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An interesting article on gun control

But with a very unique twist?

By Nick Markowitz Jr.

Citizen / Patriot

I heard this story recently on the Neal Boortz radio talk show www.boortz.com

After a conversation on home schooling.

Neal is a libertarian and has many interesting guests and views.

How Freeland solved its Gun control problems.

A small New England community is holding a town hall meeting to discuss rules and regulations regarding guns and how to allow them and properly regulate them.

When a young lady steps up to the podium and introduces herself as Ms. Smith from the tiny nation of Freeland some were in the  European continent.

She goes on to tell how here nations a firm beliver in defending the rights of gun owners even providing special training classes for free how to properly use and maintain there guns but like many responsible gun owners they also had those who did not get proper training, store there guns properly or clean and maintain them and or illegally modified them. To get rid of the problem

The government opened up a center in each town were every workday gun owners dropped of their guns. So they could be properly cleaned tested and inspected and illegal modifications removed by government gun experts and the government even provided a pick up service after citizens complained about having to drive to the facility to drop off there guns. So the gun owner could then go about his business faster with out worrying about his gun falling into the wrong  hands as they worked. At the end of the workday he either picked up his gun or the government delivered it to his home. But of course some gun owners complained to the government that there guns did not function as well after the government experts worked on them so the government allowed privately run gun facilities to operate   but of course many people did not use them because they had to pay for the service. But all in all the problems of citizens not properly handling their guns has been eliminated in the country of Freeland. As the politicians sat and listened intently members of the community got up and slammed the thought of such a program in America one said he would give up his guns when they were pried from his hands.

 The meeting was about to conclude when it was interrupted by the yellow school bus that pulled up to the town hall to let the towns children off.

And the parents quickly picked up their children and headed off to home till the next meeting could be held.

We are so concerned about our gun rights but how many of use are also concerned about our children’s education is not the above story on gun control exactly what goes on everyday in this country when we put our children on a school bus and they go to government provided schools and they are taught by government certified instructors completely out of our range of hearing and seeing what is going on.

Wonder why our world is so screwed up take a hard look at our children’s education and then you will understand why the growing trend to home school is getting bigger every day.

An interesting dinner conversation and how the state

 Of our modern mental health care

Has destroyed this country.

By Nick Markowitz Jr.

Recently I was asked to use my skills as a Fire Inspection/ Investigation expert to

Help the Emsworth Pa. Fire Chief were I am a member with his inspection of the old

Dixmont State Mental Hospital Property although much of the 177 structures on the property was abandoned and fallen on hard times some of the buildings have been rented out to new tenants, which we were inspecting. I found it very Ironic this once bustling State Hospital site

Which was once its own self-sufficient community to help the mentally disabled Changed so much. And how mental health policy treatment and changes has

All but closed most of these sprawling properties. Like Western Center for Children, Woodville and Most of Mayview and Polk. Along with other facilities all across the country and it brought me back to a dinner conversation I had several years ago with the father of Jeffery Dahmer yes that Jeffery Dahmer the Serial Killer Cannibal from Milwaukee Wisconsin. In a strange twist of fate I got to meet Jeffries father and Step Mother at my sister in laws Horse farm in Ohio. Mrs. Dahmer is a horse enthusiast and rented a stall from my sister in law.

After my relatives, Dahmers and my self had worked on the farm all day doing chores and repairs etc. we sat down for dinner and I got to speak to Mr. Dahmer all so delicately.

He told me how deeply he regretted what Jeffery had done and he really did not want to talk about it and I respected his whishes. And I was surprised to learn that in Jeffries early years they actually lived in Penn Hills not to far from me. When he asked were I lived. When Jeffery’s parents divorced his mother took him to Wisconsin were Mr. Dahmer was only able to keep limited contact with his son.

And basically his raising was left to the mother. This is one of many cases were one has to ask with all the warning signs there were about young Jeffrey why the mental health community did not get involved sooner and why Jeffery did not get treatment sooner instead being allowed to kill many young men eating parts of them and eventually being revealed and tried for murder and sentenced to life in state prison were he was violently and horrifically killed, when he accidentally was allowed into a non secure area of the prisons general population. It all starts back at the entrance to Dixmont State Hospital and all the ancient facilities like it.

In the early history of our country places like Dixmont were built to house and take care of the mentally ill away from the general public for the most part they were humanely run places I remember as a child going past Mayview on a weekend trip and how the patients were actively engaged in maintaining the beautiful farms around the property but that all stopped when labor dept insisted the patients be paid minimum wage in the 60’s and all those farms and many other facilities were abandoned and fell into disrepair much like Dixmont which like the others saw buildings destroyed by the arsonists match. But as well as some places were run there were the many horror stories of abuses that were allowed to go on. In the old days just the word of a greedy family member or family physician could mean a lifetime of incarceration in such a facility. There was the case several years back at Mayview were a women spent 58 years at Mayview all because she was found running burned and hysteric in the street after her family was killed in a home fire she escaped and at the time it was not realized her screams were in Ukrainian

And no one understood the language all thinking she was madly insane it was only after a Ukrainian language major was working at the hospital as an intern that she recognized the women was shouting in Ukrainian trying to get attention The women now very old has been released after a tragedy that never should have happened. There is also the movie “Incident in Baltimore “which was shot at the then closed Woodville based on the real life story of a young women wrongfully incarcerated and brutalized by the system because of an uncaring mother. Who allowed here to be sterilized let alone the cruel lobotomy surgeries that was used to correct extreme behavior and often left patients dead or vegetables.

