Utility company kills 93 y/o man! Shouldn’t someone get charged with premeditated murder? Looks premeditated!?
I read this one the news and had to post it for more people to read. That utility company killed this man, yet they say they done nothing wrong. The person that said that should spend a few days in a freezer and see how it feels… not saying kill the guy, just let him get hypothermia and some frost bite. This poor old man died a horrible death because he was poor. With all the jobless folks in this country, next will it be a family of 5? Will the utility company say then that they did nothing wrong also?
BAY CITY, Mich. – A 93-year-old man froze to death inside his home just days after the municipal power company restricted his use of electricity because of unpaid bills, officials said.
Marvin E. Schur died "a slow, painful death," said Kanu Virani, Oakland County’s deputy chief medical examiner, who performed the autopsy.
Neighbors discovered Schur’s body on Jan. 17. They said the indoor temperature was below 32 degrees at the time, The Bay City Times reported Monday.
"Hypothermia shuts the whole system down, slowly," Virani said. "It’s not easy to die from hypothermia without first realizing your fingers and toes feel like they’re burning."
Schur owed Bay City Electric Light & Power more than $1,000 in unpaid electric bills, Bay City Manager Robert Belleman told The Associated Press on Monday.
A city utility worker had installed a "limiter" device to restrict the use of electricity at Schur’s home on Jan. 13, Belleman said. The device limits power reaching a home and blows out like a fuse if consumption rises past a set level. Power is not restored until the device is reset.
The limiter was tripped sometime between the time of installation and the discovery of Schur’s body, Belleman said. He didn’t know if anyone had made personal contact with Schur to explain how the device works.
Schur’s body was discovered by neighbor George Pauwels Jr.
"His furnace was not running, the insides of his windows were full of ice the morning we found him," Pauwels told the newspaper.
Belleman said city workers keep the limiter on houses for 10 days, then shut off power entirely if the homeowner hasn’t paid utility bills or arranged to do so.
He said Bay City Electric Light & Power’s policies will be reviewed, but he didn’t believe the city did anything wrong.
"I’ve said this before and some of my colleagues have said this: Neighbors need to keep an eye on neighbors," Belleman said. "When they think there’s something wrong, they should contact the appropriate agency or city department."
Schur had no children and his wife had died several years ago.
Bay City is on Saginaw Bay, just north of the city of Saginaw in central Michigan.
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Information from: The Bay City Times, http://www.mlive.com/bay-city
This 93 year old man was a veteran. He fought for his country during World War II. He was a form cutter who worked all his life until retirement. If he had been some punk kid who was arrested for murdering someone, "the system" would have made sure he was adequately clothed, fed, and his hand held. "It’s not his fault", society would have said. "He must have been abused as a child. If we give him enough love, perhaps he won’t murder anyone else." People who make wrong decisions and get in over their heads are bailed out. People who rape and murder and pillage are bailed out. People who cheat and bully are rewarded. What about a plain, average Joe who worked all his life and fought for his country? This is a crime, and the utility company needs to be held responsible. Just because they refuse to acknowledge that they did anything wrong doesn’t mean they are correct. It saddens me to think of the lack of caring in this country.
welcome to the USA. its all about the money, no one gives a damn about the people
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This is horrible. They should NOT be allowed to turn off the heat when it is so cold.
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the old fart should have paid his bill.
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The old man should have paid his bill. This country is not here to provide welfare to everyone. Where was his family? Why didn’t they take care of him? I don’t blame the power company, I blame the old man for not paying his bill and his family for letting it get that far.
The worker for the power company that shut off the power did not know it was a 90+ year old man. All they knew was there was a customer that did not pay the bill. Don’t blame the power company here.
The story is written to get sympathy for the old man. Would anyone have sympathy for you if you did not pay your bill?
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That is awful, but I’m going to have to say the coroner’s comment about a slow and painful death is sensationalism. When you die of the cold it is actually one of the more painless ways of dying.
