WHAT IS OLD IS NEW AGAIN….A 2 PAPER TOWN…..
The Mc-Furth BTSTimes…has returned…for how often and how long is anyone’s guess…
A read of the Sausage Series Category …reveals the world of the new owners…what it was like to put together the campaign ads, and campaign materials…involving a never ending process of do-overs that started well…really top notch in fact….only to end up with diminishing returns that resulted from manic behavior amid an atmosphere of total chaos on El Mar…so it will be interesting to see how this type of a commitment pans out….in the long term…
It takes a lot to take on the financial burden of print news in these times of newspapers folding and advertising shrinking…due to belt tightening and instant news on the web…this too will be a steep hill to climb for the new owners ..
.http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_11142071
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/sfl-flzdigestdig12060sbdec06,0,2610188.story
As for this first edition after the “official” announcement of taking ownership…(although it was posted weeks ago on this site)… and while the ink may still not be dry…the Sunbiz.org site
http://www.sunbiz.org/scripts/cordet.exe?action=DETFIL&inq_doc_number=P02000098575&inq_came_from=NAMFWD&cor_web_names_seq_number=0000&names_name_ind still shows the previous Editor and Wife along with their son…who is still listed on this new edition for design and advertising…
The paper itself…more of the same…with the predicted Mc-staff anonymous writing…and cheer leading for the VFD/”2 Hats” Commissioners…with poison arrows aimed squarely at “THEM”…the Futures…Commissioner Dodd…and the Mc-“slap”site under a Merry Christmas header…same old..same old…with much news…being old news…just with a different…Mc-Furth-CIC slant …prominently displayed…
The photos while first class…due to the expertise of Official Town/VFD photographer and co-BTSTimes owner…Marc Furth…might raise some problems for the town with conflict of interest… photos being used …blurring the lines of town involvement with a privately owned publication…were they taken on behalf of the town…or on behalf of a privately owned corporation?…
Another disturbing conflict …for the town…the paper seems to be privy and printing information from the town that has not been shared first with all Commissioners…an ongoing problem…despite the protestations of the Town Manager…It seems that not all the Commissioners were informed by the Town Manager that the surveillance cameras were up and running…..but a photo and accompanying article were included in this publication…yet, another unfortunate example of certain elected officials being kept out of the loop…
Far more serious…the Lifeguard article…written as almost all of the the submissions by “staff writer”…which contains the Mc-VFD account of the Oct. 25th near drowning incident at the north end of town…with the same version seemingly “coached” and offered up by the Vice Mayor …and VFD Chief Perkins….the content that is startling though…the inclusion of AMR Lt. Brook Liddle’s comments on the event…that may cause him some problems with the residents of this town…
A first read…it appears he is giving the answers wanted by the Commission, first time up at the podium….but a second more careful dissemination of what is included may put him in a precarious situation…if written accurately……
The AMR Operations Manager, who was not there as far as we know…counters the assertions of the rescuer …Mark Mitchell saying Mr. Mitchell could have been mistaken in his observation of the oxygen mask not being turned on…. Liddle goes on to say the the tubing that Mr Mitchell asserted was “kinked”…and causing the victim additional distress was “designed to allow for moderate kinking and twisting while maintaining the flow of oxygen.”…again it seems dicey for the Lt. to offer such scenarios to the account given by the rescuer and others…that have not changed from day one…in comparison to the VFD/McIntee account that has…A glaring example of the change in the McIntee account…from the day of the incident …..it is said …. he told numerous residents and fellow public safety members he rescued the woman…..included the original VFD incident report….(previously posted …VFD Category)…and now in this printed account…weeks late..’McIntee says he waded into the water to help Mitchell pull the woman onto the shore.’…(just because your paper is the last one out…the residents are not “short attention span” readers who are willing to swallow anything without question)…..
