High school students from around the county had a chance to learn about what those involved in their local government and emergency services have to do as they participated in Government Day on Tuesday.
Following a welcome to Government Day by County Commissioner Dan Woydziak, students learned about different groups that perform services within the county through a series of five modules. Those modules included one for the fire department and EMS, for the Water Rescue Team, over voting, on the Butler County Commission and over district court.
In the module over the fire department and EMS, students enjoyed watching a demonstration on rescuing people from vehicles. The demonstration, which utilized scrap cars to properly convey the procedure, took students through each step, from breaking in the windows of a vehicle to detaching a door. The officials operating that module emphasized the need for fast thinking and action in the types of emergency situations they face on a day-to-day basis.
Students learned about a much different type of rescue scenario in the module for the Water Rescue Team. The individuals comprising that team, which serve on a volunteer basis, are called to respond in the event of water-based emergencies. It was explained that one great and simple preventative step to avoid being caught in those emergencies is by wearing a personal floatation device (PFD). Another is to never swim alone, so that if you are endangered you have more immediate means of being rescued.
If you are trying to rescue someone beyond reach, then it is best to find reaching devices, from something like a stick or oar to lengths of rope or a ring float if one is available. The team recommended that when trying to give a device to assist a person struggling in the water, it is best to aim for their shoulder to consistently insure accuracy. Students got a chance to practice this skill with the Water Rescue Team and each other.
It is also important to note the location of someone stuck in a water emergency in case they go under, so that way one can dive accurately to rescue them. A rescued individual should then receive medical attention when possible. This rescue procedure is commonly referred to a reach-throw-row-go. The Water Rescue Team does have diving equipment in the event diving rescues need to be made.
One variation on their area of focus comes when the winter months hit. Then the team also must perform ice rescues during that time. It was advised that at least three inches of ice are needed to ensure safe traversal of ice, but that because of Kansas’ constantly fluctuating temperatures it is a good rule of thumb to avoid walking on ice at all. If caught on breaking ice, the best tactic to be used is to distribute all of your weight so that the pressure on the ice isn’t as strenuous and can prevent or offset it breaking.
In the district court module, students learned about functions and procedures of the court from Judge Chuck Hart. Besides discussing his own responsibilities and limitations in his role, Hart also introduced other officials who explained what function they served in the court process.
One such position that intrigued student interest was that of Jo Wilkinson, stenographer for the court. She explained that anyone who is good at typing or playing piano may excel at stenography as a profession. She also told students that the same people in her profession are also those who are contracted to perform closed captioning for television programs. Individuals doing that often seek it individually outside of their normal duties and many even perform that service from their own homes.
Wilkinson detailed the various challenges associated with her profession, but said there was plenty of fun to be had, such as in the exchanges between opposing sides in a court proceeding.
“Sometimes it’s pretty hilarious,” Wilkinson said. “It gets hard to keep my poker face.”
She said that classes are available at Butler Community College for court reporting for those who may be interested in considering it as a career.
One student asked if she was concerned her job could one day be replaced by a machine.
She wasn’t, a standpoint reflected by Hart. He explained that even the best voice recognition technology available is limited in its ability to understand people speaking in varying dialects, making that function of the court one that requires the skills of interpretation that only a person can give.
Students learned about the importance of the other roles too, from the efforts of the secretary to the procedure of the security officers. The district court building is watched after by 10 officers, five full-time, five part-time and all sheriff’s deputies. The building houses a number of holding cells to contain prisoners while they wait for trial to begin.
Voting was a process tackled in one of the modules. Requirements to be eligible to vote were gone over with the students, which include that they must be 18 years old, registered to vote and a citizen of the United States. In addition, it was noted that the first time they voted they would have to present their I.D. That step is one that is required every time someone is voting in a county for the first time. Students were reminded that although the presidential race receives much media attention, it was important to remember that officials were up for election from the Senate and House of Representatives on the national level on down to the state level, as well as several local positions.
The Butler County Commission is the last module in which the students participated. The commissioners introduced themselves, then County Administrator Will Johnson explained several of the various duties the commission oversees, then took student questions over the function they serve.
One popular question was how the recent economic downturn affected the commission and what decisions they had to make.
Johnson explained that Butler County was in a sort of “bubble” where the effects of such economic shifts on the national level were not as harsh on a local level, though still did have drastic effects. The main effect of such a shift is that with less funding available fewer projects would be completed in the county and, as such, the commission had to be extra careful to pick the most important projects on which to focus.
The overall group of students were divided into five mixed groups so that each could attend one of the modules over the course of five sessions, with the groups being rotated so that each would go through all the modules.
Students were presented with question sheets they could fill out throughout attending the different modules that they could turn in for prizes.
