You might think, in this age of instant access, that all law enforcement officers are outfitted equally, equipment-wise.
You'd be wrong.
Some wildlife conservation officers with the Pennsylvania Game Commission have not had high-frequency radios capable of contacting dispatchers with the 9-1-1 system directly. That remains the case in many places.
"Some of our officers here in the (southwest) region have those kinds of radios, but others do not," said Tom Fazi, information and education supervisor in the Bolivar office.
An effort to change this is under way.
Kingston Veterans & Sportsman's Club in Latrobe raised the $2,000 or so necessary to outfit Westmoreland County conservation officer Brian Singer with a radio. Now, sportsmen are working to raise the money needed to get the county's other two officers, and perhaps their deputies, matching radios.
Tay Waltenbaugh and Jack Brown of "High and Wide Outdoors," a locally produced radio show, are coordinating the effort to solicit donations.
"Imagine the worst scenario of an 'officer down.' That officer would have to radio his dispatch office in Ligonier. That dispatcher would have to literally pick up a phone and call 9-1-1 for assistance," said Brown. "This is crazy."
It was only a year ago, he noted, that a Game Commission officer died in the line of duty. David Grove was killed in a shootout while investigating a call related to nighttime shooting.
Anyone interested in contributing to the radio fund can make a check payable to Westmoreland Community Action, where Waltenbaugh is CEO, and mail it to the group at 226 S. Maple Ave., Greensburg, PA 15601. Write "radios for wcos" in the memo line.
Land conserved
Some land critical to migrating raptors will soon be in state hands.
The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy acquired more than 1,600 acres on Evitts Mountain in Bedford County to "permanently conserve a major expanse of mountainside forest over a key tributary to the Potomac River."
The property is called Hardwood Trails. Conservancy president Tom Saunders called it "one of the most magnificent properties we have acquired and protected for several years." It has rocky outcrops, gentle and steep slopes, extensive forestland and old logging roads that can be used for hikes into the property. There are also several seasonal pools on the property, which provide uncommon habitat for amphibians and rare plants.
The property serves as a stopover site for raptors and songbirds migrating through the Appalachian Mountains, too.
The conservancy will transfer the property to Pennsylvania's Department of Conservation and Natural Resources' bureau of forestry to become a new addition to Buchanan State Forest.
Recall
Mustang Survival recently issued a recall notice on all model number MD2010 and MD2012 inflatable personal devices sold during 2011.
This recall is being issued "for the inspection and repair of an inflator installation inconsistency that may prevent some units from fully inflating. If you bought one of these life vests, call 1-800-526-0532 to get it fixed.
