Show respect for local firefighters
To the editor,
I am writing as I see that the continued attacks on the local firefighters have not ceased or slackened off in the slightest. The firefighters have been pushed to the wall with all of the cuts that are being asked of them already.
These men are not overpaid elitists, lazy or any of the other slurs I have heard used against them.
A firefighter's job is one that takes technical skills that no common person has. You cannot even begin to compare the skills it takes with any other job. The Hillsboro firefighters are a highly trained, highly professional team that is dedicated to serving the community and
the county.
They have a rope team, a swift water team, a high level access team. These sorts of training are required in our community because the next nearest team with those skills is Dayton that I am aware of.
When someone goes in the drink in East Monroe it is Hillsboro who gets the call. When there is a confined access rescue it is Hillsboro who gets the call. Why? Because they are well trained. They are all cross trained so that each member of the Hillsboro Fire Department can perform these duties and back each other up as a team.
Unfortunately, this community did not have the back of the firefighters.
It is sad that the firefighters are not getting the respect that they deserve. Someone who will drop everything they are doing and run to save a life or rush to put out a burning building deserves a lot more respect than they are getting.
These men are your neighbors, your co-workers. They go to the same stores, the same churches, their kids go to the same school yours do. They are not millionaires driving around in fancy brand new vehicles.
They are the heart and soul and spirit of the true American working class hero. It is about time to start accepting that there have been things done to the fire department by the
administration of the community of Hillsboro that have not been right or fair or even honest.
It is time to accept that the Hillsboro Fire Department has been victimized by political gamesmanship in a year when public unions are targeted for elimination. It is time to stand up for the firefighterswho have stood up for you for so long.
May the gods bless these men and stand with them in harm's way.
Sincerely,
Roger Myers
Lynchburg