Chapter 7/What were they thinking?

Dear Mr. Loyd:

Thank you so much for your help. You gave me the courage to stick it out and I won. I also learned a very good lesson. God bless you for all the good you are doing.

Lorraine Paltzer
Appleton

As a crusading journalist, I had many quarrels with the City of Green Bay. For example, I took on the Green Bay Fire Department after an explosion that killed and injured members of a crew constructing a utility service tunnel under the Fox River.

At first, the cause of the explosion was a mystery. I witnessed Fire Department investigators going down into the tunnel to find out why the explosion occurred. One of the firemen was smoking a cigarette!

Going down there with a lit cigarette was obviously not a good idea. There was speculation that naturally occurring methane gas may have been involved in the explosion.

Because the Fire Department didn't seem to know what it was doing, I decided to mount an investigation of my own. I went to St. Vincent hospital and talked to one of the injured workers until I was asked to leave. The worker revealed that some members of his crew were smoking in the tunnel even though they were told not to.

Then I went to the mortuary where two dead workers were being prepared for burial. I asked to see their clothing and the contents of their pockets. Their clothing was burned and frayed. Reaching inside a pocket, the mortician found a cigarette lighter and handed it to me. However, the Fire Department was reluctant to accept my theory that smoking and methane gas caused the explosion. But months later, in a final report about what happened, the accident was blamed on methane gas and smoking.

The men and women of the Fire Department put their lives on the line for the people of Green Bay, and for the most part they have been helpful and friendly to me. But I had other run-ins.

Another example: The Fire Department hooked up with a rip-off fund raiser who kept most of the money collected for the Green Bay Fire Fighters Benevolent Fund, which turned out to be a fund to buy TV sets for the firefighters.

Just because firefighters and police lend their name to a fundraiser, doesn't necessarily mean it's wise to give to that "charity."