If you were in an auto accident, would your principal source of information about your rights be the other driver’s insurance company? Probably not.

Last week, I wrote about a Whitewater resident who experienced approximately twenty-thousand dollars in damage from a municipal sewer backup. The story received coverage in Madison and Milwaukee, and I posted about it. See, Accountability Begins….Somewhere Other than in Whitewater, Wisconsin. Yesterday, I posted a follow up. See, Inside (Whitewater) and Outside (America).

(Note: I have no connection whatever to Lt. Cull. My remarks are wholly my own.)

Appearing immediately below are Whitewater City Manager Kevin Brunner’s remarks, in full, on the property damage. They’re part of his August 28th Weekly Report, available online.

Afterward, I’ll offer a detailed reply.

1. Sewer Backups

There has been much media attention this past week to a recent sanitary sewer back up that affected First Lt. Joseph P. Cull?s property on Park Street in the city. We are, of course, concerned about any property owner who has such an incident happen to them. Doubly so, in this case, because Lt. Cull needs to deal with it while serving his country thousands of miles away from Whitewater. I want to briefly explain how Whitewater and other Wisconsin municipalities handle such incidents.

When a sewer back up occurs, and a property owner incurs damage we ask that they file a claim against the city for the damages incurred. In turn, these claims are
forwarded to our liability insurance firm, which is the League of Wisconsin Municipalities Mutual Insurance Company. The League of Wisconsin Municipalities Mutual Insurance Program insures about 320 municipalities around the state of Wisconsin. In order for a municipality to be liable for damage that might occur to private property, it must have prior knowledge of the blockage and upon notice, did not remedy the situation. The municipality has no liability unless it knew or should have known of the existence of the defect.

According to Dennis Tweedale, who administers the League insurance program, since 2003 there have been 363 sewer back up claims filed, 95 of which (or 26%) received payment due to municipal liability. In Lt. Cull?s case, the City did not know about any blockage of the main artery sewer line adjacent to his property and as such the city?s insurance company would not pay for any related damages.

I personally had a sewer back up in my home in a previous community that I lived in and I incurred several thousand dollars worth of costs to fix my basement. Unfortunately, there was no liability on behalf of the municipality nor did I have special insurance that homeowners can obtain to cover such incidents. In addition to picking up such a rider on homeowners insurance to cover such sewer backups, homeowners should be advised that they can install back flow prevention valves that will prevent sewage from backing up into their basements. While, there is certainly a cost to do this, it is a minimal cost and probably less than $100.

Again, First Lt. Cull?s situation is a difficult one. We have been in touch with some community groups that are interested in possibly raising money for him to pay for the damages that he incurred due to this particular sewer back up.

Liability and Insurance Coverage. I truly cannot tell what to make of the discussion — in paragraphs 2 and 3 — about liability and insurance coverage. The remarks in the Weekly Report conflate the two concepts – liability and insurance coverage. They’re not the same, but the would-be explanation of liability in the City Manager’s report apparently mixes the two. Liability derives from an obligation at law, or an agreement between parties. Coverage concerns whether a person or corporation has insurance that will pay an aggrieved person in the event of a claim for money.

They’re not the same.

I’m not sure if City Manager Brunner understands this difference. Perhaps he does, but his description is poorly worded; perhaps he doesn’t and mistakenly believes that denial of coverage operates against liability (as a matter of law).

Brunner begins with simple description of coverage, about submitting a claim to an insurance company: “When a sewer back up occurs, and a property owner incurs damage we ask that they file a claim against the city for the damages incurred. In turn, these claims are forwarded to our liability insurance firm, which is the League of Wisconsin Municipalities Mutual Insurance Company. The League of Wisconsin Municipalities Mutual Insurance Program insures about 320 municipalities around the state of Wisconsin.”

He follows, immediately, not with an explanation of coverage, but of liability, as a principle of law: “In order for a municipality to be liable for damage that might occur to private property, it must have prior knowledge of the blockage and upon notice, did not remedy the situation. The municipality has no liability unless it knew or should have known of the existence of the defect.”

Wow — that’s quite a statement. Brunner’s declaration is unqualified, and completely ignores how any damage came about. Even in the case of sewers, it’s not as simple as Brunner writes.

