Facebook
Fark
Digg
Reddit
StumbleCounty commissioner named in threat on Facebook
Thursday, April 8, 2010 | 2 a.m.
Steve Sisolak
This screenshot shows a threat made to County Commissioner Steve Sisolak.
The Facebook page as it appeared Wednesday.
The Facebook page as it appeared Wednesday.
Las Vegas officials are investigating whether a city firefighter wrote on a public Web site that she wanted to shoot a Clark County commissioner.
The comment appears on the social networking site Facebook, which allows users to create their own Web pages, on a page called “Las Vegas Valley Firefighters Against the LVRJ and Sun Newspapers.” The comment came from a woman with the same name as a city firefighter.
Diana Paul, city spokeswoman, said officials learned Wednesday about the issue from the Sun and “is looking into the matter.”
On the site, people criticize articles posted from the Sun and the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
The city is scrutinizing one particular comment made after an April 4 Sun story posted on the Facebook page. In that story, Clark County Commissioner Steve Sisolak said he wanted to introduce an ordinance to prevent county firefighters from doing charity work while on the job. Sisolak had said in an earlier story he was surprised to learn firefighters collected money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association while on the clock.
Beneath the posting appeared the comment: “I want to ... shoot Sisolak in the (groin)!!!!” The comment is attributed to “Joy Sager” and was posted at 7:31 p.m. Sunday.
Sager has a Facebook page where she refers to raising money to fight muscular dystrophy and lists Las Vegas Firefighters Local 1285 as one of her “pages,” which Facebook users employ to show allegiance to causes and groups.
A city spokeswoman confirmed that a Joy Sager is a Fire Department employee. The Sun wrote an e-mail to Sager’s Facebook page Wednesday afternoon seeking comment, but did not receive a reply by deadline. A phone number for her could not be found.
Sisolak called the Facebook comment about shooting him “inappropriate.”
“I hope that the city administration looks at this behavior,” he said. “This kind of thing should not be condoned. They have no right to threaten anybody with physical harm.”
The anti-newspaper Facebook page also posts a picture of a firetruck that has been hit by an egg, followed by comments blaming the media. One person says a fire crew was spat on entering a store a few weeks earlier.
Firefighters faced increasing scrutiny beginning about a year ago as Las Vegas and Clark County were trying to reconcile budgets stricken by plummeting tax revenue. Although many unionized county employees made salary concessions, the county firefighters union’s offers were considered inadequate by commissioners.
Las Vegas has been facing similar fights with its own unionized employees over contract concessions, with Mayor Oscar Goodman threatening layoffs and privatization.
The county’s February compensation study showed firefighters averaged $181,829 in salary and benefits in 2009; battalion chiefs averaged $288,785.
When Commission Chairman Rory Reid established a citizens committee that came up with cost-cutting ideas last year, they highlighted Fire Department reductions.
On Facebook, commentators defend firefighters, saying their jobs force them to face horrific sights; firefighters spend much of their time responding to ambulance calls.
One of the last messages posted on the Web site Wednesday urged people to attend Sisolak’s town-hall meeting tonight at Lake Las Vegas.
Sisolak doesn’t doubt firefighters will show. They arrived in force at a similar meeting earlier this year. He said he just wants it to be civil.
“We can disagree, but they don’t have to be threatening about it.”
Late Wednesday afternoon, the threatening comment had been removed.
Sun archives
- County Commission beefs up security after Sisolak threatened (4-7-2010)
- ‘Boot drive’ OT for individual firefighters is unknown (4-4-2010)
- Practice of on-duty firefighters raising money for charity questioned (3-31-2010)
- Fire union goal: Silence Sisolak (3-19-2010)
- Las Vegas firefighters burn up more sick time than other city employees (3-14-2010)
- Clark County firefighters profit from sick leave policy (3-7-2010)
- Commissioner offers pared Metro budget as example for others (2-25-2010)
- ‘Longevity pay’ costs millions in county (12-10-2009)
- Firefighters feeling budget backlash (5-28-2009)
- County, fire union break ice with heated words (5-7-2009)
- Firefighters have perks to give back, if they wanted to (4-29-2009)
Discussion: comments so far…
Comments are moderated by Las Vegas Sun editors. Our goal is not to limit the discussion, but rather to elevate it. Comments should be relevant and contain no abusive language. Comments that are off-topic, vulgar, profane or include personal attacks will be removed. Full comments policy. Additionally, we now display comments from trusted commenters by default. Those wishing to become a trusted commenter need to verify their identity or sign in with Facebook Connect to tie their Facebook account to their Las Vegas Sun account. For more on this change, read our story about how it works and why we did it.
Only trusted comments are displayed on this page. Untrusted comments have expired from this story.
No trusted comments have been posted.