But mental health care has changed extremely because of the abuses and instead of the mentally ill being institutionalized you now see many of them living on the street homeless. Because the state is no longer allowed to hold people against there will if they are not a danger to them selves and the community large institutions have given way to group homes which are often times worse than the treatment they previously received because the privately run group homes see cash cows not clients and I have testified to such here in Pa. When they closed Western Center. But Psychotherapy and medicines which allow a person to live in normal society have been eliminating the need for places like Dixmont. But the homeless situation points out just as Jeffery Dahmer does what is still wrong with the way we handle mental illness. In the old days Jeffery’s then reckless behavior would have landed him in a facility for treatment instead of therapists passing him from one to the other or being totally ignored. The big homeless problem you see today would not be the problem it is if places like Dixmont were still available because many of the homeless are the mentally ill who refuse to take there medication and are left to live a miserable life on the streets often involved in crime as either perpetrator or victim instead of in a safe Place like Dixmont were they can contribute to society. The homeless do not go to the shelters because they are dangerous and they have to conform to the rules on the street they do what they want. The others homeless because of job loss drugs etc would the be better served when you help get those with mental heath issues off the streets into

Safe places. But the problem is the Communist ACLU who has tangled the rules to getting a patient committed to the point the Jeffery Dahmer’s of the world do not get the treatment they often need .It is not till a person becomes a serious danger to themselves or the community that they can be placed for treatment and then only for 30 days evaluation which often times they are then released with some pills and therapists appointments and are told to go on there way.

Plus the cost of treatment is skyrocketing for mental health because of the high liability lawsuits costs and laws, which have to be followed. Once again the bleeding heart liberal do wells have screwed up what was a once efficient and safe system for the mentally ill.

Instead they have thrown them out into the streets and told them you’re free to live their lives but are they really. Yes the old system was not perfect and it had its problems but instead of working to correct the problems the commie leftists in this country totally destroyed it. Remember Liberal rule No 1 # the result is the exact opposite of the stated intent of liberals.

ANOTHER CASE FOR WHY FIRE PROTECTION SPRINKLER SYSTEMS

SHOULD BE REMOTELY MONITORED

By Nick Markowitz Jr.

Member Emsworth VFD and

Private Industry Fire Investigator

This past winter has proved to be a nasty one over 2 weeks of below freezing weather, which took its toll on water, based Fire protection systems.

Many fire depts. Responded to frozen Sprinkler Pipes that in many cases were not being monitored remotely and the problem was not known often till water was seen rolling out

Of doorways and windows.

Luckily one of my Larger Fire Alarm customers Holy Family Institute this past summer tied all of there Fire systems on there main campus into the UL central station service I use. After Emsworth Fire Chief Mike Adams required it.

Although it was expensive to do so the monitoring proved it self out early on a Saturday

Morning when it was 4 degrees out.

A 1” Inspectors Test valve running along the wall in the New Education Buildings computer Storage Room froze and burst sending water all over the room and because it was detected and the Emsworth Fire Dept responded quickly water damage was minimized and never got to the computer Main frame for the campus.

Had the building not been monitored it could have been several hours till some one may have noticed the problem and then got hold of maintenance etc. and who knows what kind of mess could have resulted. 2 years ago I had a 4 story building in Monroeville saved from sprinkler water damage thanks to a $10.00 low temp sensor I tied in to the system, which caught the furnace failure in a large storage area.

But for every success story there are also failures. Several years ago I fixed a sprinkler system in a very large manufacturing plant that was sitting empty when it’s sprinkler system failed to be detected going off after the monitoring system had been disconnected

In Wilmerding Pa. By the time the fire department was called water had built up several feet in the plant aprox. .400,000 gallons and was coming out the garage doors. The water just missed going into live 600-volt electrical switchgear. Fire dept members could have been seriously injured responding. In another case in the North side of City of Pittsburgh a

Customer of mine recently picked up a 6 story building for very cheap price after the sprinkler system again froze and burst after the building sat empty with no heat, sending water down 6 story’s. He will have to completely rebuild the inside of the building. And replace the whole sprinkler system

This time of course he is going with a dry pipe system so he does not have to keep the whole building heated only one small area.

Monitoring of Sprinkler systems for both water flow, low air pressure low temp etc.

Is the best insurance against catastrophic loss? But building owners bulk at monitoring fees of $20 to 100.00 a month, which puts firefighters and communities in danger for no good reason.

