The Tennessee Fire

From The Huffington Post--"This week, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann reported the story of the Cranick family's house fire. When the family's Obion County, Tennessee house caught fire on the night of October 5th, the fire department from the nearby town failed to respond since the Cranick's had forgotten to pay a $75 fee. Firefighters finally responded to a call by Cranick's neighbor, who had paid his fee. They sprayed the property line to protect the home of the neighbor and watched at the Cranick's home burned to the ground."

"The Obion County fire incident is symbolic of the moral and economic bankruptcy of the Tea-Party-Republican vision of government and the economy. And it poses the stark choice facing American voters in the Mid-Term elections."



This is from an article in the Huffington Post,you can read the full article here.

-Robert Creamer

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-creamer/obion-county-fire-tragedy_b_753893.html


I read this outlandish article and decided to do a little research. What I found first was that the State of Tennessee's Governor Phil Bedesen is a DEMOCRAT.I also found that the State senator(Roy Herron) representing the 24th district(where the fire occurred)is a DEMOCRAT. The story that this is evidence of the "moral bankruptcy" of REPUBLICANS is already starting to fall apart. There's more.......

I called the Obion city office and eventually got in touch with the Mayor.He is a very nice man and was happy to speak with me,I should mention that the Mayor-Benny McGuire is also a democrat. His entire city board is democrat.

1.Sheriff Jerry Vastbinder(DEMOCRAT)

2.Court Clerk Harry Johnson (DEMOCRAT)

3.Trustee Lori Seals (DEMOCRAT)

The Mayor seemed surprised by my inquiry but was happy that I wasn't part of the leftist media that has descended on his answering machine,fax machine,e-mail and phone. Since the fire "victim" was bandied about on Olbermans MSNBC show COUNTDOWN the town has been under assault with threats and hateful attacks.

Mayor McGuire explained to me that this has NOTHING to do with party affiliation and this policy has been in effect for 20 years under several administrations BOTH republican and democrat.When I asked him if he thought of overturning the policy he emphatically replied "NO,I support it,You play you pay!" Remember Mayor McGuire is a DEMOCRAT.

The Mayor went on to explain that the city has a Fire dept funded through CITY taxes. The Dept will also OFFER fire assistance in an approximate 5 mile radius outside the city if PEOPLE CHOOSE TO PAY a $75.00 fee. As I stated the policy has been in place for 20 years and until recently went unchallenged by citizens and politicians,republican and democrat alike.

The fire in question started in a trash barrel and spread to an out building then to the double wide trailer.According to the mayor by the time the fire dept arrived the buildings were a lost cause. Interestingly the "victims" relative had had a fire a few years ago and hadn't paid the fee,but in that case the fire dept allowed them to pay the fee AFTER the fire had been extinguished. It seems the "victim" was operating on the assumption that he would only pay the fee if he needed actual fire protection. He didn't count on the city actually enforcing its 20 year old policy and possibly rightfully so.

I feel for the family that lost their house in the fire but I also understand that the city followed a long standing policy and that the "victim" was WELL AWARE of the policy. I think the city should implement ANY policy WITHOUT deviating so that county citizens aren't operating under false assumptions.

All of that is for this community to decide,the point of my post is to SHOW the FACTS surrounding the Huff post's accusation that this is what we would have if "morally bankrupt" republicans ran the show. The evidence SHOWS that this has NOTHING to do with party affiliation and DEMOCRAT Mayor McGuire agrees.

An unexpected sideline to this story was the hate ginned up by Olberman on this issue. We have all seen how the left can get whipped up into a frenzy when its spokesmen parade "victims" in front of the cameras. the Huff Post takes it a step further by trying to correlate a local tragedy into some sort of "gotcha" moment in the national political arena.

the Mayor offered to send me hundreds of the vicious e-mails but I was afraid it would crash my e-mail so i asked for just one. Here it is.



"What a bunch of dumb asses you all are ever hear of volunteer fire departments. I hope you burn in hell"



The left and Olberman should be ashamed of themselves! When will they leave the sacrificial lambs out of their agenda?