Race to the Bottom

A Historical Vignette
by Tom Parquette

Part Four of Four
(Part One is HERE, Part Two is HERE,
Part Three is HERE)

The timeless parallels of Triangle and Kader exceed the record keeping of deaths, injuries and destruction. Certainly Triangle held the 'record' as the worst (fatalities) industrial fire accident through decades until the Kader incident. But the parallels far exceed fatalities, flames and rubble. They exceed the record books and the lunch room discussions of technique or international comparisons.

Triangle, as noted earlier, raised the consciousness of the nation, our nation, as to worker safety and the fledgling subject of corporate responsibility. Regardless of the nefarious dealings of Blanck and Harris, the partners in Triangle, and their ability to scam the system (or buy it off), the repercussions due to the Triangle Fire continued for decades and it became the mantra of all concerned with public and with employee safety. The American Society of Safety Engineers was founded as a result on October 14, 1911. The Women's Trade Organizations, the ILGWU and other unions used Triangle heavily as justification for organizing. NFPA undertook the writing and rewriting of codes and directives. Legislatures reacted quickly regardless of their collective bipartisan incompetence. Enforcement of these issues was clearly ratcheted up over the ensuing years, not only in New York but nationally as well. We have had other horrific fires. We have had large portions of entire cities go up in flame and we have had large loss of life. But no other fire, regardless of it's type, origin or consequence has had the collective impact on our society than the collective impact of Triangle.

And then, 82 years hence, there is Kader in Thailand. Eerily similar to Triangle in origin, substance, loss of life and aftermath. Yet the national conscious, the world conscious, in either the US or Thailand, was hardly tweaked. Thailand has laws. Many are modeled precisely to follow NFPA guidelines from our own country. Yet firm inspection, citation or possible closure in the face of violation was barely scratched just as it was barely scratched in 1911 in New York.

At this point you are likely to still be wondering where the title of this article came from. The Race To The Bottom. Four words strung together can mean many things but this time, they are specific. As countries and economies change over time the regulatory and socio-economic changes and legislations governing those changes tend to, and in fact do increase. As these burdens, if you will, of added legislative requirements and social welfare changes are implemented the cost of doing business within the boundaries of that country or political unit also increase.

We, now in our modern time, are rightly or wrongly heavily involved in a world economy.And the costs and underlying requirement of doing business are impacted by the aforementioned changes and legislation (rules, codes, policies, inspections, permits, wages, etc. etc. etc.) imposed on business operating within those same boundaries.

"Back in the Day' the sweatshop operators could, for a time, get away with basically slave labor conditions. After all, the US as well as Europe were not that far removed in 1911, for instance, from a society of slavery itself. As unscrupulous operators ignored or bent the rules for profit, disaster often followed. As the socio-economic changes developed here, countries and political subdivisions without those changes looked pretty inviting to the barons of the times.

This has caused the Race To The Bottom. The bottom rung of operating costs and the attendant legislative requirements leading to or impacting those costs. This phenomena, if you will, largely is what has led to the exportation of much of the US labor market to the underdeveloped (read unimpacted) geographies and certainly if not underdeveloped or unimpacted then those geographies which readily lend themselves to graft, bribery and corruption to circumvent those socio-economic changes and rule implementations.

The Kader facility in total was only owned by Thai citizens to the extent of .4% of it's stock holding. The balance was owned by Hong Kong, US and European investors. The social responsibility didn't exist. And as or if Thailand tightens the screws, the next country of choice, Bangladesh perhaps, becomes the next rung down on the cost of doing business ladder in the world economy, and so on.

This article makes no attempt to become a political dissertation in any way. The author exacts no specific condemnation on any country or society. It is alleged though, that China for instance, has made some effort to impose fire and worker safety regulations on it's manufacturing base. The same manufacturing base that is undermining the economies of countless nations, ours included. And, it is also alleged for instance, that Walmart, one of the worlds largest buyers from Chinese manufacturing, is lobbying heavily to curtail those same regulations. This is the same Walmart that claims it didn't know tens of millions of dollars were paid to bribe the Mexican officials for store locations. Being the skeptic that I am, I challenge any Walmart employee to spend tens of millions of dollars without Walmart knowing where its going.

That's it. The Race To The Bottom continues as it has for decades. It sadly may continue for decades more until true corporate responsibility is legitimately imposed from within, not by regulation. And it will continue for as long as we have bi-partisan incompetence in our political subdivisions, here and abroad. And, still sadly, all this may continue for as long as 'we' find it desireable to save a buck on some cheaply made crap at the local discount mavens cave. Yes it may continue. And too, the Triangles and the Kaders will continue as well. Oh, the location may change. The numbers may change. But the Race To The Bottom won't. The race to build substandard facilities, temporary facilities really, will continue. Until the political heat gets too hot or too expensive or the bribes don't work. Then the scoundrels will fold up the temporary operation and move on.

It sadly makes the terrible, deadly lessons learned all the more terrible and deadly. But wait! I did say this story wouldn't turn in to a commentary or opinion piece, didn't I? Well, steam has to vent somewhere, sometime. Maybe George Santayana was right after all.

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Race to the Bottom

A Historical Vignette
by Tom Parquette

Part Three of Four
(Part One is HERE, Part Two is HERE)

*  *  *

The workers and security personnel labored quickly and diligently to snuff the blaze but they were no match for the rapidly spreading conditions. At 4:21 pm the local police fire brigade was called. The same local authorities report calls also received at 4:30 and 4:31. This triggered the Thai version of mutual aid and the fire companies from Bangkok and Nakhon Pathom Province also responded. The first apparatus arrived at 4:40 and firefighters found Building One totally engulfed with the top floors untenable and already beginning to collapse.