Post a comment
Most Popular
- Viewed
- Discussed
- E-mailed
Everything Under the Sun
Blogs
The Kats Report
Clint Holmes is a big deal at Cabaret Jazz and 'The Carlyle!'; Playboy's furry-ous closing; Elvis is a 'Legend'
Joe Pesci remembers his own honeymoon in Vegas -- meeting the Rat Pack (1 Comment)
Las Vegas Philharmonic says search for new music director to begin 'immediately' (1 Comment)
With Shenandoah project stalled, Wayne Newton hits back legally (7 Comments)
Where does a Playmate play when she turns 21? Vegas! (3 Comments)
Ice Ice Billy
The road to six-toed cats and Mayor Bubba
The Kats Report
David Itkin tells L.V. Philharmonic officials he's on his way out (14 Comments)
- Locally owned and independent since 1950; Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, best news website in the nation & DuPont Award for broadcast journalism
firefighters are number one at raping the system, and the one guy who is speaking up is the bad guy. $181k average salary ---this must be near the top in the country for occasionally passing around a boot. I wonder if the facebook comment was posted on company time also?
Amazing that all the praise firefighters across the country got after 9/11 has been destroyed by their complete greed and selfishness (at least in Clark County). How much money is lost on exhorbitant firefighter salaries and benefits that could be going to retain and/or keep teachers in our public schools. Teachers who benefit our children everyday while firefighters are "busy" at the gym or milking overtime. All the firefighters in this town should be ashamed of themselves. I say privatize the fire dept. and let it be run the way any responsible business is run. If the firefighters don't like it let them quit and get a job they think will pay them what they get now. I'm 100% behind Steve Sisolak. He's a fiscally responsible commisioner that this county needs more of.
The Firefighter's Union will self destruct if they continue on the present course. They have lost the support of the public, and their tactics are reminiscent of another time we painfully remember in the early eighties..
Mr. Lucky,
I agree totally on your comments. The same can be said for Metro salarie. I am running for Sheriff and I had an interview for a political endorsement that the Police and Fire Union reps were present. As I was explaining that out of the $532,000,000.00 a year budget for just a 2000 officer department, $475,000,000.00 of that is in salaries and benefits. They make more than Detroit, Chicago, LAPD...well...they make more than any other officer in the country working as hard or harder. When I mentioned that Metro needed to make the same as the national average which would double the officers on the street, I got blasted by not only the Police Union, but also the Fire Union as well. They firmly asked me to leave the interview. I am not surprised and I may lose their votes come election day, but if elected as Sheriff, I have 1.9 million other voters that deserve protection and more officers on the street, and if the County is tapped out of funds, then the department has to buckle down and do what they took an oath to do, PROTECT AND SERVE THE PUBLIC.
Just wondering if the so called identified person that allegedly posted the threat was the same unidentified female person that used the 382 sick hours and the 250 ? plus -somethin vacation hours in the same calendar year while compensated a total of 2912 hours.
Must be nice to get paid 56 hours per week for the whole calendar year while not being present to work for over 11 of those weeks.
My job has no sick hours as I work around hazardous material a lot, and vacation time is prorated by the average of the total labor hours worked the whole calendar year divided by 52 and that's it...Also, if you don't work on any scheduled day- you don't get paid- period.
So the firefighters have been on Mr. Toad's Wild ride, haven't broken any laws, but get citicized for the way policy is written. If people are not happy with the rules let them talk to their politicians to change the rules. It's out of the firemans hands. Would you turn down their benefits and/or overtime? So why blame them?
Stick to the topic of the article. This was possibly a threat made on face book from a FF to a commissioner. This needs investigation and if found that this FF did make that threat, she should be fired immediately. These types of comments should not be tolerated whether said out of anger or jest. Shows immaturity and anyone that makes that kind of statement should not be trusted in that type of job.
Chuck321;
I agree with the firing, but I'm guessing the FF who beat up the kid at a gym playing hoops and the one who picked up a girl through Craigslist are still working.
fremmasmind;
It is out of the firefighters hands? What, their greed? So, we should never stop the gravy train? If all you can do is attack Sisolak with names, maybe your handle on here should be lackingmind. What station do you work at and when will you stop hiding behind your union reps?
This is a byproduct of negotiating contracts through the media.
At least we know what Joe S.does all day in his government paid for office at the county building. Joe Scho views the facebook page of the Las Vegas Valley Firefighters against the RJ and Sun.
More accurate than the Sun reporting!!!!!
And people rag on teachers?
Yup...they're "heroes" alright.
$ 181K average salary ??? At the Firehouse the TAXPAYER Pays them when they Sleep (SLEEP PAY)also pay them when they eat there 3 meals a day .. They have to go to a 40 hour work week...8 hours a day.. then they can eat and sleep on there own time ..THE WELL IS DRY..
