About a year ago….there was a funny story in Germany, with serious overtones at the beginning….but then became a joke.
The Passau police chief…..Alois Mannichl….came to be stabbed on the front porch of his house. He said it was a neo-Nazi. Alois is fiercely known in the region for attacking Nazis left and right….so it made sense at the time. The guy doing it? He was described by Alois as 30 years old….about six foot tall….and had a snake tatto on his neck.
The cops were all over this. Their chief had been stabbed severely…..and attacker had said "You leftist pig cop, you won't trample on the graves of our comrades anymore."
So as days passed….an interesting thing occurred. The chief started to recover in the hospital. The wound was examined and strangely didn’t fit your typical attacker knife….but more so….a cake-knife. Yeah….a cake-knife.
Based on a number of minor problems with the story….the detectives around this case began to see this as a domestic dispute where thing went wrong.
The police chief was furious…..how dare anyone suggest such.
Then they ran into a fascinating problem. The massive database that they keep on all Nazis…..was scanned. NOT one single character came up with a snake tatto on the neck. Yeah, it’s a curious thing….not one single Nazi.
So the local paper did a one-year update on the story this week.
There are 430 open leads in the case. Ten investigators still work on this case….and have examined a total of 3,000 clues. They also have interviewed well over 2,000 people.
An amusing side note to this story is that the cops are still today…offering $25k as a reward. And yet, they still can’t find anyone in the region of Passau….with a snake tattoo on his neck.
The chief? He’s still the chief….and still readily claims Nazis are hard at work…threatening the lives of locals.
After fifteen years in Germany….and watching all the various comments and negativity over Nazis in Germany….you start to wonder if a real threat exists or a bunch of folks simply pump up a bunch of pretenders.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Anarchists
This year...several major riots occurred in Germany...which the media will kindly report they were anarchists at work. The chief locations? Mostly in Hamburg....a handful in Berlin.
This week....a "coordinated" attack of sorts occurred in both cities on politce stations and political offices. The German cops are highly upset. In fact, they even used the phrase "declaration of war" in their statements after the attacks. Several police cars were attacked with Molotov cocktails.
So far, the anarchists have been careful....no injuries have been reported. It simply looks like an escalation of some sorts.
What the cops want....based on actions taken so far....are major prison sentences when they apprehend these guys. So far, the state interior ministers and the judges have frowned on this. My guess is that they will let the mess continue until local political pressure becomes too much...and then...it'll too late to control this mess.
There are several observations here.
First, the amount of coordination involved? The timing? Well...the boys have to be using technology to communicate. Twitter? Yeah....I'd be guessing it might be the tool...but they've got a dozen possible ways of chatting back and forth.
A repeat of the RAF methods of the late 1960s? Yes, in some fashion....some smart guys are leading the lesser intelligent herd toward confrontations. There is a strategy involved.
The idea of ensuring no injuries in these attacks? I would think that this is a strategy to build up the confidence of the troops involved and to get some front-line newspaper coverage for their cause.
It's hard for a guy from Bama to view an anarchist. In the entire state of Bama....we don't have a single anarchist. I think it's mostly because we've got better things to do....but the other note here is that if we went looking for trouble....we just might find it, and it might not be a simple arrest.
In this case...you've got a bunch of folks with time on their hands and a support cell behind them. I would suggest that as you arrest them....I'd move them as far as possible into Bavaria...to the most remote town with a jail. Let them simmer there for a week or two...without friends or associates around.
For the cops? They need to start monitoring Twitter and forums....and getting smarter. These guys aren't going away, and I suspect this is merely the beginning of a long period of anarchists.
This week....a "coordinated" attack of sorts occurred in both cities on politce stations and political offices. The German cops are highly upset. In fact, they even used the phrase "declaration of war" in their statements after the attacks. Several police cars were attacked with Molotov cocktails.
So far, the anarchists have been careful....no injuries have been reported. It simply looks like an escalation of some sorts.
What the cops want....based on actions taken so far....are major prison sentences when they apprehend these guys. So far, the state interior ministers and the judges have frowned on this. My guess is that they will let the mess continue until local political pressure becomes too much...and then...it'll too late to control this mess.
There are several observations here.
First, the amount of coordination involved? The timing? Well...the boys have to be using technology to communicate. Twitter? Yeah....I'd be guessing it might be the tool...but they've got a dozen possible ways of chatting back and forth.