Royal Thai Police and Fire Brigade, Danthai Group

There are conflicting reports as to exactly how many employees were on the site or in which building when all this began. When the fire began, it was reported that there were 1146 workers in Building One alone. Thirty Six on the first floor, 10 on the second, 500 on the third and 600 on the fourth. There were a reported 405 workers in Building Two with 60 on the first floor, 5 on the second, 300 on the third and 40 on the fourth. Building three, still under renewal from the February fire was uncounted. Each of these buildings carried a full fuel load, varying, but composed of polyester, cotton and plastics.

Kader Toy Co. victims  (Bangkok Police Fire Brigade photo)

Building One collapsed completely at 5:14 pm. High winds made the struggle worse as the fire brigades fought on. Building Two collapsed at 5:30 pm and Building Three followed at 6:05pm. Building Four was saved along with other accessory structures. Some 50 pieces of fire apparatus were engaged in the effort and declared the inferno under control at 7:45 pm.

No firefighters were killed in this fire attack. Only 1 was injured. The Bangkok Police Fire Brigade reports officially that 188 souls perished in the blaze while another 469 were seriously injured jumping from the second, third and fourth floors.

Representative diorama from ILGWU archives

The walkways which connected the buildings were either fully locked or used as storage areas. Despite the increasing smoke, it was reported that security personnel ordered the workers to stay on their assigned stations. As the fire continued to spread rapidly in Building One, the fire blocked the one stairwell at the south end of the building so most of the workers rushed the north stairwell. That left 1100 frantic people trying to exit through one stairwell.

Hugh Williamson photo

Post fire efforts to determine the true cause of the fire were largely inconclusive due to the total destruction of the point of origin areas. It was at first thought and reported to have been electrical in origin but that was later discounted in favor of a cigarette butt as the culprit. The large loss of life and injury counts were and are attributable to insufficient, inadequate and blocked exits and stairwells, lack of a fire supression system, a non working alarm system in Building One, the height and type of building construction, the lack of any fire proofing, the excessive number of workers allowed in the facility and lack of any fire separation walls throughout the structure(s).

Spontaneous Employees Memorial
(Wall Street Journal)

The similarity which exists between Triangle and Kader cannot and should not be discounted both from a historical and modern day lessons perspective. The parallels are quite astounding when one thoroughly investigates even the information currently in accessible reach. Triangle reached it's severity level in less than 30 minutes. NYFD performed well and quelled the Triangle blaze in short order. Still record setting deaths were involved. Kader, not in a metropolitan area, still was under control in less than three hours. And, yes, still new records of death and injury.

So, what makes these two fires, which occurred in similar industries yet some 82 years apart and over 8,000 miles distant, so similar? What includes them as examples of the Race To The Bottom? We'll discuss that next.

Tomorrow, Part Four – Conclusion

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Race to the Bottom

A Historical Vignette
by Tom Parquette

Part Two of Four
(Part One is HERE)

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire of 1911 was significant not only for the horror and devastation caused to 146 young people and certainly their families, but Triangle has been matched in many respects in terms of sadness and loss. Triangle became the 1911 poster child of what were concerted efforts to not only improve fire safety, but working conditions and wages as well. The event was in many respects the genesis of, or better stated, the flux of, union efforts already under way at that point in history. The employees of Triangle had gone out on strike only a year prior to the disaster. That strike and the fire itself led to codes and regulations but these were largely ignored, side stepped or bought off altogether for many years following.

The parallels to the Triangle Fire continue, essentially unabated. "What's that?" you say. I know and I don't ignore that we have some of the most progressive and well thought fire codes and regulations known world wide to mankind. It would be too easy for me to turn this article into a commentary or opinion piece but that is not what this article is. This article is rightly titled, "The Race To The Bottom" and we will get to the bottom of that as the article continues.

(Bangkok Police Fire Brigade photo)

As the Race To The Bottom continues, you, gentle reader, are asked to fast forward with me to 1993. Monday May 10, 1993, at approximately 4:00 pm while concluding a normal workday shift, a small fire was discovered by an employee of the Kader Toy Company factory. The Kader factory was a facility of Kader Industrial Co. Ltd., a multinational company. This particular plant was located in the Sam Phran District of Nakhon Pathom Province just outside of Bangkok, Thailand near the site of the famous World War II railroad bridge over the River Kwai.

Thai Tourist Board

The company was first registered to do business in Thailand on January 27, 1989 but that registration was suspended after a fire on August 16, 1989 destroyed the then-new plant. The 1989 fire was blamed on the combustion of polyester fiber used to make dolls. Following the reconstruction of the facility, Kader was allowed to continue to conduct business in Thailand.

In May of 1993, the Kader facility was under contract to Mattel, Tyco and Kenner to produce items to their specifications. Bart Simpson was just reaching full tilt success in the US and this was one product on the assembly line on May 10th. The US and European toy companies mentioned would fax their orders and specifications to Kader in Thailand and expect products made to their exacting specifications. These also multinational firms didn't inspect the property or inquire or care under what conditions their orders were filled, just that they were.