Another church construction

Project and another contractor

On my list of those I will do no further work with.

By Nick Markowitz Jr.

Fire Investigator / Electrical Contractor.

I was invited by another Electrical contractor I know to give a bid for a Fire and Security

System for a Baptist Church Expansion in the Mon valley area

They were adding a 3000 Sq Ft. steel building addition which would serve as the new sanctuary. And offices I based my bid on drawings showed with 2 areas being unfinished

For the time being because money was not available . I took my plans down got a preliminary approval for the work and minimal protection in the unfinished area and submitted my bid. Nearly 2 years go by and I never hear a word I figure I must not have gotten the bid. Mean while I have been watching them build this addition and they have had nothing but foundation and structural steel problems delaying the job.

I finally get a call the job needed done immediately they forgot about needing a fire alarm and by the way they had already started covering the walls with drywall.

I push aside some other jobs and get there and do the pre-wiring needed before they had every thing enclosed. The foreman tells me he will call me a couple of days in advance when he needs me to finish which he fails to do and again its rush it.

I get down to the job site and find walls were the previous plans were not showed and they were now building offices in the vacant space. I call the foreman over and ask what the hell is going on he says not to worry L&I approved it already. But I had to go file my permits and get inspections he said do not worry the church has a lot of clout and just get the permits and not worry about any thing.

I get my permits call for the preliminary inspection so they can occupy the sanctuary part and when the woman inspector comes on the job site she wants to know from the pastor and the general contractor what is going on and why no permits were filed and why she was not called for a framing inspection why the Fire Wall and other items were not properly done and handled. She was ready to make them tear down the walls and start from scratch but they convinced her they would have all the matters taken care of. Later that day I reminded the pastor about the passage in the bible about ”Hell hath no furry like that of a woman being scorned” and he agreed he would make sure what had to be filed and done would be followed thru on as things progressed. He also paid me for the extra Smoke detectors horn strobes and Pull Stations to finish the job. Which I gave to him at cost to help get the project completed. And since there were some deletions from the original contract I was able to bolster his Burglary system for him. It was later in the day when I was securing the phone lines on the outside of the old building to allow for the panel dialer to work when I smelled Natural gas near the meter. I notified the Pastor who called the Equitable gas company who came out and found when the contractor moved the meter for the new construction they only had 2 threads caught on the one fitting. Good thing they came as well because when they went into the old church and

Fixed the fitting when they went to light all the pilot lights they found with all the construction the furnace room had gotten pack up with items and a plastic hose of a dry/wet Vac was melting onto the exhaust pipe of the furnace. Of course the General contractor trys blaming the gas company for the bad fitting and with all my years of dealing with Equitable Gas I know it was the contractors fault not the gas company

Of course it has been 4 months since I started on this project and the contractor is still screwing around not getting the job done .

 

2 more examples of those who take from society

Instead of contributing

There known as Arsonists.

By Nick Markowitz Jr.

I was in Mc Kees Rocks Pa. The other day picking up Electrical Supplies when I heard the Fire Dept. Sirens going off and looked outside to see a tremendous cloud of black smoke going high

Into the sky. Since I take fire photos as hobby and contribute them to several fire related web sites [ www.hoopieworld.com  ] I went over to see what all the commotion was about.

I follow the cloud over to the old P&LE Rail Road Yards were some one had set fire to a 100 year old abandoned Railroad Repair Shop.

The flames were so intense because of chemicals and tires being stored illegally that homes over 100 foot away had their vinyl siding melted off the front of their homes. Luckily no one got hurt and only the building burned but

Once again a serious Arson fire in this community which has suffered many serious arson fires over the years. A father and son torched this very railroad yard in 1983

Which destroyed a 3 block long repair building and 10 homes 1 being there’s as they were trying to collect on there insurance fraudulently. But Arson is very successfully gotten away with on average only a 15% conviction rate.

And more than likely this time it will be gotten away with. Witnesses report youths running from the scene and hopefully the will be caught and convicted.

But a town which has seen its business district and many jobs disappear once again suffers. The town has tried to set up patrols, cameras, board up properties cite absentee landlords etc to stop the arsons with little effect because not enough people care to get involved and instead just run there mouths instead of doing something about it. While there community burns down around them.

Two weeks before this incident I was working in a Food Land Super Market in the Beech view section of Pittsburgh Pa.  And while I was repairing there surveillance camera system I noticed 2 young white boy toughs come into the store I made sure what cameras were still working were recording and they left after making a purchase in the store.

Beech view has seen it decline like many other Pittsburgh Neighborhoods and there are several abandoned buildings in the neighborhood one of them an old bar with upstairs apartments next to the Food Land after the boys left I went out side after about 10 minutes and smelled smoke I could not see any thing and saw the boys sitting on the steps of the bar they said they smelled smoke to I heard a news helicopter over the next hill and assumed there was a fire some where close and the smell was drifting.

