gamewell45

Horrible comparsion tick, the boat's a one time expenditure of a half-million, not including maintenance, etc; half million for staff means half million yearly, not including annual pay raises, etc.

The media was interviewing an attorney on television; expect a major lawsuit to be launched against the hospital at the least.

The state recognizes the important contributions the volunteers make to the public; furthermore i believe that if the state felt that if the volunteer fire service was obsolete or completely ineffective, there is no way you'd have seen LOSAP passed years ago. Thats common sense. The state has a vested interest in keeping taxes as low as they reasonably can. This is one way they can earn voter confidence next time at the polls. Furthermore, I think the program has worked. I know of plenty of firefighters who contemplated leaving the fire service but decided to stay due to not only LOSAP, but other perks associated with being part of the fire service. LOSAP certainly played an important part of their decision to remain as active members. The passage of the Emergency Volunteer Services Act will likewise play an important role the retainment and recruitment of volunteer firemen. For those volunteers who have no medical benefits whatsoever, this will be an added incentive which will give them the ability to purchase affordable medical insurance. This combined with the LOSAP (which btw is not a pension, its an annuity based on years of credited service) program, local perks and the so-called "bunk-in program" which many volunteer departments throughout the state are seriously starting to look at, will change the whole face of the volunteer fire service. While i realize that every department is different with the success of the LOSAP program, I know that the departments that i've belonged to over the years have done well since the inception of the program. While most "kids", as you call them, may not think of retirement or putting money into an IRA at this stage of their lives, it never hurts to teach them of the importance of long term planning. For many of them, aside from Social Security, this will be the only guarantee of income to supplement what SS gives them. Many in this forum toss around the "ISO rating" term quite a bit when it comes to volunteers. From what i've seen or heard, the public could care less. I've yet to hear or see someone either buy a house based on ISO or complain to the district that they need to improve the ISO rating. They accept it for what it is. Finally, i do agree, good lobbying does get it there.

Your absolutely correct that they are required to follow the internationals rules and regs; however the union should be very careful. If those members of IAFF decide to resign their membership and become agency fee payer members (non-members but they still pay a fee equal to their dues), they won't be bound by the International's rules and regs. I've seen it happen before in other unions and in the end it ends up hurting the internationals. Telling someone what they can do outside of their job can be very risky and have negative results towards the union.

Are there any buildings in Rye over 3 stories tall? I'm not familiar with the area.

Your not refusing to work, just refusing to go into an area which is potentially unsafe for humans. I believe your covered under PESH unless i'm mistaken, the Taylor Law pertains to Labor disputes. This would clearly be a safety issue and not labor dispute. No arbitrator in their right mind would sustain a discharge nor a charge against a group of people over a safety issue of that magnitude that was described in this thread. Of course it would help if the union got their act together and got their safety and health rep involved. Thats one of the reasons you pay dues and if they are sitting there doing nothing i think its a disgrace.

I don't have a problem with an individual packing a weapon as long as the person has the proper training to use it. Too many times i've seen surveilance tapes where a robber will waltz into a store and pull out a pistol or revolver; the owner pulls out his licensed weapon and starts firing away towards the robber irreguardless of who's in the store or in the line of fire. I've even seen some blindly firing out the doors of the store as the robber flees in a panic even though innocent civilians might be walking in front of the store or driving by in a car or bus. This is why law enforcement personnel receive proper training in the use of firearms before being allowed to carry, so they don't walk around making innocent civilans look like swiss cheese. Proper training also includes securing it in a safe place when your not carrying it including trigger locks. As long as its used responsibly and if the person has the proper training, then i have no problem with it.

No, it was Neil McCabe.

You make a valid point, tho' i've never heard of jobs being cut due to a lack of exclusitivity. And yes, you shouldn't have to choose between safety and feeding your family. If the district won't staff properly, then i'd go with 4 on a truck, if nothing else for safety. The workers shouldn't necessarily jepordize their safety because of the inability/unwillingness to staff properly.