The body completely shuts down long before you actually die.
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Why blame just the utility company?
Where were this man’s neighbors?
Where was his family?
Where were the members of his church?
Why did no one think it important to guard the well being of a 93 year old man who lived by himself?
There’s plenty of blame and shame to go around. We are all our brother’s keeper, and we’re all responsible for watching out for each other.
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too many people don’t/can’t pay their bill, unfortunately they don’t look at the status of a person’s lives before they cut off service. I do think it should be illegal though to cut off people’s electricity when the temperatures outside could kill you.
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do you realize what country u are talking about anything that involves a little money they arent taking any chances
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They are doing their job by turning off the electricity for unpaid bills he was lucky to have the Limited electricity thing they installed
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I am sorry to say, but there is aid out there for people like this 93 year old man. I am sorry that he died, but it is not the utility’s fault that he could not pay his bills.
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i believe that they shouldn’t have taken the electricity in the cold time but wait till the temperature is warmer.so no fatal death will occur.
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I understand why you feel upset over this. Most company’s waste more money then they would have to give away to heat homes for the poor. but most of the people would take advantage of the power companies and take it for free if they could, so they don’t offer that.
What most power companies will do is help you to find a source of money to pay the bill, like grants, hardship grants or loans, welfare, senor help, the Eagles or Elks clubs help too. a budget system of one rate and payment all year long is what we use so we can plan on the cost for a year and not see a couple of hundred of dollars in a one month bill, but 65.00 a month all year.
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I cried when I read this–poor guy–in my county–the electric pigs dogs are not allowed to cut off any elderly’s power–regardless of the bill in the dead of winter..It is state legislature matter–and the citizens in that state–should march on the capital…God help us in the cruel country where people disregard the human over the material!!
Where is the love in today’s’ population? Gone?
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Massachusetts state law prohibits the utility company from turning off your heat for non-payment from Nov. to March or if anyone in the house is over 65. This is to prevent exactly this type of tragedy.
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The only thing I can say about this, that it was a sad thing to happen to one of our seniors. RIP
Thanks for asking.
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You are relying on a newspaper article. Reporters have been known to get the facts wrong…and sometimes they even embellish. Secondly, you don’t have all of the facts. Utilities have strict rules that they must follow, set by state governments, before shutting off utilities.
What if the limiting device failed? It then becomes a product liability claim against the manufacturer.
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Retired claims adjuster.
Don’t you know that this is America? The nation of greed.
Fortunately in my state, they do not turn off your power during the winter time because they got a lot of slack years ago for this same reason.
I am sick of the above answerers complaining of it not being the utility companies fault. Blah Blah Blah. Easy for you to say all that. It would be a totally different story if it involved your own family. They are an example of what cold hearted America is all about.
I totally believe, weather or not he owed them past due billls, the company should be held liable for their actions.
They should be charged.
Sounds like a robbery to me and homicide.
"Give me the money or we will kill you"
Enough said.
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Is this a spin on the Football Coach story?
Welcome to the P U SS ification of America, this is what happens in a PC and Everyone must win society,
looking forward for more of this type of nonsense in the 09.
while were at it what about the coach who was canned for his team running a score up?
I blame Soccer moms.
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This 93 year old man was a veteran. He fought for his country during World War II. He was a form cutter who worked all his life until retirement. If he had been some punk kid who was arrested for murdering someone, "the system" would have made sure he was adequately clothed, fed, and his hand held. "It’s not his fault", society would have said. "He must have been abused as a child. If we give him enough love, perhaps he won’t murder anyone else." People who make wrong decisions and get in over their heads are bailed out. People who rape and murder and pillage are bailed out. People who cheat and bully are rewarded. What about a plain, average Joe who worked all his life and fought for his country? This is a crime, and the utility company needs to be held responsible. Just because they refuse to acknowledge that they did anything wrong doesn’t mean they are correct. It saddens me to think of the lack of caring in this country.
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