Pendleton County has enough ambulances to save lives, not enough cash to run them

Pendleton County residents might soon need a new plan for medical emergencies, fiscal court magistrate Darrin Gregg suggested grimly at a Tuesday night meeting: “Get a canteen and a wet rag, and call Doc Adams from ‘Gunsmoke’ when you get sick.” The situation is unlikely to become quite that dire in reality, but the small county’s ambulance service — a vital lifeline in an area where many people live 45 minutes from the nearest hospital — will soon have to keep one of its two advanced life support ambulances in the garage for most of the week.