Civil Defense (An article prepared by Civil Defense Director, Bill Graeber)

Many times during the recent snowstorm, I was asked, "What is Civil Defense doing?"

Perhaps I should explain what Civil Defense is. It is the existing government, its employees, and volunteers in high gear, trying to cope with emergency situations.

Civil Defense is the village government utilizing all of its resources to meet any emergency, calling on outside help if necessary. A typical example in the recent crisis was the need for additional snow removal equipment and alternative methods of transportation since most roads were inaccessible. Here, the Air National Guard supplied the use of a helicopter.

Police and Fire Departments utilized all available manpower actively or on standby to accept emergency calls.

In this most recent crisis, all village personnel responded unselfishly to administer to the needs of our residents.

It was gratifying to see the village residents cooperating in this emergency. We can estimate that about two hundred residents assisted the contractors and the village employees in the snow removal of marooned cars. Certain people were on the scene at the right time, such as Dominic Garofalo and his wife with their walkie-talkies, relaying messages to the store and then to the helicopter so that one of our newly arrived citizens could be born in a hospital rather than at home. Jack Carden played an outstanding role. His pharmacy became an assembly point and clearing house for information and volunteers working on Halsted Street. He also filled vital prescriptions and deliveries were made when the sitation demanded it. He maintained a constant liaison with the Mayor to assist in handling emergency situations. Although there were many more assisting in public spirited deeds, more organization would have improved conditions.

	Mayor's Comments on THE BLIZZARD-JANUARY, 1967.

On behalf of myself and Civil Defense Director, Bill Graeber, I would like to extend a sincere "thanks" to the many persons who assisted in keeping the many emergency situations under control during the recent blizzard that hit our area.

The list of credits would be exceedingly long, but a few stand out as being on the job during the critical period of Thursday, Friday and Saturday morning. To these, Glenwood residents owe a debt of thanks:

To Jack Carden who dispatched drugs where needed and assisted in securing medical assistance whenever necessary. Jack also maintained a constant liaison between the village headquarters and the shopping plaza.

To Lou Komer, Orville and Bill Bangs, who worked long hours plowing with inadequate equipment to keep the main emergency arteries open and all municipal utilities functioning.

To the Glenwood Police Department who put in long hours assisting in helping stranded motorists and protecting life and property.

To Gus Ilika of Beverly Shores Indiana, who- through stranded- helped your local officials in seeing to the comfort of others in similar circumstances.

To Major Yucevicius and Sergeant Goronski of the Sheriff's Police who cooperated so well with our police in emergency situations.

To General Howard Markee of the Air National Guard who furnished the helicopter used on Friday evening.

To Ed Pendrys of "Burger King" and Hans Bowman of Glenwood Swiss Chalet restaurants who contributed the food for stranded motorists housed at the municipal building.

To the firemen who remained on duty, ready to answer any calls that might be necessary.

To the Chicago Heights Civil Defense unit who graciously loaned us cots for our guests to sleep upon.

To Garofalos, the Dragon Inn Restaurant, the Mobil Filling Station and others in the Plaza who extended themselves in assisting both the authorities and public during those trying hours.

To our outside snow removal contractors who did a tremendous job under the direction of Don DeSantis in what seemed an insurmountable task of removing the never ending piles of snow.

Last- but not least- to the groups of residents who helped shovel out the cars on Halsted Street and on interior streets, who dug out fire hydrants, opened drainage structures, and shared where necessary any available food.

To all these people, I say THANKS. Much was learned from this storm that will serve in future planning. Most of our residents accepted the situation for what it was. We received a substantial number of complaints and a very few compliments. Complaints of "profiteering" by one or two business men were the most common. These we had no control over and can only regret their occurance at a time when most people were extending themselves for the common good.

In all, I feel that there was a general awakening of community spirit during this time that I sincerely hope will carry over into other municipal activities.