Little did I know the 2 toughs had set fire to the old bar? Because 5 minutes after I went back into the store the Fire Trucks pulled up and smoke was now starting to come out the upstairs windows of the abandoned Bar. I told the firemen and police about the 2 boys as did several other people who saw them in the alleyway coming out of the abandoned building and the police caught them I and the others identified them and I handed over to the Arson investigators the tape of the store video cameras. The Boys admitted guilt and will be seeing jail time, as the one is a known troublemaker to the police.

The fire was small and caused little damage but still another abandoned building the city and community failed to do any thing about.

Of course when they look into the back round of these kids there going to find an abusive home, poor living conditions, mental health issues etc etc. Besides these 2 geniuses most likely could not read as well since my truck sitting outside has a Blue Flashing Light bar and fire Investigator Plate on it.

Hopefully in the end the building will be torn down and community brought back to life some day but not for the certain future the exact same scenario pays out daily in this city with an average of 1-5 arson fires a day .The city is near bankruptcy and Investigators are over worked and the courts are backed up and prosecutors are often handed the arson case the day of the trail and expected to get a conviction.

So more often than not an arsonist gets away with his crime further declining society all while getting his kicks.

Luckily in my community they are aggressive towards getting abandoned properties knocked down to prevent problems.

Plus they are proactive at getting convictions and stopping the problem before it starts.

But even we are not always successful.

Until we as a society are ready to stand up and take control of our lives and our communities there will continue to be chaos on a daily basis. It is time to stop the insanity.

ARSON IS NOT A VICTIMLESS CRIME

YOU CAN HELP STOP THE INSANITY

By Nick Markowitz Jr.

Private Industry Fire Investigator

 The week of May 4-10 is Arson Awareness Week and it is intended to let the public know the costs that Arson brings to everyone. Arson is not a Victimless Crime

If you pay for any type of Insurance your premiums indirectly pay for those who commit arson, when an insurance company pays for a bogus Fire claim

Arson is a vicious crime with few successful prosecutions. As much of the evidence can be completely destroyed.

Arson is committed for various reasons.

A mentally ill child or adult who sets fire for the thrill it releases. Some people actually

Find a fire sexually gratifying. Arson is committed by criminals out of revenge or to cover up a crime or as a gang initiation. Arson has been used as a way to defraud Insurance company’s when businesses are losing money and a fire is set to recoup loses or a person can not afford the vehicle they own and set it on fire to collect a payment.

But besides money losses many lives are lost as well including Firefighters responding to put out the fires. Many times arson fires not only destroy the property that the Arsonist intended to Burn down but it often time takes innocent victims property as well. But you the public can help stop arson when you report suspicious activities around vacant buildings or hear talk at work or leisure activities about some one saying they are going to burn there vehicle or business or home. You see one way arsonists are caught is because they often have to brag about what they have done and this is were you the public can help. There is a Toll Free number were you can report suspected Arson Activities in complete confidence 1-888-603-3100 the” Target Arson “ Line set up by the International Assoc. of arson Investigators IAAI As a Pa. Chapter member of IAAI myself I get to see first hand destruction that a fire causes and the loss of life and what makes it even worse is when you know the fire was a deliberately set Arson fire.

 

CAN AN ELECTRICAL WIRE INSIDE A WALL FAIL AND CATCH FIRE FOR NO REASON

AND CAN YOU REALY TELL IF THE DAMAGE WAS BEFORE OR AFTER THE FIRE?

EVEN THE EXPERTS DISAGREE?

By Nick Markowitz Jr.

Fire Investigator  / Electrical Contractor

We all have heard or scene at fires were the wire inside the wall gets blamed for the cause of the fire.  The Usual cause it damage by a nail or staple coming into contact

With the wire were it goes thru a wood joist and some one hanging a picture or a carpenter putting up paneling or drywall gets blamed for causing the wire puncture.

But some times the lines are blurry when it comes to a piece of wire failing in a wall when it is between the wall studs hanging freely in the air

Can a wire fail for no apparent reason and can it be told it was before or after the fire it all depends who you talk to.

Many Electrical Engineers will tell you absolutely there is no positive way to tell pre or post damage to a wire like you might see on TV show like CSI

And claim that any engineer no matter what test he runs to prove it is no better at it than some one with an Ouija Board. (Pronounced We-ge)

While if you ask other professionals they will tell you positively that it can be established Pre or Post fire.

What it comes down to is science and whom the jury believes.

Recently while helping with an investigation of a fire I had just such a case were it appears that there was damage to a piece of wire in the air between studs. And it could possibly be from defective wire manufacturing and or rough handling of the wire.

But there is a problem how to prove it. One problem is was they  a chair or other item along the wall were the wire supposedly failed. Could the chair have caught fire and then caught the wall on fire which would cause the wire to fail this scenario is very possible and is often over looked by investigators who would instantly say see it was electrical wire failure when in fact what was in front of the wall that caused the fire.

