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| -Lurid Crime Tales- | |
| Man freezes to death after city limits electricity | |
| 2009-01-27 | |
| A 93-year-old man froze to death inside his home just days after the municipal power company restricted his use of electricity because of unpaid bills, officials said. I've got the utility companies right up there with the sleazy politicians they pay off on my poop list. They're rapacious unregulated monopolies with no more regard for their customers than we have for house flies. Marvin E. Schur died "a slow, painful death," said Kanu Virani, Oakland County's deputy chief medical examiner, who performed the autopsy. They cut his electricity in the dead of winter in Saginaw. Neighbors discovered Schur's body on Jan. 17. They said the indoor temperature was below 32 degrees at the time, The Bay City Times reported Monday. "Hypothermia shuts the whole system down, slowly," Virani said. "It's not easy to die from hypothermia without first realizing your fingers and toes feel like they're burning." 'Limiter' device installed Schur owed Bay City Electric Light & Power more than $1,000 in unpaid electric bills, Bay City Manager Robert Belleman told The Associated Press on Monday. If the rates are anything like they are around here that could represent 2-3 months of unpaid bills. He probably pissed the money away on food or mortgage or something frivolous like that. A city utility worker had installed a "limiter" device to restrict the use of electricity at Schur's home on Jan. 13, said Belleman. The device limits power reaching a home and blows out like a fuse if consumption rises past a set level. Power is not restored until the device is reset. Have to send a utility worker out to reset it, don't you? What was the temp in Saginaw yesterday? Don't tell me. Let me guess. No, even better, let me Google it: today the high was 18 degrees and the low was -4. Assuming Mr. Schur wasn't officially regarded as a housefly, he was murdered. You can't turn the electricity off in a 93-year-old man's house and not expect an untoward consequence that amounts to malice aforethought. The limiter was tripped sometime between the time of installation and the discovery of Schur's body, Belleman said. No! Reeeeally? He didn't know if anyone had made personal contact with Schur to explain how the device works.
The body was discovered by neighbor George Pauwels Jr. "His furnace was not running, the insides of his windows were full of ice the morning we found him," Pauwels told the Bay City News. The body was probably frozen solid. Power shut off if bills unpaid Belleman said city workers keep the limiter on houses for 10 days, then shut off power entirely if the homeowner hasn't paid utility bills or arranged to do so. He said Bay City Electric Light & Power's policies will be reviewed, but he didn't believe the city did anything wrong. "I've said this before and some of my colleagues have said this: Neighbors need to keep an eye on neighbors," Belleman said. "When they think there's something wrong, they should contact the appropriate agency or city department." The houseflies have to look out for each other. The city/power company isn't. Teddy Roosevelt had people like this in mind when he talked about malefactors of great wealth. Schur had no children and his wife had died several years ago. Bay City is on Saginaw Bay, just north of the city of Saginaw in central Michigan. Bastards. The rotten complacent, unfeeling, bastards. I hope Belleman and each and every one of the senior management of Bay City Electric Light & Power plus the faceless minion who put the "limiter" on the poor man's meter freeze to death themselves. I hope that when they're frail old men and women they're callously ignored by the pols in power then and that their bodies aren't discovered until spring, after their wiener dogs and yorkies have eaten most of them. | |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #23 I've been inside the one here. It appears to vent steam on the outside. The inside, near the generator, you could eat off of the floor. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2009-01-27 23:08 |
| #22 Here in Maryland we've had Baltimore Gas and Electric consumed by Constellation Power, and we've seen the rates go up 75%. Our pols didn't even bother hiding their collusion with Constellation in the rate hike, though they did try to blame it all on Bob Ehrlich, or former (Republican) governor. I live literally across the street from two coal-fired power plants, both of which are spotless, at least to the eye. I've done contracts with BG&E. But I regard the combination of Constellation and our Dem legislature as a stench and a pestilence. |
| Posted by: Fred 2009-01-27 16:51 |
| #21 This was written before the incident in the above post, but it seems to try to get across what I am trying to, but much better: Are You The Man Who Turns Off The Power?: An excerpt: Thus I would love for all those doe-eyed environmentalist believers to go to a utility and volunteer THERE at the customer service window for a while and watch the poor decide whether to pay the power bill or buy medicine. They can watch people decide on back to school clothes and supplies or the gas bill. These are real choices, and they will become more and more evident should the economy go into a spiral. There are no two ways about it - 17% of the income of the poor goes to energy bills which are VASTLY inflated by taxes and regulation, without which the cost of energy would probably be 50% lower (or more… we are the “Saudi Arabia” of coal). Think of this next time they volunteer at a soup kitchen or go on a clothing drive… couldn’t they accomplish the same exact thing by working to lower the costs of energy for the poor so that they’d have more income in their pocket? |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2009-01-27 13:23 |
| #20 NS, they have a similar state law here in Iowa. They cannot turn off the power until April for the very same reason. But then again, we are talking Michigan here, so I'm not the least bit surprised. |
| Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie 2009-01-27 13:17 |