Saying "I want to kill someone" is much different than saying "I'm going to kill someone". The second is a real threat, the first is just a desire someone may have without any real intention of carrying out those desires.
There are a number of people out there who I feel would make the world a better place if they were not here. In spite of my desires I would never take any sort of physical action against them.
The lady is just letting off steam.
Teacher:
If we put more importance into education, we would definitely have more teachers such as you to teach proper morals to children, and perhaps those children would grow up to be good, unselfish citizens. When I had the argument with the police and fire unions, my main point with them was how I could justify high wages to Metro when the County is forced to lay off county workers that make a fraction of what an officer makes. The police unions and fire unions do not think about that. Once I am elected as Sheriff, I WILL make the changes that need to be made to put more officers on the street, even if it means setting the payscale for officers at the same scale nationally.I hope the Fire Chief will follow my example and we can finally get enough fire and police personnel on the street.
Lay the overpaid firefighters off.
Hey "Kingofbail" my dads been a cop for twenty years and he barelymakes 80k, which I beleive is a low salary for all the chit they put up with. Now 180k is excessive, I find it hard to beleive. But you crazy nut jobs want to privatize police and fire? Its probably because you have money. You people would sell your soul for buisness huh?
If the firefighters had just taken a cut like most of the regular people in the state have, they wouldn't be facing so much back lash. But no, they thought they were special and above the rest of us and now they are wondering why we're all focused on their salaries. Sorry guys, you fell of the pedestal.
another thing "king of bail" You are not qualified to be sheriff. #1 YOU CANT COMPARE NUMBERS ACROSS THE COUNTRY, You seem to forget that the average median price for a home was 325,000 not that long ago. Its not about salaries its about the wage to cost of living ratio numbskull. Go to detroit where a 5 bedroom home on 1/2 an acre is 90k, then put that same house in vegas. EDUCATE youself pinhead.
Sounds like domestic terrorism too me.
Prosecute to the full extent of the law.
maybevegas, how long are you going to complain like a little girl until YOU do something about this. Call your politicians up to change the rules and regulations, otherwise you people sound like a bunch of little girls. Sally got two scoops of ice cream and I only got one, WAH! maybevegas if your boss came up to you and asked you to work overtime, or you better take your sick time off before you lose it, what are you going to tell him "NO"? Jealousy is an evil thing.
While the FF's may work the system the real problem lies with in the county and the union leaders. State law mandates that budgets have to be balanced. Law does not mandate that spending has to be balanced...I really think that they don't care about overtime because they can under budget it!
All this OT and north las vegas is talking about laying off firemen! How does laying off trained workers help when half their pay in OT?
The system needs to be changed where OT is not collected while sleeping, doing charity work, going to the LVAC, going to the groceries etc. The unions are the issue but the lemmings that follow them blindly have to be held accountable too.
Join up against the lemmings, whom are told who they have to vote for, what concessions they can or cannot take, etc. and vote against whomever they support!
usecommonsense, are you going to tell the city that we can only have fires between 9am and 5pm while the firemen are working an 8 hr shift. How were you born?
jib101, didn't that guy in Texas blog that he wanted to kill everyone at the IRS just before he flew his plane into the building?
It was incredibly stupid for a firefighter to publicly voice a threat like that. But at the same time I believe Commissioner Sisolak is right, but for the wrong reason. The question should stay focused on the unwarranted overtime, not on firefighters doing charitable work in the community. If it wasn't for the financial problems the state is having this wouldn't (and never has been) be an issue.
@ Lectrocuda You're being harsh with King of Bail there. Especially when you're rationale doesn't even make sense. One's salaries do not go up just because the local housing market prices go up. The point is that you have firefighters and police in much larger cities making a lot less. You have to admit that regardless of your misled reasoning, these salaries are really out of whack.
Us state workers got our pay cut and of course didn't like it and tried to fight it, but we understand that it was across the board, and helps everyone else out so no one had to get fired.
And I make 6x less than a fire fighter....
Unions for public service, here is what you get. Another great Ideal brought to you by the Democrats.
I don't agree with threats either. It is wrong. However, we all have our own thoughts at times. Some of us keep them to ourselves and some of us are stupid enough to write them down.
I don't wish anyone to be shot, however, if someone was, cops would be there risking their lives securing the scene and FD would be treating the patient. Half the whiners and complainers on these posts would not have the stomache to do the job that cops and FD do.
fire all of these community destroyers...
and start over from scratch...
reagan did it with the air traffic controllers...
and one plane carries more people that could possibly die in a fire...
one plane...
and how many flights are there a day...
let's be frank...
these blowhards are not the best and brightest or bravest among us...
they can be replaced easily...
easily...
go steve go!!!
hey rory reid...
what the hell do you have to say about this???
got to tell you buddy...
i am not impressed...
not impressed at all!!!
and you want to be governor...