Here’s what’s ironic: a review of the website of — ready? — the Wisconsin League of Municipalities would have shown Brunner as much. In a February 2009 summary of law on that website, two attorneys, well-known practitioners in municipal law, discuss these issues.

See for yourself, February 2009 Comment — Rising Waters: Municipal Issues When Dealing with Flooding & Water Damage Events.

Brunner also jumps from the “municipality has no liability unless it knew or should have known of the existence of the defect” in one paragraph to “the City did not know about any blockage of the main artery sewer line adjacent to his property and as such the city?s insurance company would not pay for any related damages.”

Too clever by half — look what’s missing. In one paragraph Brunner declares that the standard is “knew or should have known,” but in the next boldly announces that “the City did not know about any blockage….and as such the city’s insurance company would not pay…”

Even in Brunner’s apparently limited understanding of liability, he shifts standards — from one paragraph to the next — entirely omitting “should have known,” and mixing the idea of liability with insurance coverage.

There’s more to the question than that, but I’m not sure whether Brunner sees as much.

Identification. There’s a part of the discussion where City Manager Brunner attempts to identify with the plight of a resident facing tens of thousands of dollars in damage, by mentioning that he once incurred several thousand in a similar way.

It’s hard to imagine that any bureaucrat could be so obtuse. First, that Brunner experienced an injury years ago does not justify allowing a similar injury to go uncompensated now. So much for the City Manager as the instrument of a better community. When there’s a purse string attached, suddenly it’s tough luck, buddy.

Second, few on Earth would consider a well-paid bureaucrat’s loss analogous to the loss of a simply-compensated combat officer.

Third, consider Brunner’s idea of charity for someone who experienced this huge loss: “We have been in touch with some community groups that are interested in possibly raising money for him….”

Possibly.

If you were writing in response to press coverage of this kind of loss from a municipal sewer backup, wouldn’t you try to have a definitive charitable plan, if you were to raise the subject? Is the best you’d offer something that will ‘possibly’ happen? Of course not — you’d have a definite proposal, at the time of your response. (Note – press reports indicate that fellow Marines were already in action to help Lt. Cull.)

Our town’s politics and culture are as distorted as ever.

Editorial cartoonist Ed Stein on the economy –

Good morning, Whitewater

There are two public, municipal meetings scheduled for today in Whitewater. At 3 p.m., the Whitewater-University Tech park Board meets. The agenda is available online. Later, at 6 p.m., there is a special — but public — meeting of the Planning Commission. That agenda is also available online.

Here’s today’s almanac:

A bureaucrat’s remarks about “….much media attention this past week to a recent sanitary sewer back up that affected First Lt. Joseph P. Cull’s property on Park Street in the city….” are days late and twenty-thousand dollars short. The media attention came from reporting outside the city, while the local press stayed silent.

Over at WTMJ Radio, in the last few days, there was commentary on the damage to the house of Lt. Cull of Whitewater, and the City of Whitewater’s unwillingness to compensate that resident for twenty thousand dollars in damage. The story was previously the subject of a Madison television report at WISC-TV, and I posted on it. (See, Accountability Begins….Somewhere Other than in Whitewater, Wisconsin.)

It’s not a story that was covered locally, as far as I can tell, other than on this website. Madison and Milwaukee media have covered it, though.

That’s unsurprising — the local dynamic is for officials to flack happy stories, and Whitewater media likely think (still) that the only way to succeed in Whitewater is to comply with that tone (no problems, problems that are no local official’s fault, problems that are an outside official’s fault, or problems that are so rare that no one could have imagined that, gosh darn it, they’d ever happen here.)

(In this case: blame-shifting to — wait for it, Whitewater — the insurance carrier! Credit as the Very Model of a Modern Municipal Manager, but when there’s a problem….blame the insurer. That’s the ticket!)

That’s why, increasingly, residents are discovering that it’s best to turn to Madison or Milwaukee for an ear: that is, to find a reporter who will cover stories about local officials’ actions.

At one time, out-of-town stories might not have mattered as much, when stories about Whitewater covered in Madison and Milwaukee might not get back to Whitewater’s readers, listeners, or viewers so easily.

Those days are over — Madison and Milwaukee newspapers, radio stations, and television news reports are easily accessible online.

