With less than three months under his belt as the Hawkins County Emergency Management Director, Gary Murrell is now bringing attention to those issues which should have been addressed a long ago.
Murrell, who was formally appointed as Director during the June 2007 County Commission Meeting, headed into office with a nod of approval from local emergency agencies and the support of 20 county commissioners. (Hanes Cooper cast the lone nay vote.)
Murrell held his first re-organizational meeting for the Hawkins County Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) on August 23rd. Approximately 50 representatives of local emergency agencies, industries, utility districts, health care providers and governments, as well as Tennessee Emergency Management Agency Eastern Region Area Coordinator Bob Swabe.
Murrell, who was previously employed as a Narcotics Investigator by the Hawkins County Sheriff’s Department, serves as a volunteer firefighter and has pulled a stint with most local emergency response units, including EMS, was likely a familiar face to most present.
This won’t change in the future. Stating that he intends for the committee to meet regularly, Murrell explained to the Rogersville Review:
“The committee really has not done much in the last few years but we need to get it back together and back to work. [...]
One thing that I think is really important is we need to include representatives from our local industries. If we have a major disaster at a plant or derailment we could be looking at a serious situation.”
Less than 24 hours after the meeting adjourned, a Norfolk Southern train derailed in Bulls Gap near Guthrie’s Gap. Although the train was not carrying hazardous materials, Murrell later told the Times-News:
“Anytime you have a railroad or truck lines transporting hazardous material you can have a major problem, and that’s what we thought we were looking at.”
Refusing to tiptoe around the facts, Murrell told the Times-News he believes the public should know that chemicals travel on that railroad every day to and from Eastman Chemical Co. in Kingsport, and there is a potential for toxic spills if another train derails along that line.
Also in the news, as Mount Carmel studied the feasibility of joining the Kingsport communications system, Murrell expressed concerns, citing potential for complications as two central dispatch offices communicate with each other on mutual aid calls.
However, rather than avoid or downplay the issue of spotty communications throughout Hawkins County, Murrell expressed optimism that “dead spots” may be a thing of the past due to two communications towers constructed by Tennessee Department of Safety Homeland Security Division on Clinch Mountain and Bays Mountain.
Mount Carmel Mayor Gary Lawson intends to proceed with the study; however, he told the Times-News:
“[...] we’ve tried to get the county to do something about it without much results. I think the new EMA director is getting some things done now, and hopefully this problem will finally be solved.”
In conclusion: I do believe that Murrell’s first few weeks on the job prove what I’ve suspected for many years:
Hanes Cooper is a coot.
Looks like our local gov might have actually gotten something right for a change. It certainly seems that Murrell was indeed the right man for the job.