Old Boys Will Be Old Boys

TWO GRUMPY OLD GUYS IN ATHENS, Georgia, had a dispute Tuesday over a $5 debt.  The 74-year-old man who was owed the money hopped into his wheel chair and rode it over to the trailer park where the deadbeat lives.  The Athens Banner-Herald picks up the story:

The 74-year-old who supposedly owed the money called 911 at about 5 p.m. to report the disabled man arrived with his small dog, named Benji, and threatened to shoot him. When officers responded, they found the door to the man’s trailer wide open with him sitting inside with no clothes on, police said.

Witnesses told officers they saw the two men arguing in the trailer’s yard, and that both men waved canes or walking sticks at each other, police said; one witness said the 74-year-old threw a crutch at the wheelchair-bound man.

Things had cooled down by then and the police chose not to arrest anybody.

Firegeezer speculates that maybe they have been watching too much YouTube:

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He Said He Was Going to Do It

The former Fairfield Township (Ohio) Fire Chief David Downie has filed an appeal of his dismissal with Butler County Common Pleas Court.  On May 4, Firegeezer reviewed the controversial firing of the man who had been the fire chief for 26 years.  He never had any complaints about his running of the FD, but he has an abrasive personality and the township board apparently couldn't take it anymore.  Read our review with links to previous articles HERE.

Enquirer photo

It was disclosed yesterday (Thursday) that Downie's lawyer, Jeffrey Silverstein filed an appeal on his behalf of his dismissal.  The Cincinnati Enquirer tells:

"We are appealing the decision,’’ said Jeffrey Silverstein, Downie’s attorney. "We want his job back, with back pay."

In the one-paragraph appeal filed May 9, Silverstein asked the court to determine whether there were sufficient grounds to fire Downie. The case has been assigned to Judge Craig Hedric but no hearing date has been set.

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Stopped Making Payments When Hubby Went to Jail

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, FIRE CHIEF Joanne Hayes-White has been having difficulties with her ex-husband whom she divorced three years ago.  Following their 2009 split, she has been paying $3,300 a month from her $302,000 salary for alimony.  But she recently stopped after her ex went to jail leaving her in sole charge of their three children.

Chief Hayes-White  (OpenSF image)

The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

Hayes-White says she stopped paying support about 14 months ago, after an incident in which her ex-hubby, Robert "Sean" White, grabbed and choked one of their sons while in a booze-fueled rage.  In December, he pleaded no contest in San Mateo County Superior Court to a misdemeanor charge of child endangerment and cruelty. He is serving his sentence on a county sheriff's work detail and living in a rehab house.

Last week, White went to San Francisco Superior Court demanding that the chief resume the spousal support she was ordered to pay when the couple divorced in 2009.  On Friday, Judge Ron Albers signed an order to start deducting the payments from her $302,000 annual salary, though it does not appear to cover the more than $40,000 in backlogged payments.

In an interview, Hayes-White said she had stopped making the spousal payments because of the growing costs she has incurred raising their children.

The chief also says White has not fully lived up to his end of their divorce settlement, including paying for half of the family health care costs and showing he has made a "good-faith effort" to find work.

Read the full story in the Chronicle HERE.

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More Space at the Top Comes Available

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THE FORMER CHIEF OF the Caribou (Maine) Fire and Ambulance Department was indicted last week on three counts of unlawful sexual contact, one count of unlawful sexual touching and three counts of assault.  The crimes all took place in Caribou and apparently a city employee is the complainant against Chief Roy Woods, 67.

Roy Woods  (Aroostook Republican photo)

The Bangor Daily News reports:

Woods resigned in January after 44 years with the Caribou Fire and Ambulance Department, including 21 years as the head of fire, ambulance and emergency management services for the city. According to a copy of his resignation letter, Woods said he was resigning for "medical reasons."

However, Caribou City Manager Steven Buck issued a statement indicating that he accepted the resignation "in lieu of termination" after an investigation into a complaint filed against the fire chief by a city employee.

"An independent investigation into the personnel matter was conducted with an expanded scope," said Buck. "After extensive review and evaluation of the results of the investigation, my own evaluation and after reviewing these evaluations with Woods and a subsequent review of his responses, I accepted his immediate resignation."

Read the detailed story in the Bangor Daily News HERE.

