Fire Board Meeting

[kevin_standlee]

Back when Lisa and I started attending North Lyon County Fire Protection District meetings, we were often the only members of the "public" (i.e. not a board member, staff member, firefighter, or member of one of the auxiliary groups). Nowadays, enough people show up that they've had to start holding the meetings in a bigger room. I'm not sure exactly why that is, though.

During the public comment at the end of the meeting, I stood up and said how disappointed I was that nearly 60% of the voters in Fernley didn't think our fire department deserved a small raise, which in my case would have been the cost of a take-out pizza once a year. I still wonder what those people who voted "no" will think if they have a fire or medical emergency and nobody shows up because there are only four people on duty at any given time and they're all tied up when that call comes.

Comments

[lindadee]

I hope you at least got a round of applause.

[kevin_standlee]

No, although a couple of people did come up and tell me it was well said. I think the fact that I told a room of (statistically) 80% Republicans, including a number of local movers and shakers and would be monarch-makers, that in effect the reason they didn't get what they wanted was due to the way their fellow Republicans have grown so anti-government that they really do want to burn everything to the ground. Congratulations, folks: you're reaping the whirlwind.

[scott_sanford]

"Burn everything to the ground" is a particularly worrying phrase when discussing the fire department.

[kevin_standlee]

Regrettably, some of them seem to take it literally. Or maybe they assume that God Will Provide, and Only Bad People's Houses Burn, or something like that.

[delosharriman]

In Puritan Massachusetts Bay, lightning rods were initially prohibited, on the grounds that lightning was a punishment from God on the wicked. Before long, however, the consideration that fires spread led to a revision of this position in the interest of public safety.