This week was class number three for Leadership Newberry County, as many readers already know, Leadership gives those who participate the tools to become a leader, but also the tools to become a leader in Newberry County.
This week’s class was Emergency Services and Law Enforcement, as put together by classmate James Henricks (who also had a birthday this week, Happy Birthday James) and our Chamber Guide Michelle Long.
As you might think, this class dove into the county’s first responders services. This includes, Tommy Long (emergency service coordinator with Newberry County), Glenn Hamm (Newberry County EMS, Search and Rescue and the Dive Team) Coroner Laura Kneece, Lt. Tony Eigner (Newberry County Sheriff’s Office), Chief Roy McClurkin and Cpl. Justin Hawkins and Percy (Newberry Police Department), a tour of the Newberry County Detention Center with Daniel Floyd and a tour of the Newberry Electric Cooperative dispatch center.
Our day started off at the Newberry County Sheriff’s Office in the Newberry County Emergency Operation Center. For those who do not know what that is, this is a room where first responders and other individuals on the county and state level gather to discuss an emergency situation. For example, during the flood a few years back, this room was filled with people working together to make sure Newberry County residents stayed safe.
Long touched on many of the emergency services within the county. We learned how big of an asset the helicopters are in this county, which can quickly transport someone who has been seriously injured to the hospital in Richland County. We also learned about the County’s ISO (Insurance Service Office) ratings, which is a number from one to 10, and is given based on fire service. For example, if a home is not within five miles of a fire department, they will have a higher ISO rating. In Newberry County, the highest rating is seven.
During this time, we also were given a behind the scenes look at Newberry County Dispatch. We were able to see the system our local dispatchers use, and how they can even monitor where a first responder is, and guide them to the correct house. During our tour back there, I asked one of the dispatchers about something I commonly see on Facebook. Many of you may have seen this as well, it basically says, share this you’ll save a life, and how if you are in a dangerous situation call 9-1-1 and pretend like you are ordering pizza, and dispatchers know this is a distress call and will ask you questions and send help. Well, this actually is not a thing. According to Dispatch, all you have to do is call 9-1-1 and an officer will be sent out, you don’t have to even say anything, even if you hang up an officer will be sent out to the location.
Glenn Hamm was next up, Hamm talked a lot about the volunteers in the rescue squad and dive team, and how thanks to Newberry having a sense of community, has a decent number of volunteers, more so than other counties in this state. One of the things I asked him was about preventable water deaths in the county and what residents should do. Hamm very passionately said, wear a life jacket. Apparently, a good number of deaths they dealt with involved people not wearing a life jacket, and those deaths could have been avoided if they were. So, anyone who is reading this who enjoys going out on the lake…wear a life jacket!
Next up, we heard from Coroner Laura Kneece, she gave us an extremely detailed description of her job, and what she has to know to perform her job and ways she determines cause of death, time of death, and so on. While I’m not going to go into details about her presentation, trust me you’ll thank me later, I will say we have one very well trained coroner in Newberry County, and she is passionate about what she does. Based on what we learned, this is not a job for the someone who has a weak stomach.
So after lunch, we had a joint presentation from the Sheriff’s Office and the City Police Department. It was really neat being able to hear from both at the same time, they were able to touch on how they work together, and how the job has changed over the years. Eigner and McClurkin were able to break down how they use new technology to help solve crimes, and how the community can even assist in stopping crime. One thing I enjoyed hearing from McClurkin was about shoplifting. He talked about people coming into this community to steal, and how they don’t care how minor it is, if you come to Newberry to shoplift, or commit any crime, you will be taken in. Eigner also echoed these statements from his end. Eigner also touched on the relationships the Sheriff’s Office has with the police department in various cities in Newberry County, and how they work well together for the safety of the community. Apparently, there are some communities that don’t have that type of relationship.
We also were given a chance to meet Percy, who is the K-9 Unit for the City of Newberry.
Up next we travelled to the Newberry County Detention Center, which is currently getting renovated thanks to the Capital Projects Sales Tax. The Detention Center should be completely done with renovations by February.
We ended the day with a trip to the NEC, where we were able to see how outages are handled, as well as talk with Keith Avery, CEO, and Debra Shaw, vice president of Member and Public Relations. We heard a lot of great things from them, including how they assist with economic development in the county and how much they work with charitable organizations. Avery discussed how the Co-ops in this state helped save the North/South Game, which nearly ended. The Coop will also assist any students from Newberry County who are selected to go to the game, by presenting them with a trophy and a $500 check for expenses.
That was the end of class three for Leadership, next up (which will actually be next week) it is class four which is Economic Development and Infrastructure.
