Gunpowder Chronicle posted on August 2, 2007 9:47 PM | Rating:
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Vicki Gribble, in a Letter To the Editor of the North County News paints north county residents with a pretty broad brush that I think is pretty unjustified.
Ms. Gribble makes the following comment:
There are not many people in the northern part of the county who donate money to the Maryland Line Volunteer Fire Company because they think the Hereford Volunteer Fire Company is the fire department north of Exit 33 on Interstate 83 (Parkton). This is incorrect.
There are many communities with houses selling from $300,000 to more than $1 million in the northern end of the county, but very few donations come into the Maryland Line fire company. Why?
The comment was made in reference to the construction of the new fire station for the company. I'll tell you why I didn't contribute.
I couldn't see plans when they were soliciting money. I was curious as what kind of facility they were planning to construct. I am VERY old fashioned, and I think that firehouses, schools, and police stations should be constructed so that they can serve as disaster shelters. Granted, we don't get a lot of those types of disasters up here. During Hurricane Isabel, my power was out for less than 12 hours. (It helps when your landlord is a supervisor at BGE, and he knows every tap, trap, and breaker from Cockeysville to PA, and his wife hounds him to fix the problem.) The worst "weather event" was not really related to weather-- an idiot leaving Maryland Line Inn early one January morning a couple of years ago snapped a pole, and power was down for 6 hours. Without heat, my 100 year old farmhouse got pretty cold. But the dog and I survived!
I wanted to make sure that the new facility could be that type of building. It turns out my concerns were justified. The new facility is nothing more than a stick-built pole shed with standing-seam aluminum walls on 2x4 stringers with insulation. Moreover, Gribble makes the claim that there is no "hall" in the facility for fundraising. Yet I have it on extremely good authority that there is a full-service commercial kitchen, and room enough to hold 50-100 people for carryout dinners. On top of that, the old days of the pit beef roast and shrimp feast are gone up here. The yuppies don't come out for them. Hereford VFC is now big into the art auctions and wine tastings. And-- why couldn't you use the engine bays for something like this? Hereford uses the engine bays for their birthday party fundraisers (great deal by the way. My nephew had his 3rd birthday part at HVFC, and the kids had a ball. Although I think the parents liked the fire engine ride more than the kids did.)
But, my point is, people are aware of what company they are served by. In Maryland Line's case, sometimes we are all to well aware. We just choose not to donate money where it will not have the greatest effect-- like building a glorified pole shed for a fire house. Ms. Gribble should try painting everyone with such a wide brush.