TRIBUNE COLUMN

TRIBUNE COLUMN

"Another firefighter lashes out at FEMAs inability to do the job
By TONY MESSENGER
Published Thursday, October 13, 2005

Jay Adams was fired for wearing a gray shirt.
His bosses wanted to see him in blue.
He said no, and their faces turned red.
He laughs about it now, but its really not funny.

Adams was among the 1,000 firefighters hired by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to go to the Gulf Coast and help victims of Hurricane Katrina. What could have been - and should have been - an attempt to use Americas finest to bring aid to people who really needed it has instead been shown for what it was - a not-so-veiled attempt to use firefighters to build up FEMAs flagging reputation.

Adams is a proud firefighter from Charlotte, N.C.
He speaks with a slow, Southern drawl that smacks of integrity and common sense. Like a college football coach from the region, when Adams talks, you cant help but listen. Thats what I did as Adams talked about FEMAs ridiculous attempt to use firefighters as public relations dummies. I listened to a man with pride talk about feeling used. Adams had come across my column from a week ago detailing a Missouri firefighters frustration with FEMAs bureaucratic waste of important resources during our nations real time of need. He had a story that was even more compelling."


73 fer nw,
Bob N5IET

10X# 37210, FP#-1141, SMIRK#-5177
http://www.n5iet.com/
Code may be taking a back seat for now,
but the pioneering spirit that put the code
there in the first place is out front of it all.