Posted on 02/20/2011 9:45:32 AM PST by GailA
WOODBURY, Tenn. - A military mom said she would do anything to answer her son's phone call from overseas, no matter what the cost.
Some seven months ago, Lance Corporal Mark Rhyne left the little town of Woodbury, for the remote deserts of Afghanistan.
"I told my son the day he deployed as he was about to get on that bus, 'I will stand in your steed while you are gone, I will stand,'" his mother Teresa Danford said.
On Monday, while working inside the Crane Interiors factory, Teresa Danford said she kept her word.
Mark called from Afghanistan, using a Satellite phone. It was a rare opportunity he only gets maybe once a month.
"You don't want to miss a word because truthfully that might be the last time you hear from them," Danford said.
Danford knew about Crane's no cell phone policy but answered anyway.
"There is nothing in this world that would stop a mother from answering a phone call from her son and what if it was not my son? What if he'd been hurt and someone was trying to contact me?" asked Danford.
The next day, Teresa was suspended from work without pay for three days. This was a first offense, and managers told her next time, she'd be fired.
"I said 'you are aware that my son is serving in Afghanistan and he can only call me when that sat phone gets to his unit' and he looked me straight in the eyes and said 'yes,'" Danford said.
Larry Officer is a Human Resource Manager at Crane Interiors. He sent NewsChannel 5 the following statement: "It is our policy that there is to be no cell phones used during working hours due to safety concerns within a production environment. Employees are allowed to use cell phones during breaks and lunches. We have a communicated policy for all employees to be reached in case of an emergency."
Danford said she fully expects to be fired for going public. But she remembered the promise she made to her son, the promise to always support him.
"If I didn't do this, then I couldn't live with myself. So if I lose my job, I lose my job. But I will have done what I gave my son my word that I would do," Danford added.
A lot of people have gotten wind of this story already, and they're not ignoring it.
A petition was posted online to demand that military family members are granted the right to answer calls from their loved ones serving over seas.
That's all Danford was asking for. She said talking to her son once a month gives her peace of mind, and gives her son the strength he needs to continue his work overseas.
Danford's son is scheduled to return home in a month, when he'll meet his son for the first time.
Email: ahara@newschannel5.com
30 years ~ one of our fellow Freepers, Gooey Gomez, was on that flight too ~ he survived. I talked to rotarwash, aka (at that time Captain) Biancini.
No phone call but you just don't forget these things.
As a guy who has supervised, I would not have rested until that company policy was changed.
And, once it changed I would have put out a notice that the policy had changed and that the mom involved had received a call from her son.
And, if I couldn’t have shamed HR into changing the policy I would have just taken my chances by allowing her an exception.
I hope to G-d someone HUMAN gives this woman a better job, and she can tell this boss to SHOVE it.
“Are these the people who do boat interiors?”
I believe they are, per their website.
Tenure of farmers
Full owner (farms) 1,384,565 1,428,136 1,522,033
Percent of total 62.5 67.1 69.0
Part owner (farms) 615,902 551,004 542,192
Percent of total 27.8 25.9 24.6
Tenant owner (farms) 215,409 149,842 140,567
Percent of total 9.7 7.0 6.4
Farm organization
Individuals/family, sole
proprietorship (farms) 1,922,590 1,909,598 1,906,335
Percent of total 86.8 89.7 86.5
Family-held corporations
(farms) 81,621 66,667 85,837
Percent of total 3.7 3.1 3.9
Partnerships (farms) 185,607 129,593 174,247
Percent of total 8.4 6.1 7.9
Non-family corporations (farms) 8,811 7,085 10,237
Percent of total 0.4 0.3 0.5
Others - cooperative, estate or
trust, institutional, etc. (farms) 17,247 16,039 28,136
Percent of total 0.8 0.8 1.3
Characteristics of principal farm operators
Average operator age (years) 54.0 55.3 57.1
Percent with farming as their
primary occupation 47.1 57.5 45.1
Men 2,006,092 1,891,163 1,898,583
Women 209,784 237,819 306,209
More information on farm characteristics
• Census of Agriculture
• Contact NASS Customer Service, 1-800-727-9540.