Good Lord these FF's are full of themselves.
Yup, firefighters see horrific sights on the medical calls they respond to. However, their contract says that due to the shocking and traumatizing sights, they are sent home immediately after the response and another crew is brought in on overtime to cover the distressed firefighters remaining shift. Meanwhile the Metro and ambulance folks who actually handle the scene stay on shift and go to the next traumatic event. When will the RJ or Sun print the entire contract for the citizens to see all the fluff the overburdened firefighters are given?
Just another example of how our rhetoric has deteriorated in the last year-18 months. I am in no way a fan of Sisolak. He is a grandstanding opportunist-was so as a Regent and is so as a Commissioner. But this behavior by the public is outrageous. If you don''t like the guy and want him gone, then run against him or support someone who runs against him. Issuing threats is cowardly, juvenile, and demonstrates that the argument behind the threats must not be convincing.
Hi martel3, the link to the contract is in this story. Here it is. Thanks.
http://media.lasvegassun.com/media/pdfs/...
I dont think anyone is trying to say that our firemen are not valuable to us. All we are saying is that if the average is 188,000 a year we need to reform the pay structure. Any person with a brain is well aware that is an unsustainable wage structure for a public employee. Period. Thats all.
i just went through the contract and i didn't see anything about them going home after traumatic events? and i didn't see any salaries of 181k. it looked like the fire marshal makes over 100k. didn't see any other salaries over 100k.. i hope i read it right.
vc,
You must be doing stand up comedy somewhere...you have no problem talking about FF's salaries by saying " Any person with a brain is well aware that is an unsustainable wage structure for a public employee. Period. Thats[sic]all."
Yet you have gone on and on and on about your Buddy Obama and his health care and his spending and blah,blah,blah....in a positive way.
See the disconnect
btw, I think the FF's salaries are fine, no problem, the beast is the gaming of the OT and sick leave to enhance OT.
Come to your senses and collect your thoughts before you snap and call me names.....I have read your posts and know it's well within you capabilities to "burn down" anybody who dares disagree with you. 8`)
So, now the LV Sun needs to troll Facebook looking for their "proof" for their stories. Wow. I guess when you already act like a tabloid journalist, it doesn't matter how low you have to go to get a "story".
Firefighters ... not the sharpest tools in the shed, but smart enough to game the system.
Commissioner Steve Sisolak .. The FF are so OVER PAID... and the TAXPAYERS are stuck with the BILL.. Fire them all..
We love our Firefighters, but.... they make to much money for what they, no wonder we are in debt, now I know why my daughter wanted to marry a Firefighter, because of the income..
I agree, if she posted the threat on the INTERNET and wears a badge then she should be fired.
Thugs and goons.
to kingofbail:
I hate to make you look like a moron but metro doesnt even make more than henderson or north las vegas pd. Check the web sites. Maybe thats why they laughed you out of your interview.
hey letrocuda. stop ragging on kingofbail. you're the numbskull and pinhead. You use Detroit to back up your cost of living arguement but "king" also mentioned Chicago and LA. The cost of living in these real cities is much higher than Vegas and their Fire and Police make less than Vegas'. You can't selectively pick your facts, like a typical Democrat. Funny how there hasn't been one pro-firefighter comment on this board. Hope the commisioners, and the firefighters, are taking note.
You have real problems in this town when the RJ and Sun are against you.
Boy, after working on the East Coast for 35 years, I thought I'd seen it all. We had corrupt politicians and yellow press, but wow! If the posting on Facebook rises to the level of a threat to waste the time of officials to investigate, than the Secret Service would be years backlogged just investigating comments from members of the Teaparty, never mind Republicans concerning the President. Mr. Sisolak has put himself out there and has had some valid points. Did Mr. Schoenmann also check out Facebook sites that want to have an affair with Mr. Sisolak? I bet not. So let's get the reporting back on their fairway away from the fringe. And Mr. Sisolak, what have the results been of your public demands regarding the CCFD? Any results? Any Commissioner support? Please let us know. That would truly be newsworthy.
retiredfirecaptain - And I'm sure you would feel the same if the threat was made against one of your family members?
Fire fighters make more than navy seals, time for a volunteer fire department.
retardedfirecaptain,
Expressing the desire to shoot a public official may be acceptable where you come from, but this isn't where you came from. Take your goon opinions back East with you.
