FIRE IN THE HOLE

I've been watching with some interest the raging tax conflict in Harwich. Seems the town just doesn't have enough funds to pay the firemen. Now it appears that one of the fire stations will be closed, maybe permanently. Doom and gloom sayers abound and tell tales of burning houses with no one to put out the fires. How very sad.

Much of the blame is being placed on the fire chief. I was taught to put myself in someone's shoes before I judge his actions. Seems to me the chief is in a no win situation. It's simple math really. Not enough money to pay workers equals less workers available for production. With a manufacturer this works out because if demand is down then payroll needs to be cut. Simple profit and loss concept. It's those pesky investors wanting a big return on their money. I love greed.

This method of business has never worked for government services. There is no profit or loss category here and the tax payers are not investors. They are not concerned with profits, they are concerned for their safety and security. It seems the powers that control the purse have forgotten this. It's typical Bay State government tax the hell out of every one and everything mentality. If you have to use scare tactics, even better.

I'm not convinced that the chief is guilty of scare tactics. He is just presenting the reality of the situation he is dealing with. He doesn't allot the money to his department, he just deals with what they give him. He's the messenger. He hasn't lied about anything, nor has he tried to hide anything. He has been upfront and prudent with what little resources he has available. The plain truth is with less firemen available it will take longer to respond and the potential for house fires raging out of control is much greater. You can fire the chief right now and it won't change that fact. I don't know the man and I don't know what kind of fire chief he is but I do know a scapegoat when I see one.


The bottom line now is if you want the service you are going to have to pony up more money. That's the choice you are faced with. So you may as well vote for it because the only other alternative is to get the state government involved. God help you if that happens. (Your friendly state legislature now has the plan to make taxes retro-active.) If you have a small business you're in for it.

Talk time is over. All the griping, whinnying and complaining isn't going to fix the problem. Here's what you need to do. Pass the overide and put the fireman back to work. Then find out who's responsible for making the budget and drag him out of his high dollar office and send him on a short vacation down this way and I'll be happy to take him "gator giggin". (You'll need a replacement, first time giggers rarely survive the swim, it's not my fault if they keep falling out of the back seat of the airboat when I cut a sharp turn, which reminds me, I really need to fix that seat belt and secure that chum bucket) The budget person is the culprit. And I'll bet if you dig deep enough you'll find that the budget person has been unduly influenced by one of your elected officials. I'll put money down saying that it is probably nothing more than a political vendetta at work here. Any takers?


Not much else you can do except maybe put a good sprinkler system in your home and buy a whole bunch of fire extinguishers. You might want to educate yourself about fire prevention and how to fight typical house fires. I'd check your fire insurance policy now too.

I don't know who is controlling the checkbook but for things to get this far out of hand, the problem had to be building over time. Somebody saw this coming long before it came to this. Sadly, it will take someone's house burning down and someone getting killed before it all comes to light in the looming litigation. In the end, it's an attorney who walks away with your money.

Elected officials need to be educated on how our legal system in this country really works.

1. It's not what's true, it's only what's provable and allowable in court.

2. The law can not protect you, it can only punish you.

3. There are three types of people who never get prosecuted:

a. Those that are dead.

b. Those who have immunity.

c. Those that don't exist.


When the time comes for a change of leadership make sure you also change who your budget person is and who your town attorney is. They control more of what goes on day to day than anyone else. Of course the sweetest irony that could happen here is if it were these peoples homes that burned down.

Well, damn people, what part of "I don't take prisoners don't you understand"? I've been stabbed, shot, burned, blown up and beaten half to death with a baseball bat. I'm still standin!


Stand Yer Ground, Bandana