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Yay for good news stories.
By Chris | September 27, 2006
There are just too many news stories today to pass up commenting on. First up, the supposed racist North Chas FD Chief is no longer their Chief anymore…. I don’t believe that crap personally. Sounds like someone found an opportunity to play the race card…
City Councilwoman Dorothy Williams, who is black, said she is just glad Waddle is out.
Williams said a group of firefighters approached her about three months ago with allegations that Waddle was promoting only white firefighters and that he refused to communicate with black firefighters.
Sounds to me like there was a serious problem with these people skipping the chain of command…which should result for immediate disciplinary action (IMHO), but you know then you’d be racist for enforcing regulations. (rolls eyes) The article also mentions that the former Chief was a Mormon, which I’m not sure is relevant; but then this is Charleston, and we all know how important religion is to the people in this area, whether it’s relevant or not.
Next up is this article on a juvenile involving pepper spray on a bus in Colleton County. The article advises that they’re not going to expel her, since there’s no evidence of malicious intent, that’s all good and well but:
Also Tuesday, Superintendent Charles Gale announced a new policy requiring school staff to call 911 whenever students are exposed to airborne contaminants.
And:
He said he decided to institute the 911 rule based on a consulting doctor’s recommendation.
This is a classic case of people (the doctor and the administrators) that do not know how 911 works, making rules that really are not all that beneficial to them. Firstly, in most cases 911 is answered by the same oeprators who answer the non-emergency administrative phone lines. For example, I answer both the 911 and the admin lines for my agency. The only thing 911 gets is precedence - if I’m on an admin line, I’ll put them on hold and answer the 911 line. Second: If the ‘emergency’ is not life or death, then it’s not warranted to use 911 - it’s actually illegal if you read the state code. Now, common sense would say that yes, 911 is warranted if the kids are having reactions to pepper spray…but implementing a blanket policy is a bad idea, as now there will be 911 calls that are NOT emergency related more likely to be made. There’s also a remark in the article that the bus driver didn’t immediately evacuate the kids from the bus…I think she should have done so immediately.
I regret I don’t have any pictures of the collision that occurred from this chase. Justin had just left for work at 0700, and I was still awake when they tone out Medic 2 and Company 2 (me) for it, so I figured I would go since I was already awake. It was a Pontiac Sunfire that was t-boned in the intersection by the Pilot Truck Stop right off Exit 199B on I-26. The driver was pretty lucky - the suspect vehicle hit her right in the b-post, the space between the two drivers side doors. Both windows were shattered and the doors were unable to be opened. She suffered no apparent injuries that I was able to see, and she went to the hospital. The BCSO unit that had initiated the traffic stop had to stop and render assistance to the victim, rather than pursue the suspect vehicle. Apparently it was apprehended in North Charleston. If you saw the news, then you saw the fine, upstanding citizens that were in the vehicle. One of them looked half-baked.
He [Deputy Lukas] tried to stop the car on Cambridge Road, but it sped off. The Taurus hit a car on U.S. Highway 17A at Farmington Road, then headed down Interstate 26, then U.S. Highway 78.
I’m not sure whether they ran the red light or whether the Sunfire wasn’t paying attention and was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Charleston drivers have a bad habit of ignoring lights and sirens, whether blue or red, so I’m willing to bet that it was a combination of a)BCSO attempting to stop the vehicle and the driver failing to stop for the blue lights, b)the driver of the Sunfire not noticing, or not paying attention to the sirens approaching. When I hear a siren, I stop and listen for the direction and check all my mirrors for an approaching Fire/EMS/Police unit to determine where it’s coming from. Of course, nowadays people are listening to (bad) music really loud or watching TV or reading things in their cars, so they never really pay attention anyways. What if it was their friend/relative that the emergency unit was responding to help? Hmm, food for thought, eh?
And, I will say - these bitches are hard to see at night. I almost hit one at night several years ago. Skeered the sh!t out of me. I agree that some more lighting is a good idea. A flashing beacon or even some sort of lighting just to illuminate its presence. Dark objects at night on a dark river generally are hard to see. A few lights is a small price to pay to save lives, I think. Of course it is also good to be familiar with the water way so you know where things are - I traveled very slowly at night even in familiar waters. I imagine that these guys were probably moving at a pretty good clip.
One of the men injured in Saturday night’s boating accident on the Cooper River was pronounced dead by emergency medical responders and was then revived, according to Coast Guard officials.
So, can he get his life insurance money? Hmmm….
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