Giving Back to the Community
Tony is a Templater at K&D Countertops. He has been with the company for 14 cumulative years. His first job with K&D Countertops was working in the CAD department drawing countertops. Tony spends a lot of his free time giving back to the community through his work as a volunteer firefighter for the Carlyle IL Fire Department and as an officer with the Clinton County Emergency Management Agency. He also gives back through his organization “Bird Dog Mafia,” which teaches the youth how to upland hunt with bird dogs.
Volunteer Firefighter
Tony is a firefighter for the Carlyle Fire Protection District. His friend asked him to join the fire department and he has been with the CFPD for over one year. Tony has gone through rigorous training during his time with the Carlyle Fire Department. He has training weekly on Monday’s. He is also taking a year-long class through Southwestern Illinois College (SWIC) to become Firefighter 2 certified. This class meets every Thursday and at least one Saturday a month at the burn tower in Belleville.
If your homeowner is having a panic attack from all the stress, don’t worry…Tony learned CPR through his training. He also learned how to navigate fires quickly and efficiently through various exercises and drills. One example of a recent drill involved using a house to be torn down, smoking it, and crawling through it in full gear and heavy equipment. This exercise mimics the training that he receives through his class with SWIC.
Previous
Next
Clinton County Emergency Management
Tony has been a volunteer with the Clinton County Emergency Management Agency (CCEMA) for over 10 years now. CCEMA is responsible for the county’s comprehensive emergency management plan which supports local agencies. Tony has undergone extensive training while involved with CCEMA including ICS-300 and ICS-400 which deals with managing expanding incidents as well as advanced incident planning. The agency also does firefighter rehab for large structure fires throughout the county. Rehab is a coordination with an EMS crew to evaluate firefighters after they come out of structure fires, and help them to cool down and re-hydrate so they can get back to very important fire-ground operations. Obviously, if the fire is in Tony’s fire district, the fire department comes first. Tony states, “Our main focus is a planning agency for anything from a small event to a large-scale disaster. We also assist local, county and state law enforcement with traffic management if they have an incident that requires additional resources.”
Bird Dog Mafia
Tony is the co-founder of the organization “Bird Dog Mafia”. He started the Bird Dog Mafia in 2016 and has been heavily involved for over three years. He has two of his own dogs that are trained to go on these hunts. Tony’s dogs are German shorthair pointers.
This organization teaches the youth how to hunt in a fun and safe environment that promotes learning and hands on experience. Tony focuses on upland hunting, which is specifically hunting birds like quail, pheasant, chucker, etc. Tony’s trained dogs go out and sniff around until they find the birds. The dogs point the birds, and then the hunters go in and flush them. From there, it’s up to the hunter to aim and hit their mark. The hunts are aged towards 10-18 year olds and take place in small groups.The season lasts during the winter from November to mid January. Tony says the organization donates money from 2-3 hunts per year to a variety of charities.
Tony views the Bird Dog Mafia as an opportunity for kids to get excited, be loud and walk safely around rather than sit quiet in a stand like other types of hunting. He says that upland hunting helps make for a great first hunting opportunity for kids, because they don’t have to sit still in one place and be quiet for long periods of time. Upland hunting with bird dogs gives the youth the opportunity to follow the dogs and find and shoot the birds, all while learning and enjoying the experience.
Previous
Next
Join the Hunt
You can find more photos and information about upcoming hunts on Bird Dog Mafia’s Facebook page and website.