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Castle Rock grassroots response to pandemic

Contributed by: Francis Miller on 3/15/2006

Castle Rock County Seat "Gunsmoke" Edition

Dr. Ned Calonge, of the Colorado State Department of Health briefed the Colorado Legislature a couple of days ago and it became abundantly clear there is a serious lack of preparation for a flu pandemic. While Colange tried to spin the matter, World health experts say is not a matter of 'if', but 'when'.

A recent book about the top 100 disasters to hit mankind pointed out that over half of all deaths come from disease, not war, and famine is the secondary effect because of disruption to society's systems. The stakes are very high because populations can collapse anywhere from 30% to 90% during a pandemic and entire civilizations can be laid to waste.

Charles Manning in his book 1491 suggests smallpox killed upwards of 90% of the indigenous people in the Americas and their population could have been reduced from 100 million prior to 1492 to 3 million today. Even in the flu epidemic of 1918 they ran out of coffins and bodies lay rotting in the streets waiting to be buried. Go to any pioneer cemetery and you will see headstones where mothers and fathers and their children died the same week. There is no vaccine and the health care system can only alleviate the symptoms so more people hopefully pull through and pay their hospital bill. If it mutates during its human-to-human transmission phase, as viruses are prone to do, that's when you get 70% to 90% collapse rates and nothing can stop it.

Colorado has a great deal to lose, perhaps more than other states in a strange sort of way. My unpublished analysis for the "Infrastructure 2050 Committee" suggests that when the next pandemic hits coastal areas it is possible there would be a mass migration of people into less dense states like Colorado. This would create what I call the Chaco Canyon Effect, stressing the sustainability of our infrastructure to the breaking point and pushing the whole population over the edge. One need only look at a map of Denver to realize that 100 miles in any direction is the stepping-off-point for the Outback. It's 1000 miles to anywhere and literally unsustainable for populations of any size. Run out of gas and you are stuck in Bennett reading Faust to the children for the rest of your life.

I know you don't believe me, so drive up to Chugwater, Wyoming the next time it blizzards and you will understand why less than 50 people and 100 antelope live there. In all likelihood, the brunt of any natural or terrorist disaster would fall on the Colorado Front Range and it would analogous to Houston absorbing 10 to 20 New Orleans. Douglas County Schools would be come pluralisttic over-night and the little elementary school in Franktown would look like a rainbow coalitiion.

Experience has shown us we cannot turn to the federal government and we are basically on our own. Now, after this week, it should be abundantly clear to even the Pollyannas that State government, who, if they had merely read the daily paper or watched the 6 o'clock news would have seen this on their radar screen before the red alarm light started going off. It's been news for years not months. I wonder if they know about the Internet?

Politiicans and entrenched bureaucrats, as much as they live in confinement, like the chickens, pigs and cows that generate flu, mad cow, small pox and a whole array of plagues, (hum, I think I just stumbled on an interesting metaphor, don't you think?) just cannot get it together. They spend more time shaking down contributors, jerking off in Hawaii, and arguing over how to spend Ref C monies. The press tries to keep them focused but it's like herding cats.

Right now, I think Colorado families have a choice of two entrees. Either we all join the LDS (Mormon) Church and learn how to store our own food and buy a gun and fend for ourselves, or, we can organize and demand local government get its act together. My recommendation is to use the grass roots initiative, the only thing which seems to work in Colorado, even if we have to imbed it in the State constitution and shove it down the throats of these guys.

Maybe Focus on the Family can focus on this issue and help. City and county government cannot do this on their own but key stakeholders, such as the City of Denver, who have the potential lose their creative class, must provide the leadership. Sidebar to Jeffrey Selberg, the new incoming board chair of the Colorado Hospital Association, "Dead people don't pay their bills or respond to collection agencies".

A meltdown from the effects of pandemic and famine will put every private business and public institution on the line and many could never recover. Look at the tax base and devastation to businesses, property values and jobs in New Orleans. They are so upside/down they think that getting drunk and holding a high school version of Mardi Gras will make them feel better. They were also deer-in-the headlights when the hurricane hit and the levies broke. They had been told for at least two decades it was not a matter of if, but when.

When these things hit it takes more than bravado, as Michael Brown, FEMA director, the Mayor of New Orleans and the Governor of Louisiana soon found out. It takes skill and leadership ability, only people who are combat trained possess in spades. A lot of innocent children and elderly could suffer down at the Convention Center until that rare person can elbow his way through the crowd of panicked fools. It also breeds anarchy and totalitarianism.

I have spent my entire life around guys who like to shoot guns so it will probably surprise many of my friends that I believe the women of Colorado, not the Homer Simpsons-in-drag, are going to have to take on this issue on the same way Rosie-the-Riveter became animated during World War II. Only a possee of women can transcend vested interests to meet and identify the best person to lead this effort. I personally think John Hickenlooper is the only guy who has the gravitas but he also has a city to run. In the beginning it is Hickenlooper's leadership, not day-to-day management that is so desperately needed to fill the present vacuum.

In the end, managers and staffers can be hired and fired. We are going to have to draft legions of ex-governors, retired military and business people who can and will walk or crawl through hell to make things happen. Thousands of local citizens who are trustworthy will need to be deputized, trained and equipped. Colorado has to be outfront nationally, not following up the rear.

If you think this situation demands any less of a response I suggest you buy two bags of sand and an ostrich farm next to the Big Slab down in Elbert County and get the seller to throw in a shotgun so you can guard your little cabbage patch garden with it. Also, hope the electricity doesn't go out so your pump continues to work and get used to home schooling cause little Johnnie and Suzie are going to learn by light of a kerosene lamp, not for hours or days, but perhaps years.

I have great confidence in common people's ability to respond when they know how high the stakes are for them, their children and grandchildren. I would no more mess with a momma house cat than a momma grizzly bear. So ladies, you wanted to move to Colorado to have a view-shed and raise your kids in Boulder and Douglas countes and avoid the riff-raff. They forgot to tell you that this is your personal version of reality survival and it is not a TV show. You can either be a desperate housewife or Rosie the Riveter.

But I would not count on a bunch of hang-around-the-fort indians in the political establishment to rescue you. They are too busy putting on makeup for the TV lights, running for the next higher up office or hiding in the restroom from the ethics committee.


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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Francis Miller

Parker , CO

Francis Miller has posted 699 stories and 9 comments since joining on 11/17/2005. Francis Miller's average story rating is 4.19.
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