SedonaEye.com columnist Eddie S. Maddock takes a look at the real world.
Sedona AZ (September 8, 2017) – In the midst of reviewing the recent flurry of comments on SedonaEye, the following email arrived from a dear friend. The message was a zinger.
Unfortunately it frequently takes shock treatment to put things in perspective. If my friend gives the go ahead, this will move on to the SE editor with the hope it will be shared with those willing to face a far more serious situation than thinking up nasty words to toss at those who dare to refuse to agree to disagree. If you are reading this, please do so with compassion and attempt even just for the moment to share compassion with the thousands of people who are going through such a terribly difficult time. Please!
Welcome to the real world:
Hi there,
Okay, I accepted a family friend’s invitation to relocate to Sebring, Florida where several will be gathered to shelter in place for the hurricane. Likely will lose electricity and cell phone here; have tried to arrange a back up with a booster from ATT, but it’s a crap shoot since this house lies directly in the hurricane path. This house sits on a spring fed lake that I’m told is not a flood issue; winds might blow the water, but it shouldn’t actually flood (in the sense of danger or high water damaging house foundation). All boats are out and secured, but whether they survive is also 50/50.
Dozens of cities and counties in increasingly-northern regions of Florida are issuing mandatory evacuations that have affected millions of residents. Some highways have ground to a halt from congestion as evacuees flee the most dangerous hurricane areas. Florida Governor Rick Scott is scheduled to deliver an update on the storm on Saturday morning from Sarasota. A mandatory evacuation on Georgia’s Atlantic coast was due to begin on Saturday, Governor Nathan Deal said.
A neighbor just stopped in for a cooler. They are evacuating. To Georgia.
Everyone has scoured this property for fly-aways. I brought extra brooms and ruby slippers just in case…but my magic wand will not move the massive oak tree next to the house. Let’s hope Irma’s wand is equally incapable.
My house, which is also directly in the path but an hour’s drive north, saw me packing papers and important memorabilia into water proof bins and loading my car with two loads. The car and one load is parked now in a cement garage. I’m worried about what I’ll find but at least I took all my family valuables – furniture and household goods can be replaced.
Keep fingers crossed.
Now if that oak tree stays where it is….and not on top of the house!! My guest bedroom is on that side and all my bins are stacked there…yikes. LOL
I’ve experienced several hurricanes and am not fearful of them; except this one is the largest and the winds are going to be a WOW.
Storm shutters are on this house; took three days for them to hang.
My place though has no ability to withstand 185 mph winds per the neighbor (windows withstand only 75-100 mph) who with family and friends evacuated up north, as in South Carolina. Actually almost everyone in my neighborhood left during the week, and the few remaining plan on going to shelters. :-)
I took lots of photos if FEMA becomes the fallback after it’s over. Storm begins here tomorrow afternoon…
Love and hugs my friend. Miss you and if you see me fly by, give a wave.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Sedona City Council, your obligation remains with the residents of Sedona and NOT special interests. And that applies also with the Sedona Fire District. Does anyone recall how efficiently the economic and social engines purred when we had a volunteer fire department and Sedona wasn’t an incorporated city? What exists can always be taken away by an act of nature. There are no exceptions.
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Thank you, SedonaEye Editor, for sharing the story from my dear friend. Every moment in my life this weekend will be spent with anxious anticipation waiting for what just has to be a positive report. ALL of you in peril be as safe as possible under these dreadful circumstances. God bless.
Eddie Maddock
Be safe. Thinking and praying for you.
The destructive Eye of Sedona’s Hurricane isn’t this website. It’s the Chamber of Commerce being misrepresented as a legitimate department of Sedona city government. Lies and deceit – Citizen Engagement Committees with unnamed participants – no transparency . . . EXCEPT . . . that circling storm of destruction. Wait and see.
Brenna & I relocated to Durbin SA and don’t miss United States weather patterns. Safely goes it.
Although not as blatantly destructive as Hurricane Irma, I totally agree with Eye of Sedona’s Hurricane as being the ongoing love affair incorporated Sedona has with the local (regional) chamber of commerce. That’s one thing that by using common sense could be stopped in its tracks. Not so when dealing with a force of nature.
