Jees. Trying hard aren't you Chuck? What *won't* you use to make a
political
point?

*********

?????????

We used to see three patrolmen in a boat. Now we're down to two, making
it more difficult for the patrolmen to keep one another in sight or in
comunication at all times. Had two patrolmen been sent ashore to try
and secure the lines while the third held it in place with the
patrolboat, its possible that the officer would not have slipped or
that somebody could have responded before he had been underwater for
ten minutes.

When tax roll-backs force cuts in police and fire protection around
here, it's often the boaters who see services cut first and most
drastically. Example: Tacoma Washington had to reduce the payroll in
the Fire Department a few years back, and the solution? Shut down the
fireboat station, "cross train" members of other stations to do various
jobs on the fireboat, and "mothball" one of the two fireboats. It got
to the point where if there was a marine fire alarm or other emergency,
the fireboat had to wait at the dock until the entire "crew" arrived
from locations all over town to get underway.

People who are always automatically so anti-tax *should* realize that
understaffing our police and fire departments often puts the officers
in jeopardy as well as impacts the level of service available to the
community. What's so "poltical" about that?