A panel of community volunteers, the media and a representative of the Oahu Department of Emergency Management (formerly Oahu Civil Defense) will explore “Media and Emergency Response.”
But we won’t see a representative of the State Administration there. As noted previously here at CHORE, State Civil Defense had declined to participate on the panel for unknown reasons, but one did emerge on KIPO's "Town Square" program last Thursday (see below).
And now we’ve learned that Marsha Weinert, the State’s liaison to the visitor industry, won’t be there either. Weinart said earlier today she’s opting out due to a conflict at the State Legislature. No alternate representative has been volunteered to replace her.
Read the recent posts here at CHORE for a rundown on who will be speaking on the panel.
New Explanation for SCD's Low Profile
Hawaii Public Radio’s KIPO devoted its “Town Square” program on February 22 to a discussion on this same subject – improving communications to the public during emergencies. The guests were Weinert and State Civil Defense Vice Director Ed Teixeira; you can download the MP3 file of the program here.
CHORE called the show and once again extended an invitation to Teixeira to attend Tuesday’s panel discussion or send a representative. If you don't want to listen to the first 50 minutes of the program before finding our exchange, here’s how the dialogue went after we set the stage by describing the panel and luncheon:
CHORE: We hope, Ed, that you can make it. We haven’t really been told I don’t believe whether you’re going to be able to attend and be a member of the panel, but if you can’t, we hope someone else from State Civil Defense can be a participant. What do you say?
Host Beth-Ann Kozlovich (laughing): I think you’re trying to Shanghai him. I don’t know, Doug, what to tell you. I mean, Ed, you don’t have your schedule here so I don’t know whether….
Teixeira: You know, Doug, I think I turned it down.
CHORE: Yeah, I think you did, and it really would seem to be much less of an event without State Civil Defense being there. If you can’t make it because of your schedule, is it a possibility that somebody else can?
Teixeira: There’s a possibility as well, but one of the things that I was looking forward to talking on the show today is that, there has been sort of like an over focus on State Civil Defense. You gotta realize our part. Our part here is to back up county civil defense. You look at the counties. Their response is why they’re called the first responder. So we can’t overlook the county civil defense agencies. They were also key participants in the Governor’s Comprehensive Communications Review Committee as well. So you can get our thoughts on our planning and where we’re at in building our capabilities and strengthening our plans, our own lessons learned. But you know, there’s a missing key here, a very very critical part, you know, the county civil defense agencies. And I know you’re an advocate and you still urge us to get out there and talk to the public, and we did talk to that in about the first 10 or 15 minutes of the show today. But as I was getting ready to launch out and do some open forums with the public, I had to rethink it all. I want to stay within our own lane, and I don’t want to get out there into a county agency or a county environment without the participation of the county civil defense agencies, because they really got first dibs in talking with the people. That’s where it lies.
Kozlovich: Doug, I know you want to follow up with a very quick question. We’re running out of time.
CHORE: Real quickly, Ed, I know you’d be happy to know that Oahu Civil Defense has accepted the invitation to be there, and they will be there on Tuesday. But I hope that you can add the State’s great perspective to the whole problem, since we seemed to be looking to State Civil Defense on October 15th for the information that we needed, and it’s not too late to RSVP….
Host Beth-Ann Kozlovich (laughing): I think you’re trying to Shanghai him. I don’t know, Doug, what to tell you. I mean, Ed, you don’t have your schedule here so I don’t know whether….
Teixeira: You know, Doug, I think I turned it down.
CHORE: Yeah, I think you did, and it really would seem to be much less of an event without State Civil Defense being there. If you can’t make it because of your schedule, is it a possibility that somebody else can?
Teixeira: There’s a possibility as well, but one of the things that I was looking forward to talking on the show today is that, there has been sort of like an over focus on State Civil Defense. You gotta realize our part. Our part here is to back up county civil defense. You look at the counties. Their response is why they’re called the first responder. So we can’t overlook the county civil defense agencies. They were also key participants in the Governor’s Comprehensive Communications Review Committee as well. So you can get our thoughts on our planning and where we’re at in building our capabilities and strengthening our plans, our own lessons learned. But you know, there’s a missing key here, a very very critical part, you know, the county civil defense agencies. And I know you’re an advocate and you still urge us to get out there and talk to the public, and we did talk to that in about the first 10 or 15 minutes of the show today. But as I was getting ready to launch out and do some open forums with the public, I had to rethink it all. I want to stay within our own lane, and I don’t want to get out there into a county agency or a county environment without the participation of the county civil defense agencies, because they really got first dibs in talking with the people. That’s where it lies.
Kozlovich: Doug, I know you want to follow up with a very quick question. We’re running out of time.
CHORE: Real quickly, Ed, I know you’d be happy to know that Oahu Civil Defense has accepted the invitation to be there, and they will be there on Tuesday. But I hope that you can add the State’s great perspective to the whole problem, since we seemed to be looking to State Civil Defense on October 15th for the information that we needed, and it’s not too late to RSVP….
So that's where it lies. State Civil Defense isn't anxious to meet with the public and participate in an open discussion about its emergency communications plans because, we're told, it doesn't want to get in the way of the county agencies.
We'll have an opportunity to hear from the Oahu agency on Tuesday and ask how it feels to have the State backing it up all the way................... from a distance.
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