Andover,
Methuen, Haverhill, Chelmsford, Georgetown, Groveland,
Boxford,
Lawrence, Dracut, Tewksbury, Hampton & Salisbury
Beach, and Lowell.
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