International Rescue: The Next Phase


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Re: Regaining Momentum [message #413 is a reply to message #412] Mon, 23 July 2012 20:38 Go to previous messageGo to previous message
artisticrainey is currently offline  artisticrainey
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Registered: July 2012
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Wednesday, October 10, 2068, 10:55pm, Tracy Island

Jeff Tracy threw the magazine down on the coffee table with a look of disgust on his face. Hearing the noise, Dianne looked up from her own magazine. "What's up?"

"This," replied Jeff, in an angry tone of voice. He handed her the recent edition of Time. "He gets 10 years in jail. The dead get nothing. I'd love to do something to help the families and to make sure no one else ever pulls something like this, but I have no idea what I can do."

Dianne picked up the magazine and read.

"Mine owner gets 10 years" By Thomas Hawkins.

"Jacob Henderson was sentenced to ten years for reckless endangerment and criminal negligence in the Cougar mountain mine collapse two years ago. The sentence is in addition to the $1.5 million fine leveled against his company, the Cougar and Bear Mountain Mining Company, for failure to follow safety regulations.

"Two years ago, a mine collapse killed 24 men and left thirty one others trapped and two missing. International Rescue was called in but four of the trapped men died before they could be rescued and two more died while undergoing treatment at a nearby hospital. The bodies of two missing have never been found, bringing the total dead to thirty two.

"One of the people testifying against Henderson was his secretary. She testified that one of the managers complained about the lack of emergency breathing apparatus and the need for extra shoring in the galleys. According to her testimony, Henderson told the manager 'If there is any trouble, we'll just call International Rescue. People will be so excited to see them, they'll ignore anything else and we can blame any problems with the mine supports on their drilling equipment.' The manager was sentenced earlier to 8 years as part of a plea bargain.

"Several wrongful death suits have been filed against the CBMM. The company has declared bankruptcy, claiming they have no money left after paying the fines. Several of the families have named Henderson as a co-defendant in the suits, separate from his role as company president, based on his comments. 'Clearly the company was negligent, but we feel Mr. Henderson was clearly reckless as an individual as well as as a company employee,' said Ronald Ecks, a lawyer for several of the victim's families. 'We feel he deliberately ignored safety regulations in order to earn a higher profit from his shares in CBMM.' The case is expected to force the court to reexamine corporate versus personal liability for decisions made by an individual owning a majority corporate share.

"Several of the families of the miners who initially survived but died before IR arrived have considered bringing a lawsuit against IR. The family of one of those killed in the initial collapse brought a suit against IR, claiming IR was responsible for allowing Henderson to be negligent. The judge threw out the suit, saying it had 'no merit' and was 'equivalent to blaming the fire department for someone starting a fire'."

Dianne put the magazine back down. "Dear, there is nothing you can do. People have been trying to find a way to blame others for their greed since the Garden of Eden. The only people who would blame IR for this are the people who would blame you for an ingrown toenail if they could."

Jeff walked over to the windows and looked out at the ocean. "It just makes me so angry that the guy would ignore safety to begin with. Then he tries to blame us."

Dianne smiled. "Welcome to my world. People ignore their doctor all the time, then blame the doctor when they get sick. Then they want us to fix whatever is wrong and blame us for not having a magic wand. Don't take the responsibility for other people being blind and stupid on your shoulders. You'll just go nuts without helping anyone, really."

Jeff walked back to the couch and picked up the magazine again. "I suppose you're right. Thomas Hawkins. That's Dom's half-brother again. I hope Dom doesn't see this; he's had enough happen these past few weeks."

"Let's hope he doesn't see it. Now come to bed and I'll work some of the tension out of your shoulders. I'm sure we can manage to get you to think about something other than that man's stupidity and greed."

"With an offer like that, how can I refuse?" Jeff smiled and held his hand out to help her out of her chair.

Posted by susanmartha on December 1, 2007

Dom plainclothes heartbeat Luke plainclothes

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