In Onway, Arkansas, Lonnie Montgomery created a tragic example of assumption of the risk in tort. Montgomery was found dead on Skunk Hollow Road after he tried to re-establish electrical service with a pair of jumper cables. It appears to be an urban legend gone bad that all you need is a pair of jumper cables and a meter box. Sheriff’s Major Andy Shock (I kid you not) says Montgomery was attempting to adjust or remove when he was shocked to death.
The 34-year-old man’s death was only the latest in a tampering case. Other deaths have occurred after thieves try to steal the cooper wire without considering the thousands of volts running through it, click here and here and here. This includes an attempted theft case just this week where a man had to be rescued, click here.
I am waiting for a current politician to make this speech. The poor are dying from lack of food, shelter, health care and heat. NO EXCUSES. This is not acceptable in the United States of America. This goes for helping our vets as well.
The Road Not Taken: Harry Hopkins and New Deal Work Relief
by June Hopkins
“One hot summer day in 1935, federal relief administrator Harry Hopkins presented his plan for alleviating the effects of the Great Depression to a group of shirt-sleeved Iowa farmers, not noted for their liberal ideals. As Hopkins began to describe how government-sponsored jobs on public projects would provide both wages for the unemployed and a stimulus for foundering businesses, a voice shouted out the question that was on everyone’s mind: “Who’s going to pay for all that?” Hopkins, with his characteristic flair for the dramatic, slowly took off his coat and tie, rolled up his sleeves, and looked out at the now-fascinated audience. Everyone knew the extent of Hopkins’s influence in Washington. His answer would reflect the attitude of President Roosevelt. “You are,” Hopkins shouted,
and who better? Who can better afford to pay for it. Look at this great
university. Look at these fields, these forests and rivers. This is
America, the richest country in the world. We can afford to pay for
anything we want. And we want a decent life for all the people in this
country. And we are going to pay for it.(1)
People can’t afford electricity? Four more years of Bush/McCain should solve that problem.