A repeat of the RAF methods of the late 1960s? Yes, in some fashion....some smart guys are leading the lesser intelligent herd toward confrontations. There is a strategy involved.
The idea of ensuring no injuries in these attacks? I would think that this is a strategy to build up the confidence of the troops involved and to get some front-line newspaper coverage for their cause.
It's hard for a guy from Bama to view an anarchist. In the entire state of Bama....we don't have a single anarchist. I think it's mostly because we've got better things to do....but the other note here is that if we went looking for trouble....we just might find it, and it might not be a simple arrest.
In this case...you've got a bunch of folks with time on their hands and a support cell behind them. I would suggest that as you arrest them....I'd move them as far as possible into Bavaria...to the most remote town with a jail. Let them simmer there for a week or two...without friends or associates around.
For the cops? They need to start monitoring Twitter and forums....and getting smarter. These guys aren't going away, and I suspect this is merely the beginning of a long period of anarchists.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
The Swiss Vote On Minarets
The Swiss had a vote today....kind of an interesting vote. It concerned the continued building or banning of Islamic Minarets.
Fifty-eight percent of the vote today....said to ban further construction of Minarets. You can still build a Mosque but the tower-like Minarets are now out.
It was a shocker. On Friday....it was pretty much settled with pre-polling data that this wouldn't take more than twenty-five percent of the national vote. Somewhere in their analysis...the poll guys screwed by over thirty percent. Typically....that would be impossible.
The Swiss...for those pondering the situation....are a fairly relaxed, calm and conservative crowd. They have national health care, lots of free education, and some of the best roads in Europe.
Lately...there's been this fear amongst the Swiss that Muslims are taking a strong bit of control over local events. Over the past decade...construction of Mosques over all of Europe has been on the rise. Currently, there are four of these Minarets in Switzerland and I'm guessing they probably had plans for another dozen.
Do you absolutely need a Minaret? No....a Mosque could be built without the tower-like building out front. If you go and check out the rules for Minarets...there are at least ten different styles that various Muslims consider "official".
The curious thing...almost five percent of the 7.8 million folks in Switzerland....are Muslims. This adds up to almost 400,000 Islamic folks.
The vote has unsettled a number of folks there. There were a couple of folks out there commenting on their blog sites that the EU courts would take up this matter quickly and settle it. The curious thing...is that Switzerland never approved the EU application. So there's no court action to occur here...it's basically final.
Muslim feelings? Well...they probably are wondering what the big deal is and why they are being picked on. If I were a Muslim sitting in Switzerland...I might start pondering about relations with my neighbors and what kind of problems exist.
Fifty-eight percent of the vote today....said to ban further construction of Minarets. You can still build a Mosque but the tower-like Minarets are now out.
It was a shocker. On Friday....it was pretty much settled with pre-polling data that this wouldn't take more than twenty-five percent of the national vote. Somewhere in their analysis...the poll guys screwed by over thirty percent. Typically....that would be impossible.
The Swiss...for those pondering the situation....are a fairly relaxed, calm and conservative crowd. They have national health care, lots of free education, and some of the best roads in Europe.
Lately...there's been this fear amongst the Swiss that Muslims are taking a strong bit of control over local events. Over the past decade...construction of Mosques over all of Europe has been on the rise. Currently, there are four of these Minarets in Switzerland and I'm guessing they probably had plans for another dozen.
Do you absolutely need a Minaret? No....a Mosque could be built without the tower-like building out front. If you go and check out the rules for Minarets...there are at least ten different styles that various Muslims consider "official".
The curious thing...almost five percent of the 7.8 million folks in Switzerland....are Muslims. This adds up to almost 400,000 Islamic folks.
The vote has unsettled a number of folks there. There were a couple of folks out there commenting on their blog sites that the EU courts would take up this matter quickly and settle it. The curious thing...is that Switzerland never approved the EU application. So there's no court action to occur here...it's basically final.
Muslim feelings? Well...they probably are wondering what the big deal is and why they are being picked on. If I were a Muslim sitting in Switzerland...I might start pondering about relations with my neighbors and what kind of problems exist.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
A Gun Story
It is a short note here...prosecutors down in the German state of Baden-Württemberg...have finally decided to put manslaughter charges against the father of a 17-year-old boy who killed 15 people earlier this year.
The father had a gun collection....which was all kept locked and secure (as the law mandates)...except for one pistol...which he kept in the open area of the house. We can only imagine that it was for protection.
