Firefighters let house burn because family hadn’t paid service fee. No. Really.

tj:

As ThinkProgress has noted, there are currently two competing visions of governance in the United States. One, the conservative vision, believes in the on-your-own society, and informs a policy agenda that primarily serves the well off and privileged sectors of the country. The other vision, the progressive one, believes in an American Dream that works for all people, regardless of their racial, religious, or economic background.

The conservative vision was on full display last week in Obion County, Tennessee. In this rural section of Tennessee, Gene Cranick’s home caught on fire. As the Cranicks fled their home, their neighbors alerted the county’s firefighters, who soon arrived at the scene. Yet when the firefighters arrived, they refused to put out the fire, saying that the family failed to pay the annual subscription fee to the fire department. Because the county’s fire services for rural residences is based on household subscription fees, the firefighters, fully equipped to help the Cranicks, stood by and watched as the home burned to the ground:

Imagine your home catches fire but the local fire department won’t respond, then watches it burn. That’s exactly what happened to a local family tonight. A local neighborhood is furious after firefighters watched as an Obion County, Tennessee, home burned to the ground.

The homeowner, Gene Cranick, said he offered to pay whatever it would take for firefighters to put out the flames, but was told it was too late. They wouldn’t do anything to stop his house from burning. Each year, Obion County residents must pay $75 if they want fire protection from the city of South Fulton. But the Cranicks did not pay. The mayor said if homeowners don’t pay, they’re out of luck. […] We asked the mayor of South Fulton if the chief could have made an exception. “Anybody that’s not in the city of South Fulton, it’s a service we offer, either they accept it or they don’t,” Mayor David Crocker said.

A local newspaper further pressed Mayor Crocker about the city’s policy, which has been in place since 1990. Crocker, a Republican who was elected in 2008 and serves with a county commission where every seat is also filled by a Republican, likened the policy to buying auto insurance. The paper said he told them that, after all, “if an auto owner allowed their vehicle insurance to lapse, they would not expect an insurance company to pay for an unprotected vehicle after it was wrecked.”

Seriously. This happened. In America. What’s next? Pay Per Police?

via Daring Fireball

I guess I’ll just be throwing that argument under the bus, which I wrote way before I knew that politicians were actually willing to require people to buy into fire service or let their homes burn down.

If I had arrived onto the site of that fire, and this had come up, I would’ve gladly disobeyed direct orders and would’ve started to put the fire out. What if someone had still been in that house, or the fire had spread to surrounding areas? What if you weren’t paying into the fire service subscription because you were too preoccupied putting food on the table?

What happens when first aid and emergency medical attention are only given if you’ve paid into the fees?

“Oh, hey — we know you just got into this car accident and your femur is jutting out of your leg and there’s this thing sticking out of your neck that probably shouldn’t be there, but our records show you haven’t paid the fees. We’re sorry, but we aren’t allowed to help you.”

My head was on the table before we finished going over the questionnaire.

As I alluded to in an earlier post, I took a play out of a Neil’s playbook today. I went to the blood drive on campus to donate. It was a decision I made after a lot of contemplating and I’ve gone back and forth on it a lot over the past week. Just thinking about it made me light-headed and I had to push it out of my mind during my morning class to avoid passing out, at which point I then retreated and decided not to donate. By the afternoon, I thought less and did more, which at least got me through the door and my name placed on the form.

I filled out the questionnaire and could tell anticipation was getting the better of me. By the time a lady was going over it with me, things got bad. My blood pressure plummeted just before she pricked my finger. I was instructed to put my head on the table and hang out for a minute.

She did some other work and came back, asking “Do you think you’re good enough to get up?”

“Well, up isn’t really a good direction for me right now, but I could probably make it across the room. Anything further and we’re getting into crazy talk.”

I laid down for a few minutes and felt better, but they wouldn’t let me donate at that point. I was told to come back another time, and maybe I will, maybe I won’t.

My dad’s one of those people with a rare blood type so the Blood Center is always calling him and he can probably manufacture blood like a factory. My sister and I aren’t so good at it. I was with her when she went to donate a few years ago for the first time and she almost ended up getting taken to the emergency room.

While I was in my first aid class six weeks ago, I came very close to passing out just after we finished talking about treating gunshot victims. I very quickly became the volunteer to demonstrate passing out and the guy leading the class demonstrated how to take care of sissies like me.

I don’t know what the weirdness is with my body — different things cause my blood pressure to plummet and leave me really light-headed. Last week it was jamming my thumb against something, and it’s been a problem since I was 14. The difference was, until I was 19, I didn’t know what to do other than stick it out, which resulted in my getting some really violent migraines. Once at work during a snowstorm, another time during a reading comprehension test in 8th grade, and also during a Biology class. My only saving grace is that I’ve learned to lay down and raise my feet, which prevents thing from reaching migraine status. Ten minutes later, I’m up and walking around, feeling better than ever.

I’ve watched myself bleed, a lot. For a couple years in high school when I was just getting into show production and was honing in my carpentry skills, plenty of times I cut my fire on a drill bit, with a knife, or one time I even burned three of my finger prints off trying to focus a very hot light fixture without gloves on. None of those times caused me anything like the feeling I get when I think about donating blood.

I don’t know what the magic formula is or how to beat the system. Neil posted some info on how he changed his diet for a day to make things better, and I’ll try that next time, but there’s something very demoralizing about being told you cannot donate blood because you’re not good at it.

I like to think that comfort’s overrated and I can do anything I put my mind to and all of that inspirational garbage they tell you when you’re five, but some things my lizard brain just won’t let me do. It gets defensive at times I don’t need or want defending, and then I have to awkwardly explain to someone as I lie on the floor, “Oh, don’t worry, this happens all the time.”

I’ve enrolled in a Red Cross First Aid/CPR/AED class.

With any luck, I’ll not kill anyone!