If your life is not in jeopardy for what you believe, you’re probably on the wrong side!
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Welcome to my website!
There’s nothing fancy or even particularly interesting here. I really enjoy building websites and expressing my views about almost everything, and needed a “home base” for that effort and an “umbrella” for the websites I currently manage. I’ve provided a bit of information about myself and some links to my various web-building projects. The primary website for my innermost thoughts is Messianic-Learning.com.
My Activities Since Retirement
Having retired from actively earning a paycheck in May of 2008, I find that I now have some “free time” to engage in activities that I want to do, not that someone else tells me I need to be doing. A few of my current and previous activities are listed below.
Current Activities
The Center for Messianic Learning
Also
known as Ari benLevi (and by my nickname “Buzz” west of the Rockies), I am the founder and
full-time resident theologian of The Center for Messianic Learning, which is
dedicated to teaching the Torah and its way of life,
HaDerek (דֶּ֣רֶךְ, the Way),
fully centered on the Jewish Messiah, to all of God’s people.
Messianic Judaism starts with the assumption that Christianity was
originally Jewish. Jesus, the apostles, and all the first disciples
were practicing Jews who considered themselves part of Israel and
the Jewish people. They did not envision themselves as the authors
of a new religion; they considered themselves to be a sect within
greater Judaism—a reformation movement inspired by the teachings
of Rabbi Yeshua (Jesus) of Nazareth and by their conviction that He is
the long-promised Messiah King. They belonged to the sect of
the Nazarenes (also called HaDerek, The Way), a first-century Jewish school of disciples centered
around Yeshua. They did not hold Jesus or the gospel message in
antithesis to the Torah (unfortunately incorrectly translated as “Law”) of Moses, but rather held that Torah
is fully compatible with the teaching of Yeshua and the Apostles. We
therefore agree with them that the followers of Yeshua (Jesus)
should, therefore, be considered a sect within greater Judaism, and
not a separate religion. We also subscribe to the vision and mission of
First Fruits of Zion
and the
Vine of David for the Church to:
• bring the Church back to its
apostolic foundations;
• eliminate supercessionism (Replacement Theology);
• establish a Jewish understanding of faith in Yeshua; and
• bring the Church into solidarity with Israel.
Parkersburg Police Department Volunteer
The Parkersburg Police Department serves
the county seat of Wood County, West Virginia. A city of 12.35 square miles, located at the
confluence of the Ohio and Little Kanawha rivers, it is the state‘s third-largest city with
a population of 31,492 at the 2010 census. Its peak population was 44,797 in 1960. The city
is about 14 miles south of Marietta, Ohio. I serve the department as a volunteer, currently
assigned to staff the
South Substation.
IT Coordinator, Parkersburg/Wood County Neighborhood Watch
Neighborhood Watch is one of the
oldest and most effective crime prevention programs in the country,
bringing citizens together with law enforcement to deter crime and
make communities safer. The Parkersburg and Wood County Neighborhood Watch Co-op is chartered by the
Parkersburg
Police Department and
Wood County Sheriff’s Office to organize and
coordinate the activities of all the Neighborhood Watch Groups in
Parkersburg and the surrounding unincorporated areas of Wood County.
I am also the Watch Captain of my apartment complex.
Member, SIRN Regional Interoperability Committee, Region 1
The West Virginia State Interoperability
Radio Network is a collaborative effort by state, county, and municipal
public safety entities to establish and maintain a statewide interoperable
radio network for emergency services. The project is divided into four
Regional Interoperability Committees to assist with governing and
monitoring the implementation of the SIRN and to assist in establishing goals for the betterment of the SIRN.
Amateur Radio Operator
I obtained my Amateur Radio Technician license
(KG8NKS) in April of 2010, and upgraded to General license (WV8DOC) in
November 2013. I live in a high-rise apartment, so hanging antennas on
my residence is out of the question; I work the 2 Meter and 70
Centimeter bands with indoor antennas leaning up against my living room window. Not
terribly efficient, but since I mostly work emergency communications and
we have a really good amateur repeater network in the county, it
meets my needs adequately.