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IRVING, TEXAS, FIRE CHIEF MARIO MOLINA was placed on administrative leave last week for undisclosed reasons.  However, it is strongly believed that it is connected to an FBI investigation into corruption.  The Dallas Morning News is reporting:

The move came weeks after a former mayor said two FBI agents questioned him about the chief’s alleged attempts last year to secure an employment contract in exchange for reversing unpopular disciplinary decisions against two department employees.

City spokeswoman Susan Rose did not respond Tuesday to questions about what prompted Molina’s leave or who made the decision to suspend him. Molina reports to City Manager Tommy Gonzalez. Rose also did not respond to questions about whether the chief is on paid or unpaid leave.

Chief Molina

At a politically explosive council work session in March 2011, Molina accused council members of putting political pressure on him to reduce the punishments of two firefighters that angered rank-and-file department employees. The meeting preceded council elections. The firefighter association’s political arm was considered a major force in city elections at the time.

(Former Mayor) Gears, who was up for re-election, said Molina offered to "take care" of the discipline issues that angered firefighters if he would help provide the chief job security through an employment contract.

The Dallas Morning News goes into greater detail about the chief's conflict with his firefighters in their STORY HERE.

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A FORMER NEW HAMPSHIRE FIRE CHIEF was sentenced to jail yesterday (Monday) after pleading guilty to a Christmas Eve arson.  Bradley Eldridge, 51, was the fire chief in West Ossipee, N.H., until March 28, 2011, when the West Ossipee Fire Precinct Commission removed Eldridge "for cause" during an executive session.

The Boston Herald tells us:

Eldridge was sentenced to three years with all but 90 days suspended for setting a fire in the barn of William Day Jr. on Porterfield Road in Porter.  Day wasn’t home, but a family across the street called the fire in and was able to extinguish it before firefighters arrived, according to Assistant District Attorney Joseph O’Connor. No one was injured and the animals in the barn survived.

O’Connor said Day was dating Eldridge’s ex-wife, and that Eldridge had made threats that he would "make Mr. Day suffer." A camera caught a man pulling up in a car that looked like Eldridge’s car and entering the barn just before the fire was reported.

When questioned, Eldridge admitted to setting the fire, and admitted he had been drinking heavily when he decided to start the fire, O’Connor said.

Read the full story in the Herald HERE.

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Red Light Runner Triggers Chain Reaction

IN PANORAMA CITY, CALIFORNIA, a dolt drove his car through a red light and then collided with a delivery van and a third vehicle.  The van in turn, sheared off a fire hydrant in front of a gasoline station and sent a gusher about 90 ft. into the air. 

KABC-TV

The water mostly came down onto the canopy over the pumps and before the city crews could get it shut off, the canopy collapsed.

KABC-TV

No word on the total damage costs, but it will be substantial.

KABC-TV posted this video from the scene that includes surveillance video of the collapse:

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Inexplicable Actions Have Many Wondering

FOLLOWING THE FIREGEEZER REPORT on Sunday about the loose cannon Trustee of St. Joseph Township in Indiana, we all were wondering how this man was legally able to do the things he did.  (See the Firegeezer REPORT HERE.)  Robert Uhrick has arbitrarily disbanded the EMS activities and sold off the two ambulances at a fraction of their value.  Then last week he sold the boat, motor and trailer without telling anybody until it was done and delivered.  Nobody in the fire department was aware that the boat had been taken from its storage shed until the next day.

Trustee Uhrick  (WANE-TV)

Now the Trustee has told the fire chief that his next move is to sell the fire engine and other equipment, then ask for bids from neighboring departments to provide coverage to their area.  In effect, he wants to shut down the fire department entirely.  It is staffed by three paid volunteer chief officers and the rest of the members are all volunteers as well.

Firegeezer recently had a telephone interview with Fire Chief Jerry Lencke who gladly answered my questions about these topics and filled me in on some of Uhrick's recent actions and the problems they have caused.  Chief Lencke tells us that St. Joseph is one of the most prosperous townships in the state and they do not have any sort of a budgetary problem.  In fact, the twp. has not had to take out a loan for anything in the past 20 years.

The township which is located in Allen County, is overseen by one Trustee who is elected by the citizens.  That is the aforementioned Robert Uhrick.  He has held that position for many years and is usually uncontested at election time.  The Trustee is guided by a committee of three "advisors" who do not have any direct authority over him.  Uhrick's daughter is one of the advisors and his wife is the Township Clerk.  (Nepotism, anybody?)

