Valley cities look to form Citizen Corps group

Published 12:53 pm Thursday, October 2, 2008

SNOQUALMIE VALLEY – Boy Scouts are not the only ones who are prepared in the Valley.

Some Valley residents and government leaders have put together Citizen Corps groups to respond to emergencies in their communities.

“If you are not prepared then after the disaster, you are going to have a disaster,” said Gene Laughlin, a Citizen Corps facilitator and a transportation policy analyst for King County Councilwoman Kathy Lambert. “That’s true for the individual, the family, the business, the community and the country.”

Citizen Corps are a component of the USA Freedom Corps, which started last year after President George Bush’s State of the Union speech, in which he asked all Americans to commit to volunteering 2 years of their time to community service.

Since then, groups of citizens have formed Citizen Corps branches that would help out professional emergency crews in case of a disaster. People can volunteer for different programs, which include a neighborhood watch program, a community emergency-response team program, a Volunteers in Police Service program and a Medical Reserve Corps program.

For the complete story, pick up a copy of this week’s Valley Record