Tony Brewer

If your family is not already prepared for emergencies, Get Prepared Now!  Life is full of the unexpected events, and every home, office, and car should have an emergency survival kit in it.  Contents should be inspected regularly, and expired items should be renewed or replaced.  One of the things that many people overlook in their emergency kits is to make sure that the batteries are replaced frequently.  You cannot even imagine how often I have grabbed a flashlight, only to find that the batteries are dead!

In an emergency situation, having the right supplies on hand can help to calm the panic many people feel.  First aid supplies are not always the only supplies you need.  Sometimes a small tool kit could be in order, and sometimes some food supplies would be appropriate. 

In a car, the emergency kits need to be reviewed frequently as well.  These kits need to take into account the season of the year, and have blankets and meal replacement bars or candy bars in them for winter survival.  Since batteries don’t like being cold, it is imperative that batteries are checked often as well.  Better yet, it is a good idea to bring the flashlight inside during the cold nights, and just bring the flashlight in and out from house to car to keep the batteries from dying from the cold.  Having a set of jumper cables, a can of “fix-a-flat,” chains, and a snow shovel in the truck is a good idea in colder climates as well.

Every now and then I hear a news story (or read one) about someone impersonating a police officer; pulling over cars and then trouble begins.  I was just hearing about such a case happening currently in Redlands California.  A man has been driving a pickup truck, equipped with red and blue flashing police lights, and pulling over cars.  He tells the driver that he is a California State Police officer.  The hitch is, there ARE no California State Police officers!

So, drivers beware - if someone tries to pull you over, and you suspect the police officer is NOT a police officer, drive to a spot that is NOT remote before pulling over!  You don’t want to be assaulted, robbed, or worse by some creep who is impersonating a police officer!