20060905 KDDC 76 PA Ave Fire in Westminster

Press release for the fire at 76 PA Ave. apartment Fire in Westminster

Press release for the Tuesday, September 5, 2006 76 Pennsylvania Avenue apartment fire from Doug Alexander, Public Information Officer for the Carroll County Volunteer Emergency Services Association

I took some pictures which I will put up on the blog tomorrow. WJZ Channel 13 carried the story: "Two alarm Fire Burns Westminster Complex."

Caroline, me and two other Red Cross volunteers and went out to the fire scene later and assisted 6 displaced families with clothes and lodging issues. We were out very late.

It was a great show of mutual aid and cooperation as Tuesday was certainly a busy day for the fire service in Carroll County.

The four-alarm fire in Finksburg had equipment and fire fighters filling-in at other stations and approaching the fire it was unique to see Baltimore County pieces of equipment from Glyndon, Owings Mills, Hereford, Boring on the fireground – in the middle of Westminster.

The press release reads:

Press Release: Carroll County Vol. Emergency Services Assn.
For Immediate Release to all media outlets

Apartment Fire – Second Alarm

76 Pennsylvania Avenue Apt.309, Westminster, Md. 21157

No injuries to civilians or firefighters

1 apartment unit gutted, minor smoke damage to one additional unit

Alarm dispatched at 1720 hours (5:20 pm)

First unit on the scene at 1723 hours (5:23 pm)

Fire under control at 1742 hours (5:42 pm)

Units responded from Taneytown, Pleasant Valley, New Windsor, Reese, Hampstead, Westminster, Mt. Airy, Glyndon, Owings Mills, Hereford, Boring, and Manchester

18 pieces of apparatus responded with approximately 50 personnel

Origin and cause of the fire are being investigated by the Maryland State Fire Marshal’s Office

Damage estimate not yet available

Box 3-31 was sounded at 1720 hours, for an apartment fire at the Shaw apartments, 76 Pennsylvania Ave. in downtown Westminster.

Ladder 5 from Taneytown was filling in at the Westminster station while their units were on a 4 alarm fire in Finksburg. Ladder 5 and Utility 6 were first on the scene with fire showing from the front door of an apartment on the third floor. Duty 3, Lt.
Pinner, arrived shortly thereafter and established Command and requested a
second alarm.

A very aggressive attack was made by Ladder 5, supported by Special Unit 3 and Medic 38. The fire was controlled quickly, but many areas had to be checked for extension, and all personnel living in adjacent units accounted for.

The fire was contained to one apartment with very little damage elsewhere. Smoke Alarms did sound in the burning apartment along with one in an adjacent unit. There were no sprinklers in the apartments.

Investigators from the Maryland State Fire Marshal’s Office are working to determine the cause of the fire. Building Inspectors and Electrical inspectors from Westminster were on the scene also. Most occupants will be able to return to their apartments this evening.

For further information or details, contact Doug Alexander, Public Information
Officer for the Carroll County Volunteer Emergency Services Association at
410-795-8055 VM16, or page me at 410-890-2918 (P).

####

20060902 KDDC BBC dispatches 200 crack reporters to southern Lebanon

BBC dispatches 200 crack reporters to southern Lebanon

Last Updated: Saturday, 02 September 2006, (10:30 GMT) (11:30 UK) (The Big Hand is on the six and the little hand is on the eleven Rhoiders)

http://news.rhoiders/2/hi/middle_east/20060902

By Kant BeTrue – Staff Reporter
Rhoiders Sept. 2, 2006

(Bint Jbeil, Southern Lebanon) As the dust continues to settle in southern Lebanon from the destruction brought on the tiny country in response to the reckless and dangerous actions of Hezbollah, the BBC flag has been spotted in solidarity with the UN and Hezbollah flags at a BBC sponsored outpost just minutes away from an Israeli position.

Blogger Michelle Malkin has not weighed-in on this latest development, however, she was one of the first to call to the world’s attention the collaboration between Hezbollah, led by Kofi Annan and the UN lead by Sheik Hassan Nasrallah. No, that’s not right – oh yeah it is…

As the story unfurls, various news agencies point to a recent August 26, 2006 post by Scott Ott of Scrappleface, in which he revealed, “Unnamed agency sends other half of UN force.”

It can now be confirmed that the BBC is the organization to which Mr. Scott referred when he said, “The organization that will complete our U.N. force has a long history of dealing with armed conflict in the region,” said Mr. Annan. “They know Hezbollah better than anyone else.”