Positive thoughts and high hopes for angels to embrace the shoulders of those forced to endure such a difficult journey.
Oh come on Cake Lady don’t you ever give up, ever?
You are stating opinions and not fact! Where have you ever seen where it says the CoC being represented as a department of the city government? Unless you can tell the SE community where you’ve seen it, your posting is not factual just an opinion and I’d bet an out and out untruth.
You say: ” Citizen Engagement Committees with unnamed participants – no transparency” I believe that was addressed many years ago when you brought it up you just don’t like the answer.
I also heard on the internet that you have a deep hatred of the CoC because they wouldn’t put your rack card on their rack wall for free. Again, it’s on the internet someplace so it must be true.
would you people (deleted by editor) stop (deleted by editor) already !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!who cares about cakes !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!who cares about (deleted by editor) card games !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! vegas pissed off ??????????????????????????? wths
The mentality of those controlling Sedona again rises to the surface with the outrageous response made by another unknown (@Eye of Sedona’s Hurricane).
The subject of this article is hardly the place to vent personal vendettas when people are faced with a life and death situation. I believe what’s happening with Sedona government will have it’s own unfortunate demise. In a way.
anyone who is so vicious as to write unfounded attacks on anyone without justification clearly hasn’t been in a position to lose a loved one. Or have they? Only simply to remain so heartless they can only express hate? How sad.
Heartfelt best thoughts and a positive outcome is my wish for those in such a dire situation. And as Krys Vlasta says “who care about cakes”? Only a mean mean person would be so vicious.
hurricand lidia by baja
Praying for everyone’s safety in Florida and ignoring the people full of hate.
Checking the maps and praying for everyone’s safety.
FYI Not a cake lady but a Jim and meant no disrespect to any of those in harms way from this latest hurricane or any natural disaster for that matter. There’s the difference, natural disasters verses the manmade or self inflicted version. This is what’s happening in Sedona. The little army of users, takers, and control freaks in it for personal gain via opportunists and exploitation are definitely in the driver’s seat. Check out the city and chamber web sites and the links seem intertwined. It’s easy to see how people make a connection that the chamber IS the government. Self imposed destruction here is a sad thing when events over which we have no control – hurricanes – become more prevalent. Not a cake lady but an observant male Sedona resident. Don’t even know what your talking about and that’s for sure. Such a knee jerk reaction is unfounded and even a bit scary.
Let this sink in for a minute…..Hundreds and hundreds of small boats
pulled by countless pickups and SUVs from across the South are headed for
Houston. …Almost all of them driven by men. They’re using their own
property, sacrificing their own time, spending their own money, and risking
their own lives for one reason: to help total strangers in desperate need.
Most of them are by themselves. Most are dressed like the redneck duck
hunters and bass fisherman they are. Many are veterans. Most are wearing
well-used gimme-hats, t-shirts, and jeans; and there’s a preponderance of
camo. Most are probably gun owners, and most probably voted for Trump.
These are the people the Left loves to hate, the ones Maddow mocks. The ones
Maher and Olbermann just *know* they’re so much better than.
These are The Quiet Ones. They don’t wear masks and tear down statues. They
don’t, as a rule, march and demonstrate. And most have probably never been
in a Whole Foods.
But they’ll spend the next several days wading in cold, dirty water; dodging
gators and water moccasins and fire ants; eating whatever meager rations are
available; and sleeping wherever they can in dirty, damp clothes. Their
reward is the tears and the hugs and the smiles from the terrified people
they help. They’ll deliver one boatload, and then go back for more.
When disaster strikes, it’s what men do. Real men. Heroic men. American men
And then they’ll knock back a few shots, or a few beers with like-minded men
they’ve never met before, and talk about fish, or ten-point bucks, or the
benefits of hollow-point ammo, or their F-150.
And the next time they hear someone talk about “the patriarchy”, or “male
privilege”, they’ll snort, turn off the TV and go to bed.
In the meantime, they’ll likely be up again before dawn. To do it again.
Until the helpless are rescued. And the work’s done.
They’re unlikely to be reimbursed. There won’t be medals. They won’t care.
They’re heroes. And it’s what they do.
Author Unknown…..