DEVIN: An ace reporter

My congratulations to Ms. Devin Weeks for her article “Help from above” about Civil Air Patrol. I was quite concerned when I found we had a media person on board and our Public Information Officer was airborne! That sort of thing happens in a volunteer organization — we were a little short of crew and our PIO was also aircrew qualified. Our Incident Commander was really busy so he introduced me to Devin. My experience with reporters is very limited but has not always been a positive one.

Devin was delightful. Most important — she got it right! She asked a lot of questions — that’s her job — but we never felt we were being grilled. I have some experience in investigation (aircraft accident investigation) so I can appreciate someone who asks the right questions in the right way.

We are all unpaid volunteers and positive, accurate information about our efforts helps recruiting and informs our potential customers of our ability to help.

BOB KIRKWOOD

Kootenai County