Needs vs wants

I am writing in reply to a letter featured in the Baysider this week. Since when has the BARNSTEAD BOS ever put the needs of the town before their own agendas? Seriously? They have never once shown the ability to put the needs of our town before their wants! This had been seen time and time again with the firing of our elected road agent, and the "retirements" of the police chief and the fire chief. The real need here is public safety and the BOS are compromising each and every resident's safety by letting our police and fire be without commanders in chief. Sure we have adequate officers on our fire department and I am not knocking their abilities one bit. I have full faith that I can follow my officer into a fire and he will get me out safely. But the need goes beyond what is happening inside. Someone needs to fulfill the hierarchy of incident command and then complete all administrative duties that go with this position.

And one fulltime police officer? I am sure Sargent McDowell is being stretched thin at this point. How many hours can one person realistically work during the week. We cannot rely on one fulltime officer when there are supposed to be seven including a chief. It's ridiculous to think that our town is safe.

I am proud to work alongside these men and women of our fire, police, EMS personnel. I do not believe for one minute that our leaders of these departments think that the taxpayers dollars do not matter and that all they do is want, want, want. We need adequate equipment to protect ourselves and this town. And we need an adequate number of trained people to run that equipment. By cutting two firefighter/EMT positions, how is the ambulance supposed to roll out the door? By law, there needs to be two certified EMTs on that bus in order to transport a patient. And the majority of our call EMTs do not work in this town during the day. I know I can't leave my fulltime job to respond to a call. This is true for most of us.

What would happen if you or your loved one called 911 and there was no one to help? That is the dangerous road our BOS are leading us down. Think very carefully about what your needs versus wants are when your house is burning down or you are suffering a medical emergency. What will your needs be then? You need and want the fire department. To me needs and realistic wants are a simple answer.



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