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WWII Vet Freezes to Death in his Own Home
Date: January 27, 2009 12:45PM

With temperatures at historic lows, the city of Bay City, MI decided it was a good idea to shut the electricity off to the home of a 93-year-old vet, who then died of hypothermia.

Here is the story....

http://www.wnem.com/news/18566890/detail.html#-


And here is the email address to the mayor, Charles Brunner...

cbrunner@baycitymi.org


I suggest passing it along to anyone who thinks this is a horrendous way to treat our veterans.

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Re: WWII Vet Freezes to Death in his Own Home
Posted by: ITRADE ()
Date: January 27, 2009 01:06PM

I saw that one directed from CNN. Somebody is going to be in hot water for that little stunt.

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Re: WWII Vet Freezes to Death in his Own Home
Posted by: RESton Peace ()
Date: January 27, 2009 01:07PM

... or a horrible way to treat any person at all, much less a 90+ year old man. I do believe what was done is illegal in our state.

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Re: WWII Vet Freezes to Death in his Own Home
Date: January 27, 2009 01:15PM

RESton Peace Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ... or a horrible way to treat any person at all,
> much less a 90+ year old man. I do believe what
> was done is illegal in our state.


I would hope so. I hope it is illegal in Michigan, as well.

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Re: WWII Vet Freezes to Death in his Own Home
Posted by: HIJACKER ()
Date: January 27, 2009 08:01PM

I'd like to play devil's advocate here for a bit, which I think is fair considering I'm a ilitary veteran myself.

How is this necessarily the company's fault? I mean, they notified him previously of the impending cutoff. Sure, a personal notice might be nice, but it shouldn't necessarily be required.

In any case, he had over $1000 in unpaid bills. What are they supposed to do? Just let him keep NOT paying just because he's a vet?

It is very tragic, but I don't think anybody is necessarily at fault. It states that he had a wad of money with that bill on the table which implies that he was gonna pay. It was just a little too late.

This is a very tragic situation My condolences to his family, in either case...

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Re: WWII Vet Freezes to Death in his Own Home
Date: January 27, 2009 08:10PM

HIJACKER Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'd like to play devil's advocate here for a bit,
> which I think is fair considering I'm a ilitary
> veteran myself.
>
> How is this necessarily the company's fault? I
> mean, they notified him previously of the
> impending cutoff. Sure, a personal notice might be
> nice, but it shouldn't necessarily be required.
>
> In any case, he had over $1000 in unpaid bills.
> What are they supposed to do? Just let him keep
> NOT paying just because he's a vet?
>
> It is very tragic, but I don't think anybody is
> necessarily at fault. It states that he had a wad
> of money with that bill on the table which implies
> that he was gonna pay. It was just a little too
> late.
>
> This is a very tragic situation My condolences to
> his family, in either case...


It isn't like turning off TV service. It was extremely cold and anyone with common sense (at the company) should have been aware that turning off the power could endanger someone's life. If you have a ton of medical bills, a hospital still can't deny you life-saving services. Utilities in situations like this are pretty close to being on the same level of social responsibility. They should have given him what he needed for heat. Period.

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Re: WWII Vet Freezes to Death in his Own Home
Posted by: Merritt ()
Date: January 28, 2009 08:21AM

Not sure about MI, or VA for that matter....but some states have laws where a power company can NOT shut off your power during the winter due to non-payment. So worst case, this guy would still have heat throughout the winter, and when the weather warmed up, he'd have to pay the bill to keep his electricity, or go without.

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Re: WWII Vet Freezes to Death in his Own Home
Date: January 28, 2009 08:22AM

Merritt Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Not sure about MI, or VA for that matter....but
> some states have laws where a power company can
> NOT shut off your power during the winter due to
> non-payment. So worst case, this guy would still
> have heat throughout the winter, and when the
> weather warmed up, he'd have to pay the bill to
> keep his electricity, or go without.


Seriously, what is the problem with the city waiting a few months before shutting everything off? It couldn't be as bad as the scrutiny and bad PR they are getting now.