Trustee, Wood County Emergency Communications, Inc.
Wood County Emergency Communications Inc. (WCEC)
is an all volunteer Non-Profit organization, created to provide back-up
and overload communications to all Public Safety agencies in Wood County,
West Virginia and the surrounding counties in WV and OH. Read more in
our Mission Statement to see what we do.
For more information on Emergency Communicators and Amateur Radio read their "Who Are We?" article.
I have been a member since 2010 and a Trustee since 2015.
Amateur Radio Emergency Service
The Amateur Radio Emergency Service® (ARES) consists
of licensed amateurs who have voluntarily registered their qualifications
and equipment with their local ARES leadership, for communications duty
in the public service when disaster strikes.
Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES)
RACES stands for “Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service,” a protocol created by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC Part 97, Section 407). Many government agencies across the country train their Auxiliary Communications Service (ACS) volunteers using the RACES protocol. The volunteers serve their respective jurisdictions pursuant to guidelines and mandates established by local emergency management officials. RACES volunteer operators are:
- Licensed Radio Amateurs
- Certified by a civil defense agency
- Able to communicate on Amateur Radio frequencies during drills, exercises and emergencies
- Activated by local, county and state jurisdictions and are the only Amateur Radio operators authorized to transmit during declared emergencies when the President of the United States specifically invokes the War Powers Act.
Communications Technician, Tyler County Office of Emergency Management
The
Office of Emergency Management is responsible for overseeing and
managing all disasters and major emergencies that occur within the
county. Tyler County OEM has followed the FEMA Whole Community
approach to emergency management. Over the past 20 years a team
has been developed that includes volunteers, government agencies
and businesses. The groups include volunteers from several disciplines
including search & rescue, Medical Reserve Corps, the Tyler County
Commission, mayors of Middlebourne, Sistersville, Friendly, and Paden
City, local public service districts, Tyler County Board of Education,
Emergency Response Team(CERT), cooking crew, Tyler County Amateur Radio
Organization, Project Lifesaver and the technology staff. Tyler OEM
also works with Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD).
We have active volunteers from many counties in WV and the surrounding
area. We are also closely connected to nearly every county in WV through
our friendship with all the other emergency management agencies!
Electronic Search Technician, Project Lifesaver
Project Lifesaver is a 501 (C)(3) community based,
public safety, non-profit organization that provides law enforcement,
fire/rescue, and caregivers with a program designed to protect, and
when necessary, quickly locate individuals with cognitive disorders
who are prone to the life threatening behavior of wandering. The program is structured in a way that strategically
combined state of the art locating technologies, innovative search
and rescue methods, and community policing courses that educated
first responders about cognitive conditions. The search times for
certified Project Lifesaver agencies have been reduced from hours,
potentially days, down to minutes. Recovery times for Project
Lifesaver agencies average 30 minutes, which is 95% less
time than standard operations without Project Lifesaver.
Citizens enrolled in Project Lifesaver wear a small transmitter on the wrist or ankle that emits an individualized frequency signal. If an enrolled client goes missing, the caregiver notifies their local Project Lifesaver agency, and a trained emergency team responds to the wanderer’s area. The first responders will then use the client’s individualized frequency to locate the position of the individual. The knowledge given from the community policing courses is best applied in this situation because the first responders will know how to best approach the client once found, and allow them to be brought back to safety.
Federal Emergency Management Agency, COML and AUXCOMM
The Communications Unit Leader (COML) is a position under
the Logistics Section of the
Incident Command System (ICS) (see pages 57-58 of the
National Incident Management System [NIMS], which is available
HERE). The COML reports
directly to the Logistics Chief or Incident Commander. A COML’s responsibilities
include developing plans for the effective use of incident communications
equipment and facilities, managing the distribution of communications
equipment to incident personnel, and coordinating the installation and
testing of communications equipment. The COML will supervise other
members of the Communications Unit such as the Communications
Technician (COMT), Radio Operator (RADO), and Incident Communications
Center Manager (INCM), if those positions are filled during an incident. The
COML may also supervise volunteer communicators, if available, such as the
amateur radio emergency communications support team. The
AUXCOMM
is the official name given by Homeland Security to Amateur Radio
operators (RACES/ARES/CERT), REACT members and others, who augment
the paid/trained first responders during declared emergencies.
