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.
This angers me no end. We spend hundreds of millions on welfare for worthless people, ADVERTISE for food stamps.. and here he is a WWII veteran from the *Greatest Generation* freezes to death because of unpaid energy bills !
A 42 cent stamp would have taken care of that too. I'm sorry this happened, but I have a hard time putting that much blame on the electric company. I'm sure this man had gone several months without paying his bill. He should have worked something out with them. Utility companies usually have big hearts when it comes to this stuff.
What’s the point of these limiters? Is it like a circuit breaker? Can the utility limit the amount of power you use? What if there’s a cold snap - they cut off the heat because you’ve gone past your allotment?
I’ve never heard of a limiter before, so info on these devices is appreciated.
Usually I agree
but in this case the “government” which set itself up to control this essential service- made a life and death decision about cutting it off
they owed this noticeably senior citizen at least a small standard of care before taking an action that led to his death
I can only tell you what I’ve read thus far. And it was something that allowed for the house furnace to work and allowed for a certain amount beyond that, for some other stuff and that was it. If it tripped, you just reset it and it was back on again — no problem...
That’s a *whole lot better* than cutting off power completely....
It was a general observation, not so much specific to this guys case, except of course he froze to death.
I’llnever own a home without the ability to burn firewood again.
Ever.
And yes, the old man should have paid the bill, but a 93 year old, that is in a fragile state of mind and body?
Hopefully You nor I will ever have to be in that situation with no one around to help us out of a jam.
Well, the list for exceptions can go on and on, depending on who you talk to. It has to be a strict separation here. And then, if people want assistance, then they can apply for it (i.e., being their responsibility to “take the action” on their behalf).
And if it’s someone who can’t take care of themselves, then they should have already been “committed” by then....
Ultimately this will be blamed on Bush somehow.
How do we know? Perhaps the gentleman never contacted them to say he was having problems paying. They probably had no clue how old he was.
I can tell you from the personal experience of having a wood-burning stove as a backup to our electric central heat that even for a 65 year old man and 62 year old woman, it is an exercise in strength and endurance just to keep the trees cut down, cut up and split (even with a chain saw and a hydraulic splitter), stacked - not to mention then having to feed the fire all day just to keep it going on real cold days, then regularly having to clean out and dispose of the build-up of ashes and prepare the stove by cleaning out pipes and buying and burning a creosote eliminating log annually. For a 98 year old man, even if he had a source for pre-cut and split wood, just the logistics of keeping enough hauled from an outside woodpile into the house would soon become impossible for him.- My uncle is 81 yrs. old and still keeping a wood stove going, but I don’t know how long he will be physically able to do it any more. He has used wood heat exclusively all his life - from childhood, so is acclimated to and prefers wood heat. We put him in a gas heater nine years ago, but he won’t use it. - Sometimes family can’t enforce things on an elderly person (nor should they) - in which case, there are a few times when the “state” authorities do have a humanitarian place in extreme situations.
This situation with a 98 year old WWII veteran suffering in such a way is deplorable beyond description.
illegals get their bills paid, lazy folk who sit at home watching Oprah gets their free meals and bills paid for.
Has phony mentioned any of the VA benefits or veteran needs.
NO, He has mentioned about homo’s being open in the military.
He says homo’s should be married in every state
homo’s get benefits in the state dept
Gitmo closes
terrorist get free lawyers and no hard times
he phones a palestinian for his first call in office
he gives his first interview to an Arab TV station last night.
Wants the likes of ACORN to get billions hidden in this stimulus plan or to give to the teachers union.
looks at increasing immigration
gives money to overseas abortions and contraceptives
This vet dies and nothing much is mentioned, nothing from phony
no social security, no medicare, no VA plans, no military increase or pay, nothing on illegal immigration, nothing on foreign policy
just read them , are they nuts.
He should have paid one idiot said, another said so what basically
My word I don’t think I have ever read so many stupid careless posts in one thread
just read them and I have to say I never know so many idiots were around.
The usual I couldn’t care less attitude and some even think they are funny.
That is the attitude what got us into this mess with phony and the liberals getting away with their agenda
Our society seems to be in a very sad state of mind.
I know, I have two large fireplaces, cut most of my own, and split it. (We burn enough that we bought a Polaris wood splitter four years ago).
Would it be of use for a 93 year old man? Somewhat, at best.
Still doesn’t change my view about never owning a home without the ability to burn wood for heat.
Depends on whether or not you see every human being as equal to the next.
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.
I agree that people ought to pay their bills. But we should note that winter is a bad time to shut off someone's power. The Limiter was a limiter for just 10 days. After that, they shut off all the power, and he died.
It's a sad story.
I don’t think I made one thing clear that I did read about them. They limit the amount of power that is used at any moment. So, it’s not an accumulative total and it shuts off after you’ve reached it. It’s like a “governor” on an engine that only allows the engine to run so fast at any moment. It includes enough power to run all the basics and that included the use of the furnace in the house. He could have been toasty warm, if he had wanted to be, simply by clicking the reset...
er yes, the man put his life on the line, the other layabouts and illegals have not done anything for this country so yes it does make a difference and those vets should be getting help not illegals or layabouts
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