Its funny to see these comments, and I understand that most of the people commenting on this subject are well informed but with information that has been tilted. The guys that are out there taking the brunt of the critisism are making nowhere near the amounts stated. I can wish I was making $180,000 a year but I got less that a third that last year. Most of the men and women out there in those fire trucks that you hate so much are not doing it for the money but for the love of helping. I can only hope that when I have 20+ years on the job I can make the numbers listed, but after 20 years wouldnt you want to make that much, at any job this sounds fair. Its hard to keep your chin up when all you hear are negative comments about who you are and what you do. I have heard people say that all firefighters should be fired and replaced with military vets (do you not realize that a majority of firefighters ARE vets). All I ask is that you show a speck of respect to your local first responders because if you call for help we will be there giving you 100% (no matter what you think of us).
WOW!!crazy how the ccsd is faced with possible layoffs. Now to hear that ff make that kind of cash...man, maybe a few ff should be laid off and keep the 1000 plus jobs for the ccsd. I always figured that ff made about 75g ayear after ot...man I guess I was off..
I just finished reading the FF contract on the link posted earlier. It's no wonder the FF are upset that they are being looked over.
But what is most disturbing is Article 2, paragraph 2, that states that the contract will not be made available to members of the public except thru individual requests and further that the County shall at no time place it on a website.
WTH?!? Is there any legitimate reason why ALL County contracts should not be on the County website? Can anyone give me just one reason why we, the taxpayers, shouldn't have full access to all contracts entered into in our name?
I *might* accept national security in the case of the federal government, but NOT at the local level.
Comment removed by moderator. Comment contained vulgar language.
labdaddy: You are entitled to your opinion. However, your use of the "R" word is very offensive. Obviously, you have nobody in your family with any such challenging condition. If you did, you wouldn't be throwing that word around. As for your actual comments, I've seen more talk and action of shooting people in my 3 years in Vegas than I ever did back east.
ILoveCoffee: I do too! I would get these kinds of verbal promises at least 3 or 4 times a year, especially from drunks or druggies. You certainly don't run to the press with that sort of thing like Mr. Sisolak has. They were just part of the job.
retiredfirecaptain,
You are right. I was out of line for using the "R" word and I sincerely apologize to you and all whom I may have offended.
That being said, I think it unreasonable, if not naive, of you to dismiss the FB poster's desire to shoot a public official in your first post. Since you feel such speak has been important enough to carry in your memory over the course of 3 years, I have to think you have more regard for public peace than you let on.
boftx- I can give you THE reason why the contracts are not on any websites. The same reason we work OT so much. The politicians YOU voted for. So continue to blame us for your screw-ups. Obviously you are perfect.
I like the comparison nunya4 made with Oscar and "taggers", he threatened to lop their thumbs off, (I do agree with him on that), but that was OK.
I'm not condoning what she did, but it was a FF run page. It was not out in the open, the FB page had to be sought after. It's like a movie, if you don't like the content, don't go see it.
croc1, I have no idea who was responsible for the language I cited, it could just as easily have been the Council or the Union. I find such a clause disgusting.
boftx - point taken, thank you.
Really??? This is a serious threat? It sounds like it was posted on a forum meant for firefighters and someone was venting.
givemeabreak1110,
Actually, it wasn't a threat. It was a public sevant, a female firefighter, expressing her desire to shoot a public official because she disagreed with him.
I personally find that troublesome.
oops..servant...not sevant.
labdaddy, I'm sorry my friend, but you could find fault with a sunny day.
Never of melanoma?
Now that's funny!
Thanks guys for those that support my comments. I don't usually lower myself to comments unrelated to the topic, but LECTROCUDA, I am qualified to run for Sheriff as I was a cop for nine years before being a bail bondsman. If you did your homework, you'd know that most bail bondsmen are retired or former cops.
Furthermore, if you did your homework, you'd know that the startiing pay for NLV and Henderson is the same as Metro....could be because they are represented by the same Union.
A Metro cop starts out at $53K while a New York cop starts out at $32K. Now are you telling me that Las Vegas has a higher cost of living than New York City? The cost of living is over 3 time in NYC. Believe me young man, I have done a lot of homework on this budget. If you want, go to LVMPD.COM and view the 2009-2010 budget. The amount of overtime alone we could assemble an additional large force of officers.
voiceofreason, maybe most of you don't remember because it didn't affect you quite yet, but, last year, when the first cuts were coming, state employees were called every name you could think of. Those out on the roads, had cars swerve like they were going to hit them, they throw things like, cans of soda, apples, batteries anything with substance that will hurt, and its not kids.
Don't blame the firefighters for their salaries... blame the Unions and the Weak City Leadership for allowing it in the first place. Everybody commenting on here would take the salaries if given the opportunity...
By the way -- take a look at this to show just how weak our local leadership is:
http://transparentnevada.com/salaries/al...
Get involved and vote out the cronies and vote in people who have a backbone and will do what's right... We are turning into a Bankrupt style California Government..
Sorry, I blame them both. Your comment basically says its ok to cheat so long as you can get away with it. And you are also saying that its ok for every elected official to cheat because their bosses don't do anything to stop it. Good grief, just wait until this healthcare starts.