W5YI Volunteer Examiner
Amateur radio license testing is conducted under the supervision of
Volunteer Examiner Coordinators (VEC's).
Volunteer examiners
(VEs) are Amateurs holding General, Advanced or Extra Class licenses who
are approved by a VEC may prepare and administer amateur license examinations
to applicants. The examinations are given by teams of three qualified VEs who
volunteer their time to help the amateur service grow. There are 14 FCC
appointed VECs, but almost 90% of all ham radio testing is conducted by only
two of them, the ARRL-VEC and the W5YI-VEC.
SkyWarn® Storm Spotter
To obtain critical weather information, the National Weather Service (NWS) established
SKYWARN®
with partner organizations. SKYWARN® is a volunteer program with between
350,000 and 400,000 trained severe weather spotters. These volunteers help
keep their local communities safe by providing timely and accurate reports
of severe weather to the National Weather Service.
Although SKYWARN® spotters provide essential information for all types of weather hazards, the main responsibility of a SKYWARN® spotter is to identify and describe severe local storms. In an average year, the the United States experiences more than 10,000 severe thunderstorms, 5,000 floods and more than 1,000 tornadoes.
Since the program started in the 1970s, the information provided by SKYWARN® spotters, coupled with Doppler radar technology, improved satellite and other data, has enabled NWS to issue more timely and accurate warnings for tornadoes, severe thunderstorms and flash floods. SKYWARN® storm spotters are citizens who form the nation's first line of defense against severe weather. There can be no finer reward than to know that their efforts have given communities the precious gift of time—seconds and minutes that can help save lives.
Consulting and Website Design
As time and energy permit, I also provide low-cost or no-cost
consulting
and web design services for startup non-profits that are directly
related to public safety, emergency response, or disaster preparedness.
Earlier Activities
Deputy Director, Wood County CERT
(Community
Emergency Response Team)
(Served 2010-2014) Wood County CERT was a nationally accredited,
formally trained organization of local citizen volunteers working
with First Responders to help grow and strengthen the public safety
network in Wood County. The CERT
Program, part of the
Federal
Emergency Management Agency
(FEMA), educates people about disaster preparedness for hazards that
may impact their area and trains them in basic disaster response skills,
such as fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization, and
disaster medical operations, all in compliance with the
National Incident Management System (NIMS) and the
National Response Framework (NRF).
Using the training learned in the classroom and during exercises, CERT members can assist others in their neighborhood or workplace following an event when professional responders are not immediately available to help. CERT members also are encouraged to support emergency response agencies by taking a more active role in emergency preparedness projects in their community.
Even though Wood County CERT members volunteered well over 2,000 hours providing disaster relief during the 2012 Derecho Event that devastated Wood County and totally overwhelmed emergency responders for over a week, the Wood County Commission and the City of Parkersburg decided (in their infinite wisdom) that citizen volunteers extensively trained to assist their neighbors in times of disaster was not in the best interest of their constituents, and the program was closed down in April of 2014. [Visit the national CERT website.]
President, South Parkersburg Unity Plaza Tenants Association, Inc.
(Served 2014-2019) The Association is a
501(c)(4) Social Welfare Corporation, established in 1984
for the promotion of the social welfare of the 160 residents
of the three-building apartment complex. The Association serves
the residents of South Parkersburg Unity Housing (SPUH) by
acting as a central voice in the affairs of all tenants; by
promote the general welfare of the tenants of SPUH; and by planning,
promoting, and carrying out programs and activities that benefit
the residents.
Treasurer, After The Disaster, Inc.
After The Disaster, Inc. (ATD) is a non-stock,
non-profit 501(c)(3) public benefit corporation established
on May 20, 2019 to provide personal comfort kits for victims of
disasters such as fire or flood. ATD provides the kits to
fire stations to be distributed by the stations to the
affected victims at the scene of the disaster.