The Kader facility was made up of four buildings and were numbered accordingly. Actually, they were all parts of the same large structure and were fully connected. Building One largely contained sewing machines, dolls of wool, handicraft and raw materials. A separate Building Two was largely toy assembly and plastics while Building Three was finished storage, more sewing and fabric storage. Building Four, while connected, was not connected in the same fashion and was largely office and storage.

International Labour Organization images

The buildings were all four story constructed of concrete slabs supported by a structural steel frame which was not fireproofed. The buildings were equipped with fire alarms, portable extinguishers and hose stations on the outside walls and stairwells. There was no sprinkler system.

After the certificate of registration was reissued following the 1989 fire, Kader experienced several more fires at the same facility. The latest one, in February of 1993 destroyed much of Building 3 and started in the middle of the night in waste cotton and polyester materials. At that time the Ministry of Industry issued a warning that the plant needed safety officers, safety equipment and emergency planning. It was ignored.

(Bangkok Police Fire Brigade photo)

Since the Kader facility was just beyond the jurisdiction of Bangkok, security officers and workers tried to put out the small fire as they had tried so many times before. Oh, how they tried.

Tomorrow, Part Three

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Race to the Bottom

A Historical Vignette
by Tom Parquette

Part One of Four

American philosopher, George Santayana, wrote in "Life Of Reason I", that those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. The words have been hacked and changed and twisted over the years since, but the intent and validity of the observation stand the test of time. And rightly so. Life and history itself are most certainly a learning process, whether the life is our own or another’s. And, whether the history is ours personally or that of our society collectively.

This writer has long had a fascination with historical events which should have or might have influenced the future much in keeping with Santayana's musings. That fascination increases enormously especially when there is evidence that given historical events haven't influenced or positively changed anything. So much for that.

The Asch Bldg.

This spring marks the anniversaries of two events in fire history which are or should be alarmingly similar in many, many respects. A few weeks ago, March 25th marked the 101st anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City. Most in the fire service have heard of this event insofar as it marked the milestone of being the largest industrial accidental loss of life by fire in our nation’s, and the world’s, history. There are varying definitions of the record holder of these dubious claims. We're not here to debate levels of severity. Suffice to say that the Triangle Shirtwaist fire was a horrific event in the history of modern mankind.

A typical garment district sweatshop.

Triangle Shirtwaist was a sweatshop garment operation in New York City which manufactured various clothing items using the labor of mostly young immigrant women. The business was located in the Asch Building (now called the Brown Building) at 23 Washington Place. The factory occupied the eigth, ninth and tenth floors of the 10 story building in Greenwich Village. The owners were Max Blanck and Isaac Harris. These two employed up to 500 immigrant women between the ages of 14 and 48 who worked on average some 9 hours each day plus Saturday for earnings of somewhere between $7 and $9 weekly.

On Saturday March 25, 1911 as the work day was ending, smoke was noticed as a fire flared up in a scrap bin under a cutter’s table in the northeast corner on the eighth floor. Blanck and Harris were at the factory at that time and had even invited their children to the factory that afternoon. The scrap bin the fire ignited in had not been emptied of accumulated cuttings for over two months. Smoking was banned in the factory but it was widely reported that employees were known to smoke anyway and even exhaled the smoke through their lapels to disguise or conceal it. 129 young women and 17 men died as a result of the Triangle Fire.

Triangle Shirtwaist on fire.  (New York Times)

Fire exits, though mandated by City code even then, were not adequate and were in fact missing altogether in certain locations. The fire escape which was installed on the building bent under the heat and collapsed. It was later discovered to have been installed with substandard fastners and workmanship. The only fire supression of any kind in the building was the presence of a total of 27 buckets of water. Nine on each of the three floors. The employees were accustomed to and only knew of one way to exit the building, that being one of two freight elevators. One wasn't in operating condition. Exits had been locked and chained shut to keep the employees from leaving their sewing machines, sealing their fate.

New York Times archive

While the owners and their kids were escaping the holocaust using the roof and adjoining buildings, 50 of the employees were being incinerated on the three floors and 60 were driven to their death by jumping 90 to 100 feet to the street below. Of the 146 dead, 129 were immigrant women from 14 to 48.  Of the total dead, 6 could not be identified until modern science caught up with history in 2011 and they were duly recognized and memorialized. There is closure for you.

Max Blanck and Isaac Harris were charged with multiple offenses resulting in death. A long trial worthy of Perry Mason resulted in an acquital of both men. A civil trial resulted in a 'victory' for the victims survivors. That 'victory' afforded a judgment of $75.00 per head. Blanck and Harris profited heavily from the disaster. They were able to induce an insurance settlement of $400.00 per death and a settlement which exceeded the material losses by some $60,000. Blanck and Harris had much experience in fires. At two other locations operated by these nefarious crooks, early morning fires were commonplace. Especially at the close of the garment selling season. The partners found fires profitably took care of carryover inventory and then some.

Max Blanck and Isaac Harris  (ILGWU Archives)

Triangle Shirtwaist Company reopened in 1913 in a different location in the city. Within twelve months of it's reopening, Max Blanck was arrested by fire inspectors when a surprise inspection found another exit door chained shut. He was fined twenty dollars and given an apology from the judge for disturbing him.

Now, don't be mistaken. There was some good which resulted from this devastating event. After the fact, of course. Fire Chief John Kenlon identified some 245 factories in the City which were sitting ducks for the same type of devastation in New York. From the date of the fire until 1913 alone, 64 laws were passed including building access, fireproofing requirements, alarm systems, auto sprinklers, fire extinguishers not to mention comfort issues of rest rooms, eating space and hours of work. This, at the time, put New York on the map in the effort to improve not only employee safety, but the general public safety as well. The development of NFPA 101, the Life Safety Code can be directly attributed to the Triangle fire.

