CALL 9-1-1? NEVER!

It’s been awhile, but I did it!  I called a radio talk show on Monday.  It was “Eagan and Braudie” on 96.9 FM Talk in Boston.   During my lifetime I’ve called radio talk shows around twenty times, although I’d never called in to Boston’s 96.9 FM Talk before.  Another first:  I called in from my car on a cell phone.  After speaking to the producer and getting into the “lineup of callers” I pulled the car over to the parking lot of a Medway restaurant.  Alas, it ended up being for naught.  At 12:59, Jim announced, “Sorry, I know we’ve got callers waiting, but we’re out of time”.  Well, I dialed #969 on my cell phone but I didn’t make it on the air.

Ironically, the issue I was calling about was dialing a 3 digit number that starts with “9”:  that is dialing 9-1-1.  This past Monday, the MetroWest Daily News and its sister paper, The Boston Herald, featured a story about the number of frivolous calls that people make to 9-1-1.  One person called to complain about their Wendy’s order.  In Boston people have called to ask, “Are the Red Sox playing at Fenway this weekend?”  Around the country people have called 9-1-1 for any and every reason one can think of, including asking what the weather is going to be like.

I’m not worried about calling 9-1-1 because I will never call 9-1-1 again.  And I do mean NEVER!  I also recommend that people do NOT call 9-1-1.  The story I was going to tell on Eagan and Braudie is this:

About seven or eight years ago, a private function hall and bar was located directly across the street from our small church.  On one early evening, a party was in progress at the hall.  The crowd was 98% Hispanic, mostly young, and quite festive.  I wondered if it was some Hispanic girl’s fifteenth birthday, which is a major event in the Latin community.  The Latin music was blasting.   Teenagers and young adults began to congregate in the middle of the street.  Quickly, the street was completely blocked.  No car was able to pass.  I do not believe the young people meant any harm, but the potential for great trouble was obvious, i.e., imagine if some white supremacist came driving down the street.

I called 9-1-1 and reported this situation.

“Don’t call 9-1-1 unless its an emergency,” the Framingham dispatcher told me, sounding condescending and annoyed.  

No police ever arrived.  Granted- no trouble happened, but it COULD have.

A couple of years later, my office was robbed.  Did I call 9-1-1?  NO!  I called the Framingham Police business line at 508-872-1212.  A cruiser did arrive a few minutes later and an officer investigated.  Yup, all without calling 9-1-1.

People do what advertising says to do.  In the Boston area we know that if we have a broken windshield we call 1-800-54GIANT.  If we need a mortgage, we dial 1-800-EASTWEST.  “All ya hafta do is call 1-800-EASTWEST.”

If you need the police or fire departments, their vehicles say “Dial 9-1-1”.
Well, not me!

In Framingham, I’ll dial 508-872-1212 or I will dial “0” for Operator.  Outside of Framingham I’ll dial “0” for Operator.  

Does that sound drastic?  Well, if we all did that they wouldn’t have to worry about calls about Wendy’s and the weather, now would they?  I can imagine someone saying, “Yes, but we teach our kids to dial 9-1-1.”  

Well, when I was a kid in the 1960s my father taught me to dial “0”  for Operator.  You tell me, which is easier for a kid 9-1-1- or “0”?

Finally, I’m glad God pulls no tricks when it comes to this “call me” stuff.
In Jeremiah 33:3 He says, “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things...”.