| #19 Fred, I got mixed feelings about this. Y'all have three months out of the year where everyone talks about how the power companies should be forgiving. Y'all also have nine months out of the year where the general political consensus is that people building power plants that can actually put out on demand in the dead of winter should be bankrupted. Think about the social effects... what sort of people stay in the business after the TV set is broadcasting shit about how moral people would never do such horrible things like building a power plant? Year after year? The effects of the nine months out of the year of "Power Should Be Expensive," year after year, don't go away during the three months of winter. Coal ash spill? They fly Erin Wosshername out to your community Right Away! I don't know if she actually stays for the cold snap the next week, though. Any bets? Or is she back in Los Angeles by then? As a country we've decided we like expensive power. We _voted_ that way. Not once, but repeatedly, over decades. The guys at the power company are just the poor schmucks stuck with the job of robbing Peter to pay Paul; we shouldn't act too suprised when the various Peters turn up dead every once in a while. There's a 52% of the country that needs to take a long look in the mirror. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2009-01-27 12:55 |
| #18 I expect that over the next 10-20 years some power companies will shut down when a sufficient amount of their bills go unpaid by strapped/unemployed consumers. Ultimately we only get what we pay for. At least we'll be decreasing our Carbon Footprint™. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2009-01-27 12:03 |
| #17 Our private utility does not do shutoffs from 12/15 to 3/15 for exactly this reason. The negative publicity after an incident or two was overwhelming.Come spring, though, it's pay or pray. P2Ks point about National Health Care is spot on, however. And sovereign immunity means there will be no recourse. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2009-01-27 11:34 |
| #16 I'm shocked! Shocked, I tell you!! I can't get on the city's site. People must have overwhelmed the server in support of those civic masterminds. {/sarcasm} Bastards! |
| Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 2009-01-27 11:21 |
| #15 We don't need government programs, we just need a utility that is involved in the community. Politicians and utilities ARE involved in the community. It's just that their involvement is "One Way". Hey DepotGuy, are the Reservations in your state considered "independent nations" (own separate government, license plates, etc.) like they are in Wisconsin? I don't believe the utilities want to get into the legal hassles envoked by this. Then again, I believe a tribal entity should be buying the electricity, gas, whatever for distribution on the reservation and doing their own 'billing and collections'. |
| Posted by: Mullah Richard 2009-01-27 10:06 |
| #14 Oh, and BTW, there was a bill recently introduced to specifically address those that exploit the system and intentionally disregard their obligations. It would have unpaid utility bills go on their credit report if they didnÂ’t pay within a very generous time period. And surpriseÂ…it was defeated with the Tribes being the most vocal opponents. |
| Posted by: DepotGuy 2009-01-27 10:05 |
| #13 There is a Native American Reservation in my State where, for (at least) the last 20 years, itÂ’s estimated that over 90% of ALL residential utilities are not paid during the winter month restrictions. Even though it has been proven that most can afford the bills they simply choose not to. The loss to the Utility Companies is rarely recovered because the cost to enforce back-payments outweighs the lost revenue. Therefore itÂ’s spread amongst the population that pays their bills. Yes, this is indeed a tragic story but other then more attention paid to individual burdens what is the solution? I guess we just keep paying for others peoples bills because the Utility companies arenÂ’t going to foot the bill. |
| Posted by: DepotGuy 2009-01-27 09:49 |
| #12 Look for these controls to be a future part of the FED's plan on controling health costs after it consumes the whole medical care fiascio that they already made untenable. |
| Posted by: newc 2009-01-27 09:45 |
| #11 Nobody seems to call it murder? |
| Posted by: 3dc 2009-01-27 09:45 |
| #10 Excaliber, I think that's why they're often referred to as the "good" old days. Anyone out in Saginaw protesting the company and calling for a murder investigation? |
| Posted by: AlanC 2009-01-27 09:26 |
| #9 He said Bay City Electric Light & Power's policies will be reviewed, but he didn't believe the city did anything wrong. Oh, just wait for Universal Health Care(tm) when that will be the standard reply from the government monopoly bureaucrat on why Uncle/Aunt/Granddad/Grandma didn't get that critical operation while waiting on the [long and growing] care list. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2009-01-27 08:58 |
| #8 "Not my problem" seems to be a mantra in the media culture these days. Of course, all media memes carry over into the world of greedy, power-hungry menials like the decision-making losers at the power company. I think the economy is about to tank, worse than in 1929-33. Millions will be out of work and there will be catastrophic trimming of dumbass place-holders. These dolts will be among the first to go, replaced by actual human beings who have lost much better jobs elsewhere. When that day comes and you see one of these greedy power-freak "not my problem" idiots on the corner begging, go over and give him a swift kick in the arse. |
| Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy 2009-01-27 08:07 |
| #7 He said Bay City Electric Light & Power's policies will be reviewed, but he didn't believe the city did anything wrong. Sounds like a graduate of the Ted Bundy school of management. |
| Posted by: Fred 2009-01-27 07:51 |
| #6 In the old days, this would have called for vigilante justice. |
| Posted by: Excalibur 2009-01-27 07:38 |
| #5 That should depend on the man and the community IMO, Bright Pebbles. My grandfather built most of his last house himself, at 87, and lived independently until his Parkinsons made that impossible - at age 92. FWIW, I suppose, but it would have killed my grandfather's dignity and sense of independence to be forced into some group home. |
| Posted by: lotp 2009-01-27 06:05 |
| #4 I do think that the city social services bear a great deal of responsibility for letting a 93 year old man live alone. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles the flatulent 2009-01-27 05:03 |
| #3 Most utilities around here have a fund for old people to see that they get power. The power company should have a program for the elderly with no living relatives living on a small stipend. The community should be able to donate a small sum into the pot for them. We don't need government programs, we just need a utility that is involved in the community. Shame. |
| Posted by: crosspatch 2009-01-27 04:15 |
| #2 The important thing is to limit carbon emissions. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2009-01-27 03:54 |
| #1 Damn! It's been cold as frozen hell recently here in the People's Republic of Michigan - temps in the single digits for weeks at a time. Murder 2 works for me, ya bastiges. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2009-01-27 02:40 |