Page 4
Opinio
Letters to the editor
Police & Safety responds to
disatisfied stundents' letter
Editor's Note: Following a letter in last week's ' paper
which was critical of the manner in which campus
police responded to an off-campus accident, The
Collegian has offered Police and Safety Manager Randy
Hoffman an opportunity to respond. His letter follows.
Dear editor,
In the course of my lifetime I
have responded to accident scenes
while on duty; happened upon
accident scenes while off duty and
had the experience of being struck
by a driving under the influence
suspect. I also worked at The
Allegheny County's Office where I
witnessed, first hand, the tragic
carnage that occurs on our
highways. From these experiences
I can appreciate the emotions and
concerns expressed by the students
whose letter to the editor was
printed in the October 18 edition
of The Collegian.
On October 20, I met with
three of the students who signed
the letter and discussed the matter
with them. From our meeting I
believe we reached several areas of
agreement and understanding and I
would like to share some of that
information with the community.
In making a sound assessment
of a situation it is important to
gather as much pertinent
information as possible. To gain a
better appreciation of the course of
events I have obtained and submit
for consideration the following
time recorded incidents:
0231 (2:31 am) Alert
Communications (answering
service for our department) is
notified of the accident by one of
our students, and Millcreek Fire
Control is notified by a different
passerby.
0234 Police & Safety notified
by Alert Communications.
0236 Police & Safety have
arrived, assessed the scene, and
requested Alert Communications
to contact The Pennsylvania State
Police since the accident is not in
our jurisdiction.
0238 Alert has contacted the
State Police.
0239 Medic Unit 92 reports
arrival on the scene.
0240 Brookside Ambulance
reports arrival on the scene.
When reviewing the time
records it is apparent the Police &
Safety was the first emergency
vehicle on the scene. From the
Hoffman's adviCe for persons who arrive first at an accident scene
contact emergency perionnel; check nearby houses or
flag dosirm a car to make emergency call if you are
unable to do so.
• Learn first aid and CPR
• Don't try, to move victims unless danger is immediate
• Stay
. calm; often the best first aid you. can administer
is psychological
information I have been able to
gather it seems an EMT did arrive
before our personnel; however, I
have not been able to identify that
person to determine if he heard the
page for the ambulance or just
happened upon the scene.
As for the matter of
"incompetence", after discussing
what actions led the authors to
make that indication, .1 believe it
was more a misunderstanding as to
what an officer needs to do at the
accident scene. An officer
responding to an accident scene
becomes very focused on
stabilizing the situation, treating
the injured and preventing
additional injuries or hazards. •
As for the issue of being able
to contact a dispatcher or officer in
a timely fashion, I share some of
the same concerns as the authors
as do a large number of people
that live in Eastern Erie County.
As for a dispatch coverage,
while we have not been able to
staff our office 24 hours (we
currently cover about 75% of the
week) we offer more hours off
coverage than the Wesleyville or
Lawrence Park Police
Departments. For those times
when a dispatcher is not available
the emergency line (#6231) is
forwarded to Alert
Communications.
The authors are to be
commended for caring enough to
stop, to seek help and then to
question why the system does not
work better. Too often people will
drive past an accident scene and
rationalize that someone else
probably reported this so there is
no need for them to get involved.
In closing, I appreciate hearing
about problems or perceived
problems. As I have often said,
"If no one tells me about it I can't
fix it" or perhaps explain why
certain actions occur in a certain
manner. If you have a question
about the law or police procedures,
do not hesitate to contact me.
Randy S. Hoffman
Manager, Police 8: Safety
First on the Scene?
LOVE ROB
Fun with taxes
by Rob Prindle
And I thought that my financial situation
sucked. I'm years in debt and I'm being-followed
by so many collection agency guys I'm starting
to look like a very popular guy, but things could
be worse.
I've got financial problems, but I'm in great
shape compared to the country. The last few
months have been really tough on the federal
budget.
