Officials let home burn to ground

A mobile home in a rural, working-class area of northwest Tennessee burned to the ground on Dec. 5 after a team of firefighters called to the scene were ordered to let it burn. (MSNBC, Dec. 7)

Officials watched as Vicky Bell, risking her own safety, rushed into the burning trailer to try to save her few possessions. Why? Because county residents are required to pay a $75 yearly fee for fire protection and Bell, like so many stressed people in this jobless environment, just could not afford it.

The mayor of South Fulton, Tenn., David Crocker, said he let Bell’s home burn to teach others a lesson if they did not pay for fire protection. Last year Gene Cranick’s home was also allowed to burn down when he couldn’t pay the tax.

Hundreds of thousands of urban and rural cities and counties are cutting services, from fire to medical care to children’s school lunches. Their budgets are being devoured by banks that issued bonds to these local governments and now reap huge tax-free profits from the interest. Rather than cancel payments to the banks, whose vaults are overflowing with money, officials are putting debt service first, before every other expense.

Harold Schaitberger, president of an association representing firefighters, said last year, “Professional, career firefighters shouldn’t be forced to check a list before running out the door to see which home­owners have paid up.”

It’s clear that workers, urban and rural, need to rise up against this deadly dictatorship that the capitalist banks have imposed on us.