As for George Santayana, though. Well, it seems to me from my meager vantage point, that George was correct. And history proves him right once again. In fact, not once again, but rather 'many times', again!

We'll continue with "Race To The Bottom" Part Two tomorrow.

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Lessons Learned …. Or Not?

A Historical Vignette
by Tom Parquette

Lesson One of Four – Burnable Chicago

 Part One, Lesson One – This story has to start somewhere so Part One, Lesson One seems reasonable. But, the chapters and the lessons began far earlier than what will be presented to you here.

Most of us, in or out of the fire service, have grown up with at the very least, anecdotal references to the "Great Chicago Fire" which began October 8, 1871. It seems that Mrs. O'Leary's cow carried the blame for this historic event for something over 128 years, when an investigation by the Chicago City Council in 1999 absolved the cow and Mrs. O'Leary from blame but couldn't come to any conclusion as to who or whom were to blame. There are two other people 'of interest' but that is another story for another day. Not this one.

History seems to agree that Chicago's great fire of 1871 was largely a conflagration for two primary reasons which had nothing really to do with an old lady's barn burning down, or whoever struck the match. Chicago was a city of over 300,000 population on that date and had been built largely of primary fuel for a fire. Wood and shingles combined with wood heating and unsafe heating appliances were a primary factor. A 25-to-40 MPH wind that evening aided the fire. And, to the city and it's planners discredit, a system of, well, Mickey Mouse alarm bells and a severely underequipped and understaffed fire service all fed the success of the Great Chicago Fire.

If there was a more revealing set of post fire scene conditions available to city planners, government agencies and, yes, the fire service as an educational tool of what not to do, Chicago must have been high on the list. $200 million (1871 dollars) in damage, thousands of structures lost, 125 bodies recovered though safe estimates float around 300 likely dead, and of those statistics, interestingly, there were no fire fighters lost, of record. Although several succumbed later to injuries received in the fire. An incontrovertible fact, regardless of the statistical data available, the anecdotal 'evidence' available, or the often twisted lore which collects over some 141 years since this tragedy is that it was, it had to be, it surely presented, a lesson. But then, maybe not!

That said of the Great Chicago Fire, we fast forward to 1889, a mere 24 years following the end of the Civil War and 18 years past the aforementioned fire. National interest was high in celebrating the 400th anniversary of the arrival of Christopher Columbus. What better way than to create and theme a World's Fair Exposition as the Columbian Exposition and start it on the Columbus anniversary? St. Louis, New York, Chicago and Washington, D.C., all threw their collective civic hats in the ring and started jockeying for their cities to be the hosts. Money was a major motivating factor, of course. The competition and the discourse became so heated between these cities that the U.S. Congress was going to have to make the decision. One of the representatives of the New York contingent was so outspoken against Chicago that he continually referred to the Chicago backers and their offers in negotiation as 'the windy offers from out west'. Hence, we have Chicago, the Windy City.

It really came down to New York vs. Chicago. The Big Apple's J.P. Morgan, Cornelius Vanderbilt and William Waldorf Astor threw in a $15 million dollar pledge thinking Chicago hicks couldn't meet that price. But Chicago's Marshall Field, Phillip Armour, Gustavus Swift and Cyrus McCormick matched it and added significant city and state pledges of support as well. Congress was finally convinced to give it to Chicago when Chicago banker Lyman Gage coughed up an additional $5 million within 24 hours to top New York's offer.

 Tomorrow, Part One Lesson Two – The Construction of the Exposition Begins

(Part One Lesson Two is HERE)

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Truth IS Stranger
(Than Fiction)

A Historical Vignette
by Tom Parquette

Part Four, Conclusion – The Roundup Continues
(This article begins with Part One HERE
Continue with Part Two HERE.  Part Three is HERE.) 

It was 1986 and it seemed like the jig was up. Wig, Cooney and some of their kids were on the hot spot as were several others including the police chief of Kermit. In West Virginia in the 70's and 80's, the last place on earth a crook wanted to be sent was the West Virginia State Penitentiary at Moundsville (now closed). It was a hell hole and constantly on the nation's top ten list of most violent prisons. But the enterprising law enforcement team that engineered the cleansing of Kermit used that to their advantage, especially with Wig. Plea bargain on Federal charges, accept the sentence or we can charge you under West Virginia statutes and you likely wind up in Moundsville. Wig chose the former as did many others. A country club Federal prison farm certainly beat the idea of Moundsville. Part of that plea deal was information the investigators wanted from the Preece clan and they got it. Over the months following Wig and Cooney Preece's arrests, a total of 73 public figures in Kermit and Mingo County were arrested on various charges. They didn't get Wig on the arson for hire but they got him on conspiracy to distribute drugs and tax evasion. He was sentenced to 10 years. Cooney, the ring leader of the drug empire was sentenced to 16 years. All arrested with the exception of David Ramey, the police chief and his wife (Wig's daughter) Debbie, a town councilwoman, pled guilty and took deals. Ramey and his wife were tried and convicted. The investigation extended it's reach throughout Mingo County and beyond, right up to the Governors office in Charleston. 