According to the homeowner there was nothing along the wall were this wire was located. And there was no charring or pattern on the floor to suggest any thing was in front of the wall.  Next question was there any type of Electrical activity in the house. Yes home owner reports lights dimming and flashing occasionally and turning on and off and before they left for the day they smelled smoke in the room in question but attributed it to the belt on the vacuum cleaner they had run. In fact the homeowner was in process of getting an electrician to come over and check the wiring. Ok could a nail or other item have penetrated the wire and caused the problem. With as low as the wire was in the wall highly unlikely. Plus since the firefighter’s responding to the call turned off all of the breakers in the breaker box instead of just the main we have no way to know if the circuit in question tripped during the fire which could have been another clue.

So it does appear to be an electrical failure in the wire it self.

Now many engineers will argue how can a wire just fail in the middle you have a Romex wire were the ground, covered with paper the hot (Black) and neutral {white) are separated and white and black are both insulated how can there be any way for these wires to fail.

But lets look at some other factors what if the wire is defective from the factory right at this spot cases have been proven in court were defects in a roll of wire have occurred.

I recently had an Engineer show me pictures of a failure case involving defective MC type cable he had won. With all the miles of wire I have run in my lifetime it is rare but I have seen defects in a roll of wire and had to eliminate them. Especially in low voltage wiring.

Also (Romex) wire type NM is solid and solid wire tends to break easier than stranded.

At this point it will be up to the scientists and Engineers to argue out what happened but everything points to the wire failing. I will keep you informed as to what happens in the future.

Editors note  : This Friday the 13th character I meet at a hardware store in new kensington in the early 90s and he would write me notes to be published because he did not have a computer I never knew his real name just old man

Biting the hand that feeds them

How the USW is demeaning our president

Who is trying to help save there jobs?

The Friday the 13^th Anarchist report

Recently while at a friend’s home I picked up a copy of the United Steel Workers Union

News Paper which articles were nothing more than a total bash on the Republican Party and President Bush including the usual Leftist Cartoons bashing Bush.

All this while President Bush has put our nations export trades at risk because he is fighting the world trade council to keep the tariffs on imported steel to this country.

While the world trade organization is threatening retaliatory tariffs against all of our exports.

The Union Membership sit there and criticize him how his policies are making them loose there jobs how he has gotten us into another Vietnam in Iraq and how he has wrecked our economy and put thousands out of work. And every thing is about Oil and how he and Cheney should be impeached and imprisoned for wrecking this country and stealing all the oil profits.

All the while president bush tax cuts are starting the economy back up which 9-11 terrorists and lack of over sight during the Clinton years caused the crash. We have freed an imprisoned and oppressed people of Iraq and he has managed to make Iraq and Afghanistan the battleground for terrorists instead of it happening over here.

Yes I am not happy with all the things President bush is doing and has done

But there is no single president who ever has or ever will be 100% perfect in record and deed. But this does not give the USW and its members the right to Bash President Bush and his father the way they have. All the while President Clinton was in office not once did he raise a finger to help the steel workers but because he was a democrat no matter what he did he could do no wrong, but here we have President bush trying to help the steel workers and all they do is criticize him and the Republican party.

Because in the union members mind Republicans are nothing but greedy capitalists who would have every one working for 25 cents an hour 12 hours a day 7 days a week in dirty and dangerous conditions and who would foul the environment. Republicans do not want workers making too much money because when workers make too much money then they can rub elbows with them at Country clubs etc. how dare would a common working man spoil there fun. Yes unfortunately there were such people with such attitudes such as scum like Henry Clay Frick, Andrew Carnegie, Andrew Mellon, J.Paul Getty and other Robber Barons and no doubt just such people exist today. But by no means is this the mission or agenda of the Republican Party.

Some times it seems the Republican and democratic Parties you can not even tell apart but as long as in the Union members mind that Republicans can never do good then there will always be the Unionist mentality which causes business to look else were for a work force.

Do we need unions in this country absolutely because we have companies with Bad management who need union control over them But these same Bad management companies need the +&*^%$ kicked out of management who act in such a manner. But unions also need to realize that not every company is badly run and not every republican is out to get them. 80% of this country is non-unionized and running just fine. Unions complain about all the jobs going over seas maybe they need to take a direct look at there own policies as to how many jobs they have caused to be lost and opportunities never realized because they are inflexible.

Look at how many towns and cities are in serious financial problems and there biggest expense is wages and in many cases these workers are unionized and making wages way over what the same position would pay in a comparable non-government job.

No wonder so many governments are in trouble. And have to raise taxes.

The steel unions demanded higher and higher wages, as there industry was gong down hill because of environmental rules, plants not modernizing and more and more use of plastics instead of steel. But did they sit down at the table and try to work with management and increase productivity and try to get political backing etc. they did not.

In my own area 70% of the steel mills are history. Yet Nucor a non-union steel plant has turned a profit every year and workers make a good wage.

