Emergency Preparation For Families

By Brian K. Newhouse, Director of Emergency Management, Hendry County, Fl.

This is the first in a series of articles to follow that will help you, the residents of Hendry County and the surrounding areas, to prepare yourself and your families to survive before, during and after a disaster strikes. Each week we will discuss a different topic related to the five main areas of Emergency Management: Prevention, Preparedness, Mitigation, Response and Recovery.

With last year’s hurricane season behind us as of November 30th, we now have had a chance to catch our breaths and enjoy the holidays with friends and family without the threat of a major storm or other disaster affecting our area. Just because it hasn’t happened in a while doesn’t mean it can’t. We cannot afford to let our guard down. There is only six months until the June 1st start of the next hurricane season and other disasters can happen anytime. Why not start planning now? Avoid the stress associated with rushing around trying to get ready because you procrastinated until an event was approaching.

This week, we are going to talk about disaster kits. Gathering all the needed supplies for a well stocked disaster kit can be expensive and time consuming but it does not have to be a hit to your wallet all at once. Using this 20 week plan, you can gather a handful of items during your weekly shopping trips that will help you build your disaster kit in no time, thereby giving you piece of mind knowing that you and your family are prepared for anything. Hendry County Emergency Management recommends your disaster kit contain water (3 gallons per person per day), food and supplies for a minimum of 72 hours, but, ideally for seven days. Additionally, you should store your kit in an inexpensive plastic tote to keep it mobile, organized, and dry.

Every family and situation is different, so you will need to personalize your kit to your family’s specific needs. Remember to consider special dietary needs, medications and your pets.

If you would like more information about preparedness or how you can get involved as an Emergency Management Reservist (volunteer), please contact the Emergency Operations Center at 863-674-5400 or 5404 or email me at brian.newhouse@hendryfla.net. You can also follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/hendrycountyemergencymanagement or on Twitter @HendryCountyEM. On behalf of the entire team at Hendry County Emergency Management, I would like to wish each and every one of you a happy, health, prosperous and safe 2016! Here’s the shopping list for the week 1:

Week 1 – January 3rd - 9th, 2016

Things to do:

 If you haven’t already, make a Family Plan and a Pet Plan.
 If you have a current disaster kit, rotate out soon to be expired foods and medicines.

Items to Purchase

 1 gallon of water*
 1 can of meat*
 1 canned fruit*
 1 can of vegetables*
 Portable AM/FM radio with batteries or hand crank

* Per person

Note: Always check expiration dates. Make the item last as long as possible (at least through November 30). Shopping lists are just a guide. Please adjust to your family’s needs.

Sheryl Acevedo Arrested For Murder And Arson

CLEWISTON, FL. -- The body of Federico Gomez was found in a burned home in rural Hendry county Saturday and deputies have arrested Reinaldo Cueves for obstruction of justice, and Sheryl Acevedo as a suspect to arson and the death of Gomez.

On January 2, 2016, Deputies arrived at the residence of 151 Avenida Del Centro, Clewiston, Florida, in the community of Montura. When they arrived on scene Montura firefighters had extinguished the flames and found the body of a deceased male, later identified as 79 year old Federico Gomez, inside the home.

While on scene Hendry County deputies made contact with 69 year old Reinaldo Cueves who stated that he lived in a mobile trailer behind Gomez. Hendry County Investigators interviewed Cueves who continually changed his story.

When Investigators questioned him about the inconsistencies in his stories, he became confrontational. At this time Hendry County Investigators placed Cueves under arrest on charges of Obstruction of Justice. Cueves is currently being held in the Hendry County Jail on $1,500 bond.

On Monday, January 4, 2015, Investigators followed up on information they received identifying 42 year old Sheryl Denise Acevedo as a suspect in the arson and death of Gomez. Investigators obtained an arrest warrant and picked Acevedo up at her home located at 393 Perimeter Road in the Montura Ranch Estates area.

She was then taken into custody and after interviewing Acevedo, she was placed under arrest on charges of 1st Degree Murder, Arson and Tampering with or Fabricating Physical Evidence. She is currently being held on Without Bond in the Hendry County Jail.

UPDATE: On December 13, 2017 she was found guilty of arson and manslaughter and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Peak Flu Cold Season Precautions

Although contagious viruses are active year-round, we’re most vulnerable to them in fall and winter. That’s because, in large part, we spend more time indoors with other people when the weather gets cold.  Fortunately, you can fight back with several FDA-approved medicines and vaccines.

Colds and Flu

Most respiratory bugs come and go within a few days, with no lasting effects. But some cause serious health problems. People who use tobacco or who are exposed to secondhand smoke are more prone to respiratory illnesses and more severe complications than nonsmokers.

Colds usually cause a stuffy or runny nose and sneezing. Other symptoms include coughing, a scratchy throat, and watery eyes. There is no vaccine against colds, which come on gradually and often spread through contact with infected mucus.

Flu comes on suddenly and lasts longer than colds. Flu symptoms include fever, headache, chills, dry cough, body aches, fatigue, and general misery. Like colds, flu can cause a stuffy or runny nose, sneezing, and watery eyes. Young children may also experience nausea and vomiting with flu. Flu viruses spread mainly by droplets made when people with flu cough, sneeze or talk. You also can get flu by touching a surface or object that has flu virus on it.

Flu season in the United States may begin as early as October and can last as late as May, and generally peaks between December and February. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):

• More than 200,000 people in the United States are hospitalized from flu-related complications each year, including 20,000 children younger than age 5.
• Between 1976 and 2006, the estimated number of flu-related deaths every year ranged from about 3,000 to about 49,000.
• In the 2014-15 season, there were about 40 million flu-associated illnesses, 19 million flu-associated medical visits, and 970,000 flu-associated hospitalizations—the highest estimate for a single flu season.

