Better Newspaper Contest - First Place Stories

1 DIVISION 1 Category 1 - Best News Coverage Under Deadline Pressure A Burning Need for Change JUSTIN KIEL The Regional News It was Monday evening on January 30th, and Frank Swartz had just returned home from Knox. As he drove up to his garage he looked over to see bright flames licking the side of his neighbor's house and their car still parked in the driveway. He quickly called 911 and took off running to the burning home, fearful that his neighbor might still be trapped inside. Frank screamed his neighbor's name as loud as he could, desperately waiting for a response. Nothing. He approached the front door and kicked it into the burning building. Again, he yelled out for those inside. Nothing. Boldly determined to save the occupants, he attempted to make his way into the inferno. The smoke and heat were just too strong. His beard singed and lungs filled with smoke, he retreated to fresh air. In a final act of desperation, he threw a flower pot into the window and screamed again for his neighbor "Where was the fire department?" he worried to himself. Swartz told his wife, Sheila, to call dispatchers again. His neighbors might be on the brink of perishing and he had no way to save them. The first firemen arrived on scene roughly six minutes later and it was determined that the home-owners were not inside the burning building. What he would come to learn later that evening was that while the property at 8120 W 400 S, not far from San Pierre, was fast ablaze, the roughly 37 square miles that make up Railroad Town-ship was protected by a fire department that was just a few hours old and had only around four firemen. Mean-while, the fire department that had been serving Rail-road Township for decades now found itself locked out of the fire station. EARLIER THAT DAY…Since December the San Pierre Volunteer Fire Department along with two members of the Railroad Township Board, have been entrenched in a bitter battle against Township Trustee Mandy Thomason. In late 2016 Thomason alleged that the San Pierre Fire Department had breached its contract with the township numerous times in the past several years. According to Thomason, it failed to report its finances to the township per its contract, members were supposedly drinking during fish fries and then responding to calls, and had illegally removed medicine from a department vehicle. She also alleged that the fire chief had not attended the required percentage of calls in the contract, ghost employees were on the roster, they had failed to properly deposit funds into the correct accounts, new and existing members lacked EMR and CPR training, and they had failed to complete necessary truck and equipment maintenance. Thomason explained she wanted "to provide the community with the fire and medical services they deserve." She explained that through the new fire department she has championed, members would be required to receive better training, the organization would be structured as a registered 501(c)(3), and the department would be more competitive when applying for grants. Meanwhile the existing San Pierre Fire Department finds itself stunned that after 54 years of serving the community and few problems with previous trustees, it has been all but dismantled in a matter of a few months. As it stands today, the San Pierre Fire Department has no trucks, no gear, no building, and no funding. All that is left is firemen, and if Trustee Thomason has her way, many will soon be signed on with the new department. That's not to say that the San Pierre Fire Department hasn't fought Mrs. Thomason's efforts. In December, two Township Board members, Clarence Gehrke and Gus Eckert, along with Fire Chief Joe Krzyzanowski, filed a lawsuit against Thomason in an effort to prevent her from unilaterally creating a new fire department. The plaintiffs argued that the Trustee had not taken the official action of creating a new department during an official public meeting and further alleged that she had violated statute by attempting to restructure the department without receiving board approval. They pointed to IC 36-8-13-3 which states, "The executive of a township, with the approval of the legislative body, may…contract with a volunteer fire department." Thomason countered by noting that the board had already approved and al-located $15,000 for a fire contract in 2017. Further, the trustee has the statutory authority and duty to provide fire protection for the Township pursuant to IC 36-6-4-3(10). Due to the township board not having approved a new contract with the San Pierre Fire Department and the department being in violation of the existing contract, Thomason announced her plans to create a new department. In a court filing from December 30, 2016, Thomason explained that new fire department would be run by the township. Such a move would make fire department records available for inspection through the Open Door Law and would make operations more transparent. However, as of present, the new department is its own private entity, essentially in the same way that the San Pierre Fire Department is currently. On December 30, 2016, Starke County Judge Kim Hall encouraged both par-ties to work out a solution on their own accords. If they were unable to reach an agreement by January 30th, they would return to court. On January 27th, the plain-tiffs asked the judge to ex-tend the order from December 30th and to provide another sixty days for mediation. They claimed that the trustee had been unwilling to meet to discuss the fire department contract as had been ordered in December. Thomason countered back that the San Pierre Fire Department had "waged a coordinated attack against [her] to pressure, frighten, shame, and belittle her to agree to their terms." She also added that the SPFD had not taken steps to improve their department and address her allegations of mismanagement, and that her new fire department was able to provide fire protection services. Thomason pointed to the SPFD taking disciplinary action against her husband, Paul Thomason, who is a member of the department, without due process. Sheclaimed that Andy Tilleraas, a member who joined the new Railroad Township Fire Department, had been harassed by the SPFD when they attempted to press criminal charges for taking fire department radios to be serviced and not returning them in a timely fashion. Thomason added that the SPFD had also attempted to modify their bylaws to kick anyone related to the

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