Posted on 06/16/2006 11:03:58 AM PDT by La Enchiladita
Hey La, I was very moved by this thread and I thank you for posting it. Don't worry about the detractors. If you post on just about any subject, you're bound to get a few cockroaches crawling out of the woodwork.
There's a difference. It's one of law and order.
Where did I say that? Are you always this much of a jackass or just today?
May the Lord bless officer Rapatti and her family. Words cannot express my appreciation for the sacrafices of all those in law enforcement.
Linemen, cops, our troops: all good men and women-- and there's no point in hating (or refusing to acknowledge) any one of them because you feel that one particular group is underrepresented compared to the others or in the media or in peoples' minds and hearts. Simply put, they're all underappreciated. Yes perhaps, some are appreciated less than others. But I'm not going to let that stop me from recognizing the sacrifices that anybody makes. And on that note: God bless the troops, the linemen, the cops, and everybody who makes sacrifices for good and the welfare of others.
Thanks! It is a sobering story. She's an awesome protector of the people, from what I read, and didn't deserve this. But it's a cost the vast majority of the public never think about.
It's amazing to me that ANYONE would assume that, by posting this one story about one police officer, other heroes in other lines of work or service are being discredited. It's just mind-boggling to me the offendedness that some people seek out.
I am an appreciator of all who are in heroic lines of service.
"It's amazing to me that ANYONE would assume that..."
The typical liberal way of seeing things. If one person is is praised, it therefore means another must have been slighted. What a sad way to go through life.
Since 2000, informal counts suggest that yearly fatalities have jumped to 20 from what had been an average of 12. “Since about 1999 or 2000, the record’s not good,” says James Tomaseski, a former lineman who now is director of safety and health for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. The reasons are complicated and have provoked new discussions of how and when to do work on hot lines—the predominant practice today.LEO's in 2004:
The number of linemen employed by utilities, rural electrical coops, contractors and state and local government is about 110,000, half by some measures of what it was 20 years ago. At that time, fatal accidents also were more common, with one lineman dying each week from 1972 to 1986.
Hmm... I guess I was ambiguous... my previous comment is pretty much directed at VRing; I certainly didn't assume that you were supporting police officers over all others by posting a story about one. By putting your name up I just wanted to make sure you saw my post, which I guess is pretty stupidly redundant considering its your thread :) . Sorry for any confusion, I didn't mean to come across as accusing you discrediting any other line of work.
Oops.
I read your post very carefully and you were perfectly clear. I was agreeing with what you said, just stating it a different way. I understood that you were cc'ing me on the post to VRing. Not a problem whatsover, no Ooops.
Of course VRing is quite right, statistically, lots of jobs are more dangerous to life and limb than being a cop.
Cops: ? per 100,000?
Just a hunch, but I bet the 'lineman' are alot better paid than the police officers. And you're comparing apples to oranges. A lineman has a job that encompasses known risks that are somewhat routine to a well trained employee. Police officers are dealing with human beings in a huge variety of situations that cannot be routinely predicted. Yes, both are considered high risk jobs, but the risks are vastly different.
Linemen and "lot of jobs" don't carry firearms and are not charged with the same duties as police officers. Nor are they constrained from carrying out their duties by politicians.
A lineman has a simple, straightforward job with a known percentage of risks which, as documented above, have been greatly reduced over the years.
Conversely, a LEO walks a fine line through a web of laws, regulations and human unpredictablity. The training of a police officer is designed to maximize effectiveness and minimize risk. However, as political correctness/liberalism creeps into every segment of American society, including the military and police forces, the LEO has become a more frequent target of the empowered perps. Shootings and fatalities of police officers and sheriffs are on the increase.
Spend a week or so in southeast Los Angeles, where Officer Ripatti worked and get back to me with your "statistics" regarding dangerous occupations.
ah; good.
Gee, and I thought *I* was a worrier. ;^]
Well said :):)
aw, ya got me! :)
Thanks, Cate. We said pretty much the same thing in different ways, eh?
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