Wig Preece's reach in Kermit was extensive. Aside from the Police Chief, a son was the school principal, and the then-current mayor, the past mayor and even the United Baptist pastor were married to Preece women. The final tally of Preece convictions, aside from Wig and Cooney, included nine Preece children and in-laws who were sentenced to prison terms totalling 55 years. Cooney Preece, even before she started serving her sentence as the drug kingpin, was dumbfounded by it all. Cooney repeatedly stated that, “Everybody in Mingo County knew it,” then she added, “I don't understand it. Wig and I have been paying off all the right people since 1957.”

The former Sheriff of Mingo County, a Democrat political boss, Johnny Owens, stated, “It's the way things have worked in this county for as long as I can remember.” Owens, the head mover and shaker of Mingo politics grew tired and bored as Sheriff in 1982 and decided to 'sell' his job to his successor. The price in 1982 dollars: $100,000 of which Johnny kept half and spread the rest around to assure the transition. The four year investigation brought down not only the Kermit police chief, but it's police captain, councilmen and the county director of senior citizens affairs, the county surveyor and a former county clerk right down to the former cook at the Mingo County jail convicted of bribing a candidate to not run for office. Former Sheriff Owen was convicted in state court of bribing a juror in a murder trial.

The investigation also bagged the largest big boss of the Democrats in Mingo County, Larry Hamick. Hamick, aside from being the head of the party in Mingo County was the president of the county school board and executive director of a federal anti poverty program charged with distributing excess commodities to the poor. Hamick was convicted of bribing a juror in a drug trial by offering the juror a job with the school in return for an acquittal.

Hamick also funneled over $60,000 in federal funds to his own use and stole commodity cheese and goodies and spread it around as graft rather than give it to the poor as intended. Hamicks latest claim to fame was strangling a pit bull to death. He stated he really didn't intend on killing the dog, but “Once you've got your hands around a pit bull's neck there isn't much else you can do.” Hamick was also charged with choking a female employee intent on testifying against him.

Three-term governor Arch Moore was investigated through campaign contribution records but managed to escape criminal charges. I know that shocks you.

Depending on where you are standing, 25 years have passed since the upheaval in Kermit and Bloody Mingo. The criminal investigation was considered a success. The sentences imposed were served, people came, people went and the hard scrabble life continues. Mary Virginia “Cooney” Preece passed away in June of 2009. Wig Preece is 84 now and returned to Kermit as the Fire Chief of the Kermit Volunteer Fire Department until recently. Many of the Preece clan have gone from Kermit, but just as many have stayed. The population of Kermit is about 356 now. A decided drop from the 80's. This writer repeatedly tried to contact Wig Preece, current Chief Sartin, and other city officials in Kermit but was rebuffed immediately. The only people willing to talk, even to this day, are Preece kids trying to rewrite the history of this family and its abuse of privilege.

Kermit VFD Firehouse  (Robt. Carlton)

Oh, the Preece clan doesn't deny the drug dealing and graft. They just insist there wasn't anything wrong with what they all did. Even Tomahawk Preece was outspoken about the tumble the family took.  “Hell, they never sold none to juveniles. Cooney only was taking care of her family,” he offered.

Early June of 2007 marked Wig Preece's 80th birthday celebration in Kermit. Firmly (re) ensconced back on the Fire Chief throne at the time, the only conspicuous people in town were the ones conspicuous by their absence. Wig's party was something like a who's who of Appalachian politics. West Virginia Senate Majority Leader H. Truman Chafin, Chief Magistrate Dee Sidebottom, Circuit Judge Michael Thornbury, Prosecuting Attorney Michael Sparks, Magistrate Pam Newsome, County Commissioners John Mark Hubbard, Hootie Smith, Clerk Big Jim Hatfield (yup!) were among the dozens of dignitaries raising a glass and warmly patting ol' Wig on the back. Since the birthday bash, Wig Preece has relinquished his position to Eric Sartin, who currently serves as chief with Timmy Preece still in the Asst. Chief position.

Oh, one thing though. The major fire rate in Kermit is reported at 0. Go figure. Maybe truth is stranger than fiction. They cancelled Boss Hogg and the Duke clan in 1985. One can only guess whether the episodes in Kermit are new or reruns. Or, how long they'll run at all.

Sources used for this story: 
Houston Chronicle

Barry Bearak- LA Times

Ocala Star Banner

Mingo County Prosecutors Office

Mingo County Commission

Kermit Volunteer Fire Department

City of Kermit

Williamson Daily News

Federal Court records search

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Truth IS Stranger
(Than Fiction)

A Historical Vignette
by Tom Parquette

Part Three of Four – The State Takes An Interest in Kermit
(This article begins with Part One HERE 
Continue with Part Two HERE.)

People did start complaining though. Secretly, anonymous calls were going to the state about the decadence. The business was so brisk at the trailer that the Kermit cops couldn't find a place to park in their own parking lot. A line actually stretched out onto the street with people from Ohio, Kentucky and elsewhere buying the good stuff Preece was selling. When business was too good and they ran out of pot, they would hang a sign in the window, "Out of pot. Back in fifteen minutes."  And they would be.

Cooney Preece (family photo)

In fact, Cooney pretty much ran and controlled the dope operation. And she wasn't a bit worried about the illegality of it all. She had a bad habit of storing the pot in plastic garbage bags and leaving it next to the porch of the trailer. One day, the local trash hauler backed up and loaded it in the truck and went on his way. Cooney flipped out, called the police chief for a police escort and chased down the trash truck and made him come back and unload all of the trash in the street until she got her dope back. Police Chief Ramey and Preece daughter Debby were scraping by on his $800.00 per month police pay. Yes, they were scraping by so much that the townsfolk started calling them J.R. And Sue Ellen.