My grandchild was physicaly and mentally abused by his step father. Yes a fireman. The case was in Juvenile court I asked the case worker if they were going to contact the step fathers/firefighter's department or Captain. She replied, "No". I was surprised. I said if this person was a police officer you would contact the police dept. IAB. She responed, yes we would have to. She explained that there is a difference between the police and firefighters. In that Police Officer's enforce laws, they have taken an oath not to violate laws. Since firefighters do not enforce laws, it will not be necessary to contact his Captain or dept.
What! I was indeed taken back by this statement.
Who makes these stupid decisions. A law is broken regardless of where they work. Of course he took a plea deal. Graciously offered by the DA.
The whole County/City is a circus. We need to communicate to our Mayor/Commissioners/Judges, NO MORE FREE PASSE!. THE BUCK STOP'S HERE!
The Judges and administrator's in the Judicical system are just as bad. They have no accountablity for their staff. For years some staff have submitted false attendance records, lied about certain events with in their jurisdiction,stole county property, etc.
Now It's election time. Do you really think the incumbent does not politic on state/county time? Or use County property for their personal use.
Wake Up, if these Commissioners are not going to back Sisolak and his efforts to show waste in the County, then make sure they are not reelected.
The problem is there are certain Commissioners that do not want to anger their endorsers... They beleive that these Unions are their biggest supporters and don't want to piss them off.
EVERYONE SHOULD CONTACT THE COMMISSIONER IN THEIR DISTRICT AND TELL HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT THIS TOPIC. DON'T JUST SAY IT HERE!
lipton- So you blame me for my salary. Your right, to hell with my family I should turn down every raise I'm offered. I'm sure that's what you would do, who in there right mind would want to make the best living they can for their family. Give me a friggin break. Drop the holier than thou attitude, everyone can see right through you.
spinning- I truly hope your grandchild will be OK. I don't care if it was a FF, cop, priest or GOD himself, he will get his someday.
Becareful putting all your trust in Sisolak. Remember, he is a politician, don't believe for a minute he has your best interests over his own. He's a liar just like the rest. You said it yourself, it's election time.
Yikes...!
I know her. We went to Jr. & Sr. High together.
She must have been absent the days we learned to not threaten public officials.
I remember a few years ago when a San Diego fireman set a grass fire that burned for 2 weeks. They caught him and I think he lost his job.
If someone is truly dedicated to a cause for charity, they would want to be doing it on there own time!
How much money froom the people who solicit, actually give from there own deep pockets?
volunteer work without getting paid + giving own $$ donation = true person for a cause
Someone who is TRULY dedicated to a cause for charity would want to be working on it ALL the time.
croc, thats not what I said. A raise usually indicates a reward for doing a good job,and yes, anyone would take a raise, not everyone would cheat the system or would allow their employees to cheat the system, and thats not what we're talking about here.
and croc, I don't blame you for your base salary, but if you are part of the scheme they have going on, your ot is more than your base salary and you are cheating the system and taking funds that could be used to help with the rest of Nevada, and you would be part of the problem.
and I have a question on this charity thing. When they call you to contribute to a charity, how much of that contribution really goes to the charity? Its not 100%, its not even 50%. and those calling won't tell you that info, you have to request it and they will mail it.The ones that have called me are NOT FF or policemen, they are telemarketers working on behalf of them.We all want to be charitable but be very careful and ask just where you contribution goes, I think alot would be surprised.
What is funny is how Sisolak is constantly drawing attention to himself at the firefighters expense. The situation lies on the county commissioners and how they handle the finances. When business was booming they spent like crazy and now are they are crying poor? Has anyone asked if the county has money to afford the the employees? Have they been responsible? The answer is to be determined. Do your research. Get involved.
anybody bother looking at the archive link dated 4/29/09 the last one on the list just below this article. Holy cow Clark County!!!
Firefighters suck ! fire them all so we can put some people to work. lets send them packing !
juansanchez what do you suggest as an alternative?
I think we need to look at the underemployed minority community. Also some immigrants can do the job, if they work say 6 monthes we make them legal. Blacks, if they work say 2 years we will erase their criminal record.
I think it's funny that the Owner of the Facebook Page deleted all of the comments.....hmm....I wonder why?
S711
Which fire station or precinct is the groin shooter assigned at ?
an alternative would be to privitize portions of the fire dept. That would get the salaries in perspective, it would get rid of all these extra bennies, they get, it would stop the excessive sick leave, so their buds can work ot. There is not a private agency that would pay or allow this kind of abuse to the funds they have to come up with to pay these guys.It would eliminate the bloated pay and bennies to the Battalion Chief making $600,000.00 plus $40,000.00 in longevity a year and some of the others as well.They plan to privitize portions of NDOT, so why not?Plus, it would get rid of the unions who have made this thing a huge problem. win, win.
lipton- I honestly do not know 1 FF of any rank who's OT is more than base.
