Posted on 01/27/2009 7:29:00 AM PST by library user
BAY CITY, Mich. -- Officials in central Michigan say a 93-year-old man who owed more than $1,000 in unpaid electric bills froze to death inside his home -- where the municipal power company had restricted his use of electricity.
Neighbors and friends of Marvin Schur want answers as to how this could happen.
“Now that we do know it was hypothermia, there’s a whole bunch of feelings that I’ve got going through me,” said Jim Herndon, a neighbor of Schur’s. “There’s anger, for the city and the electrical company.”
Bay City officials said changes are on the way in an attempt to not let another instance like this happen again.
An autopsy determined Schur, 93, died from hypothermia in the home he lived in for years.
Bay City Electric Light and Power sent Schur a shutoff notice through the mail a few weeks ago.
Then crews placed a shutoff notice on his front door. A few days later, Schur was found by neighbors.
Bay City Electric Light and Power, which is owned by the city, said a limiter was placed on Schur’s electrical line.
The device limits the power that reaches a home, and it blows out like a fuse if power consumption rises past a set level.
The manager of Bay City said the limiter was tripped sometime between the time of installation and the discovery of the man's body.
The city manager said city workers keep the limiter on a house for 10 days, then shut off power entirely if the homeowner hasn't paid utility bills or arranged to do so.
A medical examiner who conducted the autopsy on Schur told TV5 and WNEM.com that Schur died a painful death due to the hypothermia.
Dr. Kanu Varani has done hundreds of autopsies, and he said he’d never seen a person die of hypothermia indoors.
A neighbor who lives across the street from Schur is angered that the city didn’t personally notify the elderly man about his utility situation.
Schur’s neighbor, Herndon, said Schur had a utility bill on his kitchen table with a large amount of money clipped to it, with the intention of paying that bill.
Right now the city said the situation is still under investigation. Marvin Schur was a World War II veteran.
A memorial service for him will take place Wednesday at 11:00 a.m. at the Gephart Funeral Home in Bay City.
ping
‘The manager of Bay City said the limiter was tripped sometime between the time of installation and the discovery of the man’s body. ‘
Thanks you captain Obvious...(eyes rolling)
Just another reason to never own a home without a fireplace or wood burning stove.
Meanwhile illegal aliens get FREE everything.
Yep, there’s actually a user comment at the link where someone said exactly that.
Just said that not 5 seconds ago!
Well, he most likely just went to sleep. Still sad....Peloski agenda in effect,
Condolences to Marvin Schur’s family and friends. America’s finest.
93 years old and the city didn’t check on him personally about the unpaid bill?
You said — “But you would think he would have relatives come over and notice?”
He and his wife had no kids. And being at the age he was, he obviously didn’t have very many of his contemporaries around, either. So, I would think that there was simply no one to check on him that he had known in his life (as they were probably all dead and no subsequent generation, either)...
Neighbors and Friends are angry?
They care enough to get angry when the guy dies, but not enough to have checked on the guy once during the coldest weeks of the winter?
Beware of all local newspapers and local TV stations - their “journalists” are trained in sentimentalism, protest, and outrage, and their reporting shows it.
You said — “Just another reason to never own a home without a fireplace or wood burning stove.”
Not in this guy’s case. All that had to be done is walk outside and reset the tripped breaker. Nothing more was needed.
And in addition, the limiter did not limit the heating from the furnace for the house. That was included in there and he could have had all the heat he wanted, no problem...
“A neighbor who lives across the street from Schur is angered that the city didn’t personally notify the elderly man about his utility situation.”
If they had personally talk to him, he would have paid the bill with the money that was laying on the table. Poor man probably did not have a way to get to the electric company with no immediate family and with the blizzard that was upon them.
If you put yourself in his place at 93 how many of your family will be around to help you. I know as I grow older I find my family is increasingly getting more distance. My relationship to my nieces and nephews are not at all like the ones I had with my uncles and Aunts no matter how much I have tried to develope the ties. Relationship and respect for family has changed and people care less. More evidence of the government taken over our personal lives. The let the government take care of you is the wave of the future. Shameful!
Thanks for the link. Didn’t see the other thread.
If you put yourself in his place at 93 how many of your family will be around to help you. I know as I grow older I find my family is increasingly getting more distance. My relationship to my nieces and nephews are not at all like the ones I had with my uncles and Aunts no matter how much I have tried to develope the ties. Relationship and respect for family has changed and people care less. More evidence of the government taken over our personal lives. The let the government take care of you is the wave of the future. Shameful!
You said — “93 years old and the city didn’t check on him personally about the unpaid bill?”
Ummmm..., the way most FReepers want government out of their business, at the same time one can’t then be expecting the city to check on people and their every problems, old or not, and “take care of them” (i.e., the “nanny state”).
It’s up to *people* themselves — and the people around them and the neighbors and the friends and the relatives. It’s not up to the government to do this kind of thing.
No offense, but what does this have to do with the story? Would it have been any less tragic had he not been a veteran?
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