Kermit VFD

While Cooney was busy building the drug empire old Wig was busy with his own nefarious stuff. You see, at that time Kermit had a population of 705 citizens and something like 190 structures of which he was the responsible fire commander. Strange thing, though. The city was averaging 100 serious fire calls annually. Wig Preece controlled the response time or whether there was a response at all. Sometimes equipment wouldn't start. Sometimes the alarm got lost. Sometimes. Other times it was an effective little fire department. The investigators, the politicians and the public darn well knew it depended on Wig and the level of fire insurance involved. Some homes were burned to the ground, rebuilt and burned again! The town was starting to look like a bombed out war zone with all the skeletal building remains sitting everywhere. And, yes, every morning a thick pall of heavy smoke greeted the citizens as they awoke to another day. It got to a point in Kermit at least, where you couldn't buy fire insurance and if you thought you could, you couldn't afford the premium. Together with psychological intimidation and financial intimidation, Wig's flourishing arson for hire business added that intimidation as well. The citizens were kept in line by whichever way it took.

Google Street View two blocks from the Kermit firehouse

All the calls to Charleston and the state caused the martialing of a huge undercover operation involving state and federal officials. West Virginia state trooper Marty Allen went undercover to make buys from the Preeces operation. The FBI, IRS, DEA and state police worked in unison in the investigation. Since the Preece's were in the habit of accepting cash or merchandise as payment for the drugs, area malls were experiencing a notable increase in thefts of appliances and other commodities. The state police supplied trooper Allen with merchandise to trade and over 1-½ years they documented everything going on in Kermit. Toward the conclusion of the surveillance, IRS criminal investigator John Weaver was brought in to track the money and FBI agent Calvin Knott set up direct undercover surveillance. Knott stationed six agents in an old parked and abandoned rail car near the Preece trailer and the police station and recorded and taped up to 600 transactions per day taking place.

At one point during the undercover surveillance, Wig Preece is recorded in a conversation with agents posing as drug buyers telling them that he wanted a new boat for the fire department. He told them the make and model and color, what dealer had it and exactly how to steal it. Since Wig Preece was the Chief, his son Timmy the Assistant Chief, three other sons and three grandsons were on the department, well, it seemed only right. I guess.

Assistant US Attorney Joe Savage was in charge of the task force. Savage had moved to West Virginia so that his wife could fulfill her med school requirements by serving in an under served area. Joe Savage learned fast what Mingo County, nicknamed "Bloody Mingo", was all about. He packed up his wife and moved her out as he continued with the task force. Savage is on record as stating, "The police chief and the sheriff weren't arresting the bad guys. They were selling the drugs. The fire Chief was running an arson operation, the school board president wasn't teaching children ethics, he was bribing jurors." State Trooper Allen commented on the record that, "the (Preece) family is low life scum. And Cooney is an evil woman."

On May 30, 1986 the task force felt they had all they needed to change things in Kermit. A virtual fleet of unmarked squad cars converged on the town from both ends of highway 52 and closed it in. The telephone system leading to and serving the town was disconnected. A helicopter assisted as the Kentucky authorities closed the access across the Tug Fork River bridge leading to Lovely, Ky. Trooper Weaver commented on the record that they had enough troops to "wipe out the Sandinistas." Officers arrested Wig and Cooney Preece, five of their kids and 13 other individuals. But this was just the very beginning.

Tomorrow, Part Four (Conclusion) – The Roundup Continues

(Part Four is HERE.)

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Truth IS Stranger
(Than Fiction)

A Historical Vignette
by Tom Parquette

Part Two of Four – We Get To Know Wig a Little Better
(This article begins with Part One HERE)

Wig Preece was a powerful man in Kermit and thus, the Mingo County political scene. Even as a saloon keeper, it was said Wig could carry 500 votes in any election. If he wanted to. He and his family readily boasted that in a poor town like Kermit, a five dollar bill or a bottle of cheap rot gut whisky would assure the vote from some hapless resident. And in Kermit then, there were a lot of hapless residents. As time went on, an election investigator trying to prove election fraud as an observer said they had never witnessed so many blind people showing up at the polls who needed help in the voting booth. Just the way things were, I guess.

Wig Preece  (Kermit VFD photo)

But, hey, what's a little crooked politics and electioneering among friends? It happens anywhere, doesn't it? Look at Chicago, New York, I mean, anywhere. But Wig Preece and his clan picked up where even brazen crooks left off. Little Kermit didn't go unnoticed. And neither did the Kermit Volunteer Fire Department. Now don't misunderstand this story. There are some fine folks in Kermit and in Mingo County. Fine folks, indeed. They kinda knew something was wrong. It just 'seemed' like something was wrong. All the cars around all the time,…strange cars,…many with Kentucky plates. And dang near every morning getting up to the smoky haze laying down over the town. Fire-smoke smoky haze. The ones that knew couldn't and wouldn't talk. The ones that didn't know, but suspected, well, they would know in time. Would they ever know.