Please explain the "scheme" we have going on. I keep hearing hat we are "gaming" the system. Please explain how we are doing this.
I can't speak for police, but if a person calls you on the phone asking for money claiming to be a FF or representing the FD is a scam, we do not, nor have we ever solicited money through telecommunications.
croc1- I was looking thru transparentnevada, and without doing too deep into it,The pay for ff is sickening. Base pay in 6 figures or just below, and OT pay of $65-$90k. Thats a damn joke. You seem like a pretty rational guy, and I am sure if you were on the other side of the fence, you would agree with us.
overtime costs are the direct result of firefighters taking too much sick leave: the more sick leave, the more other firefighters will be needed to fill in and the more overtime that will be paid.
The average firefighter in fiscal year 2009 was out sick for 9 1/2 shifts. Because firefighters are scheduled to work 10 shifts a month, that equals almost one month of sick leave per year. When combined with time off for vacation, which averages about 13 shifts per firefighter, the average firefighter is off a little more than two months a year.
insolent majority- you're right, $65 to $90k is way too much for OT. I haven't looked too hard at that website either, I think I will though.
So I will not argue that point. But you also have to understand most of the OT was the politicians idea, not ours. they asked us to work that. So as much as I agree with your frustrations, I will not shoulder ALL of the burden of the OT mess.
By the way, I've been on 10 years with 2 promotions and my base is $84k, last year I made $22k in overtime. Personally, that was enough working and being away from my family for me.
sorry, unsilemt majority, honest mistake.
UNSILENT, geez, bad day for me
croc, every year they call asking for donations for special olympics and at Christmas they call for donations to take underprivileged kids to Toys R Us. Thats a scam? A news crew followed them to Toys R Us one year. The problem I have is, when you donate 25,35,50 or whatever, 100% not even 90% goes to the kids. They pay for the bus driver, the gas, the bus, the advertizing and any affiliated costs for doing business and whats left goes to the kids. Next time they call ask them, they won't tell you how much goes to the kids you have to request the breakdown be mailed.
lipton, you are right. If there is any abuse, that would be the only way. Now, we do have procedures to help curtail that. Only so many in one year, and after so many there must be a doctors note. I know it doesn't sound like much, but it's something. calling in sick is not always beneficial to other FF's. if someone calls in sick for a day and there is no one signed up to work, sometimes a FF that worked the night before will be "forced" to stay and work another 24hrs. If he/she turns it down they can be disciplined.
lipton,
I can't speak for the special olympics and I didn't know that was how they work. But I will tell you that I have heard similar stories about the red cross. I will not donate to them anymore.
I do agree that they should be more open and forthright with that information though.
I'm sorry, just to be clear you are not talking about FF's are you?
croc, the politicians said your job will be covered when you are not there.They didn't say, make sure you use all your sick leave when you're not sick and make sure someone covers you on ot.They expected the guys to be honest and forthright and looking to make sure everyone was safe in case of an emergency.The fact they learned how to take advantage of the system is not the politicians fault. So when a guy calls in sick, the guy who works his shift for him gets the ot, then when he calls in sick, the other guy works the ot. They have said, FF take so much sick leave during the year, it brought attention to why are these guys sick so much. There is not a guy in the private sector, that could call in sick as much and still have a job. Maybe what they need to do is, require a doctors excuse every day they are out sick. Surprising enough, alot of these guys have side businesses they go to when calling in sick.
To be honest croc, I don't remember if those guys were FF or cops. I did, however just get a call last week from someone asking for donations for the FF and handicapped kids. I asked him if he was a Nevada FF and he said No, he was calling on behalf of Nevada FF, and I told him sorry.
lipton,
If someone ever calls and states they are a FF or calling on behalf of FF's it is a scam. We never, ever solicit through telemarketing.
If it weren't for the fact they couldn't tell me what % of my donation went to the charity and that I just happened to ask if they were from Nevada I probably would have. But, I do make it a policy to ask the % and ask who exactly they are, more so now, because I don't have the funds to just donate without knowing exactly what its going for.So, everyone, beware of scams, especially nowadays. Ask lots of questions, and if they can't answer them, don't donate.
lipton- I would like to say every sick call is legit, obviously i can't. but i can tell you if you call in sick and are found to be screwing around, (seen by a chief or other company officer, something to that effect) you will be disciplined.
Now this is not an excuse, just throwing this out there. We don't get called to "well" people. Hospitals have filtration systems that help with airborne illneses. We don't have that luxury. Peoples homes, downtown hotel rooms, homeless shelters, some of that stuff can be pretty nasty. And if your immune system is not performing perfectly, (sleep deprevation), it can make people sick.
