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Loss from the recent Butte Fire
Last updated on September 13, 2015 by The C.A.R.L.A. Team | This article is Archived | Permalink
We have some very sad news to report from the Butte Fire in
Calaveras County.
One of CARLA's MAJOR supporters including the reason for our
rapid expansion and a very good friend, John LaRue, experienced
a devastating and very personal loss from the Butte Fire near
Mt. Ranch.
Some of you may know of the JKL Museum of Telephony or even had
the pleasure of touring it. If you have, you know what a "WOW,
THAT'S SO COOL" experience it was and how you probably shared
that 'wow factor' with anyone you tried to describe it too.
Preliminary information is that the Museum burned to the ground
along with a beautiful home and several other buildings,
warehouse, vehicles and so much more. There was even a theater
that was added a few years ago and so many hard to replace, one
of a kind, nostalgic and refurbished items throughout the
existence and history of Telephony in this country.
We know what it's like to pour all your heart, time, money and
resources into something special and yet even if we lost all of
CARLA today, it would pale in comparison to the loss that was
experienced from this fire including all the dozens of other
homes that have been overrun in the last few days.
In fact, it's very possible we lost a 900 MHz repeater that was
installed a few years ago in Calaveras County but never
integrated into the rest of the network yet. With all the fires
going on and still to come, it will truly be miraculous if we
don't suffer a loss somewhere amongst all the systems currently
in place.
Those of us who are part of CARLA would like to offer our
heartfelt thoughts and condolences to John, his family and the
many friends and supporters who were all part of the museum's
birth and existence. We are ready to help and assist in any way
we can with recovery and/or possible rebuilding efforts.
If you want to look at some of the now only memories of the
museum, here is the address to the website:
www.jklmuseum.com
Tom, N6MVT
...and the rest of the CARLA Team.