This weather radio is on sale at Target for $15.00. You mean that the trailer occupants can't afford that? Oh well, I guess that the cost of a case of PBR outweighs personal safety. 
Posted on 07/01/2007 5:32:30 PM PDT by TornadoAlley3
The House bill is modeled on law in Indiana, where tornado killed 20 in one home park:
WASHINGTON ; All new manufactured homes would have to come with a weather-alert radio under legislation introduced in the House.
"I was almost stunned that such a wonderful idea as this, that we hadn't done it before," said one sponsor, Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Ala.
Named for a 2-year-old boy killed in a tornado in Indiana in 2005, C.J.'s Home Protection Act would change the federal safety standards for manufactured homes and make the industry pay for the receivers and their installation before the homes are delivered.
"I say it makes the mobile home that much more valuable," Bachus said Thursday.
The legislation, introduced June 20 but not yet set for debate, was initiated by C.J. Martin's parents, who lost three family members in the 2005 storm that killed 25 people, 20 of them in the same mobile home park.
"It's important for me to do this. I believe in this," Kathryn Martin said. "If my family had that warning, they would've been here today. This just makes sense."
The bill is modeled after a similar state law recently approved in Indiana.
It was introduced by U.S. Rep. Brad Ellsworth, D-Ind., who at the time was the sheriff who responded to the scene where C.J. died.
"It's a public safety issue, not a Big Brother issue, and it's not us trying to force things on people," Ellsworth said. "It's trying to give families ... that extra little chance, an extra few moments."
The receivers cost between $20 and $200, according to the National Weather Service, depending on the features, the manufacturer and the retailer.
A spokesman for the industry took issue with the bill singling out manufactured homes.
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
“I say it makes the mobile home that much more valuable,”
Ya right! A $20 weather radio is going to make a trailer more valuable. It’d take a helluva lot more than that.
The real problem is the mobile homes themselves. Everybody knows that they’re tornado magnets. Ever seen a tornado report that didn’t show a destroyed trailer park? I rest my case.
Now how do we convince folks to turn them on and replace the batteries occasionally? After the novelty has worn off, they will be turned off (false alarms will take care of that) and like smoke detectors … batteries will never be replace in most, ever.
Why does the governemtn NEED to do everything for us? CJ’s parents could have bought and had this radio themselves. They are trying to placate their guilt by insinuating that mobile homes should have always had this and mostly that IT WASN’T THEIR FAULT.
Why not make it manditory for everyone?
Oh yeah, those living in mobile homes in the San Francisco Bay area will sleep more soundly knowing that they'll have extra protection from tornado strikes. Typical government -- one size fits all -- and we'll force you to comply.
Why not mandate that your insurance company buy the weather receivers? They’re the ones responsible for tornadoes hitting trailer parks.
For the record, I’m living in a mobile home on my own land.
My all time favorite “invention” is “stamps you don’t have to lick”. It only took 200 years!!
If I was in the mobile home business I would fight this. What is going to happen when a tornado hits, years after a sale? Will families get millions because it “obviously didn’t work”?
Agree, by the time the warning alert is sounded, too late to do anything about it. People who live in trailers should monitor the weather early and when news says a storm is coming that afternoon or night, go ahead and go stay with someone who does not live in a trailer.
Why not have mobile homes come equipped with storm cellars?
:)
This is fun--we can go on all night with this!
Buy a radio if you think it will help. But the radio only helps if people act on it. I bet that history would show that the majority of injuries and fatalities occur prior to the announcement that a tornado is on the ground somewhere.
It is not the function of government to force mobile home manufacturers to put weather radios in their product. That is a function of the free market.
This weather radio is on sale at Target for $15.00. You mean that the trailer occupants can't afford that? Oh well, I guess that the cost of a case of PBR outweighs personal safety.
“It’s a public safety issue, not a Big Brother issue, and it’s not us trying to force things on people,” Ellsworth said.” - Rep. Ellsworth (D-IN)
What a moron. Just regarding the pragmatics of the issue, has Ellsworth ever set a radio to auto alarm for the weather alert frequencies? If so, he would realize that these government alarms are predominantly (1) annoying drills and (2) non-crisis events. If his bill is enacted, mobile home purchasers will disable his brainchild within the first month of ownership.
Why not mandate homes in NO come with boats.
Next they will be mandating police ban radios installed in all new mobile homes. That way you can know when your neighbors have called in yet another domestic dispute camplaint on you and you can calm down before the police arrive.
Bachus no doubt representing Boaz, home of "Boazna" mobile homes - and not much in the way of higher education.
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