Professionals Don't Harass Citizens and Public Officials

Here's the latest from The Rumford Reporter. Can anyone verify or dispute these claims?


Professionals Don't Harass Citizens and Public Officials

Members of the Rumford Fire Department continue to conduct themselves in an unprofessional manner towards anyone who has spoken out regarding the department's spending habits. On Sunday, July 13th, Selectman Mark Belanger was in a local hardware store purchasing an enclosed outdoor fire pit with a screen arrester for a gathering later that evening. He was observed making the purchase by a former Rumford Fire Department call-force member. Later that day four Rumford Firemen drove past the Belanger residence in the department's new SUV. They turned around at the end of the road, stopped in front of the Belanger home, and turned on the red lights.

In a separate incident, Rumford Fire Trucks were returning from assisting another town at approximately 11:30 PM one night when they slowed down in front of the home of a Rumford official and laid on the emergency horn. There have been several other incidents reported where firefighters have honked horns and made hand gestures at taxpayers who spoke publicly about the department's abuse of overtime and of the vehicles.

When public employees lower themselves to the point that they feel free to harass citizens and officials of the town that pay them, they can no longer be referred to as "professionals".

Labels: Fire Department

Again, I am SO gald the union stuff doesn't come to the Board of Appeals. Hurray!!

TRR has been has been so bad with posting misinformation that we had to commit an entire thread to correct their nonsense. I’m thinking most people know better than to believe what’s posted on there.

What bothers me is their vindictiveness. When they post stuff like this, it says a lot about the people that write for that site. Their writing indicates they are mean spirited people

The suv that was on Holyoak was plotting fire hydrants and fire alarm boxes, incase the folks at TRR are not aware he has one of each by his residence. It was the probationary firefighter and 3 jr firefighters. Is it a shame for us to know where they are? Well believe it or net that is part of our job. In fact the guy doing it could not pick Mr. Belanger out in a crowd, he doesn’t even know where he lives on Holyoak. Does Mr. Belanger has a problem with paranoia?
On the second issue there is truth to that except there was a truck, singular not plural. That has been addressed.
On the third issue, I can’t speak for everyone but I have not heard of any hand gestures made other than a friendly wave. I do realize that correcting the lies placed on TRR are not their style by an means, they would rather spread the lies that bread hate and discontent.

I see TRR has a post on their about us attending meetings on duty and at the end of it they have the question of why a fireman has 69 hours of OT recently since we are no longer running ems calls. Well the answer is what we have been saying all along, EMS is not what causes the OT. One would ask then what causes the OT? The answer is first off the OT has always been there it is not some new creation, and it is vacations sick leave and training that cause ot especially when you take the utility man out of the equation.

I wonder who is doing the "ongoing investigation" into the 69 hours of OT? I strongly urge anyone who thinks the firefighters are "stealing or abusing" OT to file a formal complaint!

Mark,
Despite how some people refer to it, there need not be an "investigation" into overtime. The Board of Selectmen and Town manager see the information on a weekly basis when the weekly warrant is produced by Debbie. All expenses and the account out of which the money comes are listed on the reports. Let's get off this concept of investigations and conspiracies. If everybody is doing what they should, nobody need be concerned.
Kevin

TRR and the SJ are the two biggest roadblocks to peace in our community.

Mark,
Please don't confuse TRR's use of material written by certain people as their contributing to TRR. The controversial letter by Len Greaney was taken from an email sent many months ago before he had any idea he would be the Interim Town Manager. It was sent as confidential and was used without permission. The pictures by Arthur Boivin were sent to a number of people. I have four cds filled with pictures from him. Just because he took the pictures, doesn't mean he posted them. On the other hand, I am sure that Ron Theriault's contributions are posted by him. He and Jason Thompson are politically aligned with Jennifer. But, please note that he is participating as a citizen and is not signing as a member of the Finance Committee. I looked but didn't find the posts by Mark Belanger. I have no doubt that he submitted articles to TRR in an effort to get the word out about his viewpoint. There has been very little trust in the SJ to provide unbiased coverage of town affairs in the past couple of years. Based upon my reading of the material from TRR, I would say there is no way that a reasonable person could conclude that TRR is affiliated with the Town of Rumford government. I believe this is merely the conspiracy theory run amuk.
Kevin

JSN's generous use of the word "we" (as in Rumford citizens) implies a great inclusiveness (rather than the actual group of four or so....). This is mis-leading and mis-representing. When an unknowing reader sees this, he/she might well assume that TRR is representing the entire community. Let JSN speak for herself. She does not speak for me.

There seems to be alot of elbow rubbing though. JSN with Mr. Belanger, with Mr. Greaney, the finance committee, the economic development, the casino...and other committees.
The same people giving accolades to certain few board members and vice versa. It seems too all these people share the same views, it's interesting how they all seem to think alike, no opposing views... It just seems the same names are coming up that are in one way or another interlinked.


Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive...
Sir Walter Scott Marmion, Canto VI, Stanza 17

There are a number of people who share some views. On the state and national level, they are called political parties, but on the local level it is considered a conspiracy. Personally, I share some views with almost all of the people mentioned, but do not share all of the views of any one person. I support "regionalization", but do not support merging towns. I agree that our town budget needs to be cut, but do not support doing it blindly without looking at the effects. I believe we need to start working harder on expanding our tax base, but do not support spending limited funds on walking trails and street lights. I once workled with Ron, Jen and Jason to defeat the effort to build build a huge addition connecting the municipal building to the fire station, but do not support their current efforts at all. I have disagreed with Arthur on a number of occasions, but I still defend his right to his opinion. I see many other differences between the so-called "small group". The divide has grown between the extremists and the more moderate citizens. I believe that it is as unfair to group them all together as it was for some to group Jim Thibodeau, Jolene Livejoy, Jim Rinaldo, Walter Buotte, Jim Doar, Rob cameron, Brad Adley and Stephen Eldridge. Each is an individual with their own opinion.