Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 47. Sunrise is 7:14 AM and sunset 6:05 PM for 10h 51m 08s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 33.5% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1781, Britain formally surrenders at the Battle of Yorktown:

Battle of Yorktown, the surrender at Yorktown, or the German battle (from the presence of Germans in all three armies), beginning on September 28, 1781, and ending on October 19, 1781, at Yorktown, Virginia, was a decisive victory by a combined force of the American Continental Army troops led by General George Washington and Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, and French Army troops led by Comte de Rochambeau over British Army troops commanded by British peer and Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis. The culmination of the Yorktown campaign, the siege proved to be the last major land battle of the American Revolutionary War in the North American region, as the surrender by Cornwallis, and the capture of both him and his army, prompted the British government to negotiate an end to the conflict.

….

Cornwallis refused to attend the surrender ceremony, citing illness. Instead, Brigadier General Charles O’Hara led the British army onto the field. O’Hara first attempted to surrender to Rochambeau, who shook his head and pointed to Washington. O’Hara then offered his sword to Washington, who also refused and motioned to Benjamin Lincoln, his second-in-command. The surrender finally took place when Lincoln accepted the sword of Cornwallis’ deputy.

For many years, Whitewater had a volunteer, paid-on-call fire and emergency services department. For Whitewater and other communities, that model no longer provides enough volunteers or speedy response times. What once worked no longer does.

This libertarian blogger would have a preferred a private department, but preference does not decide good policy — response to human need decides good policy. While a private, libertarian perspective works best in most situations, it does not work exclusive of other, occasional options. Most of the time is not all of the time. 

A municipal department with a paid-on-premises model (where some fire and emergency workers are at the station and on the ready) is simply faster and more reliable for Whitewater.

Recognizing the importance of fire & emergency services, this libertarian supports the City of Whitewater’s Fire & EMS referendum.

We are a city of 14,889 people, with a distribution that skews both young and old. Emergency services are notably important for those age groups. 

One cannot emphasize enough: this Fire & EMS referendum is simply an effort to provide normal services to this town. It’s false and overwrought — if not mendacious — to contend that the Fire & EMS referendum represents something other supporting a Fire & EMS department. There is no sinister ideological motivation behind this effort; it represents only an effort at normal services for a normal town. That’s all.

These men and women who defend Whitewater against fire, accident, and injury do not act from a partisan or ideological purpose. Claims (false and nutty, as it turns out) that some civilian officials have ideological motivations are both irrelevant and immaterial. What is relevant and material is that Whitewater should have a stable, speedy, reliable department. 

It is sensible — common sense, one might say — to rely on the experience and expertise of those who have served. Embedded immediately below are the testimonials of Fire Chief Kelly Freeman, Emergency Services Chief Ashley Vickers, and Advanced EMT Jason Dean. 

Reasonably, rationally, their experience and testimony should guide one’s judgment. There is no evident error or omission in their testimonies. If this libertarian blogger could discern even a word askew, I would say as much. There’s nothing whatever askew. Their ideological views (of whatever perspective), other city officials’ ideological views (real or imagined), or my own libertarian position changes nothing of the facts they’ve plainly described.  Freeman, Vickers, and Dean speak simply and honestly about Whitewater’s needs. A professional, on-premises fire and emergency services department will ably preserve life and property in Whitewater. 

RELIABLE. FASTER. SAFER.

My best wishes and appreciation to those who serve in these difficult roles. I would hope — and so I urge — my fellow residents to support Whitewater’s Fire & Emergency Services referendum.