This morning's 5:10 am 5 blast horn has given me the time I didn't think I would have to respond to last weekend's Sewickley Herald article. But, first, I will take the opportunity to say thank you to our firemen who are working right now. Those of you who have followed this petition from the beginning know that we have now made repeated efforts to turn this into a fundraising campaign for the firehouse with the hope of helping them update their technology. Most recently this offer was made at the Council meeting earlier this month. The offer has not been accepted. Perhaps fortunately, this format only gives me a minimal amount of space to post and so I have to be succinct. Our community leaders, through the Herald, have proffered two reasons for the fire horn. First, to warn the public of volunteers speeding to the firehouse and, second, to communicate to those in trouble that the firemen are on their way. Both of these reasons have been discussed at Council meetings. It is my understanding that neither of these were original, primary, purposes of the fire horn. Those original purposes were (1) as an air raid warning and (2) as a device to communicate with volunteers. The horn has outlived both of these primary reasons. The first of the remaining secondary, or what I would call "incidental", purposes (warning the public of speeding volunteers) tends to lose importance at night when the streets are empty and the public isn't threatened. It becomes even less important after reading Dave's letter to the editor below in the comments section. The second incidental purpose of the horn, to tell people in trouble that firemen are on their way, is really, the only reason left standing at night. We can all make our own decision about how this purpose should be weighed against other needs of the community. Finally, because more people seem to be paying attention to this petition now, I will add that our hope from the beginning has been that we could have a civil discussion about the need for the horn and, perhaps, through fundraising, leave our firehouse better equipped. I realize now that things, unfortunately, aren't likely to be that simple. Despite this, it is important that this petition remains a place where we discuss the issue civilly and with good faith. We have already made significant strides in getting answers to the question of why we have the fire horn at all. Now, hopefully, we can find a solution that will work for everyone in town. While the signers of this petition have hoped to have the horn completely shut down it may be that this has to occur in phases (as some other towns have done). Silencing the horn at night, when the need for it is greatly reduced, would be a good first step. In that spirit, if any of you have time over the next month to become more involved I would be grateful for the help. Over the next month I am going to have to step away for work related reasons and would like to be able to hand site administration over to someone else for that time period. If any of you would be willing to do this please message me through this site. Sincerely, Matt