Prevention Tips

Get vaccinated against flu.

With rare exceptions, everyone ages 6 months and older should be vaccinated against flu. Flu vaccination, available as a shot or a nasal spray, can reduce flu illnesses, doctors’ visits, missed work and school, and prevent flu-related hospitalizations and deaths.

It’s ideal to be vaccinated by October, although vaccination into January and beyond can still offer protection. Annual vaccination is needed because flu viruses are constantly changing, flu vaccines may need to be updated, and because a person’s immune protection from the vaccine declines over time. Annual vaccination is especially important for people at high risk for developing serious complications from flu. These people include:

• Children younger than 5 years, but especially those younger than 2.
• Pregnant women.
• People with certain chronic health conditions (such as asthma, diabetes, or heart and lung disease).
• People 65 or older.

Vaccination is especially important for health care workers, as well as those who live with or care for people at high risk for serious flu-related complications, such as people older than 65 or with compromised immune systems. Because babies younger than 6 months are too young to get a flu vaccine, their mother should get a flu shot during her pregnancy to protect them throughout pregnancy and up to 6 months after birth. Additionally, all of the baby’s caregivers and close contacts should be vaccinated.

Although there was a less than ideal match between circulating flu strains and those included in the vaccine during last season, CDC estimates that the vaccines still provided about half the protection they did during the previous season. CDC also reports that this season’s vaccines better match circulating viruses.

Timothy Alexander Trial Begins - Charged With Attempted Escape

Timothy Alexander, Jr. Facing Charge of Attempted Escape Without Attorney

LABELLE, FL. -- Timothy Eugene Alexander, Jr.is on trial at the Hendry County Courthouse this afternoon facing a charge of Attempted Escape after allegedly breaking out the window of a Hendry Count Jail transport vehicle on October 24, 2013 after a hospital visit.

UPDATE: On January 5, Alexander, defending himself without an attorney before Judge James Sloan and a six-member jury, was found not guilty of the escape charge. Alexander still has other criminal charges pending against him.

Jill E. Cabai, Assistant State Attorney is prosecuting Alexander today in court. Alexander is acting as his own attorney, pro se. A charge of criminal mischief against Alexander was dropped today. A jury panel was waiting at the courthouse until 1:30 pending numerous motions before Circuit Judge James D. Sloan in the morning. A six-member jury will be selected today.

Alexander, a former Lee county firefighter and party bus operator was arrested earlier in October 2013 for sexual battery on a minor and later for arson. He has been found not guilty of the arson charge.

From the Sheriff's arrest report, shortly after midnight Hendry County Inmate, Timothy E. Alexander, Jr. was transported to a nearby hospital after complaining of being in need of medical attention.

After being examined by hospital staff, Alexander's medical needs were attended to, he was then discharged and told he would be returning to the Hendry County Jail. Alexander became uncooperative and Hendry Jail personnel requested assistance from Lee County Sheriff’s Office.

Lee County Deputies arrived on scene and assisted  the Hendry County Jail deputy in escorting Alexander back to and safely securing him inside the jail transport vehicle.

Hendry County Jail personnel requested assistance from Lee County Sheriff’s Office a second time, when Alexander became unruly in the back of the HCSO transport vehicle. Alexander was shouting and began striking and punching the rear side window with his hands and kicking it with his feet, eventually breaking the window. 

Alexander then reached through the broken window attempting to open the door from the outside.

The Hendry County Transport Officer was able to safely stop the vehicle and kept Alexander from escaping.

Photo: Hendry County Sheriff Booking Photo

Previous Arrests Of Alexander

Ubiquitous - Bill Neville

Commentary by T. W. Bill Neville
Lo these six plus months of my wife of 65 years passing have been a parade of "UBIQUITOUS" happenings. It seems I can't go anywhere, view TV, listen to radio or CD's without my wife's omnipresence.

I've slowly, but surely, adapted to what could have been an "underwhelming" distraction, among many, that have, and still are, testing my self-confidence, in this, uncharted, chapter in my "life" without my mate of 65, plus years.

Coincidentally, and without any forethought on my part, I've found succor in discovering, in her personal belongings, a vial of her "trademark" perfume, "Clinique", which she had "worn" ,with landmark success, over a period of at least 50 years of our marriage. It never failed, wherever we went, that someone commented and wanted to know the name of her perfume. She even attracted male admirers, leading one daughter in law to, jovially, relate a story where they were together in a beauty salon, that also catered to males. As one male was leaving he stopped by Betty's chair and asked what was that wonderful fragrance? This prompted the daughter in law to comment that he was hitting on an 80 year old while ignoring a "charming" 50 year old. For the "record", although I'm certainly not 50 yrs.old, and certainly not charming, I have found comfort in wearing a single drop on my wrist gives me solace, and a sense of "nearness" and "comfort" in her absence. So "far", no one has made a "pass" at me yet, but I have been avoiding going to the barber shop.

With no connection to how and when my wife died, about ten years into our full time residency in Florida, every time we were with family, up North, she had a growing problem when it was time to head South. That was when I suggested, no "more" saying "GOODBYE." Instead we started saying "So Long." It was just last week while spending Christmas with our South Carolina families, that I came across an ad for a Medallion inscribed "Goodbye is not forever. It is not the end. It simply means, I will miss you until we meet again." As "simply" put as that saying is, "IT" has made my continuing "UBIQUITOUS" existence, just a "little" bit more manageable, and more prepared to deal with a "final" GOODBYE, even, including "my" own.