The World is Very Different Now....

DISCLAIMER: The images and writing contained in this blog are the thoughts and opinions of the blogger. Obviously, all names have been left out to protect both the innocent and the guilty. Thank heavens for the 1st Amendment to the United States Constitution which allows presentation of my own feelings and opinions. There are those that feel I have violated privacy or confidences, however, with no names mentioned, attachment can only be made by inference. If by chance you don't agree with what is written here, or, feel you don't like what you have read, stop reading and don't bother coming back.


Incoming President John F. Kennedy said those words in his inaugural address, January, 1961. "The world is very different now, for man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human suffering and all forms of human life."

If he only knew what was happening today.

On a local level I am simply amazed at the balls, chutzbah, nerve of some people. Especially those in the "volunteer" ambulance company located somewhere on Long Island, of which I am associated and ride emergency medical calls. As an EMT, I've been in the corps now, celebrating, well at this point I don't know if celebrating is the right word, my 20th year this year and seeing what our current officers and directors are doing to it hurts me and my community like all hell.

Somewhere, at sometime, someone said "ABSOLUTE POWER, CORRUPTS ABSOLUTELY" How true.

It seems, having the headaches of being in a leadership position in the corps are outweighed by the benefits. You see the Chief and Assistant Chief get vehicles to use while they are in office. One uses the car for ambulance calls which is proper and correct, and the other uses the vehicle for more personal business than professional. The Assistant says answering emergency calls is not the priority and substantiates the use of the vehicle stating, "I do a lot of "administrative" work". Yeah right... O.K.

As in any organization, ours is a Not-For-Profit corporation, we have by-laws and rules and regulations. Well presently, all of them are being bent to the benefit and pleasure of our officers. One by-law promises a "fair and impartial hearing" should charges be brought against a member for any offense. But what is to be done, when one is charged and NOT given the benefit of a "fair and impartial hearing"?.

Our corps attorney offers us his " opinions" but rarely quotes the law. In one such case part of the law was quoted, "NYS state law dictates, that officers in a corporation cannot be disciplined for carrying our the official roles as officers", however our attorney told us only part of the law... left out was the last part of the above sentence, he left out "as long as they are acting in good faith". (found that out, surfing on the internet myself...) Well our officers recently acted, but NOT (in my opinion) "in good faith" . So what is to be done.

I'm rambling here...It's early in the morning and I've got another case of bronchitis and cannot sleep properly. I awoke thinking about the garbage going on in the ambulance corps and just had to write.

Anyway... Our elections for the coming year's officers are held in March and elected officers and directors take office on April first. How appropriate, April Fools Day they take office. As some people are slightly immoral, if you are interested in remaining in office, what do you do to assure that? You eliminate all those members you feel may not vote for you or run against you. Right? Well, unconfirmed rumor has it that it seems that of approximately 60 regular, voting members in the corps, there was concern that suddenly 29 were to have been eliminated from the priviledge of voting this year for one bogus reason or another.

As for me, I was advised that the seven (7) FEMA certificates of training I submitted during the year are astonishingly (but not surprisingly) missing! Therefore, I am told I cannot vote. Oops, I kept copies and resubmitted them to one of the officers, so whew... now I can vote. Others are not so lucky. They are being run off simply because they do not agree with the officers and have no recourse. Lame excuses, such as not enough committee work, or no doctors note when unable to ride due to injury or illness. Petty stuff but good enough for the officers to say you cannot vote. In good standing in November but not in January.

Discrimination is rampant. One member (not well liked by the officers) submitted a request for a copy of the tape recording of the hearing she attended regarding charges against her. She also requested to see her personnel file. She was told to have an attorney request that information and was denied access to her file. That same night, I verbally asked (and I'm not well liked by the officers either) to see my personnel file and was immediately granted access. Is this not discrimination? I believe it is, and unfortunately again, the courts will have to decide. And believe me... it'll probably come to that.

As an agency of a municipality, our corps is subject to The Freedom of Information Law or FOIL. But some of our officers, one in particular, think otherwise stating "we don't have to give them nothin" The big E goes up on the board people... Error, error, error.

In addition to this silly sh*t ... oops, stuff going on... One member (4-5 years in the corps) was thrown out of the organization without ANY hearing at all. He received a letter, from the board of officers, stating that the board of officers would be meeting on a particular evening to discuss the charges against him, but the letter was in no way asking, requiring or making it mandatory for him to attend. So they found him guilty on all charges, in absentia. And still no recourse (internally). But since it is a crime to deny someone their civil and constitutional rights, the courts will have to decide the final outcome. Again, time will tell... How unfortunate it has come to this. What will happen to the corps? Who knows. Anyway I'm goin back to sleep. Wish us luck.