Along with many other companies like Lincoln Welders, Marconi etc who can compete head to head with foreign imports why because management is not greedy and works with its workers to insure high productivity and low overhead.

I have never ever seen such an arrangement when unions are present in a company.

It is always the company is ripping us off and not paying us what we are worth.

You now have just such a problem with the supermarkets in this country as Walmart comes in and swallows every thing in sight. Its grocery division is killing all the other chains who are trying to compete and stay alive and what have the unions done they have gone on strike demanding higher wages etc and no layoff guarantees while there members go shopping at Walmart for the cheap prices. Which have put 100’s of Union workers out of work because the companies they work for could not produce the low prices Walmart demands, Instead of sitting down and working out strategies to keep Walmart at bay.

Where are the Union Members protesting trying to stop Walmart and its tactics.

Yes unions you need to take a good hard look at your policies and re-examine them and then decide what you are going to do to keep good paying jobs in this country instead of them going overseas. The choices are not easy but until you loose the attitudes and mentality every one non-union sees there is going to continue to be a constant loss of union jobs and business in this country.

BUILDING CODE VIOLATIONS IN A CHURCH

CAN BE A TOUCHY MATTER BUT

NO ONE IS EXEMPT FROM A TRAGEDY.

By: Nick Markowitz Jr.

Electrical Contractor  / Fire Investigator

Recently I was contracted by a Professional Camera Supply Store to provide 120 volt

Wiring to a retractable Movie screen that was put up in a small local church’s Sanctuary.

By another contractor.

I got on site completed the wiring and told the church officials I needed to have my work inspected. So that my work is covered by my liability Insurance carrier. They Bulked at the idea and have refused to call me back to have an Electrical Inspector come on the property so since the 3^rd party inspector I use does not have enforcement powers I contacted the AHJ and advised him as to the problem. They tried to give him the brush of too .I know why the church does not want any thing inspected because after walking around the church trying to find the breaker box to shut off power I found some very serious code violations. There are no ABC type extinguishers, which BOCA requires just some older Co2 and water cans

The back up generator for emergency lighting and Exit lights has no battery and has not worked for some time. There is paint stored under the wooden steps and gasoline in the workshop. There is a stove in the basement with no hood of any type, the boiler room full of junk and combustibles.

Now of course I am the bad guy for causing problems after all the church has been there since the 50’s with out an accident and god will watch over them and there faith will keep them safe, this seems to be the argument I get every time I deal with a church that does not want to spend money to correct code violations they always feel lie they are exempt from building codes. But churches are not exempt and in fact church structures have suffered great losses of life In Johannesburg Africa over 900 faithful lost there life’s in a fire when a flammable ceiling caught fire and fell on the faithful and who can forget the tragedy in the 50’s in Chicago at Our lady of the Angel’s school over 50 Nuns and students dead.

Yes they might think I am a bad guy but it is more like Guardian Angel.

No one is exempt from fire and no building is 100% fireproof. Statistics back it up.

If you are an AHJ when was the last time you checked your local place of worship for code violations you to could be a Guardian Angel.

 ARE FIRE ALARM RECEIVING CENTRAL STATIONS

GETTING TOO BIG TO REALIZE WHEN THEY ARE NOT

GETTING A FIRE ALARM CALL??

Submitted By : Nick Markowitz Jr.

As a contractor who does  a lot of Fire Alarm System Trouble shooting for myself and other company's I have begun to worry about the amount of times I have tested a Fire system to one of the big multi tens of thousands customer  UL Listed Fire Protective Signalling Central Stations

To only find out they never got the signal or the have no record of the customer for who I am testing. you may not realize it but many Fire alarm Systems are not even being monitored in Pa.

Instead there going to some huge450,00+ customer Central station in NY, Chicago or even some were in California or even Canada or the Bahamas.

By code Commercial Fire Alarms Systems which are required to be monitored are to have 2 separate

dial-up phone lines attached to them and once every 24 hours are to send a test signal to the central Station or every 30days for residential Fire alarm .

When the central station does not receive the daily digital test signal from the Protected premises

they are to notify the maintaining company and customer that a signal was not received.

Many Central stations use an automated Software to cut down on  Central station Operator Intervention which polls all Fire accounts and then reports accounts which have not sent there signal .But often times it is this automation software that is causing signals not to be seen or heard.

If you take a look a typical small UL Central under 20,000 accounts you will find a minimum of 2 operators on duty 24 hours a day . the receiving equipment is within eye and ear shot of the Operator so they can see all activity going on at the main receiver as well as the computer terminal in front of them.If they are not receiving signals properly they know immediately because they can see if there screen is receiving information and usually there only watching 12 or less receivers Unlike huge Central stations which have as many as 20-40 operators with 50 plus central receiving boxes of different makes working and they are relying strictly on what the computer screen is showing them .