It is known, that AMR did reply back to a series of questions sent to them from Commissioner Dodd…but they were still not complete.. in accordance to AMR’s Hipaa requirements…and left the Commission with the previously posted decision of having a Commissioner on an AMR Medical Board…which also has caused its own set of problems with this writer and other residents not wanting elected officials privy to their medical histories…uncomfortable with that information being in the hands of those that have a “history” of “bloviating” private Hipaa information on and off the dais…(in the Scoops Category)…
One response…included…in answer to a recent article in the last Futures publication …..http://www.bytheseafuture.org/ that the AMR Medical Director…Dr. Joseph Nelson would remedy the startling news that he also sits on the State of Florida Emergency Medical Service that would oversee the AMR-EMS should any complaint arise…Mr Nelson stated that he would ‘”relinquish his role and a different state authorized physician would oversee ” any complaints against AMR’…will this appease the residents…maybe…maybe not…it depends on who you talk to…the pro- AMR backers will say it does…the leery-AMR non- backers or undecideds….will say deferential treatment will still be enforced due to the Medical Director’s role on that agency…stepping aside or not…It is hoped by this writer that Mr Liddle and AMR sent in the same response printed in the Times to the Futures right after they published their article…and before this paper was printed…to show good faith…that AMR is non-political…
The ISO Story…is a partial representation…with the full account from V.P. Mike Waters and the ISO..links below…along with the following e-mail from an informed faithful reader ….including additional links…
Ms. Cole,
Without seeing the paperwork, I’m pretty sure that the ISO rating of 4 is probably a holdover from when BSO was covering LBTS. ISO ratings are not obtained overnight and usually take a good deal of time. Something that the Oct 1, 2008 takeover-of-service date by the LBTS VFD would not provide.
ISO has taken a lot of heat about its rating process over the last year because of the catastrophe in Charleston, SC(Example:http://firechief.com/suppression/iso-ratings-outdated/ ). Charleston, SC received the ISO Class 1 designation, the highest rating an FD can receive for a PPC. However, they lost 9 men on June 6, 2007 due-to-the-fact that the Department’s operational ability/practices was antiquated. This was contributed to the “Old Guard” administration that held the “This is the way we do it and we are not going to change” attitude. It was shown that ISO was mostly a paperwork achievement and not necessarily a true judgement of a department’s practical ability. They are changing their rating standards in the future to truly reflect the fire departments deployment capacity. Here are the changes that can be in store for 2009 ( http://www.isomitigation.com/fsrs ). As a lay person, you may or may not understand the content but it could mean significant changes for ISO. Regardless, in the mean time you could probably understand why ISO is not going to be “lenient” in the rating process. I’m sure with they will be interested in re-rating LBTS in the near future.
LOOKS LIKE WE FIT THE CRITERIA….
‘How often do you re-certify a fire department’s ISO rating?’
‘We verify and validate all the information that we collect with our field representatives. The classification is established and then we maintain an updated or current-as-possible status and make a determination of a physical return to the community on the basis of the response to the Outreach program.
Whether a community would receive a visit sooner rather than later depends on how much change has occurred in that community. Community response is compared to our baseline information — if a community has built and added fire stations; added staffing or annexed an adjoining area; changed the nature or complexion of a community;’…..
http://firechief.com/leadership/management-administration/iso-rating-system/
.http://www.isopropertyresources.com/Feature-Story/Articles/Bio-Mike-Waters.html
ANOTHER REASON…PRINT NEWSPAPERS ARE DYING….
Included in the Times an article submitted by fellow CIC members …. The Roberts…on the Doomsday Vault…originally posted on this site last February…when it was opening and all over the news…a link to the video.also makes the web…for news …the way to go…..http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/02/26/norway.seeds/index.html
GUESS WHO?….
The “Truth Detector”…HMMM…who’s truth…in the eye of Mrs Mc-beholder perhaps?…”a little…Slap” happy wouldn’t you say?….
CIC STAMP OF APPROVAL….