The problem here...is that the law is very clear...ALL weapons are supposed to be locked and secured. As you take the class on weapons...it's spelled out very clearly. No one else in the house is supposed to have access to your weapons...not even your wife...unless they go through the same course.
If the cops ever suspect you are being stupid on gun control...they merely show up and ask to see all of your registered weapons. You will take the key from your pocket (you must have full control of that key)...and take them to the gun cabinet. All of your weapons must be inside of the cabinet...no exception.
The general feeling is that this charge is a pretty drastic episode to take...considering the guy's own son...the shooter...is dead. Punishment, if convicted...probably around two or three years in prison. Remember this is Germany, where murder barely gets you twenty years.
I paused over this argument here. I feel sorry for the guy and certainly hate to see him punished in this fashion. But the problem is...he contributed to the entire act by failing to control his gun collection. The kid only needed one weapon...and that was the one kept out in the open.
So I'm guessing the court case will proceed....the guy will be declared guilty...and my best guess is that he barely gets twelve months in jail. The relatives of those killed will be furious...but this is the German way of punishing folks. In the end....it may not have really mattered. A year or two in the future, had none of this occurred in 2009....his son would have taken the same gun control course....acquired his own weapons....and done the same act anyway.
The father had a gun collection....which was all kept locked and secure (as the law mandates)...except for one pistol...which he kept in the open area of the house. We can only imagine that it was for protection.
The problem here...is that the law is very clear...ALL weapons are supposed to be locked and secured. As you take the class on weapons...it's spelled out very clearly. No one else in the house is supposed to have access to your weapons...not even your wife...unless they go through the same course.
If the cops ever suspect you are being stupid on gun control...they merely show up and ask to see all of your registered weapons. You will take the key from your pocket (you must have full control of that key)...and take them to the gun cabinet. All of your weapons must be inside of the cabinet...no exception.
The general feeling is that this charge is a pretty drastic episode to take...considering the guy's own son...the shooter...is dead. Punishment, if convicted...probably around two or three years in prison. Remember this is Germany, where murder barely gets you twenty years.
I paused over this argument here. I feel sorry for the guy and certainly hate to see him punished in this fashion. But the problem is...he contributed to the entire act by failing to control his gun collection. The kid only needed one weapon...and that was the one kept out in the open.
So I'm guessing the court case will proceed....the guy will be declared guilty...and my best guess is that he barely gets twelve months in jail. The relatives of those killed will be furious...but this is the German way of punishing folks. In the end....it may not have really mattered. A year or two in the future, had none of this occurred in 2009....his son would have taken the same gun control course....acquired his own weapons....and done the same act anyway.
A Guy Lost in Frankfurt
So this is what we know. Devon Hollahan is a young gentleman who is a English instructor in Prague. Devon came up to Frankfurt a week ago...to attend a concert. Somewhere, after the concert, near 3AM and a couple of beers...he and a friend ended up over near the Hotel Luxor and were walking toward the Taunusalange metro station. The friend stopped to ask directions and turned away from Devon for about two minutes. When he turned back around....Devon was gone. Seven days have passed now...and Davon hasn't shown up anywhere.
Devon's dad....Jeff Hollahan, a respected stock analyst out in Arizona is pretty concerned over the situation...even possibly thinking it was a kidnapping.
The family has now gone into turbo...trying to generate media attention in Frankfurt to get people out looking for Devon.
It is curious to note that Devon had a cellphone...and none of the text messages or phone calls have been answered since that evening.
I sat there....pondering over the episode. I know Frankfurt. I was stationed there in 1978/1979. I even went back a few times in the 1984 and 1985 period.
Frankfurt is a metropolitan city with several dimensions.
First, up until the mid-1980s...it was completely safe to walk around the middle of town at night. The drug scene in the midst of town....down around the train station...now makes it a bit questionable to walk there after dark unless with a group.
Second...the real party district of Frankfurt...is just across the river in Sachsenhausen. Typically...this is where folks go to party and get drunk. The trolley cars run just by the area up until 1AM and then shuts down until around 4:30AM. This explains why the guys were using a taxi at 3AM in the morning.
The Hotel Luxor? It's just about 1,500 feet from the river...where three bridges lie within easy walking distance of each other. It would have taken less than twenty minutes for some drunk guy to walk the 1,500 feet and end up at the river's edge.