The amazing thing is, why are the employees (firefighters) even going into the building in the first place? They should refuse to enter the building until the conditions are abated. Another question is; where is the unions safety and health representative? They should be right on this with PESH or the appropriate agency that handles safety & health for workers.

I would take safety over job security in a flash; the hell with exclusivity, no job is worth your life.

I also agree. The blue light is only a "courtesy" light and I found out years ago that people aren't very courteous in NY. All they do is confuse people, in particular, at traffic intersections where people stop in all directions and hence, no traffic flows. I have one, which i rarely , if ever use. I have a friend who is a volunteer fireman in the state of Georgia, where volunteers have their personal vehicles listed as "emergency" response vehicles and as such are authorized the use of red lights (including wig wags) and sirens. If anything thats what the state should authorize volunteers in both the fire and EMS to use. Anything else is most likely useless.

Definitely blown way of proportion.

You are correct.

Can you please post links to these reports so we may read them?

I'm not sure what fire department your a member of, but in my department, i can think of approx. a dozen firefighters (under the age of 35) who joined for a combination of reasons; LOSAP, the desire to serve the community and the other perks associated with the volunteer fire service. LOSAP is not a giveaway if properly monitored and admininstered which i would think is more the rule then exception. I'm sure the last thing any fire district wants is the state investigating potential fraud. The points that one must have in order to qualify are predicated on receiving minimum amount of fire calls, thus preventing only those who attend say, only meetings or drills from qualifying for LOSAP credit. While you say you haven't "met a volunteer under the age of 35 that joined up because of the LOSAP program", i find that age shouldn't matter in any case. Its the desire to help your community; who cares how old someone is or if its wives who want to help out? As long as they meet the requirements set down by the state, there should be no argument from rational people. Finally, while you are certainly entitled to your opinion, I cannot agree with your thoughts that LOSAP is a travesty; rather its an excellent program for volunteers who make the committment for training, Fire Calls, meetings and other legally sanctioned details. Volunteers in NY make an incredible contribution to the fire service and the LOSAP program is a small way of saying thanks to those who dedicate themselves to helping the public in their time of need. All the new young recruits are informed about this program when they join and its explained of the benefits of being in it as 40 years down the road, they'll have supplemental income to live off of in addition to social security (or whatever the program is in effect at that time). The only thing the volunteer fire service ought to do is to publicize it more in the high schools and other public venues. The program is most likely here to stay long term so those nay-sayers ought to accept that fact and move on to other worthy causes.

We can debate this til' were all blue in the face; however the courts will ultimately decide whether she is guilty of her crime and if a lawsuit is launched, whether the Police Officer violated her rights. Not much more to say is there?

Maybe its redundant; we could debate it all day I guess; perhaps "defendant" in place of "accused criminal"; but the thrust of the post: (QUOTE(JBE @ Jun 24 2008, 11:39 AM) She's an accused criminal, she should be treated the same as every other criminal (my highlight) they lock up.) it gives the appearance of her being being convicted which i'm sure most in here agree on, it hasn't happened. The primary basis for my original response was that if we are talking about someone charged with a crime; we might try to be as accurate as possible. You never know, the accused however unlikely as it might be, could read this website.

I think your description of her being "an accused criminal" is off base. I read the newspaper article in question and unless i missed it somewhere, i didn't read that she's been convicted; merely charged with committing a crime; you could better represent your position by referring to her as "the accused defendent". Unless the laws have changed, in this country you're innocent until proven guilty.

I remember it very well...i got there right after 90 hit the hydrant; it was a good save as i recall.

Those guys earn every penny of their salaries; for those making that kind of salary, they're practically spending most of their time away from their families or loved ones. Most police are underpaid as it is.

Directing traffic is a very dangerous job as evidenced by the fire-police officer who was struck by the car. I hope the driver loses his license and does some serious time in prison for his actions.