Farm Financial Indicators
Farm income and value added data
2008 2009
Number of farms 2,200,100 2,200,010
Thousands $
Final crop output 185,071,313 169,028,650
+ Final animal output 140,274,663 119,216,135
+ Services and forestry 41,978,375 42,686,077
= Final agricultural sector output 367,324,351 330,930,862
- Intermediate consumption outlays 202,971,384 189,992,112
+ Net government transactions 923,502 1,203,668
= Gross value added 165,276,469 142,142,418
- Capital consumption 28,689,535 30,116,259
= Net value added 136,586,934 112,026,158
- Factor payments 49,989,371 49,839,092
Employee compensation (total hired labor) 24,979,930 24,850,656
Net rent received by nonoperator landlords 9,589,811 9,834,140
Real estate and nonreal estate interest 15,419,630 15,154,296
= Net farm income 86,597,563 62,187,066
More information on farm income
• Farm Income Data
• Farm Income and Costs Briefing Room
• Contact Timothy Park, 202-694-5446.
Farm balance sheet
• Estimation of State-level Balance Sheets has been suspended. See the Farm Balance Sheet data page for more information.
Top Commodities, Exports, and Counties
Top 5 agriculture commodities, 2009
Value of receipts
thousand $ Percent of US
total value
1. Cattle and calves 43,776,568 15.4
2. Corn 42,035,337 14.8
3. Soybeans 30,056,466 10.6
4. Dairy products 24,342,440 8.6
5. Broilers 21,812,789 7.7
All commodities 283,406,168
More information on United States’s top agriculture commodities
• Leading commodities by cash receipts in Excel.
• Other cash receipts data.
• Contact Ted Covey, 202-694-5344.
Top 5 agriculture exports, estimates, FY 2009
Value
million $
1. Soybeans and products 17,708.8
2. Other 12,432.5
3. Feed grains and products 11,978.7
4. Live animals and meat 8,906.6
5. Wheat and products 8,598.2
Overall rank 96,632.0
More information on agricultural exports
• State Export Data
• Agricultural Trade Briefing Room
• Contact Nora Brooks, 202-694-5211.
Top 5 counties in agricultural sales 2007
Percent of US total receipts Thousands $
1. Fresno County, CA 1.3 3,730,546
2. Tulare County, CA 1.1 3,335,014
3. Kern County, CA 1.1 3,204,147
4. Merced County, CA 0.8 2,330,408
5. Monterey County,CA 0.7 2,178,470
US total 297,220,491
More information on agricultural sales
• Census of Agriculture
• Contact NASS Customer Service, 1-800-727-9540.
2008
Tenure of farmers
Full owner (farms) 1,522,033
Farm organization
Individuals/family, sole
proprietorship (farms) 1,906,335
Pretty stark contrast - no a good one
But the company folks DID change their minds about this woman’s acceptance of the calls, so they shouldn’t continue to be punished by consumers for their original stupid decision.
“Son should be aware of moms hours, Mom should follow safety rules.”
From the report as I heard it, his schedule is not normal, he doesn’t have typical soldier’s phone access, must use a special satellite phone, and never knows ahead of time when he’ll be able to call — and it’s only about once a month.
Imagine that he’s given the spur-of-the-moment go-aead to call his mother that month. He passes on that chance because it isn’t her lunch hour yet and waits until March. Sheesh. When it comes to our troops and thei families, a workplace could be flexible and logical. They should bend over backwards to offer whatever support they can.
A number of my female coworkers/employees are the wives of soldiers stationed at Fort Knox, and we (the management staff) have relaxed the cell phone policy for them since the brigade (3rd of the 1st Infantry Division) deployed to Afghanistan last month.
That’s what normal human beings do.
My two youngest sisters are both married to soldiers. One deploys to Afghanistan in May and the other in June. I can’t imagine what my reaction would be if one of their employers refused to allow them to speak with either Drew or Alan.
I got that. I’m just recounting experience I’ve had. And as far as it is up to ‘us’..that’s not how I would look at it if I were in her shoes. I would find a solution myself.
I'm happy with the old, renovated ranch house that NOW, since I added it when we bought it, has indoor plunbing and electricity...and high speed DSL & satellite service.
Still keep the outhouse in 'working order'; put a new roof on it last summer, "just in case". I also keep the lamps filled, though I have not had to use them since we left "civilization", where we regularly had outages lasting from hours to days...yet now live in miles off pavement, and a harsher climate.
When we bought the ranch in 95, we also bought 2 8,500 watt portable generators "just in case". One is still in the shipping carton; the other has never had oil or gas put in it, as it sits gathering dust in the garage. The last time the 5,000 watt unit that we used regularly in Oregon was fired up was to keep the freezer cold on the 3 day trip hauling it here in the big horse trailer. I'd start it & let it run an hour at a motel while I had dinner; fire it up again the next morning while I had breakfast. It has sat in the barn ever since.I didn't need to be a Boy Scout, though I was, to intimately know "Be Prepared" is more than a suggestion; it's a way of life.
ahahaha
that 's the ONE thing I had a hard time with during the ice storm outage. So longed for an outhouse.
