Pretty day outside, went out to help Carla in her garden and after a bit went into A-Fib.  Called the doc who said rest and see if it will re-set itself, if not we will go in for cardio conversion tomorrow.  Hopefully that operation next week will keep this from happening again.

Another critical item on my agenda was 9-1-1.

By the end of 1985 all counties had to have a 9-1-1 plan into the State ready to be implemented the next year AND it had to be signed by every emergency provider in the county – and then some. 

Wasco County had barely gotten started, they had hired a consultant to assist in the planning process, but that was about all.

City of The Dalles had been on the 9-1-1 system for several years, had a call center set up and was in compliance.  The rest of the county was not. 

There was a LOT of political work, as well as actual planning work, needed to get the entire county in agreement. 

As Sheriff, it was incumbent on me to be deeply involved in this process.  I only had a couple of people in my Office who I could have assigned to the job, but they had too much on their plate already and I couldn’t trust the one or two that had more time on their hands, to do the job.

The 9-1-1 plan took several hundred hours of my time that first year.  Not only did we have meetings at every volunteer fire agency, as I recall now about eight programs, but we also had to meet with all the City Councils in the county.  

Some of the phone lines in the lower part of the county went into Jefferson County’s system.  So we had that county’s committee AND the Warm Springs Indian Reservation’s (some of it is in Wasco County and some of their lines also went into Jefferson County,) Fire and Police Chief as well as the Tribal Council who had to sign off.

The people in the rural portions of Wasco County did not trust or like The Dalles.  Except for the Rajneesh, no one trusted the Rajneesh – and they too had to sign off on it since they controlled two cities.  We had to overcome all of this if we were to get the thing signed.

There was a couple of people on The Dalles City Council that had made it plain to the rest of the county that The Dalles should be in charge and the rest just sign off on it.  There was even a demand that all the fire departments in the county had to contribute money for the operation.

I was diametrically opposed to that.  First they wouldn’t have that many calls, and second with the exception of The City of The Dalles Police Dept., Wasco Rural Fire Department and the Sheriff’s Office the rest of emergency providers – fire and ambulance - were all volunteers. 

They had very little funding, if any, and it wouldn’t be fair to them.  Frankly I thought it was stupid (so did the Commissioners.)

Fortunately, the City Manager agreed with me and the two of us worked very hard to get the whole thing together – EVERY entity had to sign off on the plan.  And, each wanted to protect their program’s integrity and keep from being under the thumb of The Dalles City Council.

I had always like the City Manager while I worked for the City, didn’t always agree with him and we had some heated discussions (which wasn’t my place to have, but he didn’t hold it against me) but I learned to appreciate him even more during this process.  Without his hard work and reputation with the City Council it wouldn’t have gotten done, at least not as smoothly.

I, personally as Sheriff, had to meet individually with people in the volunteer departments, listening to their concerns and assuring them I understood those concerns and would work to make sure the integrity and individuality of their department was not damaged by the agreement.  Lots of meetings, lots of miles and lots of time.

More on 911 at a later date.

Genesis 2:7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

The other day I was reading an article in Acts and Facts written by Randy J. Guliuzza, P.E., M.D. that talked about blood.  I found it extremely interesting, particularly these facts:

“Blood and blood vessels form an incredibly flexible conduit—the exact shape of a person’s body at any moment—that connects the outside world to the body’s innermost cells. Cellular metabolic demands are relentless. That is why nearly all of the estimated 60 trillion cells in the body—each one carrying out an average 10 million chemical reactions per second—are always close to blood vessels that bring them oxygen and fuel.”

He wrote about the makeup of blood, its function in our daily life and how the body produces more of it.

We all know that blood courses through the arteries, to capillaries and back to the heart through veins.  We know that it is an incredible system that keeps our bodies and all its vital parts functioning.

Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

That is quite an understatement.  Most (to be on the safe side although I know of none that don’t) life forms plant and animal have some form of system that allows their cells to be fed.

Mammal’s systems are quite similar to ours in as much as they have a heart that pumps blood, lungs to bring in oxygen, nerves that allow them to feel pain.  It is a common design to some degree.

But man is special; man became a living soul, by the breath of God.  This man, made out of dust, had within him trillions of cells to maintain his body; carrying out millions of chemical actions per second.

The intricacies of the human body are incredible – the creation of the blood to have a distinct function of feeding the cells and all the manner and means need to provide that liquid full of food and oxygen is, for me, mind-blowing.

Within us are several different machines, heart, lungs, kidneys liver, stomach and others that operate together to allow us to live.

Trillions of cells in the body, functioning as a well-oiled machine so that we can walk, talk, run, play, think and most importantly, do what we were designed to do, worship, walk and talk with God.

Man is not something that ‘just happened,’ even over a period of time.  The complexity and organization of those cells had to have a blueprint – and there was – in the mind of God.

Different cell types make up different parts of the body, it was designed that way.  We were given eyes to see, ears to hear, nerves to feel, brains as both an operating computer and giving us the ability to think, mouths that not only take in food and air, but allow us to speak with each other, we could go on and on – each one critical to the proper operation of our bodies.

I am amazed at such details minutely put together.

More and more people are putting evolution in the forefront of their thinking, and trying to change the wording in Genesis to make it work. 

People have been told that the theory of evolution has been proven, when in fact it has not.  As we look at much of it, it doesn’t make sense.  How we can look at complicated machinery man has designed and created AND it works and compare it to the creation of all things and say the one was designed but the other just happened, to me is incredible.

I believe in the Word of God and reject the theology of evolution.  It is just one more religion or god that satan has gotten man to accept and in doing so reject both God and the truth of the Scriptures.

Psalm 139:14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

I agree with the Psalmist.

Later, Art :-)

From the ColumbiaRiverGorgeous
May Our Good Lord Bless and Keep YOU....’til we meet again