Lawson: Cell phones make bulk of county’s emergency calls

Continuing the march into the wireless age, the Sussex County Emergency Operations Center (EOC) continues to receive most of their emergency calls from cell phones. County Administrator Todd Lawson reported that, of the 15,264 calls that came in for the month April, 73 percent were made from cell phones.

Those wanting to help out in an emergency will also get a chance to give that a try next week. According to the County, the Sussex County Citizen Corps and the Emergency Operations Center will hold an informational meeting from 6 to 10 p.m. on Thursday, May 17, 2012, for anyone interested in learning more about disaster preparedness and how to volunteer their services in a crisis situation. The classes will be held at the County EOC, located at 21911 Rudder Lane, just east of Georgetown.

For more information or to register for the free classes, contact Carl Davis at (302) 858-5302 or by email at citizencorps@sussexcountyde.gov.

In addition, Doug Tuttle, policy scientist with the University of Delaware Institute for Public Administration (IPA), will be the featured guest speaker at the May meeting of the Sussex County Advisory Committee for the Aging & Adults with Physical Disabilities.

Tuttle is the principle investigator for the Delaware State Broadband Project and will talk about the initiative to assess broadband access in Delaware and identify areas where improvements will be in order. County officials said the goal is to help elderly and disabled populations use broadband to better access services they need. The meeting will begin at 10 a.m. on Monday, May 21, at the County Administrative Offices West Complex, 22215 N. DuPont Boulevard, in Georgetown.

For more information on the Advisory Committee’s meetings, visit them online at www.sussexcountyde.gov/committees.

In other news from this week’s county council meeting, the County provided grants to the town of Ellendale for their Family Fun Day Festival, to Sussex Central FFA Alumni Organization for their Scholarship Fund, to the Laurel Historical Society for the Laurel Heritage Museum and to the Georgetown-Ellendale VFW Post 2931 for community programs.