The redlight district angle to this story? Well....the guys are at least fifteen minutes walking from beginnings of the zone. I would probably relabel the redlight district as the heroin/redlight district because of the significant amount of drugs in the zone. The weirdos though....would have been much closer to the train station, and not 6,000 feet away at the Hotel Luxor area.
I don't buy the kidnapping story because the kidnappers would have reacted quickly and made the parents aware of not involving the cops. Seven days have passed....nothing in the way of a note from any kidnappers. So I'm discarding this threat.
My belief? If the locals are searching for this kid....get the friend to point out the last spot he remembered seeing him and then identify every construction site within 1,000 feet in any direction. Go through all of the construction sites...especially in basements or pits. The guy was drunk, and he could have easily fallen into a hidden place.
The other likelihood is the river. He might have made it to the river and simply fallen in. Eventually...his body would turn up somewhere...down the river.
Here's the thing about Frankfurt. At one point, there were around 10,000 American GI's who lived within easy distance of the city and partied every Friday and Saturday night there. No one ever disappeared. It's not one of those cities where you'd expect a guy to just totally disappear (Moscow, Rio, Chicago). There's bad things that happen in the city...that's the sad advancing truth of the town.
Finally...alot of guys go and get drunk in Frankfurt....and then end up doing some drugs...of a more drastic nature. The friend's story is limited...he has no one to really back up portions of it. It may be in the end...that the two were partying with another group...drugs came out...the two were drunk enough to do some....Devon reacted badly...and died there. The body got dumped somewhere else....not to raise suspicions. I say this....only because of the Aruba episode and the Bama gal.
So this weekend...there will likely be a effort taken to find Devon. I wish the group luck in this endeavor...but I think it's probably too late.
Devon's dad....Jeff Hollahan, a respected stock analyst out in Arizona is pretty concerned over the situation...even possibly thinking it was a kidnapping.
The family has now gone into turbo...trying to generate media attention in Frankfurt to get people out looking for Devon.
It is curious to note that Devon had a cellphone...and none of the text messages or phone calls have been answered since that evening.
I sat there....pondering over the episode. I know Frankfurt. I was stationed there in 1978/1979. I even went back a few times in the 1984 and 1985 period.
Frankfurt is a metropolitan city with several dimensions.
First, up until the mid-1980s...it was completely safe to walk around the middle of town at night. The drug scene in the midst of town....down around the train station...now makes it a bit questionable to walk there after dark unless with a group.
Second...the real party district of Frankfurt...is just across the river in Sachsenhausen. Typically...this is where folks go to party and get drunk. The trolley cars run just by the area up until 1AM and then shuts down until around 4:30AM. This explains why the guys were using a taxi at 3AM in the morning.
The Hotel Luxor? It's just about 1,500 feet from the river...where three bridges lie within easy walking distance of each other. It would have taken less than twenty minutes for some drunk guy to walk the 1,500 feet and end up at the river's edge.
The redlight district angle to this story? Well....the guys are at least fifteen minutes walking from beginnings of the zone. I would probably relabel the redlight district as the heroin/redlight district because of the significant amount of drugs in the zone. The weirdos though....would have been much closer to the train station, and not 6,000 feet away at the Hotel Luxor area.
I don't buy the kidnapping story because the kidnappers would have reacted quickly and made the parents aware of not involving the cops. Seven days have passed....nothing in the way of a note from any kidnappers. So I'm discarding this threat.
My belief? If the locals are searching for this kid....get the friend to point out the last spot he remembered seeing him and then identify every construction site within 1,000 feet in any direction. Go through all of the construction sites...especially in basements or pits. The guy was drunk, and he could have easily fallen into a hidden place.
The other likelihood is the river. He might have made it to the river and simply fallen in. Eventually...his body would turn up somewhere...down the river.
Here's the thing about Frankfurt. At one point, there were around 10,000 American GI's who lived within easy distance of the city and partied every Friday and Saturday night there. No one ever disappeared. It's not one of those cities where you'd expect a guy to just totally disappear (Moscow, Rio, Chicago). There's bad things that happen in the city...that's the sad advancing truth of the town.
Finally...alot of guys go and get drunk in Frankfurt....and then end up doing some drugs...of a more drastic nature. The friend's story is limited...he has no one to really back up portions of it. It may be in the end...that the two were partying with another group...drugs came out...the two were drunk enough to do some....Devon reacted badly...and died there. The body got dumped somewhere else....not to raise suspicions. I say this....only because of the Aruba episode and the Bama gal.