St. Joseph Twp. Fire Station  (Fire Dept. photo)

The Township owns the fire station and all of the equipment in it.  The VFD is a chartered corporation/fire department, but it does not own any of the equipment.  Trustee Uhrick is solely responsible for the budget and he creates it.  Chief Lencke tells me that they do not have any problem staying within the budgetary limits and this current fiscal year he is under-budget.  There is no monetary problem with the fire department.

The boat that was recently sold sub rosa was worth approx. $8,000 and was fully paid for.  Uhrick offered it to a fire department in another county for half-price, $4,000, and they accepted the offer.  After the boat and trailer were picked up, Uhrick had his wife send an email to Chief Lencke at 9 pm that said, in its entirety:

We have received an offer for purchase and have sold the boat, motor and trailer.  It was picked up this evening……Trustee Uhrick.

That was the first anybody had learned that this was even being considered.  Just as surprised was the Allen County Dispatch Center who still had the emergency unit marked in service.  They next had to go through the labor of revising all of their run cards for the water rescue running orders.  Also, the clueless trustee let the purchaser go off with the equipment that was in the boat (safety vests, throw bags, strobe light, etc.) forcing the township to purchase replacements to be placed on their squad truck.

Chief Lencke  (WANE-TV)

Up until four months ago the dept. had four full-time firefighters to provide constant coverage, but they were laid off.  Then Uhrick had a locksmith come in and padlock the locker room and bunk room.  The department had four live-in volunteers who provided full coverage at nights, but now they are unable to stay there because of this psychotic behavior.  Now when there is a night fire, there is a several-minutes delay in response because everybody is coming from home.

Eighteen months ago, the township purchased $500,000 in vehicles including a pumper, two utility vehicles and a new ambulance.  Like the boat, the ambulance was sold off at a fraction of its value when Uhrick disbanded the EMS coverage and turned it over to a private ambulance firm.  Now he says that he will do the same thing with the fire engine.  As township trustee, he has the legal authority to do these things, even destructive actions such as we have pointed out.

Nobody knows why Uhrick is doing these things.  He has been ducking any questions and has refused for several weeks to have any face-to-face meetings with the fire chief.  Attempts to call him are screened by his wife and she refuses to connect the calls.

Firegeezer will be staying with this situation and will keep you informed of whatever transpires in this Bizzaro world that Uhrick has set up.

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Easy Money Leads to Easy Arrest

THE FORMER CHIEF AND TREASURER OF A NEW JERSEY volunteer ambulance squad was arrested Monday and charged with hindering apprehension, third- and fourth-degree theft, witness tampering, obstruction and unsworn falsification. The case will be presented to a Burlington County grand jury for indictment.

James Daly, 42, was the Chief of the Beverly-Edgewater Park Emergency Medical Squad when, in May 2011, the treasurer became gravely ill and Daly took over the duties of the treasurer.  The Beverly-Edgewater Park Squad is a volunteer organization that has paid administrative officers and 15 part-time employees.  Within a few weeks of taking over the books, Daly phoned the accounting firm that handles their payroll and told them that he had just been given a $15,000 yr. raise above his current salary of $53,560 to $68,500.  Next he began using the Squad's credit account to purchase gasoline for his personal cars.

When the county prosecutor's office began investigating Daly, he produced a letter purportedly written by another member stating that Daly had been given the go-ahead to use the county gas by the ill, and since deceased former treasurer.  That letter was soon determined to be a forgery.

Following his arrest, Daly was released on $25,000 bond.  He was dismissed from the squad's rolls in November 2011.

The Burlington County Times has  more details HERE.

Hat tip:  Ron Y.

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Detroit Can Make Pikers of Any Other Band of Incompetents

IN YESTERDAY'S MORNING LINEUP (HERE) we told you about Miami-Dade County hiding away as many as 1,200 brand new yet unused, vehicles in various parking garages around the city.  Did I say "new"?  They were bought six years ago and have been parked ever since (excepting the bi-monthly maintenance).  If you missed it, follow the link for the story.

You might have thought that was bad, as I did, but we briefly forgot that the National Champion for Corrupted and Incompetent Cities is still owned, without any immediate threats to it's position, by Detroit, Michigan.  The city that fails to function every day of the year and is thinking about closing another 20 fire stations because they don't have any money to fix all the broken fire engines that are in the shop (behind the entire fleet of ambulances).

