Habersham EMA director hanging up his pager

GAINESVILLE - He says he'll miss helping people, but, after 34 years, won't miss being on call 24/7.<br> <br> Habersham County Emergency Management Agency Director Barry Church is retiring.<br> <br> Church got the job in 1973, filling a position in a department that had been dormant for several years following the resignation of the last director. At that time it was a part of the nation's Civil Defense system, which had as its primary mission preparing the country for the possibility of a nuclear attack and being ready to respond in the event of such a strike.<br> <br> Church, appearing on Saturday's Northeast Georgia This Week on WDUN NEWS TALK 550 (like AccessNorthGa.com, a division of Jacobs Media Corp.), says it was not his first choice of careers. At various times he says, he had worked in a hardware store, drove a truck and worked for a gas company. But, he says he's enjoyed what he's been doing since 1973, despite the "many interrupted or missed meals, holidays, family affairs and nights of sleep" which occurred when his pager went off, summoning him to an emergency of some sort.<br> <br> What, then, has sustained him?<br> <br> "The thought that you're helping people in their time of emergency."<br> <br> There have been tornadoes, floods, lost kids and adults, blizzards, and people who fell while hiking in Tallulah Gorge and other scenic areas in the mountains.<br> <br> Church says the mission of EMAs changed dramatically once the Cold War ended in the early 1990s. As the threat of a nuclear attack was greatly diminished with the breakup of the Soviet Union, "we began to deal with the all-hazards concept whether it was natural disaster, manmade disaster." But, now, in a way, he says, they've come full circle... following 9/11 and with the war on terror and increased threat of a terrorist group striking the U.S. with a nuclear explosive. <br> <br> Church says the most memorable thing he had to deal with during his career was the Toccoa Falls flood which occurred 30 years ago, on Nov. 6, 1977. The flood washed away much of the campus of Toccoa Falls College in neighboring Stephens County after the Kelly Barnes Dam, an earthen structure located above the campus, gave way following several days of heavy rains. Thirty-nine people were killed by the raging waters.<br> <br> Church says Habersham EMA sent personnel to Stephens County to assist in the rescue/recovery efforts and they were there for about a week. <br> <br> Other than turning in his pager, Church says his retirement plans are simple: he wants to make up some of the family time he lost the past 34 years "and just enjoy the remainder of my life."

http://accesswdun.com/article/2007/11/203888