So this weekend...there will likely be a effort taken to find Devon. I wish the group luck in this endeavor...but I think it's probably too late.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
GM's Stumble
The GM dudes have been busy for the past week in Germany....trying to mend fences with Opel and the German government. Things haven't worked that well.
There was this 1-star press conference yesterday. The GM guy was gushing and acting like a hooker at a VFW convention....everything is working out and GM is surging ahead. He wanted everyone to know that the Kaiserslautern plant is to absolutely stay open....and to become a state-of-the-art complex....worldly development.....blah...blah....blah.
I sat there laughing. It was the crap you'd hear in Detroit and Newsweek would report it with a fantastic car in the background.
No one is truly believing much of anything that GM says.
Today, we learn that the Saab deal....a core part of GM in Europe.....has fallen through. The Saab guys.....losing money left and right because of the high cost of building the typical cars they make.....were supposed to be sold off to a Swedish company that makes luxury cars. This company....Koenigsegg.....is apparently backed by China's Beijing Automotive Industrial Holding Ltd (BAIC). It would be safe to say that BAIC has the real money in this deal and wants technology from SAAB. Apparently, the safe view of SAAB surviving is zero.
A basic word on SAABs....for those of you who've never driven the vehicle. It is a high-class car, with great handling in snow and ice. You can't find a single model for less than $25k....which tends to make this unaffordable for the common guy. In my entire village....there might be one. I worked with a guy who bought one....took out the rear seat entirely.....and basically had this huge tank-like vehicle with tons of room for taking cargo. The neat thing is that they make diesel versions and the car can last forever....but when it does break....where the heck do you get parts? Sweden?
So sit back and watch GM sweat in Europe.
There was this 1-star press conference yesterday. The GM guy was gushing and acting like a hooker at a VFW convention....everything is working out and GM is surging ahead. He wanted everyone to know that the Kaiserslautern plant is to absolutely stay open....and to become a state-of-the-art complex....worldly development.....blah...blah....blah.
I sat there laughing. It was the crap you'd hear in Detroit and Newsweek would report it with a fantastic car in the background.
No one is truly believing much of anything that GM says.
Today, we learn that the Saab deal....a core part of GM in Europe.....has fallen through. The Saab guys.....losing money left and right because of the high cost of building the typical cars they make.....were supposed to be sold off to a Swedish company that makes luxury cars. This company....Koenigsegg.....is apparently backed by China's Beijing Automotive Industrial Holding Ltd (BAIC). It would be safe to say that BAIC has the real money in this deal and wants technology from SAAB. Apparently, the safe view of SAAB surviving is zero.
A basic word on SAABs....for those of you who've never driven the vehicle. It is a high-class car, with great handling in snow and ice. You can't find a single model for less than $25k....which tends to make this unaffordable for the common guy. In my entire village....there might be one. I worked with a guy who bought one....took out the rear seat entirely.....and basically had this huge tank-like vehicle with tons of room for taking cargo. The neat thing is that they make diesel versions and the car can last forever....but when it does break....where the heck do you get parts? Sweden?
So sit back and watch GM sweat in Europe.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Brits Out
There are twenty-five thousand British soldiers in Germany today.....all in the region around Dusseldorf. It's part of the effort left over from the cold war.
Today, the right-wing folks in the UK.....said in the run-up of the election....where Gordon Brown is expected to lose....that they intend to draw down all of the twenty-five thousand troops. Altogether....with their families....it's maybe forty thousand Brits in the region.....and another fifteen thousand retirees.
For the region....it's a major financial loss. The Germans will sit there and fret over this for the next year or two....until it finally occurs. It'll likely take four years for the Brits to figure out where to put these guys and build the barracks.
The question will be if the Obama administration views this in some downsizing fashion as well....by 2012....announces it's own version of this....to pull out of Germany finally.
Today, the right-wing folks in the UK.....said in the run-up of the election....where Gordon Brown is expected to lose....that they intend to draw down all of the twenty-five thousand troops. Altogether....with their families....it's maybe forty thousand Brits in the region.....and another fifteen thousand retirees.
For the region....it's a major financial loss. The Germans will sit there and fret over this for the next year or two....until it finally occurs. It'll likely take four years for the Brits to figure out where to put these guys and build the barracks.
The question will be if the Obama administration views this in some downsizing fashion as well....by 2012....announces it's own version of this....to pull out of Germany finally.
