A community meeting was held to discuss various aspects of living in Lagunas.  Since we are in a rural area with little in the way of government services, we feel a need to be fairly self-sufficient.  The following recaps the discussions.

1. Call-down/alert roster.  We have formulated a mechanism to inform everyone as soon as possible of any incident.  Basically, five people from the community have volunteered to act as principal points of contact; we have chosen to call them “Emergency Operators (EO).”  Anyone needing emergency assistance or observing suspicious activity can call any one of those five who will then take responsibility for initiating any activities deemed necessary.  The EOs will then call “First Responders” and then initiate a call to another community member who will have the responsibility for calling people listed below them in the “tree”.  Laminated sheets with the call-down information have been distributed to community members.

2. Other Security discussions.  Some common sense items related to home security and community security were also discussed.  These items, as well as suspect identification cues and suggested medical supplies are summarized on the back of the call-down roster for ready referral.

3. Communications.  Some community members are in the process of investigating the applicability of FRS/GMRS radios (walkie-talkies) for rapid dissemination of information.  Once established, community members will be informed of the channels selected and can purchase a radio for their home if they so desire.  Also discussed was the potential for a siren that could be set off by the EOs to alert the community to an existent problem.

4. Dominical area security information.  We also discussed the need to support a wider area effort being headed by Mike McGinnis of San Clemente.  This effort would support the purchase of supplies, etc., needed by the Fuerza Publica in Dominical.

5. Other items. 

a. There was some discussion regarding establishing a guard station at the entrance from Barú.  Action: Saul Rasminsky is to cost out the effort and present the results at a future meeting.

b. Don Dicker said that the country was now supporting helicopter service to transport medical emergencies and that they could access Lagunas by using the futbol field at the school.  Action: Don to verify the service and its cost and provide telephone numbers to the EOs.