BC: I’m taking a break this week to let Jack Clark comment.
You’ve read the grand jury’s account of sworn testimonies it received from present and former IFPD firefighters and EMTs. (TC, July 10, p. 5.) IFPD commissioners read it, too, then unanimously ratified promoting Admin. Capt. Mark LaMont. (TC, July 17, p. 6.) So we’ve got to be asking ourselves: Who’s lying here?
Obviously, the commissioners know LaMont far better than most of us and clearly don’t believe he did the dishonest acts firefighters and EMTs testified he did, else they wouldn’t have ratified his promotion. Which means they believe multiple past and present firefighters and EMTs lied under oath to the grand jury, perjuring themselves. And, perjury is a felony punishable by a term of two, three or four years in the state penitentiary.
The commissioners apparently believe their department hired people capable of perjury to respond to our medical and fire calls. We don’t want to believe that. We want to believe these people are honest, and officially, FULLY trained and certified to do the jobs taxpayers pay them to do. We do not want to believe a dishonest administrator helped them fake their certifications. Future employers of IFPD firefighters and EMTs won’t want to believe that either.
Firefighters and EMTs are our heroes, not just for what they’ve done, but for what they stand ready to do, even to the point of risking their lives to save second homes of people they don’t know. They deserve the best we can afford to give them: the best salaries, the best benefits and the best equipment and facilities we can afford.
They deserve the best administration we can give them, too.
Jack Clark