Emergency shelters for Isaac

great editorial in this weeks walton sun on misinformation on possible highway 331 bridge closure and other unfounded scary situations by the walton emergency operations center killing one of the busiest tourist periods of the concluding 2012 summer season. like it or not folks those out of town dollars keeps this place going.

They where doing there job based on the best information they had available. If they had done nothing and the storm had hit here people would be complaining about that. Sounds like they are in a no win situation. As far as the tourist keeping this place going, I purchased here before this was a big tourist destination, it was a much more beautiful and tranquil place to be then. Things were great without all the businesses that depend solely on tourist dollars to survive.

It is ludicrous for so many who know nothing about emergency planning and response to be so critical. In emergencies you should always err on the side of safety and have a flexible plan. The key word here is flexible. If you have doubts about this, all you have to do is look at New Orleans and Katrina. No plan, no leadership and no communication. A disaster within a disaster.

As a transplant from tornado alley in Missouri, I applaud the actions from the agencies that did what they needed to keep not only tourists safe but residents also!

The local Emergency Operations Center followed their plan as they should. Do not forget that we were dead center in the cone for a while before the storm started to turn west. The EOC was planning for worst case scenario - and their regular reports were meant to provide us information that MAY take place should the storm continue in its original path.

Kills me that folks are unhappy with the TDC for promoting tourism (their mission) then they are unhappy when the tourists don't show up because of a near miss storm. I count us lucky in all respects. We should be grateful.