(I’d still like to see someone publish an online newspaper just for Whitewater, with real reporting, solid standards of journalism, and a true, inquisitive public watch on local politicians and bureaucrats, and municipal developments. We don’t have that; bloggers offer commentary.)

Although Madison and Milwaukee are far, and there’s only so much time out-of-town reporters can spend talking about Whitewater, I’d guess that Whitewater’s becoming a more interesting story for those reporters.

Why? Because some actions here are so wrong, stupid, or mediocre, and yet the local defense of them is so strident or unyielding, that it’s an interesting story for American communities with higher standards. Whitewater’s problem isn’t just mediocre leadership (other places have that), but mediocre leadership that often responds to those problems in galling, ignorant, or laughable ways. All the over-the-top boosterism runs up against the judgment and common sense of communities beyond Whitewater.

The City Manager’s remarks on the matter — in writing, not on camera — are finally available, days later, in his Weekly Report. (Predictably, an incumbent politician’s website flacks re-posts every word from the Weekly Report on the issue as though they were the very words of unalterable truth. Seldom does one seem so conformist and star-struck that obvious conflicts are ignored in the rush to print words as though they were from the very mouth of Wisdom itself.)

One of these stories does more damage than a thousand inconsequential marketing efforts can overcome. We’ve had quite a few of these stories, over these last years, and yet our officials make the same mistakes over and over again. They choose wrongly, and explain poorly.

I’m not sure if these gentlemen are foolish enough to believe their own rhetoric, or think we’re dumb enough to believe it.

It doesn’t matter. They’ll not change their ways, but America has changed around them. America: free, fair, prosperous, dynamic, committed to individualism, skeptical of government, with vast opportunities yet before her.

There’s no going back.

Here’s the fifth installment of cat blogging.

The Cat Fanciers’ Association of America recognizes about forty breeds of domestic cats, but all cats, single or mixed-breed, are admirable.

Cats have an independent spirit that’s a fine reminder of the individualism which Americans — at their best — so abundantly possess.

Today, I’ve posted a video about SIAMESE cats, a recognized CFA breed. Enjoy!

Good morning, Whitewater

There are no public, municipal meetings scheduled for today in Whitewater. There is one tomorrow, though, so your weekend isn’t completely safe. It’s the landmarks Commission, so the risk is probably slight.

It was on this day in 1963 that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial. The New York Times Has more on the speech:

More than 200,000 Americans, most of them black but many of them white, demonstrated here today for a full and speedy program of civil rights and equal job opportunities.

It was the greatest assembly for a redress of grievances that this capital has ever seen….

There was no violence to mar the demonstration. In fact, at times there was an air of hootenanny about it as groups of schoolchildren clapped hands and swung into the familiar freedom songs.

But if the crowd was good-natured, the underlying tone was one of dead seriousness. The emphasis was on “freedom” and “now.” At the same time the leaders emphasized, paradoxically but realistically, that the struggle was just beginning.

Here’s today’s almanac:

I previously posted a video clip of a British member of the European parliament in Brussels dressing down British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.  (See, Candid Talk About…England.) 

The MEP was Daniel Hannan, well-known in England.   Hannan’s back in an interview with Reason.tv, entitled, “British MEP Daniel Hannan on YouTube Superstardom, the NHS, and His Libertarian Plan for Britain.” 

(Note: The Reason interview has raised a storm in Britain, because in his remarks Hannan mentions the late Enoch Powell, an anti-immigration politician notorious for remarks on that subject. Two quick points: it’s clear that Hannan is not praising Powell for Powell’s anti-immigration stand, and sensible English commentators know as much. In any event, Reason supports immigration liberalization, so if anyone at Reason had thought Hannan was taking an anti-immigration stand, they would have called attention to it.)    

Here’s Hannan criticizing Gordon Brown: 

Now, the Reason.tv interview: 

Here’s an accompanying description of the Reason interview: 

Reason senior editor Michael C. Moynihan sits down with Daniel Hannan, the Milton Friedman-loving member of European Parliament representing South East England, to discuss his infamous showdown with Prime Minister Gordon Brown, his opinion of the British National Health Service, and what the Republicans could learn from the recent successes of Britain’s Conservative Party.

Hannan spoke at the Heritage Foundation in August. His talk can be viewed here.  Hannan blogs for the Telegraph here.

What will Whitewater do, in the face of grim economic and fiscal forecasts from Washington?