When a Fire Alarm goes off it grabs the phone line dials a reprogrammed 800 number and then sends a digital transmission to a receiver box which then sounds an alarm and prints out a report.

this signal also goes from the main receiver box to a computer Processing Unit which translates this received signal and sends it to an operators terminal were it also sends pertinent information such as address emergency phone numbers etc.but this is often were the problem lies with signals not being received properly , Large central station operations have rooms full of data entry people and it is here were critical mistakes are often made.

I recently Put an Alarm in for a large company and called the central station with all the information did my test got a confirmation that test signals were received and customer was supposedly put on line 5 days later there Fire Alarm go's off while the wife is cooking in the Kitchen , and she calls to cancel the alarm only to find out the person I talked to never put there account on line the signal went to the receiver but never got past the automation software.And the scary part to this whole matter as it has happened with Commercial Accounts as well .

and when I called up the central Station to get an explanation how this could happen it usually well one of our data entry people screwed up.And you call Underwriters laboratory who sets the standards for receiving these signals and you get the same apathy. Personally I feel UL Central Station Standards needs a total revamping. so when you go and do an Inspection of a fire alarm

how can you make sure the system you just inspected is working properly demand from the central station they send you a print out of the signals and then go back un announced test the system and see if they call 911 dispatch . this is the only way to be sure. as the alarm companies for the most part are not watching there central stations.

CHINA INC.

Capitalism is coming to

China but do not think for one minute

They do not want to dominate the world.

By Nick Markowitz Jr.

Citizen Patriot

The other day I was working in a very Large Machining and Tool Making shop

Which was started by  an Italian Immigrant who came to this country as a young man, and he went to work for a large machine shop eventually breaking off and starting his own.

I was rewiring an old machine lathe he picked up at an auction and realized it came from the now closed Electromelt Shop in Pittsburgh Pa. were my late friend once worked as a machinist.

The Machine Shop owner told me how many of the machines that were cut up and  scrapped here in the USA after our steel industry closed so many steel mills were sold for scrap metal and  ended up over in china and how they have rebuilt the machines and are using them to produce poor quality metal goods for sale,

Here in the USA and since China has no Environmental Rules to worry about and often use Sweatshops or Prisoners to make the products Even he is having problems making a profit. He tells me how upset he is with all the lazy Americans who want to drive there SUV’s around shop at the mall and entertain themselves with there Plasma TV’s while we allow China to take all our heavy industry and in doing so turn out inferior products .He is also upset we allow illegal Mexicans to flood our

Borders and take welfare and other benefits, while he went thru the whole legal process

To come here and become a legal citizen.

He pulls out a box of pipe and other metal fittings and shows me samples of work. From USA, China, Mexico, Malaysia, India etc. and points out all the inferior qualities to the products compared to the American fittings. But companies would rather buy the cheap fittings and live with the problems rather than pay more for quality made fittings. And in doing so they are putting our country at great risk should a major invasion by China ever take place because in the end we no longer have the needed resources to defend our selves. Since we are now based on a global economy.

He tells me he came here to get away from repressive regimes and Nazism and instead he sees it all starting up again in this country just as it did in Europe when he was a young man. But most of all he is worried for his grandchildren and the world that will be left for them.

If an immigrant who came to this country and sees all these problems developing why do we everyday normal Americans not see it is because we are too busy entertaining our selves. Which allowed Sept 11,2001 to happen .

Which is exactly what Communist China wants.

Do not believe for one minute China is our friend. Yes they are starting to embrace capitalism but there is still a strong communist element in China who will do what ever to keep it that way even if it takes another Tienanmen Square massacre.

China has made it clear they want the island of Taiwan and are willing to use Nukes to do it. Just several years ago a Chinese General warned he would Nuke the West Coast.

Saber Rattling you might want to call it but the threat is real.

When Global crossings the large Internet Fiber Optic provider went Belly up    it was China that bought up the assets and now has its finger on the global Internet switch.

You can also thank the Manchurian candidate Bill Clinton for all the technology he allowed to slip out to China thru Henry Lee and others as well. How do you think China was able to build there guided missiles in the first place and now they have set there eyes on a space program and intend to go to the moon while we have a bunch of 20 year old broken shuttles that can not be flown. China Inc. also has a Government owned Company called Cosco [Not to be confused with an American company called Cosco that makes office furniture] you see this name on hundreds of trucks pulling the shipping containers behind them on our nations highways.

And they have established ports on both sides of the Panama Canal and in San Diego at an old navy yard were they easily could smuggle any thing they want into this country, including troops, explosives nuclear weapons and every other nasty thing you can think of and cause us irreparable harm. But yet every day we go into Walmart, Home Depot and other Big Box retailers and buy all the China Inc. goods we can because they are so cheap.

Just remember this if it comes to all out war with China they have an army 20 times our size that means every American soldier has to take out 20 Chinese soldiers to every one American loss. We saw this during the Korean War and we have totally ignored it. We even helped China during WWII buy providing the famous Flying Tigers Airplane Pilots to protect them from Japan and they repay us by threatening us with nukes and global economic ruin.

Before you walk in a store and pick up that cheap item just remember you could be signing your own death warrant or your children’s or grand children’s.

