Accident or a Wreck?

When I opened my Tuesday, March 2, 2010, Times-Standard and saw a picture of a Eureka City Fire truck with the heading, "Fees for service" and the looked at the picture of the so-called "accident a H and Hodgson" I had to ask: "Are these elected representatives deliberately running a stop sign, hurting people and calling it an accident"?

Why is it that the first thing "our" elected representatives do when they say they don't have enough money is threaten to cut the most vital services to those with the most to lose, property owners and small business unless they pay up? It's like they have the god-given right to force the other person, in this case the tax payer, to always give-ground. What they want, how they want to live, fulfill thier obligations, and obey the law takes precedence over everyone else, specially those with the misfortune to happen to be in their way.

The report of the wreck says in part, Laverne "Dedrich was attempting to cross H Street eastbound in her Honda Accord when her eyes teared up, obscuring her vision, she said. She did not see the stop sign and continued into the intersection." There was NO attempting to cross H street involved. She was simply crossing the street regardless. She said she couldn't see the stop sign. That means she couldn't see ANY vehicles or pedestrians in the intersect either. She was deliberately running that stop sign; never intending to stop. Since she did NOT stop immediately when she couldn't see, specially a major thoroughfare like H street, she never intended to stop. That was a deliberate assault on anyone that had the legal right to be in that intersection. THAT WAS NO ACCIDENT! That was a pure and simple WRECK!

When it becomes clear that there isn't going to be enough money in the budget to operate, their "eyes tear up" and they continue on as if there are not constraints -- in this case NO Stop Signs, pedestrians or motor vehicles -- This action is to deliberately cause a WRECK and then say, "my eyes teared up," I had a moments lapse in competence, sorry . . .

We'll just tag you with a "fee" -- in this case a wrecked car, higher insurance fees, and don't forget all those hidden costs that just seem to keep appearing. 

It is always about finding ways to charge the already overburdened public; jack on a parcel tax, or raise property tax. Never any way to save, improve, cut costs, or adjust -- Never any thought or inclination to STOP or even slow down.

Start treating these kinds of incidents that involve the police and fire departments for exactly what they are and stop accomodating these people and, perhaps, then we'll all see the costs of these deliberate wrecks come down.

--Joe