Set aside the temptation – so very strong in Whitewater, Wisconsin – to say that all our hard decisions were the fault of some federal politician.

They’re not – we’ve made poor choices long before the current Congress.

There’s a way out, though, if we’d abandon the idea of a municipal government that’s too big for our city, to stifling in its regulations, and too intrusive and presumptuous in its desire to shape life here.

A much smaller municipal government will lift a significant burden from this struggling town. We can have a much brighter future privately than the politicians of the city can offer publicly.

This can be our opportunity for a city made better not under a bureaucrat’s pedantic guidance, but through free exchanges between residents without a master plan, yet producing a result better than any plan.

The Congressional Budget Office yesterday issued its latest economic outline, as of August 2009, as a pdf document.  The CBO forecasts have been respected, traditionally, as accurate, non-partisan forecasts.  They estimate both annual federal deficits, overall public debt, and unemployment to continue to rise in the near term, with annual federal deficits (and thus overall public debt) continuing for years beyond.  

Here’s an excerpt from the report:

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that the federal budget deficit for 2009 will total $1.6 trillion, which, at 11.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), will be the highest since World War II. That deficit figure results from a combination of weak revenues and elevated spending associated with the economic downturn and financial turmoil. The deficit has been boosted by various federal policies implemented in response, including the stimulus legislation and aid for the financial, housing, and automotive sectors.

Although various indicators suggest that the recession may have ended or is likely to end within the next few months, CBO’s economic forecast anticipates a relatively slow and tentative recovery. A number of forces, including global economic weakness, continued strains in financial markets, and households’ desire to rebuild their savings, are expected to restrain economic growth for the next few years.

CBO estimates that, as the economy recovers, if current laws and policies remained in place, the deficit would shrink but remain above $500 billion per year, or more than 3 percent of GDP, throughout the 2010–2019period. As a result, debt held by the public would continue to grow as a percentage of GDP during that time.

That debt, which was as low as 33 percent of GDP in 2001, would reach an estimated 54 percent of GDP this year and grow to 68 percent of GDP by 2019.

The federal government simply won’t be able to fund — through federal deficit spending — state and local projects indefinitely, without long-term damage to America’s economy.  The state and local paths to continuing prosperity won’t run through Washington.  

See, in nearly one-hundred pages, the CBO report,  CBO Budget and Economic Outlook, August 2009.

I received the following press release that I am happy to post –  

The Alzheimer’s Association Memory Walk® will take place on Saturday, September 19, 2009 at Library Park, 918 West Main Street in Lake Geneva.

Over 600 people from Walworth and surrounding counties are expected to participate in this year’s event to raise awareness and funds to fight the disease, now the seventh leading cause of death in the United States. The three mile walk promises fun for all ages while raising money to help individuals and families affected by Alzheimer’s disease, including a 24/7/365 Helpline, support groups, research, education and training programs. 

The Alzheimer’s Association’s Memory Walk, nationally presented by Genworth Financial, is the nation’s largest event to raise awareness and funds for Alzheimer care, support and research programs. Held annually in hundreds of communities across the country, this inspiring event calls on volunteers of all ages to become Champions in the fight against Alzheimer’s. Champions include those living with the disease, families, caregivers, corporate and community leaders, who actively support Memory Walk in our community.

Leading the 2009 walk will be local physician, Dr. Britton Kolar, MD, a specialist in Geriatric Medicine. Entertainment will be provided by Petty Thieves, along with a hot-dog cookout, compliments of Stinebrink’s Piggly Wiggly. Key sponsors of this event include The Cordon Family Foundation, Brookdale Senior Living and GE Healthcare. Media partners include CBS 58 News and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and local radio station 96.1 WLKG. 

To register for the Alzheimer’s Association Memory Walk or to make a donation, contact the Alzheimer’s Association at http://www.alz.org/sewi or 414.479.8800. 

The Alzheimer’s Association is a national non-profit organization whose mission is to eliminate Alzheimer’s disease through the advancement of research and to enhance care and support for individuals, their families, and caregivers. The Alzheimer’s Association of Southeastern Wisconsin provides information, education, and support to people with Alzheimer’s and related dementias, their families, and healthcare professionals throughout an 11-county region. For more information about Alzheimer’s disease and local services visit alz.org/sewi or call the 24/7/365 Helpline at 800-272-3900.

