The first guest on Wednesday's “Mornings unPHILtered” was Carl Smith, who is seeking the Republican nomination to oppose Democratic John Barrow for Georgia's District 12 seat in Congress. Smith is currently the Thunderbolt fire chief and past president of both the Georgia and Southeastern United States Fire Chiefs Association.
    Smith is the director-at-large of the Georgia Mutual Aid Group, an organization of firefighters and emergency workers who respond to disasters outside of Georgia. The group was set up in 1996 to help out during the Atlanta Olympics Afterwards, the group expanded with firefighters and emergency workers throughout Georgia.
    Smith told host Phil Boyum he helped lead Georgia Mutual Aid Society rescue teams that went to Louisiana and Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina.
    There are seven-person teams working with American Marines and 82nd Airborne Force units to provide pure water to the hospitals and orphanages in earthquake stricken Haiti. The company that builds the machines is trying to collect machines from around the world and send them directly to Haiti, so that there will be enough to send out into the countryside.
    Smith said many of the buildings that collapsed weren't built with reinforced steel or rebar. If they had been built to the same standards required in the United States, Smith said many might have withstood the shocks better. He added that it's not just Port Au Prince that was devastated, but towns scattered throughout the entire country.
    Smith said if those who are complaining about how much money America is spending helping the Haitians saw how bad the devastation was, they would probably rethink their opposition to aid.
    The Georgia Team Leader on the ground in Haiti told Smith that security dangers were being overplayed. In fact, Smith said he was told that quite often the Strike Teams felt that were very safe, and let their Marine and 82nd Airborne guards go on to other tasks. Smith said that the next stage of search and rescue would involve going into the collapsed buildings all over the island and remove the bodies.
    After that, the Haitians and the rest of the world must come up with a means to rebuild entire cities. Smith said being that Haitians speak French, it has become a great need to find rescue and medical people who can communicate and stay for extended periods of time.
    Anyone who can speak French relatively well, has skills that are needed in Haiti, and would be willing to go to that country for between seven to fourteen days should contact the local American Red Cross or Salvation Army offices. Volunteers can also contact the Georgia Emergency Management Agency, to let them know how you would be willing to help out in Haiti.
    Boyum next welcomed local author Bob Green to the show. Green's most recent book is entitled “Do Adult Children Still Need Parenting.” After holding several classes on this subject at the First Baptist Church of Statesboro, he was told that his work needed to be put into print. The book will be officially released in mid-February, but Green said the book is available right now through the publisher,
    The book deals with older children, who have left the home and the nest, and offers advice on how to bring these families back together and deal with their struggles in the real world. Many of the older folks who attended the earlier lectures said they needed more tools to deal with the changing needs of their older children and grandchildren.
    Green is an avid sportsman, and wrote two books aimed at the outdoors. The first was for hunters, and is entitled “In God's Cross-Hairs”; and the second is “Casting Out A Little Deeper,” directed towards the avid fisherman, who would like to have a closer relationship with Christ.
    Green said it is imperative that parents be able to let go of their older children, even when it means that they will fail, so that they can learn the lessons of life, and hopefully, then choose to come back to you seeking your advice. Green has a Web site, www.outofdoorsinspiration.com, where signed copies of all of his books can be purchased.
         
    “Mornings unPHILtered” airs live Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. on statesboroherald.com and also simulcast on WWNS-AM 1240 on the radio. You also can listen anytime at BoroLive.com on statesboroherald.com