Feeling the pinch just as badly as the FD is the city's police department (which had a former police chief convicted for embezzling over $2 million in 1992, and another who was forced to quit 10 years ago while being investigated for numerous Federal crimes).  Now exposed is a matter more about incompetence than illegality, the excessive use of leased autos for the PD that are years beyond their leasing contract expiration but still being paid for.

Jalopnik reported on the costly scandal:

The Detroit Police Department is paying millions in full lease payments on cars with leases that expired up to six years ago. One of the cars is a 2004 Dodge Intrepid they've been paying $608 per month to keep.

The Motor City's 7 Action News sicked a team of investigative reporters on the Detroit Police, discovering that this mighty Dodge is one of a compliment of 110 vehicles with expired leases that the Department is paying to keep around. With model years ranging from 2004 to 2007, the city had two-year contracts for all 110 vehicles, and all of them are still on the road. Most have passed their initial mileage limit, racking up 15 cents per mile on top of the regular lease payments.

By now the cars are well used and aging, so maintenance costs are a real thing, too, with the potential of being compounded by wear and tear charges that are part of the lease agreement. Alan Reinstein, an accounting professor at Wayne State University told 7 Action News that the total cost for keeping 110 vehicles that should have been turned in years ago is about $4 million.

 Here is the video report from WXYZ-TV referred to in Jalopnik's story:

As you saw, the cops are rightly miffed about going without their pay raises to help pay for these valuable cars.

In 1933 the DPD bought an entire fleet of Chevrolet patrol cars

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They Learn the Tricks Early

A GROUP OF SIX ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS from Mexico, relying on tips learned through the underground apparently, called for an ambulance when they were stranded and needed a ride in Huron County, Michigan, Wednesday.  The group had been provided transportation to a construction job site to work on a grain elevator project.

The Huron Daily Tribune continues the story:

Deputy Brad Strozeski was dispatched shortly before 10 a.m. Wednesday following a request for an ambulance at the Cooperative Elevator Co. grain elevator construction project location along M-142 near Moore Road in Oliver Township.

Huron County Sheriff Kelly Hanson said when Strozeski arrived on scene, an ambulance was not needed. However, the deputy found six males from Mexico who had been working for an out-of-state construction company at the site. The men were standing near the roadway.

"Apparently, the men had a disagreement with the on-site construction supervisor, and quit their jobs," Hanson said. "(The men) were in need of transportation out of the area and the situation was remedied when deputies took them (the illegal immigrants) into custody."

Huron Sheriff photo

The CEO of the Cooperative, owned by 900 local farmers, emphatically announced that the illegals were not employees of the Cooperative, but of a sub-contractor that their construction contractor had hired to complete one of the jobs.  The contractor is working closely with the sheriff to get the situation straightened out.  The sub-contractor said that he is "looking through his paper work" to see if the proper documents have been provided.

Sheriff Hanson said that there isn't any searching needed.  "There is no way the federal authorities would have them into custody without being certain they were here illegally," he added.

Firegeezer notes:  The unemployment rate among the honest citizens in Michigan is 8.5%.

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Trying To Strike Fear With a Flare

A NEW HAMPSHIRE TEEN IS IN A HEAP O' TROUBLE after being charged with felony reckless conduct and criminal mischief.  Nicholas Richer, 18, of Manchester instigated a "road rage" incident on I-93 Monday evening when he cut off another car during an illegal lane change near the Hooksett toll plaza.

The usual indecent gesturing and name calling ensued along with erratic driving and then Richer pulled out what looks like a pistol but was actually a flare gun.  During the name-calling phase of the discussion he waved the gun around and aimed it through the right front window at the other driver before pulling it back.  Just then the flare gun went off, sending the charge bounding around the inside of his own car.

About 20 minutes later the State Police found the car in a gas station parked along the side of the lot.  They noticed that the windshield was smashed out (from the discharge) and some heavy fire damage to the passenger seat which had been occupied by a younger boy during the escapade.  A look around the area turned up a shell casing and shortly after the discovery of Richer himself, hiding in some bushes with his gun.

WMUR-TV describes the story with a Trooper in this video report:

He was arrested and then released with a court appearance scheduled for June 4.

The Concord Monitor also has the STORY.

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