Wig and Cooney Preece had 14 children and enough grandchildren and great grand children to populate a small town of their own. The kids had nicknames such as Bull, Slick, Red Ed, Ball, or Powder. I guess they were easier to keep track of that way. Even though Wig and Cooney were considered the political elite in Kermit and every one in the area knew the politics was crooked, well, that was expected in the coal regions of West Virginia. Nothing unusual in that. Wig was a good ol' boy who many say would give you the shirt off his back. If you needed a tow or if you needed an ambulance, Wig was up and out in the middle of the night and he was there. He and his young ones actually 'were' the Kermit Volunteer Fire Department in it's early days. The kids would go and help him fight fires and they weren't too bad at it. And if you were partying late and needed an extra bottle of booze to keep the party going after the municipal liquor store had closed, you only needed to go see Wig.

Williamson Daily News archives

The gracious Miss Cooney was the 'Grand Dame' of Kermit. She helped Wig with the Fire Department and whatever else he needed. It only came out much later that Miss Cooney was more like the ring leader than a dutiful wife/gofer. Early on in their marriage Cooney took the thought that Wig just might be fooling around with some other Kermit cuties. She promptly pulled a pistol and blew a hole in Wigs hand just to show what might happen if he did.

As crooked as the politics were, and they were, and as much as Wig was the point man for getting you elected, things weren't so bad before 1978. Crooked politics, poverty, hard living and small town wheeling and dealing was the norm for folks in southern West Virginia and had been for decades. What changed things is anybody's guess but it seemed like when their son Tomahawk Preece (yup! That was his given name since he was born in the back of a car in Tomahawk Kentucky) was busted for selling pot, Wig and Cooney took an interest. They took a big interest when they learned how much money the kid took in doing it. They did get Tomahawk off the drug charge. It took about 1 ½ to 2 years for Wig and Cooney to get rolling in the illegal substance for fun game. It sure beat driving a cab. By 1980, they had built up a real going enterprise. It outgrew their living room so they moved the business downtown in Kermit into a rented trailer next to the police station. Wig put in a drive thru window.

Kermit City Hall  (photo by Robt. Carlton)

You see, Kermit's Police Chief, Dave Ramey, was married to Preece's daughter and they knew he didn't want to make trouble for the inlaws. Wig and Cooney built things up to where they were operating the largest illegal drug business in southern West Virginia. State officials estimate they were taking in about $1 million annually. Pretty soon, the Preece kids were doing quite well. Cadillacs and Corvettes ruled the garages and crystal chandeliers and diamonds took over the new and newly decorated homes. The only thing that caused problems for the operation from time to time, were the Preece's themselves. The state cops would arrest members of the clan for numerous offenses and do so with regularity. Records show 54 such arrests over a 2 ½ year period. No convictions. The judge in the county regularly would inform prosecutors they didn't have a case. This happened once while Cooney was sitting on the judge's desk as he said it.

Tomorrow, Part Three – The State Takes an Interest in Kermit

(Part Three is HERE.)

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Truth IS Stranger
(Than Fiction)

A Historical Vignette
by Tom Parquette

Part One of Four – Welcome to Kermit

Many of us, myself included, wax fondly of the period from 1979 to 1985 when television still had something called integrity. Well, what else could you call Friday nights riveted to the tube and watching the Dukes of Hazard in preparation for J.R. Ewing and the Ewing clan? Ol' Jefferson Davis Hogg of fictional Hazard County (Georgia) fame as portrayed by outstanding actor Sorrell Booke was so demonstrably crooked and unashamed of it, he was refreshing. In an entertaining sort of way.

The show was originally filmed in rural Georgia and as it became a success, they moved the action to a sound stage in California. But if the wild goings on of the Duke clan and the Hazard County crooks was, well, mindless cinema at it's best, then the goings on almost directly north of that Georgia birthplace was anything but mindless cinema. Some 350 miles or so due north (as the crow flies) would drop you in somewhere around Mingo County, West Virginia.

If you're sitting around reading old history books on West Virginia, you won't find Mingo County mentioned before 1895. You see, it didn't really exist. Even though West Virginia was formed in 1863, it didn't think about Mingo County until 1895. It seems a moonshiner was arrested in Logan County West Virginia and brought to trial. He filed an objection to the charges insofar as he claimed the offense didn't take place in Logan County because his still was actually in Lincoln County so they couldn't arrest him. That set off a full scale land survey which proved him right! Of course, they refiled the charges in Lincoln County and convicted him. Confused yet? Well, the resurvey process brought the legislature to the conclusion that Logan County was too large for the proper function of the law so they carved another county out of Logan and named it after an Indian tribe. Voila! Mingo County!

Tug Fork Valley  (photo by Robert Carlton)

Sitting on the north bank of the Tug Fork River, Mingo County is but a mere stone's throw from the state of Kentucky. West Virgina was formed by seceding from Confederate Virginia during the Civil War and since that sort of made West Virginia a bit Yankee, things often didn't go too well along the Tug Fork River.

Mingo County. Er, Logan County, was actually the stomping ground for a lot of the action created by the Hatfield and McCoy family feud that started in the 1860's.  But history records it getting off and running sometime around 1882. Over a hundred years later, the two families would mend their ways and actually get along a bit.

Williamson Daily News, 1951

Yes, Mingo County. Coal was and is king in Mingo County as it is in much of West Virginia. Second only to Wyoming in coal production, your lights are probably burning right now because of some chunks of West Virginia coal and the blood, sweat and tears of the hard working coal miners and their families. Coal is king. Up until the 1970's, coal company towns were 'home' and mining script was the coin of the realm. The miners were paid in script, lived in company housing, and spent the script in the company store.