Anyway, food for thought.
croc, no, sorry not buying this. but it was good!!!!
"well" people are warned about going to hospitals when visiting because thats where sick people go and there's germs in the air.
There are people that work every day in buildings, close quarters to others 8 hrs a day 5 days a week and never call in sick. Its not like you guys are called every single day to these types of calls either.If you guys are that susseptible(sp) to germs when you are suppose to stay fit for the job you do, then maybe you are in the wrong business!
you know, I heard an interview with a fire chief from Vegas and he was asked about this sick leave thing. He specificaly said, what is going on has been going on since he started with the fire dept.Regardless croc, it has become public, FF continue to get benifits that have been stopped for other public service people, FF have not gone on strike to tell their union reps they want the cuts needed to keep their fellow workers employed and help with the budget and FF have lost that high status they recieved after 9-11. I work in the "public" sector and had my paycheck cut 11% and I have a family to support.The first go round of cuts, we were called every vile name and made to feel like scum, even after the public was told our pay doesn't come out of the general fund, we took the cuts in order to help Nevadas shortfall. I don't see teachers, cops or FF making any consessions as public service providers and it leaves a really bad taste for me and alot of others, knowing because of it, we will probably be hit again while the rest of you guys continue to reap the bennies. Put yourself in our shoes and the rest of Nevadans.
lipton- i can assure you we are called to these types of calls every single day. What types of EMS calls do you think we run, sick people. Not all are traumas. Many are sick with who knows what. I'm a little surprised at your ignorance in this matter. And I'm not trying to be degrading or an ass. I just thought common sense would tell you 80%+ of 85000 calls a year are EMS, and MANY of them "don't feel well", Why? Who knows, but we are in their house with them.
Let me say again, I'm not whining, just pointing out the facts. Have you spent anytime studying FF's and sleep deprivation. It's a well known fact, even if on the rare occasion you sleep between midnight and 6am, Your sleeping with "one eye open", it's not a very restful night.
Just something to maybe think about, that's all.
I have to disagree on one aspect, I don't think teachers make enough to take a cut.
Also, FF's cannot go on strike like the private sector (AMR), it is in our contract. We are not against taking cuts, but we also want a guarantee if we do take a cut that there will not be any layoffs. The city manager stated to us months ago she would not guarantee that or we may have taken the 8% then. Believe me we will make concessions, but we want to make sure no one gets screwed as a result. I promise we are not the selfish animals the media portrays us. Just wait and see.
I understand the citizens of las vegas are pissed with what they read and hear in the media, but as stated before,it's only one side. Let's just see how it plays out.
I don't live in Vegas, so I don't know the calls you guys get every day. But again, if you guys get sick and have to take off work every time your called to someones emergency, something is wrong there.If your union won't reconcile the cuts needed for a balanced budget from your dept, how can they guarentee no layoffs? You can't expect them to tell you that you need to cut this much and your union says no we will only concede to this much, that you'll get a guarentee no layoffs. They've told your union what they need, and what it will take to save everyones jobs, so whats the problem? As a union member, I wasn't aware you couldn't strike. Thanks for that clarification.
lipton- they told us 8%. They have been asking for 8% the whole time. Even if we took the 8% cut, they still wouldn't guarantee no one would be laid off. If they would have guaranteed no layoffs, our union officials probably would have brought that to the membership for a vote. I can't speak for everyone, but I would've voted for it.
And we don't get sick every time we go to a sick persons house. But every shift 3-5 times minimum. people will get sick. But I'm sure there are people that call in sick occasionally that probably don't meet the criteria for sick leave. I can tell you I've used it a couple times to stay home with my kids or wife when they were sick. And I'm sure others have also from time to time. But our administration has to answer to their bosses when sick leave, as well as other things are not as they should. So it's not a free -for -all as the papers what everyone to believe.
yes, they did tell you 8%, but they also said you would have to give up other benifits as well, just like the state employees, and your union said no.You guys even got your cola last year and not only did we not get one, we got deducted.Maybe the guys need to wear masks or something to avoid getting sick, don't know. There is obviously a problem with the sick leave and ot and money made to draw red flags, and the reason you give doesn't quite hold water that a majority of the fire houses have the same problem.Wouldn't you think the guys wouldn't want to go into these houses or homeless shelters, without protection and then take something home to the families? Does this also mean that the family members are exposed to all this illness that the FF pick up? Are the kids out of school sick or spouses off work sick as often as the ff are out sick because they brought something home? Sorry, it just doesn't compute.
If I remember correctly, your union was only willing to comprise $900,000 when they were given an $8.8 milliom dollar cut they needed to make.
and the union rep for cops wasn't willing to concede 1 red cent.