By RYAN LENZ (AP)EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- Mobile homes across the nation would come equipped from the manufacturer with early warning radios to alert residents of dangerous weather under a bill announced Thursday in Washington. The bill, introduced by Rep. Brad Ellsworth from southern Indiana's 8th District, mirrors state legislation dubbed "C.J.'s Law" that sailed through this year's General Assembly. It requires all mobile homes installed after June 30 come equipped with the radios that broadcast warnings from the National Weather Service.
"This is about public safety. It's about taking one more step," Ellsworth, a former Vanderburgh County sheriff and Democrat, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from Washington. As sheriff, Ellsworth oversaw rescue and recovery operations for days following a tornado that killed 25 people on Nov. 6, 2005. The storm hit in the pre-dawn hours with winds estimated around 200 mph. Twenty of the storm's victims lived in Eastbrook Mobile Home Park on the outskirts of Evansville, where emergency officials said few had weather radios or nearby shelters where they could have gone as the storm neared. Opponents of such bills have argued that requiring the radios -- which typically cost around $30 -- would not be cost effective in large scale production for mobile home manufacturers. Read the whole story here.
I happen to think this is a great idea. Why do we require new homes to have carbon monoxide detectors and not weather radios? Perhaps someone should invent a smoke/CO/weather detector for homes! -ERIC
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