Mayor-President Melvin “Kip” Holden and the East Baton Rouge Parish Mayor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (MOHSEP) are urging citizens to attend the First Annual “Red Stick Ready Day” this Saturday to help get the community prepared for all disasters, especially hurricanes.

“Red Stick Ready Day” will take place at the Mall of Louisiana on Saturday, June 19, 2010 from 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM.  Booths will be set up throughout the first floor of the mall, with most located beneath the food court.

Mayor Holden said he is declaring “Red Stick Ready Day” in East Baton Rouge Parish to encourage citizens to take immediate action to prepare themselves and their families for what is forecast to be a busy hurricane season, and to learn more about personal preparedness for all disasters.

“We learned through experience that the better prepared our citizens are for an emergency situation, the more effectively we can work as a community to stay safe, minimize disruption and recover more quickly,” Mayor Holden said.  “We want citizens to have an opportunity to talk directly with the first responders who work to keep them safe during emergencies, and learn how they can help be a part of our city-parish response.”

Local, state, federal, and private agencies are teaming up with the Mayor for the expo to hand out information, speak with residents, present preparedness tips, give away essential items, and much more.

Participating in the expo are the Baton Rouge Police Department, Baton Rouge Fire Department, the Department of Public Works, EMS, American Red Cross, Entergy, the East Baton Rouge Mosquito Abatement and Rodent Control Office, Louisiana State Police, the East Baton Rouge Parish Council on Aging, Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank, St. George Fire Department, East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office, East Baton Rouge Parish Public School System, the Baton Rouge Area Mutual Aid System and others.

“The Red Stick Ready Day Expo is an excellent opportunity to introduce ourselves to the citizens we serve, explain our capabilities and provide them with needed information to help them mitigate the effects of disasters,” said JoAnne Moreau, MOHSEP Director.

Recognized as a national best practice by the National League of Cities and the Emergency Management Institute of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the “Red Stick Ready” campaign encourages the community to take personal responsibility with the necessary items and plans in place when a disaster or emergency strikes.

The Red Stick Ready Campaign is based on community outreach at local meetings and public events, citizen training for all age groups and a monthly television program that provides advice from experts and tips for becoming “Red Stick Ready”.

On Wednesday, January 13, 2009, the nation recognizes National AMBER Alert Awareness Day. Since the program’s inception, 495 abducted children across the country have been safely recovered as a direct result of AMBER Alerts.

While there are 120 plans across the country, there is one official AMBER Alert plan in Louisiana and that plan is administered by the Louisiana State Police, in cooperation with the Louisiana broadcasters. This statewide plan is recognized by the U.S. Department of Justice and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Since the inception of the Louisiana plan in October of 2002, there have been only twelve activations. In all cases, the children were successfully recovered. There were no activations in Louisiana for 2009.

As a founding member of the Louisiana AMBER Alert Foundation Board, LSP Colonel Mike Edmonson emphasized the importance of partnerships, “The success of the LA AMBER Alert Plan can be directly credited to the growing number and commitment of national and state partnerships. We will continue to work very closely with public and private entities to ensure as many ‘eyes and ears’ receive an AMBER Alert message in order to quickly and safely locate an abducted child.”

While technology is one of greatest assets to the program, it is also one of the greatest hindrances. Nationwide, the “AMBER Alert” name has been the subject of various hoax texts and emails. A well-intentioned public often forwards misguided, phony, or outdated texts, emails and/or messages via social networks which refer to AMBER Alerts. We strongly urge the public to react only to AMBER Alerts from authorized sources, such as: Louisiana State Police Web site (AMBER Alert is located under “Public Affairs”), the Louisiana media via the Louisiana State Police, Wireless AMBER Alerts, Missingkids.com/National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (N.C.M.E.C.), or the Louisiana Clearinghouse for Missing & Exploited Children. The furtherance of such phony, misguided, or outdated “alerts” jeopardizes the integrity of the AMBER Alert plan and, potentially, a child’s life. To receive AMBER Alerts, the public may sign-up to receive free text messages via www.wirelessamberalerts.org. Those who sign-up will also receive the AMBER Alert cancellation message when the alert is no longer required.

The Louisiana State Police strictly adheres to the AMBER Alert criteria, as recommended by the Department of Justice: the abducted child must be aged 17 or younger, the child must be in imminent danger of serious bodily injury or death, and there must be enough descriptive information about the abducted child, suspect and vehicle in order to make an AMBER Alert activation viable. The Louisiana AMBER Alert plan is not intended for runaways or for the majority of parental abductions, except in rare circumstances.

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Sgt. Julie Lewis
Louisiana State Police
North District Public Affairs
LA AMBER Alert State Coordinator

The LSU Tigers will square off against the Penn State Nittany Lions on New Years Day in the Capital One Bowl.  The Nittany Lions (10-2, 6-2 Big Ten) were passed over as the Big Ten’s No. 2 BCS team, as Iowa, which had the same record as Penn State, was chosen over the Lions for the FedEx Orange Bowl. “Anybody that knows college football knows of Coach Paterno,” LSU coach Les Miles said of the 82-year-old Penn State coach. “I had visited with him briefly on a couple of occasions. I have great admiration and respect for not only his longevity, but how he’s guided that program through different times and how well he’s done.”

The LSU Tigers hoping for a 10-win season. Penn State is hoping for its first win in this game since Jan. 1, 1994. Players to watch are LSU QB Jordan Jefferson and Penn St. LB Navorro Bowman. Jefferson has been a wild card for the Tigers this season, while Bowman is the best defensive player for the Lions.

LSU will be looking for its fifth bowl win under coach Les Miles in five seasons. His 2007 team won the BCS national title, beating Big Ten champion Oho State.

Here are some statistics for both teams:

Total Yards
PSU 412.5 / 36th
LSU 309.7 / 108th

Passing Yards
PSU 246.6 / 43rd
LSU 199.8 / 94th

Rushing Yards
PSU 173.6 / 39th
LSU 129.6 / 84th

Points Scored
PSU 29.7 / 44th
LSU 25.5 / 74th

History of the Capital One Bowl:

The Capital One Bowl is an annual college football bowl game played in Orlando, Florida at the Citrus Bowl, and previously known as the Tangerine Bowl (1947-1982) and the Florida Citrus Bowl (1983-2002). Financial services company Capital One has been the title sponsor of the bowl since 2001 when it was the Capital One Florida Citrus Bowl but with the exclusive Capital One Bowl moniker since 2003. The bowl is operated by Florida Citrus Sports, a non-profit group which also organizes the Champs Sports Bowl and Florida Classic.

Since becoming one of the premier bowls, the Capital One Bowl is traditionally held at 1 p.m. EST on New Year’s Day, immediately before the Rose Bowl, both of which are televised on ABC. In 2004, the Capital One Bowl bid to become the fifth BCS game, but was not chosen, primarily due to the stadium’s aging condition. On July 26, 2007 the Orange County Commissioners voted 5–2 in favor of spending a total of 1.1 billion dollars on building a new arena for the Orlando Magic, building a performing arts center and upgrading the Citrus Bowl.

Former Names:

-Tangerine Bowl (1947-1982)
-Florida Citrus Bowl (1983-1993)
-Ourhouse.com Florida Citrus Bowl (2000)
-Capital One Florida Citrus Bowl (2001-2002)