Good morning, Whitewater

There are no public, municipal meetings scheduled for today in Whitewater.

The Wisconsin Historical Society recalls a famous invention, otherwise nearly forgotten:

1878 – Typewriter Patented

On this date Christopher Latham Sholes patented the typewriter. The idea for this invention began at Kleinsteuber’s Machine Shop in Milwaukee in the late 1860s. A mechanical engineer by training, Sholes, along with associates Carlos Glidden and Samuel Soulé, spent hours tinkering with the idea. They mounted the key of an old telegraph instrument on a base and tapped down on it to hit carbon & paper against a glass plate. This idea was simple, but in 1868 the mere idea that type striking against paper might produce an image was a novelty.

Sholes proceeded to construct a machine to reproduce the entire alphabet. The prototype was sent to Washington as the required Patent Model. This original model still exists at the Smithsonian. Investor James Densmore provided the marketing impetus which eventually brought the machine to the Remington Arms Company. Although Remington mass-marketed his typewriter begining in 1874, it was not an instant success. A few years later, improvements made by Remington engineers gave the machine its market appeal and sales skyrocketed. [Source: Wisconsin Lore and Legends, p.41]

Lincoln and Washington Elementary Schools will hold open houses tonight.

Here’s today’s almanac:

Over at Channel 3000, there’s a story about a United States Marine, serving in Afghanistan against the Taliban, whose house was flooded because of problems a City of Whitewater employee reportedly admitted were the city’s fault. (I have never met the officer in the story; my remarks are without personal connection.)

In a story entitled, Wisconsin Marine Facing Sewer Battle At Home: City Of Whitewater Admits Blockage In City Line Caused Back-Up”, Marine Officer First Lt. Joe Cull recounts that  

‘So I get a phone call, and he said, ‘Hey, the city’s sewer backed up and it’s caused a bunch of damage,’” Cull said, in an interview from Afghanistan. “(There was) eight to 12 inches of water and sewage in the whole basement of my house’… 

A sewer back-up in early July filled Cull’s basement with water and raw sewage. The City of Whitewater admitted that the back-up was the result of a blockage in a city-owned sewer main — off of Cull’s property and underneath the road, WISC-TV reported. Regardless of the admission, the city still won’t pay for the damage. Cull said, as a taxpayer, it’s just not right.

Here’s a television report from WISC-TV on the story: 

Does anyone from Whitewater’s municipal government have anything to say?  Well, yes.  Dean Fischer — Whitewater’s Director of Public Works — declares that “I understand his frustration totally….Again, we can’t control every discharge from a home that could cause a blockage.” Channel 3000 reports that a city worker has admitted that the damage was “our problem.”    

Note that Cull doesn’t expect compensation as a Marine, but as a taxpayer: “My service over here is strictly voluntary — and I don’t think the city of Whitewater owes me anything for it….But what I do think they owe me for is the fact that I pay taxes, just like everybody else who lives on my street.” 

Quick remarks: 

Fischer’s theory.  At least Fischer acknowledges the frustration someone would feel.  After that, his remarks are less sensible.   

Fischer’s right about not being able to control every discharge, but that’s not the issue here.  It’s not every discharge, but some discharges for which the city might be negligent.  That’s why, in the Channel 3000 report, there’s a reference to an insurance company letter to Cull claiming “no negligence.”  Even the insurance carrier considers the possibility of negligence.  

Does Fischer understand this difference?  I’m not sure.  If he doesn’t, then he shouldn’t be speaking for the city, on camera or in print.  If he does, but has conflated by design the concepts of mere cause and negligence, then he shouldn’t be speaking for the city, on camera or in print.  I have no idea, but either way, he’s not the one to handle the interview.  

Where’s the City Manager?  You know, every time there’s a ribbon-cutting, or awards ceremony, or task force, I seem to read that Whitewater City Manager Kevin Brunner was there.  When someone has to explain a problem to the press, not so much, it seems…  

The City of Whitewater website is littered with a listing of all the roles he supposedly plays.  He has the title, the office, the roles, the accolades, and the image as the Very Model of a Modern Day Manager.  