Monday, November 16, 2009
An Undeserving Bill
So, last summer, in Berlin….a fair came to town. Naturally, they had some outstanding rides…..which one was identified as the “Star Gate”.
At some point in the ride….it suddenly stopped, and got stuck.
Folks got fearful, and then called the fire department….who naturally came out within twenty minutes….and over the next half-an-hour…..brought down all of the participants in the ride. The folks were upside down, and you can imagine your stress level at that point….asking for help and just thanking God for those great firemen.
Well…time has passed, and the fire department sent out bills. Yep….281 Euro or $420 for each person rescued.
The Star Gate ride folks said that they were fully capable of rescuing the folks and were in the process of doing so…when these firemen arrived and barged right in. So they’ve declined paying.
So the fire department went to the obvious number two choice….the riders. So these folks are getting their bills, and it’s pretty much a “don’t you dare bill me for this” routine.
The fire department isn’t sorry at all….they just want their money. They claim that the riders can sue the operator or their own insurance companies for the rescue.
I sat there for a while….looking at this. The idea of being upside down for forty-five minutes….just ain’t exciting for me at all. I would have wanted the rescue by anyone….even midget firemen from Red Bay or female wrestlers from Montgomery. But you know….as soon as I got off the dang ride….I would have ran as fast as possible to my car and driven away. I wouldn’t have given these idiots my name or address.
The minute you start to hand rescue folks your name, your address, your phone, your email address….you more or less just start inviting trouble down the line.
The curious thing is that the fire department will hand this over to a collection company after a couple of months of effort….and they will come to your house to collect a TV, a stero, a computer….or whatever it takes….to render the $420 back to the fire department. That’s the German way.
So what those pitiful folks do now? If I were a rescued guy….I’d park my car in front of the fire department with a bucket and a sign (“Rescue me from these fools”). I’d let the local newspaper know and ask for donations. Every time a fire occurs….go behind the guys and sit up another bucket donation with the sign out in front of the whole operation. I’d make the fire department feel like “whores” in this whole episode.
The funny thing? The state pays them every single minute they are on duty. They get paid to sit around the fire department, and they get paid to put out fires. It’s the same pay…every single day. If they rescue forty folks in one month or one dog in one month….it’s the same pay. So where exactly does this $420 fit into this? Yes…..that would be a curious question to pose.
At some point in the ride….it suddenly stopped, and got stuck.
Folks got fearful, and then called the fire department….who naturally came out within twenty minutes….and over the next half-an-hour…..brought down all of the participants in the ride. The folks were upside down, and you can imagine your stress level at that point….asking for help and just thanking God for those great firemen.
Well…time has passed, and the fire department sent out bills. Yep….281 Euro or $420 for each person rescued.
The Star Gate ride folks said that they were fully capable of rescuing the folks and were in the process of doing so…when these firemen arrived and barged right in. So they’ve declined paying.
So the fire department went to the obvious number two choice….the riders. So these folks are getting their bills, and it’s pretty much a “don’t you dare bill me for this” routine.
The fire department isn’t sorry at all….they just want their money. They claim that the riders can sue the operator or their own insurance companies for the rescue.
I sat there for a while….looking at this. The idea of being upside down for forty-five minutes….just ain’t exciting for me at all. I would have wanted the rescue by anyone….even midget firemen from Red Bay or female wrestlers from Montgomery. But you know….as soon as I got off the dang ride….I would have ran as fast as possible to my car and driven away. I wouldn’t have given these idiots my name or address.
The minute you start to hand rescue folks your name, your address, your phone, your email address….you more or less just start inviting trouble down the line.
The curious thing is that the fire department will hand this over to a collection company after a couple of months of effort….and they will come to your house to collect a TV, a stero, a computer….or whatever it takes….to render the $420 back to the fire department. That’s the German way.
So what those pitiful folks do now? If I were a rescued guy….I’d park my car in front of the fire department with a bucket and a sign (“Rescue me from these fools”). I’d let the local newspaper know and ask for donations. Every time a fire occurs….go behind the guys and sit up another bucket donation with the sign out in front of the whole operation. I’d make the fire department feel like “whores” in this whole episode.
The funny thing? The state pays them every single minute they are on duty. They get paid to sit around the fire department, and they get paid to put out fires. It’s the same pay…every single day. If they rescue forty folks in one month or one dog in one month….it’s the same pay. So where exactly does this $420 fit into this? Yes…..that would be a curious question to pose.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)