THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 7, 1994 TAG: 9408070046
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: EDENTON LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines
Next time you find yourself lost, hurt, sick or stranded on the highway, Charles Hollowell hopes you'll reach out to REACT.
Hollowell is the organizer of Northeastern North Carolina's Radio Emergency Associated Communications Team, a new citizens band radio service devoted to travel safety and community assistance.
The Edenton-based operation started this summer and Hollowell is eager to spread the word that it's here.
``Given the geographic location, there was a need - and there is a need - for this type of radio communication,'' said Hollowell, 26, who runs the program from his Paradise Road home.
There's also a need for more CB members.
``Basically we're looking for people who take their CBs seriously and are looking to do a good deed in the community,'' he said.
Local REACT members monitor CB Emergency Channel 9 and occasionally truck drivers' Channel 19. They also provide CB motorists with weather information, directions and, during holidays, a roadside coffee break. Additionally, REACT teams assist area disaster relief efforts and neighborhood watch programs.
The northeastern North Carolina chapter is the newest of the state's 18 REACT groups. It also is part of 528 teams nationwide and 625 internationally that have been credited with saving 6 million lives through CB intervention since 1962.
Hollowell, an emergency medical technician, got the idea to start a REACT group here from a magazine advertisement. Pasquotank County had a similar group in the 1970s, but it faded away.
The Edenton group has logged 254 CB hours since it was chartered on June 9. Most of those hours were recorded on weekends, when highway traffic is heaviest.
REACT International was formed in 1962 by American Henry Kreer, who had just installed a CB radio in his car when a blizzard hit Chicago.
Kreer came upon a woman and sick child stranded in the snowstorm. He used his CB to contact a base unit, and someone then called the state highway patrol, which came to the rescue.
Since then, CBs have been used to help coordinate emergencies both on the road and elsewhere, including areas hit by earthquakes, hurricanes, floods and tornadoes. REACT also works with crime watch groups.
While the local REACT has jurisdiction over 15 counties in this part of the state, Hollowell said efforts currently are concentrated in Chowan, Perquimans, Pasquotank, Camden, Currituck and Dare counties.
That's partly because the team currently has only five dues paying members. Two are stationed in Chowan; three reside in Perquimans. Four are volunteer EMTs, and the other is a farmer.
Each monitors the CB radio on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. ``You don't have to be a person who monitors from the home,'' Hollowell said. ``You can also monitor from a vehicle, you know, like when you're going to the grocery store or driving around.
``REACT team members can include doctors or nurses or businessmen,'' Hollowell said. ``Anyone who is really a CB-enthusiastic person and enjoys that kind of communication.''
Some of the more famous members of REACT International include actress Farrah Fawcett, basketball player Karl Malone and former teen idol Bobby Sherman.
REACT also is only for those willing to abide by Federal Communications Commission rules. Among other things, Hollowell warned against illegal use of echo microphones and power boosters, which disrupt communications.
``So if anyone was thinking about playing on the CB radio, they better think twice because we are taking this seriously and anyone who interferes during an emergency can be in serious trouble.
``It could mean the difference between life and death.''
Citzen's band radio peaked in the 1970s, with the help of movies such as ``Convoy'' and ``Smokey and the Bandit.'' After sluggish sales in the 1980s, CB radios are on the rise again.
``It is estimated that there are 225,000 CBs sold each year in the United States alone,'' Hollowell said. ``They're cheaper than a cellular phone. A lot of people are doing it because it's a hobby. A lot of people who travel use it to find 'smokey bears,' which are state troopers with radar.''
Hollowell himself has no less than eight base units and four mobile CBs. Many are in the radio room of his trailer, where all his electrical equipment is kept.
Pamphlets explaining more about the local REACT chapter are available at Radio Shacks in Elizabeth City, Williamston and Plymouth.
For more information on REACT, write to NE-NC REACT Inc., RR2 Box 364-A, Edenton, N.C., 27932. by CNB