Shifting standards.  Note how Whitewater officials reject a general standard when it suits them (more restrictive, more intrusive than other American communities), but embrace a cosmopolitan approach when that approach suits them (how other communities supposedly handle liability).     

The Press.  Well, this is a significant story, about tens of thousands of dollars in damage.  You won’t find it in every place you might expect to see news, though.

Why? I don’t know.  It’s not a pretty story, about successes, triumph, infallibility — the kind of stories Whitewater’s tired, dissipated town squires like so much. 

There are other stories that our town grandees won’t discuss, and would prefer you didn’t hear about, perhaps because they don’t fit a tidy, happy narrative.

Contentions about scrupulous objectivity, though, are just self-serving, simply bias by another name.  Everything I write is commentary; so is what you may read elsewhere, all the pretending in the world notwithstanding.

Are you an amateur photographer, interested in taking pictures of interesting places in your town? Perhaps you’ve purchased a new camera, and would like to enjoy trying out its features.

This is America, a free place, and you should be able to enjoy taking pictures free from the badgering of local officials. They may be ignorant of your rights, but you can be well-informed.

Nationally-known attorney Bert Krages offers a website on photographer’s rights, with a downloadable pdf flyer you can carry with you.

Self-important officials shouldn’t be allowed to infringe on your rights as an American.

See, Photographer’s Rights Page. (Hat tip to Instapundit.com)

Good morning, Whitewater

There are no public, municipal meetings scheduled for today in Whitewater.

The New York Times recalls that on this day in 1920, the 19th Amendment went into effect:

The half-century struggle for woman suffrage in the United States reached its climax at 8 o’clock this morning, when Bainbridge Colby, as Secretary of State, issued his proclamation announcing that the Nineteenth Amendment had become a part of the Constitution of the United States.

The signing of the proclamation took place at that hour at Secretary Colby’s residence, 1507 K Street Northwest, without ceremony of any kind, and the issuance of the proclamation was unaccompanied by the taking of movies or other pictures, despite the fact that the National Woman’s Party, or militant branch of the general suffrage movement, had been anxious to be represented by a delegation of women and to have the historic event filmed for public display and permanent record.

Here’s today’s almanac:

I thought I’d take a moment to illustrate how different types of people, from normal people, descending to Whitewater’s politicians and bureaucrats, might describe a simple automobile accident.

NORMAL PEOPLE: We were driving along, not paying attention to the road, and our car veered off onto the shoulder. We hit a rock, and got a flat tire.

SLIGHTLY ABNORMAL PEOPLE: We were driving along, doing our very best, and a gust of wind pushed the car to the shoulder of the road, and a hard-to-see rock punctured our tire. It was eerie.

PREDOMINANTLY ABNORMAL PEOPLE: We were driving along, and somehow, we’re not sure how, we wound up by the side of the road. We noticed the car had a flat tire.

COMPLETELY ABNORMAL PEOPLE: We were driving along, listening to William Shatner’s rendition of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, and a spaceship from another world locked our car in a tractor beam, and forced the car into a rock. The creatures operating the spaceship said they disliked us, and used a phaser to blast a really big hole in one of our tires.

WHITEWATER POLITICIANS AND BUREAUCRATS: We were driving along, as we always do, in complete conformity with the 232 guidelines of the Municipal Road Safety Handbook, Third Edition.

Just as we were remarking on the importance of building a better community for our fellow residents, a squirrel jumped from the edge of the road, onto the hood of our car. We quickly refreshed ourselves on suggestions in the City Manager’s Guide for Squirrel Evasion and Familiar Quotations.

(We always try to read a few pages each night, before drinking a glass of warm milk, and thinking good thoughts about our town’s progress.)

The squirrel was red — a telltale sign of an anti-government radical — and had no collar or name tag. We don’t appreciate untagged squirrels, no mater how much we love all animals.

The squirrel deliberately threw himself on our windshield, obstructing our view of the road. Despite our most valiant and highly special efforts, we drove off the road — through no fault of our own — onto the shoulder. While easing our well-maintained and extremely professional-looking vehicle to a stop, we lightly impacted a large stone object. The aforesaid object caused a gradual reduction in tire pressure, commonly known as a flat tire.

We will circulate a community bulletin on safe-squirrel procedures, and depending on the volume of questions we receive, may authorize a task force to address seventeen possible responses to squirrel-induced flat tires.