I've noticed a few parallels between the federal
problems and my own. For instance in the
beginning of the summer, when our elected
officials were trying to figure out how to find the
hundreds of billions of dollars to bail out the
savings and loan industry, I was trying to figure
out how to pay for my next semester here at
Behrend. And when the government decided to
just relax and take out more loans, I decided to do
much the same thing.
Then early this semester Hugo went rumbling
into South Carolina, causing a few billion
dollars in damage and it was about that time that
my car's brakes decided that they would
disassociate themselves from my rotors. That
only set me back about $5OO and most of my
sanity.
So, while President Bush ignored the cost of
cleaning up after hurricane Hugo, at the garage
with my disabled car, I pulled out a small used
piece of plastic that the Boron Corporation was
nice enough to send me a few years back. So you
see with easy monthly installments I figure that I
can put off this little repair until my retirement
checks start coming in.
And, because good things always seem to
come in threes, now the federal government has
to deal with the Bay Area earthquake. A few more
billion. What the heck? No one in the Capitol is
very upset about a few more billion on top of
everything else that has been happening. And
why should they be?
Yeah, me and the feds have a lot in common.
We're both pretty mellow when it comes to
being a few decades in the red. But I will tell you
one thing, If I were a senator or a certain
President with a name that reminds one of,
shrubbery, I think I would take advantage of my
powerful position and find a way of paying off
the debt. I mean, it's one thing to forget about
your financial trouble if you haven't got a prayer
of ever getting out of it, but...and stop me if I'm
wrong...doesn't our government have the right to
raise taxes?
Yeah, I know Bush made a lot of read-his-lips
promises about no new taxes, but let's get real,
okay? We are in serious trouble here. What sense
does it make to keep paying interest on loans?
You know taxes are about the only thing you
can talk about that angers both suburban
dwelling Republicans and $3.35 per hour Burger
King workers.
And everybody has a right to complain.
Yuppies (I promise that I will never use that
word again, ever) have a real complaint about
graduated taxes. Obviously if you have to pay
more depending on your ability to pay then there
are bound to be a lot of junior vice presidents,
lawyers, and major movers who are not going to
be. happy.
And less affluent people have a real complaint
when it comes to raising or creating new flat
taxes like sales tax or federal gasoline tax. For
people who have little or no disposable income,
it hardly seems fair to make them pay the same
amount on a gallon of gasoline as Donnie
Trump.
The Collegian Wednesday, October 25, 1989
The tax on each and every gallon of gas is
about 25 cents. That is a substantial part of the
price. If it weren't for the tax we would be
buying gas for about $.65 a gallon and with
cheaper gas I think that we all would have been
spared the tragedy of the Yugo and the Festiva.
Of course I think graduated taxation is the
way to go. What I can't understand is why most
people are against the idea of raising graduated
taxes like income tax. Most people are not upper
middle class or upper upper middle class or
blatantly wealthy. Most people work for a 40
hour pay check that runs .out about Tuesday. I
agree that if the graduated levels are poorly
constructed then a certain economic level can be
squeezed, but as I see it now there aren't many
corporate leaders driving '77 AMC Pacers around
in the middle of June with snow tires and baby
moon hubcaps. Not many at all.
It seems that all of our country's financial
problems could be taken care of without hurting
anyone who makes less than 500 K a year. All
the feds need to do is create a new graduation. I
think it should be called the "this guy is really
making a lot more money then he can actually
spend productively" level. As income tax stands
now, a person making a million bucks per year
only pays a little over $300,000. Under my plan
for eliminating gross national debt and gross
national greed at the same time this millionaire
stud would pay just a little more...say $500,000.
The: guy is still going to make more every
year then I will in my entire life; but with my
plan" the struggling middle class doesn't have to
shoulder any more and the dying lower class
doesn't have to worry about any increases in flat
taxes.
By the way, if you see any repo guys trying
to get into my Monte, tell them that the check is
in the mail. If that doesn't work, you might
consider telling them that I'm rather notorious for
playfully planting plastic explbsives hooked up
to both doors and the ignition. If none of that
deters them, bite their legs. Thanks.
Rob Prindle