Special note for all you libtards coming here – Mr. Cranick didn’t FORGET to pay his fee, he REFUSED to pay his fee. Get your facts straight!
Now…
You might be saying ‘who the hell is Gene Cranick?’
Well this local story for me has become a national debate of sorts and I have suffered through liberal blog, after liberal blog reading what the idiots on the left are failing to report as they seems to believe everything in life is free, well it’s not! Someone has to pay.
Choice have consequences…
The libtards say Cranick FORGOT to pay his fee – not true what Cranick said first was…
Firefighters watch as home burns to the ground
Mr Cranick said: “I thought they’d come out and put it out, even if you hadn’t paid your $75, but I was wrong.”
Yes you were wrong moocher … here is the deal the the libtards don’t seem understand – and might I add it caused a headache trying to understand their logic or the lack there of. In the rural country in most areas are volunteer fire departments and if those areas don’t have a volunteer fire department they contract with the city for fire protection for those in the county you have have to pay a fee for protection because that is how the fire department pays for trucks, suits, helmets, hoses, diesel, maintenance, the fire station, electricity and insurance. If no one pays the fee how are they going to pay for all those cost? The people in the city pay a tax, the people in the county pay a fee known as “pay to spray” as the city fire departments are full time tax funded and the fire departments in the county are member fee based volunteers.
Not a difficult concept to understand – both have operating cost and mechanisms in place to cover those cost – one is taxes (the urban city) the other is subscriber fees (the rural county).
Rural Tennessee fire draws attention to ‘pay-to-spray’ services
Fire subscriptions, also known as “pay-to-spray” fees, are fairly common in Tennessee, especially in rural areas that aren’t directly served by a fire district. Although fire subscription fees may seem unusual, most resident across the country pay for fire protection services in one form or another.
Where I live in Kentucky about 20 miles from where this story went down in Tennessee – they put the fire department fee on your property tax bill so you must to pay it if you own property – but it wasn’t always thet way where I live. At one time the fee, like the fire department was voluntary and you could either pay the fee or get hit with a huge bill if you didn’t and that was the deal in Kentucky – pay the fee or pay for the call, but there was a problem getting people to pay after the fact which could be several $1000. The volunteer firehouse which runs on a shoestring budget would often have to sue to get the money and after a fire many people didn’t have the money to pay, hell most didn’t have it before the fire – ergo you can’t get blood out of a turnip. So people must be responsible for their actions – Cranick has said “I thought they’d come out and put it out, even if you hadn’t paid your $75, but I was wrong.” and later Cranick changed his story to say ‘he forgot to pay… it was an oversight’ … well which is it? Is it what you said first or what you said on MSNBC? I’m betting it’s what you said first, but now you are mining for sympathy, well it’s not happening here.
I knew plenty of people that rolled the dice and didn’t pay hoping they didn’t have a fire and I’m guess Cranick did just that, he rolled the dice and crapped out. Now the if I was Fire Chief which I’m not, I would have put the fire out, out of public safety and sent him a big ass bill for it. I might have had a problem collecting but that’s why they make property liens – after all Tennessee law says…
(68-102-121):
Officer may remedy dangerous conditions at expense of owners. —
If any party fails to comply with the order as modified on appeal by the court or the commissioner, and within the time fixed by either of them, then the officer is empowered to cause the building or premises to be repaired, torn down, demolished, materials removed and all dangerous conditions remedied, as the case may be, at the expense of the party or parties.
So was the Fire Chief in violation of the law? I don’t know I’m not a Tennessee lawyer nor one at all or is the Fire Chief in the right by adhering to the policy of not providing services Cranick didn’t pay for? Is the policy in violation of the law? The law says “MAY” it doesn’t say “SHALL” and in my world ‘may’ is not ‘shall’ and that is a difference in the law. Honestly I’m torn – the Libertarianism in me says Cranick made a choice – deal with it, but on the other hand is that the right thing to do? Screw what the law says or doesn’t say – is it the responsible thing to do? As I said I would put the fire out and send them a bill for $10,000 or so. After all if you crash your car you can’t call from the scene and get insurance to cover it, can you?
Here is a question the media isn’t asking – how many people hurried in and paid the fee after Cranick’s fire? I tried to call and find out because the libtards have the phones tied up calling to whine about it.
Oh have you noticed all these liberal bloggers that are whining about the fire department are not offering to help Cranick – typical, but most of them are trying to turn this into a Republican verses Democrats issues which is why I’ve brought it up but actually it’s a personal responsibility verses irresponsibility issue. Cranick had a personal responsibility to pay his subscriber fee and he didn’t so were just suppose to say “Oh that’s OK” – no… choices have consequences do they not? Gene Cranick made a choice, he knew the consequences of that choice now he needs to deal with it. That’s not to say that South Fulton’s policy is correct, but be that as it may it is the policy and it was followed – that policy may well be changed as a matter of ethics, but only time will tell.
Cranick plight is a result of failed personal responsibility and South Fulton’s failed public responsibility. This is what happens when one person can’t follow the rules and another can’t break them and I don’t fell empathy for either one.
More here…
Rural Tennessee fire sparks conservative ideological debate
International firefighter’s group condemns local department
Firefighters let home burn because owner didn’t pay fee
Glenn Beck: Firefighters Right to Let Home Burn
HuffPo – Firefighters Watch As Home Burns: Gene Cranick’s House Destroyed In Tennessee Over $75 Fee (VIDEO)