Been thinking about having one built - 'just in case'
I'm in a harsh climate too - and I think that it the better part of precaution.
When/if the SHTF, the city folk will flock SOUTH - like 90% of the back-to-the-landers did in the '70's. I lived in Calif. then and laughed my head off at them,They soon learned that water was scarce to naught out in the woods /n wilds, the animals too wormy to eat, no way allowed to cut down a tree, the land was carpeted with poison oak.
Whereas, in areas like ours, plenty of water/fish everywhere, plenty of wood for heat, plenty of good garden land, lotsa good meat in the woods, and the winters keep the sissies away.
Don't tell anyone.
Good job company! Uber bad PR to not to have done that.
It’s our secret; mums the word.
It is such a hard life, but someone has to do it. ;-)
...but just between us:
Turkeys fatten themselves on the ‘spilled’ feed, then go in the freezer.
Deer try to raid the garden & orchard...and one or two go in the freezer as a warning to the rest.
We “feed” them; then they feed us.
Added domestic rabbits to the mix this year; should get a enough bunnies to have one a week, if we kept all of them for ourselves. Also experimenting with small plot grains this year.
More firewood (pine & juniper) dies or comes down naturally than we can easliy keep up with, so no need to cut live trees. Down side is we don’t have any hardwoods; the plus is decent coal is available locally at a good price.
As to “heading south”, we’ve been through Pie Town on trips here & there, and that place is a great cautionary tale for anyone thinking of how wonderful ‘homesteading’ such places are.
http://www.awesomestories.com/assets/caudill-homesteaders
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/pietown.html
It’s all fun in the sun, until the well runs dry.
...”I say good riddance to a shit job.”
I would add good riddance to working with anti-American, anti-military vermin. If it were a CEO of the company, you can count on nothing being said or done. Elitists exist everywhere.
I read the article and the company's PA Officer didn't back down but stated policy. Most people who work in a place in the same shop or area know if a person has a kid or spouse in the service. They also usually know if they have kids at home etc. I don't think that policy is as much a safety policy as most likely a production control policy. Easier to call it safety.
There are too many jobs out there in many fields as hazardous as that place would be and people use phones. In today's both parents must work world many school closing notices come via cell phone notification. Many people use their cell phones or loved ones for in case of emergency contact this number. Calling corporate switchboards in an emergency just doesn't cut it. By the time he was on hold maybe played punch 1,2,3,4,5,67,8, or 9 roulette and waited for that section etc his time would be up. My guess is they have very, very, limited time per use on the sat phone. He called a number most likely to reach her.
What about Bluetooths then? Hands free and no distraction. Or can workers even talk to each other there? I've done one of the most multi-tasking demanding things a person can do for extended periods of time and that was drive a rig. Most drivers these days use cells there too usually bluetooth. i sure wish they had the cell grid when I was driving.
Now under the more reasonable circumstance the phone call could have been like this. Phone answered and she told the line boss hey I need to take a break for a few minutes in this situation and left the line. In others where someone calls it's easy enough too. Cells have caller ID. If I had a cell at work and it said Ying Yang Hospital I'd answer it and so would you or a boss. If it was home or school calling I'd get very fast the heart of the matter and hang up till break or if needed clock out. The point is not everyone can have Crane's contact policy but most people can have a persons private cell number.
Before Cells there was pagers. They got a message to you usually or a number to call but that still meant finding a phone. So would someone get three days for recieving a text and looking at it too? Just curious?
BTW some of the most hard nosed about cutting slack for military families can be Vets themself like a few on this very thread.
In deployments past, families had to wait for a telegram or letter home at most. She should learn to DEAL WITH IT.
Better, yet, she should QUIT and let her employer fill that job with a willing worker! I bet there are many unemployed who would be happy to take her place.
As for that petition to get special dispensation for calls from military family members, I say NO WAY. Shame on her for trying to capitalize on her son's deployment and weasel her way out of having done wrong by using him as a human shield.
BULL. As someone from a military family you're viewpoint infuriates me. We do not fight so the rules we agreed upon do not apply to a select few even if it's ourselves.
She should quit. Give that job up to someone willing to do the work and abide by the company rules. I know several needing jobs in TN, including a decorated veteran with more than 20 yrs service!
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