Meeting |
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Report |
Meeting |
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Report |
October 23, 2001 |
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| President Jim called the meeting to order at
12:45 p.m. Before beginning the business of the meeting, Jim mentioned how proud he was of
the N.C. State team that plays football a few weekends each fall. According to Coach
Amato, State had some good players but did not have any "geniuses like Norman
Einstein." Coach, however, did have a club that followed directions. When he told
his team to pair up in threes and to line up in a circle, they did so. Katie Tyler introduced the guests and visiting Rotarians. John Rogers reported that the health of the Club was good. He then shared some stories on tombstones and obituaries that were age-appropriate for our Club. Two short epitaphs on tombstones were: "I told you 1 was sick" and "She always said her feet were killing her." President Jim led us in the Pledge of Allegiance followed by our song led by Howard Chadwick. Price Gwynn gave the invocation. Lee Morris introduced our newest member of the Club, his son Jody. With great pride, Lee talked about Jody's undergraduate education at Chapel Hill and his graduate education at Appalachian State. Jody currently works for Novant, the parent company of Presbyterian Hospital. Our president introduced the head table, which included Kurt Scholler, John Snyder, Price Gwynn, Wesley Clark, Dee Milligan and Joe Penner who introduced our speaker, Dr. Tom Blackwell. Dr. Blackwell is the Medical Director of Prehospitalization Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine, at Carolinas Medical Center. He is a graduate of The Citadel, with a medical degree from Creighton University. Dr. Blackwell discussed terrorism and weapons of mass destruction in general and as they relate to preparedness initiatives in Charlotte specifically. He discussed definitions of terrorism and various weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear, radiological, biological, toxic, and chemical weapons. He mentioned that there were two types of management in responding to a terrorist attack — crisis management and consequences management. Law enforcement is primarily responsible for managing the crisis, and state government is responsible for managing the consequences of an attack. Dr. Blackwell said that Charlotte was at risk because it was one of the thirty highest-populated cities in the country. He specifically mentioned eight areas that would most likely be targeted by terrorists in Charlotte: Ericsson Stadium, which is vulnerable because it is adjacent to the Norfolk railway; Blumenthal Performing Arts Center; Lowes Motor Speedway, which holds 250,000 people; Charlotte Coliseum; Carowinds, which has the fastest growing attendance in the national Paramount network; Duke Energy's two nuclear reactors and four power plants; our transportation centers; and our four television stations. Dr. Blackwell then reviewed a recent history of international and national terrorist attacks. There were the sarin gas releases in Japan in 1994 and 1995. Iraq used nerve gas, anthrax and other chemicals in 1988, 1991 and 1995, mostly against their own people. Bin Laden's terrorist groups set off bombs at the World Trade Center in 1993, Khobar in 1996, two U.S. embassies in 1998, the Cole in 2000, and most tragically, the World Trade Center again on September 11. We also had the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 and the David Rudolph bombings in 1996. In response to the terrorist attacks from 1993 to 1995, the federal government passed a law that gave the FBI responsibility for crisis management and FEMA responsibility for consequences management of terrorist attacks. In the last couple of years. Charlotte has put together a terrorism response team to handle both the crisis and the consequences of terrorism. This team, which received over $1 million from the federal government, consists of nine locally based entities: the FBI, the Emergency Management Office, the Mayor with the City Council, the County Commissioners, the Police Department, the Fire Department, CMC's Emergency Medicine Department, the Health Department, and the Sheriff's Office. Currently, there are 5 FBI agents, 25 police officers, 35 firemen and women, 15 paramedics, 5 sheriff personnel, and 8 doctors now on the active team. These men and women are serving to prepare us for any possible attacks and help us survive such attacks. Dr. Blackwell believes it's not if we will have more terrorist attacks in America but when. In closing, Dr. Blackwell asked us to give a round of applause for these individuals who are working so hard and so well to protect us. We gladly and proudly did. * * * |
New Member
2001 Law, Litigation Erdman, Hockfield & Burt, 2300 East Seventh Street (28204-4366) David Erdman is a civil
trial lawyer who came to Charlotte in 1976. In 1981, he founded the Charlotte law firm
known today as Erdman, Hockfield and Burt, LLP. Before that, David practiced law with the
Knox Law Firm. * * * POWELL'S
POWELL MAJORS Billy Wireman, who retires from Queens College next year, received a lifetime achievement award from Leadership Charlotte.Eric Smith will speak at a community program at Covenant Church on October 28th on how to overcome distrust in the school system. Phil Van Hoy was selected as the state's top practitioner of Labor and Employment law by the editorial staff of "Business North Carolina" magazine. Bill Kinney pinch-hit for President Jim on Tuesday, October 9. He was Club president 1987-1988. Rusty Brink was listed in the "Health-care Who's Who" in the "Business Journal." * * * |
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Revised: January 24, 2008.
