Firefighters Let Home Burn Over Unpaid Fee

[saden1]

South Fulton City is inside of Obion County. For an annual fee the city was willing to provide surrounding county area with fire protection. There are no multiple counties involved. You have a city and unincorporated county area. Simple.

[Dirtbag59]

Originally Posted by saden1

South Fulton City is inside of Obion County. For an annual fee the city was willing to provide surrounding county area with fire protection. There are no multiple counties involved. You have a city and unincorporated county area. Simple.

Okay, seriously who hacked Saden's account?

[saden1]

Originally Posted by Dirtbag359

Okay, seriously who hacked Saden's account?

Nobody...people are butchering the integrity of the story and I just want to keep it straight.

[saden1]

These people in unincorporated county areas have a few solutions available to them in light of this incident:

• Get a volunteer fire fighting crew together and give the city the finger.
• Join the city.
• Form a new city.
• Expand county services by means of taxation to provide fire protection.
• Lobby the state to pass a legislation that makes unresponsive fire departments illegal.
• Burn South Fulton City to the ground and takeover their fire station. If the f*ckers at South Fulton City want to be bitches it's time for them to get stitches.

[Monkeydad]

I like the "form a new city" option.

[CRedskinsRule]

I understand the compassion element that matty and hog1 are saying, but what I don't hear from many is the simple acknowledgement that this guy had been aware of the risk of not paying and made the choice not to pay. Yes maybe somehow it could have been handled better, but if the man had paid the 75 fee, which he had in the past, then this would not have happened. Maybe the unincorporated areas or the city could have a hardship assistance fund for it or some other mechanism, but with the laws in place as they are right now, the firefighters did what they were supposed to do.

[saden1]

Originally Posted by CRedskinsRule

I understand the compassion element that matty and hog1 are saying, but what I don't hear from many is the simple acknowledgement that this guy had been aware of the risk of not paying and made the choice not to pay. Yes maybe somehow it could have been handled better, but if the man had paid the 75 fee, which he had in the past, then this would not have happened. Maybe the unincorporated areas or the city could have a hardship assistance fund for it or some other mechanism, but with the laws in place as they are right now, the firefighters did what they were supposed to do.

LOL...really? And here I was thinking he said he forgot to pay. People forgetting to pay bills? Unheard of!

[MTK]

Originally Posted by CRedskinsRule

I understand the compassion element that matty and hog1 are saying, but what I don't hear from many is the simple acknowledgement that this guy had been aware of the risk of not paying and made the choice not to pay. Yes maybe somehow it could have been handled better, but if the man had paid the 75 fee, which he had in the past, then this would not have happened. Maybe the unincorporated areas or the city could have a hardship assistance fund for it or some other mechanism, but with the laws in place as they are right now, the firefighters did what they were supposed to do.

From the article:

"I just forgot to pay my $75," Cranick told ABC News. "I did it last year, the year before. ... It slipped my mind."

[Dirtbag59]

Originally Posted by CRedskinsRule

I understand the compassion element that matty and hog1 are saying, .

Are you kidding me? How am I not on that list? I'm offended.

[CRedskinsRule]

Originally Posted by Hog1

BRILLIANT!
and to ...try to justify it in any way soley illustrates what is wrong with...GOVT.
A bit of an over-simplification....but
We will give 498 Cazillion dollars to Haiti when they need it, (and anybody else with their handout) but we cannot figure out how to deal with a $75 municipal fee......utter insanity

The difference is the federal govt doesn't have to worry about having a 1.3 TRILLION dollar deficit, the local county and city governments do, and they have to worry about their bond ratings and they have people who hold them accountable when trying to raise taxes.
As for Justifying the action, that doesn't mean that they shouldn't look for solutions that keep it from happening going forward. I imagine if you were to research the history of this law you would find many pros and cons both sides of which were fought out in the ballot box.

[Hog1]

Originally Posted by CRedskinsRule

The difference is the federal govt doesn't have to worry about having a 1.3 TRILLION dollar deficit, the local county and city governments do, and they have to worry about their bond ratings and they have people who hold them accountable when trying to raise taxes.
As for Justifying the action, that doesn't mean that they shouldn't look for solutions that keep it from happening going forward. I imagine if you were to research the history of this law you would find many pros and cons both sides of which were fought out in the ballot box.

If all the rules had been carefully followed, none of this would happen? Perhaps he made a mistake, perhaps he's an asshole.....it happens. THAT should have been dealt with after the fire was put out and the locals were busy annointing the local Fireman, as hero's.
This has already boiled into a shitstorm that won't soon be forgotten in those parts and those involved will likely be searching for other employment, or testifying forever.
Sometimes....you just can't play by the rules as they "just don't make sense". They're are a bunch of fireguys and a city manager or two that will figure it out for the sake of..........$75..amazing

[SmootSmack]

I'm just not seeing where he said he chose not to pay

[saden1]

Originally Posted by SmootSmack

I'm just not seeing where he said he chose not to pay

Perhaps the fact that he forgot to pay is a choice in itself?

This story is spicy enough...I don't get why people keep throwing in more peppers.

[CRedskinsRule]

He does say he forgot, so my words about choosing were wrong, except if you use Sadens interpretation. However, in his interview with Keith Obermann he also said he knew of several other houses where the various fire departments had refused. So he did know that it could be a consequence. He also said that it had happened once before and a former official had waived the fee, but the new person had a policy not too. I forget things at work way too often, and I have missed bills and made other dumb moves. But in the end, you deal with the consequences. He also said he did have insurance and that they were covering up to the limits of what he paid for.

Just thinking about it further, could the insurance company deny his claim based on his failure to pay the fee?

[MTK]

Originally Posted by CRedskinsRule

He does say he forgot, so my words about choosing were wrong, except if you use Sadens interpretation. However, in his interview with Keith Obermann he also said he knew of several other houses where the various fire departments had refused. So he did know that it could be a consequence. He also said that it had happened once before and a former official had waived the fee, but the new person had a policy not too. I forget things at work way too often, and I have missed bills and made other dumb moves. But in the end, you deal with the consequences. He also said he did have insurance and that they were covering up to the limits of what he paid for.

Just thinking about it further, could the insurance company deny his claim based on his failure to pay the fee?

Not unless it's spelled out in the policy somewhere