As Tennessee Ernie Ford once sang, "You load sixteen tons, what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt. Saint Peter don't you call me, cause I can't go,….I owe my soul to the company store." In the 1970's the unions took hold and grew more powerful. But so did mechanization. Coal machines and transports cut down the need for much manpower. Mingo County is Appalachia. Appalachia is Mingo County. Then, as now, high unemployment, 1/3 of the kids born to abject poverty and 1/3 of the people on welfare. It's a tough life and a tough future which regardless of the New Deal, John Kennedy or all of the Robert Byrd political mumbling and promises, hasn't changed the fundamental fact of life.

Williamson Daily News photo

On the bank of the Tug Fork River, in Mingo County, sits the community of Kermit, West Virginia. Contrary to John Denver, it ain't 'Almost Heaven'. In fact, for many years and decades, Kermit could be compared to that other place, the hotter one. Kermit and Mingo County are the focal points of this story as both political subdivisions fell prey to some of the most crooked, outlandish dealings in recent history. The Democrat political machine, at least in Mingo County and Kermit, had as one of it's kingpins, and one of it's core power brokers, none other than the Chief of the Kermit Volunteer Fire Department, one Wilburn T. Preece Sr. (known simply as "Wig") and his wife, Mary Virginia (known as "Cooney") Preece. By all accounts, Wig Preece loved the fire service. He first started hanging around the fire hall at the age of three and became Chief in his teens or early twenties. Wig was a saloon operator at one point in time, owner of a taxi company and the local ambulance service among his other pursuits. Just an all around good ol' boy, Wig was a dedicated leader, they say. In fact, Wig had the main fire phone wired straight to his house. He and his crew were quick responders…….if…….if the fire "needed" to be put out.

Tomorrow, Part Two – We Get to Know Wig a Little Better

(Part Two is HERE.)

photo by Robert Carlton

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Just Who Do You Think Our "Friends" Are?

Commentary by Patrick Mahoney

Tim Sendlebach is the editor-in-chief of Fire-Rescue magazine and a fire chief. It is a great magazine that offers a lot to the fire service and he is a commendable leader who has made the fire service a better place. Sadly, he recently published one of the most misguided editorials I have ever seen from a fire service leader. Chief Sendlebach wants us to listen to the International City/County Management Association because "in short, they're our bosses" (emphasis his).

The context here is a dustup over an ICMA-published magazine article from August of last year that advocated CAFS usage. Chief Sendlebach objects to the greater fire service's objection to the article. Specifically, the fire service was critical of the article because it was made by authors who never served as firefighters. Several arguments in the article are worth summarizing here: the fire service has failed to adopt the miracle of CAFS more widely because of tradition, the fear that doing so will allow staffing cuts, firefighters don't understand CAFS, and early models of what the authors apparently think were CAFS systems were complicated. A few representative quotes may also be useful:

"The adage "100 years of tradition unimpeded by progress" has been regularly quoted by progressive fire managers in many issues of the magazine Fire Chief."

"The role of the fire service is not to be an employment agency"

" the city managers were discussing the introduction of CAFS into the department, a firefighter from a neighboring jurisdiction stood up and rattled off a number of critiques about CAFS. Not one was true."

The two guys who wrote that article are not firefighters. One is a cop who became a city manager and the other is a cop who became a city manager and somehow got involved in some fire service standards-making efforts by virtue of his role as a public administrator. Suffice it to say that many cops and city managers across the country are often not the biggest fans of adequate fire services. These guys were also completely wrong about CAFS and the fire service.

IndianaFireTrucks / Allen

The article glowingly references the LA County CAFS tests and articles from Fire Chief magazine. Go check out the LA County CAFS tests if you're curious. (Spoiler: they're about exterior firefighting at flow rates unsafe for interior operations, like all CAFS tests, and, therefore, abandoning the interior position and anyone who happens to be in there.) The tests are not applicable to the interior firefighting that is responsible for the level of reactive performance the urban American fire service is known for. As for Fire Chief magazine, a publication run by someone who has never been a firefigther, it is free for you (you know about how you get what you pay for?) and thus apparently funded by advertising and sponsorship. I don't know how much ad revenue they take in from apparatus and pump manufacturers but I would bet it's a non-trivial sum.

They are also wrong about the fire service. The fire service changes and embraces innovation at a pace not entirely unheard of in the private sector. Just because some stupid movie in the 1990s highlighted a sign that one particular department used to poke fun at itself it has become axiomatic that this is a hundred years of tradition uninterrupted by progress. Yes, there are pathologically conservative departments; there are even regressive leaders. But in general, the fire service is open and adaptive. If you doubt it and you belong to a career department of more than a couple of stations then I'd ask you how much homeland security and NIMS training you've had in the last 11 years. Then, for you old-timers, I'd ask how much EMS training you got in the 1980s and 1990s. To suggest that CAFS is not in wider use because of tradition and a fear of losing jobs is grossly offensive. It also, unsurprisingly, sounds like boilerplate city manager babble that plays well at the chamber of commerce but has little or no bearing on reality.

Insofar as the ICMA is made up of "our bosses" I think we know enough about the bosses to judge that tree by its fruit. When city after city after city is decimating its fire services for the sake of crooked politics, nonessential services, payback to other public agencies, breaking labor's back, and just plain bad thinking then I believe we are allowed to disregard their recommendations. In short, what these guys have to say is valuable in an advisory sense only for the insight it offers into the mindset of those who are not our friends.

Thank you,
Patrick S. Mahoney

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