Posted on 01/26/2009 3:59:22 PM PST by nbhunt
Utilities are not allowed to cut off power of elderly people in this state. Or, it is very difficult to shut it off.
This was a municipality, not a utility company, so different rules. The municipality is not regulated like Consumers is, they don’t pay taxes, they borrow money at a lower interest rate.
So, Bay City can shut off this guy’s power - which is what they did, these limiters shut off the power when more is drawn than what is allowed. Mr. Belleman is probably right when he said they didn’t do anything wrong.
According to the rules they operate under, if this man had been a customer of Consumer’s Energy he might still be alive.
but how does a 93 year old get to the electric company in the middle of a winter storm to pay his electric bill even if he did remember.
this story breaks my heart 93yo man, means he was possibly a WW2 vet, and most certainly a Depression survivor. Seven years short of a century old, this 93yo man, trying to still live independently, bless his heart, was murdered by an electric company who had the audacity to put a limiter on his electric in the middle of a winter like this. If they put a limiter on his power-source, then the technician had to know this was an elderly man and should have reported it - even the customer service person would have known that in the course of any conversation with the man and should have reported it. A 93yo man with money clipped to his bill, unable to get out of the house in 32below weather to pay the dam bill and nobody NOBODY came to help this poor man. Where was the failsafe? Where was the most basic element of compassion here? Where were the community groups that should have been checking on their elderly? And why should a 93yo even have to pay for electricity at all? My heart cries for our elderly. What have we become?
Granholm hates old people!
but still, his death is on their hands. Have they no better sense in Michigan in the middle of winter? Let’s face it, they did not care.
I don’t know how close I was to hypothermia...but...
ONe time I got caught on a motorcycle 20 miles from home in shorts and T shirt when the temp dropped real fast to about 40 degrees F. By the time I got home, I couldn’t feel my arms or legs or my face or my scalp. I was dizzy, had trouble talking(like when your tongue goes numb from licking an icecream cone) and couldn’t walk in a straight line. I almost fell down when I put the bike on it’s kickstand. I could BARELY move my fingers. It took two hands to turn the ignition key off and pull the key out.
I don’t recall any pain. Except a mild headache.
I crawled into a blanket on the floor and laid there for about 4 hours, shivering uncontrollably for the first hour. And I mean shaking like I had epilepsy or something. I was too tired to do anything except lay there. I think all that shaking just completely wore me out from head to toe.
I was very shocked how long it took to warm up.
When I lived in Minnesota, it was flat-out illegal to cut off heat, either electric or gas, in the winter. Steve, is that still the case?
The shivering actually is warming your body.
This was not a regulated utility, it is a city run power supplier. Municipalities are not regulated like the utility companies are. They can shut off someone’s power, they don’t pay taxes on the power, they borrow money at a lower interest rate. They can do almost what they want, don’t have the same rules as a utility.
Compounding those facts are that this is Bay City. The city government there is so busy fighting over little pissy issues and investigating each other that they can’t be bothered with making sure elderly don’t freeze in their homes.
Notice what Mr. Belleman (the city manager) says at the end of this article - http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2172273/posts?page=21
“Belleman said city officials will review Electric Light & Power policies in the wake of Schur’s death. Belleman said he doesn’t believe the city did anything wrong.”
Dreadful. RIP. Heads need to roll for this, someone at the utility company should be held criminally liable for this death.
Are you saying you would rather freeze to death than take utility assistance for the elderly?
I would not assign such bravery to myself until I was faced with the situation and responded in a similar fashion. What I am saying is that your relative showed a stunningly rare and powerful character strength and individuality which, sadly, was far more common in previous generations than in the present generation.
Things happen for a reason. Your relative's death due to her failure to beg for largess is one hell of testament to her character and personal fortitude. I'm sure she'd prefer that epitaph to "Failed to beg for power". Don't you?
On the bright side, all of us got to chip in and bail out a bunch of multimillionaire bankers...
http://obits.mlive.com/BayCity/DeathNotices.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonId=123246236
“”Marvin Edward Schur “Mutts”
Bay City, Michigan
Mr. Schur passed away unexpectedly Sunday, January 15, 2009 at his residence. Age 93 years. He was born April 30, 1915 in Saginaw, Michigan and had resided in Bay City for many years. He retired as a pattern maker from Baker-Perkins Co. in Saginaw and served with the U.S. Army as a medic during WW II.
Marvin is survived by his nephew, Bentley (Genevieve) Bremer of Saginaw and his niece, Beth (James) Stricker of Dunedin, Florida. He was predeceased
the former Marian I. Meisel whom he married on June 21, 1947, one brother and sister-in-law, Jack (Pat) Schur; two sisters and two brothers-in-law: Bonnie (Arthur) Bremer and Alice (Gerald) Walworth.
A Memorial Service will take place Wednesday, January 28, 2009 at 11:00 a.m. at the Gephart Funeral Home, Inc. Officiating will be Rev. Jonathan K. Boyer under the auspices of the Bay County Veterans Council with private inurnment in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Saginaw. The family will be present at the funeral home on Wednesday from 10:00 a.m. and until the time of services. “”
Yep, you’re correct.
93 years old huh? Are they sure this person didn’t die of old age?
I have no idea what she would have preferred, since I didn’t know her. However, I would rather have my epitaph read, “Fought and won for whatever he was entitled to”. If it has been determined by whatever deciders that be that I am entitled to energy assistance, I will d*mn well get it. I’ve certainly paid out enough.
I’d rather fight than freeze to death. At least I will live to fight another day.
You're pretty much out of it. Kanu Virani is full of it. Of course, he's from the Flats, and they'll say anything down there...
And there, my friend, is the rub. What you're ENTITLED to? Are you sure you're not a democrat?
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