Democrats lash out at Benson, Free State Project (MORE WHINE FROM NH DIMS)

But I have never heard the party take the position that they want to eliminate fire departments, presumably for private, for hire, or subscription based fire fighting forces.
Has the LP really taken such a position?

I haven't heard of anything along those lines, either from NH LP folks or anyone from the FSP. Not that it's necessarily a lousy idea, just that there are other projects with a lot higher priority; fire departments tend to be one of the more effictive and efficiently-run governmental functions around- in some places, NH being one of them.

But I grew up as a refinery town brat to parents working in the oil industry in the processing side rather than the more usually noted production and drilling end of that industry. It was a lot like being an Army brat, except our hometowns smelled a lot worse.

Another difference was that few of the kids I grew up with wanted to be firefighters when we grew up; it was a private company job rather than a local governmental one around us, and had the life expectancy similar to that of a Kamakazi pilot; a LOT of the guys on our refinery F.D. sported REALLY bad burn scars, some facial.

But they caught the little ones before they became big ones, for the most part, helped train the local governmental F.D.s in their procedures, and usually had mutual assistance pacts with those local departments. Likewise, private airport fire departments generally take care of their own specialty effectively, while offering their assistance and specialized equipment to nearby departments as needed and as available. I'd expect a *privitized* FD to work along similar lines, similar to private security guards and governmental law enforcement.

-archy-/-

"Craig Benson is a loose cannon, and this is what results when a loose cannon doesn't have the common sense to think before he speaks," Sullivan said. "It's another Craig Benson folly we're going to have to live with."

Is the Governor supposed to bar these people from moving to NH? What an idiot. If for no other reason, I'm sure the state can use the taxes.

An editor for whom I once worked was asked why he kept a loose cannon like me on his staff, and replied that a loose cannon can be a very handy thing to have available when your enemies may attack from any direction, particularly in the darkness. It appears that Gov. Benson has a similar situation.

-archy-/-

Thanks for a good smile.

Larry was not the greatest conversationalist in the world and he was a pain to work for at times, but when he'd sit down and string words together, he sometimes pieced together a story that brought you to tears or leave you smiling all day, as required by the details.

Last I heard a few months back, he was the editor of a smalltown daily in his native Kansas again, a place he loved. And he was in the process taking on local corruption, with the local crooks trying to forestall his eforts at exposing them by attacking his business. I think I'm going to have to check on how his battles are going out that way, and maybe round up a few other newsies to make up the equivalent of a cavalry patrol to the rescue.

He's a helluva newspaperman, and I'm proud to have worked for Larry Hiatt, now of Baxter Springs, Kansas.

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