Day: February 4, 2011

I’m the FIRECHIEF ding ding ding ding ding.

Folks there is reality and then there is reality.  Reading Rich Rainey’s 2:36PM story on the firing of East Bank Fire Chief Paul Smith you’d think Young just made up his mind on this and really does not have anyone in mind to replace Smith, the guy who did the repair job in the aftermath of a Deano Bonano’s hatch job on the department for those of you keeping score. (Whew that was a mouthful!)

I’m a Mississippi guy and over here we like our fire personnel to be trained and professional.  Not that long ago for example the City of Gulfport hired a new Chief whose credentials speak for themselves.  There are just some jobs where politics should be kept to a bare minimum IMHO.

Here at Slabbed we’ve known that Mr Smith was a dead man walking literally for a month, maybe more in fact and that his replacement is Joe Greco, a Young campaign supporter who was hired because he was a Young campaign supporter. Greco reportedly has harbored fantasies of being the fire chief for quite some time.  This gives him something in common with my then 3 year old son, who would watch one of his big trucks videos and then run around the house with his fire hat on singing the words in title of this post.

2 other staffers that I will not name also got the axe today as well.

Something tells me the firefighters union won’t be real happy with this turn of events.

I now return you to our regular programming.

sop

Neither rain nor cold (nor politics) stopped Judge Berrigan – Paul Rioux reports on “The Tour”

Berrigan arrived shortly before 10 a.m., wearing a bright red coat to guard against the chill and drizzle.

Paul Rioux’s story on NOLA.com – Judge tours River Birch offices to help determine if federal raid went too far – reports, “She spoke with attorneys from both sides under an awning for several minutes before entering the former bank building”.

Interesting.  Although it’s never “safe” to make assumptions, in this case, it’s safe to assume the physical space was well-suited for a blended operation.  Compliance with federally established exit requirements would be particularly important to a bank – and further weaken the Heebe-River Birch argument.

Exit routes must be permanent parts of the workplace. (think the white metal door in the “executive office”)

Exit stairs that continue beyond the level on which the exit discharge is located must be interrupted at that level by doors (another door beyond the white metal door in the “executive office)

Side-hinged exit doors must be used to connect rooms to exit routes…[and]…swing out in the direction of exit travel (the open dark finished door leading into the “executive office with a modular workspace clearly evident on the other side) OHSA Fact Sheet: Exits

According to Rioux’s story, Berrigan responded to a reporter’s question saying only that she “saw a lot of interesting things” – but, what she didn’t see should have been of even greater interest:

River Birch attorneys asked Berrigan to take note of the building directory at the main entrance listing the seven firms with offices on the third floor. The federal agent in charge of the raid has said he didn’t see the directory, but the firm contends it is clearly visible to anyone who uses the entrance.

Meanwhile, the government asked Berrigan to focus on the lack of “separate, independent, identifying labels or placards” for the various businesses sharing common office space.

Rouix also mentions the one of the government’s 140 photographs showed “a half-dozen empty pizza boxes on a counter, presumably from a lunch break during the 11-hour raid”. IMO, Judge Berrigan was far more likely to have noticed the disparity between the table where the module-inhabiting staff ate and the one for used for executive dining (and counting) than Continue reading “Neither rain nor cold (nor politics) stopped Judge Berrigan – Paul Rioux reports on “The Tour””

The sky is falling….not.

Folks, remember during the oil spill all the doomsday predictions of all the rigs leaving the gulf (causing massive unemployment) if Prez. Obama didn’t back down on his drill moratorium?

More oil drilling rigs are in Gulf of Mexico than before BP oil spill.

Now I know some of y’all pucker up when I term GOP politicos as corporate bootlickers but I offer as Exhibit A apologizing Joe Barton, the GOP bootlicking congressman that could not wait to drop and genuflect before BP’s Tony Hayward when he came calling on congress last year during the spill. Once upon a time Republicans favored the rule of law, free markets and competition over corporate handouts and bailouts from the treasury and groveling. ‘Tis is why I left the fold several years ago.

You folks reckon wind insurance price gouging would end if our political leaders exhibited the kind of sack towards insurers that Obama did in the drill moratorium with big oil?

Don’t hold yer breath waiting on the hollow one to engage insurance as Ed Rust owns him.

sop