He's seen it all

As a scanner goes off in his kitchen announcing an emergency situation in Port Byron, Earl Ward does his best to ignore it.

It's hard for the 69-year-old to concentrate on anything else when the scanner sounds. His head cocks to one side as he pauses the conversation. He listens completely to the dispatcher, and then corrects her mistake.

She makes mention of a post office in Weedsport, but she means Port Byron. Ward catches the slip, smiles and silently congratulates himself not only for finding the error, but also for staying put. In earlier days, he would have been out the door by now, en route to the emergency.