Unconfirmed reports suggest that the BBC contingent will be lead by BBC bomb expert Martin Asser. “We can hide behind little children with the best of them,” said Asser.

The leadership dynamic of the BBC is further exacerbated by pre-emptive digital fallibility which requires an integrated third-generational triangulated refinement of indefinite managerial potential – the New York Times sending a contingent would do just fine.

It has rumored that Bill Keller, the New York Times executive editor has whispered that the New York Times is more of a state-within-a-state than the BBC and is therefore more qualified to help Hezbollah in the next go-round than the Beeb.

But there are no reports yet as to whether or not the New York Times will also send reporters, yet it would appear that Judith Miller may still be looking for work and no-one can manufacture a story line better than Ms. Miller. It has also been suggested that James Risen and Eric Lichtblau may want a leadership role. They have proven their ability to aid and abet the terrorists.

With the BBC in place, what we really need in order to navigate the treacherous waters that lie ahead is a list of specific unknown problems we will encounter.

Joe Wilson immediately said that he would get to the bottom of that and send his wife to Beirut immediately in operation, “The Girl Next Door,” but don’t repeat that as it is a top-secret covert operation.

Meanwhile the French are still haggling over the details of the deployment of their peacekeeping troops and are now insisting that Howard Dean and the Democratic National Committee also be deployed alongside the French contingent.

When asked why, the French responded that “with the DNC co-deployed, in the face of the enemy, we won’t have to outrun the Israelis; all we will have to do is outrun Howard Dean.”

A point of which, Dr. Dean angrily denied, “Yeeowh, Democrats can cut-and-run better than the French any day of the week!”

####

Kant Betrue, a Carthaginian whose family settled in Westminster after the Third Punic War, has been with the Rhoiders Phoenix Hill Daily Herald Bugle since the 1960s (he can’t remember exactly when in the 1960s…). A Pulverized Prize winner for journalism, he writes about issues ranging from the international syntactic semiotic economics to avatars of hyper-theoretical exploding toilets. Kant BeTrue’s column routinely appears in The Tentacle on Wednesdays. Reach him at kevindayhoff@gmail.com

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Copyright © 2006 Rhoiders Phoenix Hill Daily Herald Bugle All Rights Reserved. On the essay evolutionary scale, this essay is a monkey on roller skates. The monkey may or may not be wearing a pink tutu - this is for you to decide. Never-the-less, this material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Hat Tips: Posts such as this are always inspired by the work of Uncle R2. Of course, the base photograph from southern Lebanon came from Michelle Malkin – thank you. The medication for my infected root canal came from Dr. Y. Crablaw gets an honorable mention for kindness and keeping me up on current issues while I attended to some family matters in the last several weeks. And, last but not least – my Rhoidershopping is always inspired by the Pillage Idiot.

20060902 KDDC The questionable media priorities of the Ramsey murder

The JonBenet Ramsey murder news coverage – A question of questionable priorities.

September 2nd, 2006

I liked Carroll County Times writer Jordan Bartel’s September 1st, 2006 post on Jordan Bartel, Plugged In Friday: “Morals of journalists come into question with sensitive stories.”

The whole JonBenet Ramsey media phenomenon is quite an enigma for me. At a minimum it was sordid, salacious, manipulative, gratuitous and unnecessary.

Apparently Mr. Bartel and I are not the only ones who feel this way. See David Wissing’s very brief post on August 18th, 2006…

In 2003, there were 318 infant deaths in the United States attributed to homicide, according to Child Trends DataBank. Why is the media so morbidly obsessed with the death of a youngster from ten years ago?

Every senseless preventable death due to violence is to be mourned. I only wish as much attention were given to the tragic deaths of poor urban children played out across our TV screens all too often on the local television news. Their deaths are no less a tragedy, especially since many of them did not have a meaningful chance at a productive life due to circumstances out of their control.

The Ramsey child death is certainly terrible, however, no more, no less than the other 300 or so child deaths that should not occur in our country.

Mr. Bartel’s post began:

You've probably heard the phrase, "If it bleeds, it
leads."

It's a disgusting, but somewhat of an unavoidable rule for
media and is one that I never really got behind.

But apparently
media today are so stuck on that rule that it should be amended to, "If it bled
10 years ago, it still leads."

You see, I've been very troubled
lately by the media coverage of the newest "revelations" of the JonBenet Ramsey
case.

Read the rest of his post here.

####

Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster Maryland USA.
E-mail him at: kdayhoff@carr.org
www.thetentacle.com
Westminster Eagle Opinion and
Winchester Report
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www.kevindayhoff.com