Opinions of the CIC-approved Commissioners…are pretty much repeats of what has been said on the dais…by 2 Commissioners…
HE SAID WHAT?….
Along with the Vice Mayor….”put your blinders on” revisionist Mc-view litany of where we are now……Did we get rid of some substandard and unscrupulous employees in the town?…Yes we did…Did we replace them with the very best personnel for the jobs…no way!…
Have we ‘saved huge tax dollars’…on changing our fire/EMS safety vendors…..not this year with the purchase of the McIntee Public Safety Complex and the likely to return to the agenda backyard property for sale….
‘Our Town Fire Marshall and Fire Inspector are now town employees who report to the Town Manager.’…really?…It was stated that the Fire Marshall was employed by the town…and the Fire Inspector was employed by the VFD…with the VFD doing inspections..per Chief Perkins’ discussion a few weeks back ….. (previously posted under the VFD category)…with monies for inspections going into a special account that will provide for VFD acquisitions per the Town Manager…after requests made to the Commission by the VFD….This is another example of “one toe in and one toe out “…with the Town-VFD lines of connected VS-separate entity…ongoing dilemma…How does the Manager rectify this McIntee statement of her involvement with the Fire Inspector…and non-involvement on other VFD matters…and why the VFD ….. a “vendor” is required to turn over fees to the Town in order to use for their private corporation?…
A reduction in permit fees will not offset the Town-wide “sweep” it appears that are in the works from the Town per the Manager…with letters arriving from Assistant Town Manager Olinzock…to businesses and residents…in efforts to bring a huge windfall in revenue into the town at the expense of its citizens…This black and white “Gotcha” mentality will further erode the “seaside” non- conforming village we all thought we lived in…We do not live in a subdivision with perfectly platted up to date “cookie-cutter” properties…so be prepared …anyone who has plantings in the right-of-ways…plantings that exceed height limits…boats that were supposed to be “grandfathered” in….businesses who have not updated the fire codes…….the primary concern it appears in this new administration…revenue …so at the end of the year the “books” are in order…. the numbers are good and the myriad of state offered municipal budget finance “awards” are once again obtained…for the “umpteenth” year…
The Vice Mayor is truly a man in denial…when writing the following……’We must always realize that the function of government must move forward, personal vendettas or dislikes must be put to the wayside and good government must rise to the surface.”…What is there to say?…This statement…made from the very dais member…the very resident of our town…that has gone to every extent to threaten…bully…investigate and harm anyone who disagrees with him…someone get him a straight jacket!…WOW!
NAMED WRITERS….
Named writers besides the Roberts…still include the always entertaining…informative Bill Hubley…and the always ready to help out with a letter to the Editor …Furth-pal Mary Ann Wardlaw…along with a 5 point plan for avoiding seller mistakes by Real Estate agent, and former MPSC member Shevaun Steward-Kuhn…previously posted on this site with past informationfor properties in town up for sale….
EQUAL TIME FOR THOSE NEW TO TOWN….
Closing out the edition…a repeat of new businesses in town…ala the Futures…Chamber…and this site…
BACK PAGE…
On the back page…inside …the full-page VFD ad paid for from the booster fund…(previous post VFD category meeting minutes…VFD ads for BTSTimes each month)…and outside…just as the previous owners used the paper as a “vehicle” to advertise their business…the new owners follow suit with a full page ad of their primary business…the Blue Sea Courtyard-(new BTSTimes headquarters)…
LAST WORD….
Finally…before the Mc-gang gets all bent out of shape and hits the Topix blog….and the Mc-“slap” site to throw out the “barbs”…pun intended…. against this writer for not drinking the Mc-CIC “kool-aid” with the new BTSTimes debut……realize…that this is what “bloggers” do…they read and give opinion on what is put out there…and as long as there is freedom of speech…it will remain ever thus…
more to come….
Tags: Local News, local papers, Local Politics
