"The "leadership" of the OCVFC is a disgrace to the fire service. I have never seen such a blatant abuse and misuse of trust in authority. In order to get "their way", the Chief/President have used propaganda to attempt to instill fear in the very people that they are supposed to protect. Their hyperbole about safety concerns and increased taxes for the citizens and business owners has no emperical data or evidence to support their claim. Yet, their very decision to "take their ball and go home" would be the catalyst for such events if it weren't for the fact that the city has career fire personnel that are there 24/7 in addition to a core group of volunteers who are there to provide protection rather than engage in politics. The OCVFC "leadership" is using scare tactics and threats on the citizens and business community to gain support for their veiws, essentially holdng them hostage until their ransom met. The OCVFC "leadership" has the backing of an affluent local business man who consequently directly controls the vote of a long-term councilman. Interestingly, the aforementioned both have vested interest in a local newspaper. That newspaper's use of "yellow journalism" is obvious when compared to the more balanced reporting of other local publications. So, to summarize, there is a group who wants power and control and will use threats and fear to gain them. They are well financed and have political henchmen disguised as public officials who control a media source. Propaganda has been fed to the followers and non-conformists have been isolated - if someone didn't speak up, their silence was taken and portrayed as "100% support of the membership". Again, the "leadership" of the OCVFC (or AQVFC)are a disgrace to all firefighters, paid and volunteer, who wear the badge. To the Chief and President, I say to you both, you are nothing but a terrorist in a dress uniform."
This was a comment left this morning. I truly wish Fire Fighters would MAN UP with their names but it was worthy of a Post.
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
2 comments:
Wow. I went back and read the initial post relating to this situation as well as the comments which followed.
Being on the outside and not having any knowledge of how fire stations are managed, my impression is that the Ocean City Fire Department is disintegrated and it lacks the leadership (both direct and at the Mayor and Council level) to bring the membership together to achieve a common goal.
It seems that the Fire Department is broken up into three parts. Paid, Volunteers who want to stay, and Volunteers who want to leave. I don't see how they currently function effectively. The posts and the comments differ so greatly that it is difficult to develop an opinion relating to who deserves the support of the community.
I am, however, of the opinion that something is seriously wrong at the top and the result is that the the leadership of the Fire Department AND the Mayor and City Council are not providing the level of service the citizens deserve.
I agree with you quite a bit. There needs to be changes on all levels. However, I disagree with you on the Mayor and City Council members, unless you were hinting to the fact some of them may have been paid to vote for a Volunteer Chief as head of the division.
When you look deep into the Politics, it has been made known some of the Council members are looking forward too and are heading in the direction of running for mayor. Some of them also have financial ties with volunteers, which sways votes if you catch my drift..."You know what to do and i'll endorse you campaign.." kind of stuff. Though it has not been proven which makes it a rumor, it however looks like a pretty resonable one when you think about it, and know the background in which some of them come from.
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