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Re: WWII Vet Freezes to Death in his Own Home
Posted by: Merritt ()
Date: January 28, 2009 08:31AM

WashingToneLocian Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Merritt Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Not sure about MI, or VA for that matter....but
> > some states have laws where a power company can
> > NOT shut off your power during the winter due
> to
> > non-payment. So worst case, this guy would
> still
> > have heat throughout the winter, and when the
> > weather warmed up, he'd have to pay the bill to
> > keep his electricity, or go without.
>
>
> Seriously, what is the problem with the city
> waiting a few months before shutting everything
> off? It couldn't be as bad as the scrutiny and bad
> PR they are getting now.


I'm with you. I completely understand the power of the dollar and how everybody you get bills from wants paid right away, but good grief. Hell, my cell phone bill got lost in the mail ONCE, and by the way my provider acted you would have thought I hadn't paid them in years! The six years of service before this happened they never received a late payment from me, ever. So much for caring about long-time customers...meh, whatever.

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Re: WWII Vet Freezes to Death in his Own Home
Date: January 28, 2009 09:05AM

Merritt Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

>
>
> I'm with you. I completely understand the power
> of the dollar and how everybody you get bills from
> wants paid right away, but good grief. Hell, my
> cell phone bill got lost in the mail ONCE, and by
> the way my provider acted you would have thought I
> hadn't paid them in years! The six years of
> service before this happened they never received a
> late payment from me, ever. So much for caring
> about long-time customers...meh, whatever.


Must have been Sprint. If I got the payment out late, they would call the day it was due and badger me until the check showed up. Needless to say, I don't use Spring anymore. Great customer-retention strategy on their part.

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Re: WWII Vet Freezes to Death in his Own Home
Posted by: conVince ()
Date: January 28, 2009 10:12AM

WashingToneLocian Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Seriously, what is the problem with the city
> waiting a few months before shutting everything
> off? It couldn't be as bad as the scrutiny and bad
> PR they are getting now.

The mayor is a demokrat, so my guess is they wanted to make an "example" of what happens to those who don't hand over money. Ever see the portion of your bill the local government and/or state gets in delivery taxes and whatnot? No paying bills = no money to spend on the demokratic agenda.

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Re: WWII Vet Freezes to Death in his Own Home
Date: January 28, 2009 10:14AM

conVince Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> WashingToneLocian Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Seriously, what is the problem with the city
> > waiting a few months before shutting everything
> > off? It couldn't be as bad as the scrutiny and
> bad
> > PR they are getting now.
>
> The mayor is a demokrat, so my guess is they
> wanted to make an "example" of what happens to
> those who don't hand over money. Ever see the
> portion of your bill the local government and/or
> state gets in delivery taxes and whatnot? No
> paying bills = no money to spend on the demokratic
> agenda.


The difference between Democrats and Republicans is Democrats point out when other Democrats fuck up. If this guy was a Republican, Rush Limbaugh would be calling him a Patron Saint of Republican Virtues.

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Re: WWII Vet Freezes to Death in his Own Home
Posted by: Bob ()
Date: January 29, 2009 01:25AM

conVince Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> The mayor is a demokrat, so my guess is they
> wanted to make an "example" of what happens to
> those who don't hand over money. Ever see the
> portion of your bill the local government and/or
> state gets in delivery taxes and whatnot? No
> paying bills = no money to spend on the demokratic
> agenda.

Those taxes are on the bills of every electric company, regardless of whether the city or state is run by republicans or democrats.

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Re: WWII Vet Freezes to Death in his Own Home
Posted by: Alias ()
Date: January 29, 2009 01:29AM

\



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/26/2012 12:33AM by Alias.

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Re: WWII Vet Freezes to Death in his Own Home
Posted by: CHANGE! HOPE! ()
Date: January 29, 2009 05:13PM

I received an email from the mayor. Here's what he said:


(My name deleted for privacy),

The death of Mr. Schur was truly a tragedy. We in Bay City feel awful and are deeply saddened that this happened. The use of the limiter on electric meters has been discontinued and no one else’s power will be shut off. We are being investigated by the State Attorney General and the Michigan State Police, which we welcome. Our State Representative and State Senator are working on legislation to deal with this tragedy as well. We will make sure this never happens again.



Charles M. Brunner, Mayor

City of Bay City

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