Think the global threat from China is not real better think again.

OLD COMPANY HOUSING

AND BAD ELECTRICAL WIRING

A DEADLY COMBINATION

Submitted By:

Nick Markowitz Jr.

Vol. Firefighter/Electrical Contractor

Nmarkowitz@earthlink.net.

Travel any back road in Pennsylvania and you will find the little communities called

Coal Patch Towns that were built during the Iron and steel days of Pennsylvania

Typically these towns contained Coal Company built and owned homes that were rented

To Mine Workers Families.

The typical home was simple but sturdily built of wood and was duplex in design to support 2 families.

Because Utilities were often lacking in the early days of Coal mining many of these early homes lacked running water and electricity which was not added till early 40’s all the way up to the 50’s.

Which often called for ingenious ways of getting utilities into homes which had their walls enclosed.

Because building codes were non-existent in these communities and they were in rural area .The power and Water to the homes was often supplied directly from the mines themselves. Rather than by a public utility which would have called for a higher installation standard.

As a result many of these homes in these communities have very substandard wiring and plumbing, as the Mines started to close many coal patch town homes were sold off to the miners staying behind, who often times upgraded the homes utilities but many never did.

Even today you will find coal patch homes that still have there original 120 volt 30 amp services that had there fuse panels installed on there back porches

Using regular indoor service panels and wiring instead of outdoor rated equipment.

Often you will find no receptacles in many rooms, and adapters screwed into the light fixtures and extension cords coming down all 4 walls serving as the rooms outlets, or only 1 receptacle ,again with thin extension cords everywhere. Often times you will find wire designed for inside use only being run along the outside of the homes to provide lights and power outlets.

It was one of these very homes with the fuse box on the back porch that recently caught fire in Rural Fayette County that killed 2 young brothers as the fire raced through the balloon constructed home. After a fire broke out in the fuse Panel.The brothers didn’t have a chance.

But this does not tell the whole story.

The occupants noticed lights blinking and fuses were blowing, but they did nothing to correct the situation.

This classic sign of pending danger goes ignored all too often, chalked up to old wiring

And forgotten about.

And when a fire does break out in these outside mounted fuse panels the cause can often be directly traced back to over sized fuses, loose connections and corrosion buildup.

I have seen the fuse sockets in some of these old fuse panels actually get so hot over time as to burn away the insulating material in the fuse socket so that the fuse becomes bypassed and there is no overload protection. So what is the Answer to stopping these fires it is called Education.

Electrical problems in homes such as lights blinking is cause to be concerned.

Plugs sparking when devices are plugged in and out ,excessive sparking at switches and dimming of lights when heavy appliances such as furnaces kicking on .Are all signs something is wrong. But the problem is still getting people to call for an electrician

We in the fire service can mail out reminders about electrical safety but they get tossed in the trash, Fire Prevention days and shows only work when people show up and heed warning.

Free Individual home Inspections offered by your dept. again only work when the advice is listened to.

Recently Duquesne light was installing new wireless reporting meters through out its service territory and when installers found bad outside wiring they would notify the home owners

That they needed to have their wiring looked at and 95% chose to do nothing.

And with the cold winter predicted and wet summer we had, their will again be many tragic

Fires that could have been totally avoided had the home owner  used good sense.

WHAT WAS DESIGNED TO SAVE LIVES MAY

HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO TAKING CHILDREN'S LIVES

AT COLLUMBINE HIGH SCHOOL

ANOTHER LOOK AT THE ADA AND FIRE ALARM STROBE LIGHTS

Submitted By: Nick Markowitz Jr.

Engineer /Firefighter Pennhills4#VFD and

Alarm and Electrical Contractor

As  the tragedy at Collombine High is and will be an on going teaching process into what all does and can go wrong in society as we know it today.

Compounding all the tragedy is the fact that the very system designed to alert and assist the Hearing impaired students and faculty to the fact that there is a Fire in the building  also

helped to keep Swat Team members from performing there duties in a timely manner

and slowed there response within the building.

The flashing strobes and extremely loud sirens along with smoke from the explosions in the school which set off the sprinkler systems  which set off the alarms made for a disco from hell

for Swat team members to maneuver and try to communicate.

Were fireman are use to going into a smoke filled noisy environment while breathing thru masks.with limited or no vision at all

the Swat  Team Members are not usually put into such a situation. there precise movements and tactics depend on full peripheral vision of the scene  unlike fireman who have to get the wet stuff on the red stuff (water on Fire) and it does not matter were they aim or hit for the most part with the water . It is the exact opposite when you are a policeman trying to find a target and at the same time deal with victims who could also be suspects. Police are trained to shoot to kill .

And they must be absolutely sure of there target and what surrounds it.before they use there weapons as  the absolute means of stopping an incident.

This is why we must rethink the strobe light design of 110 Candella and come up with a better alternative before more tragedy's occur .

We are lucky that more victims do not occur during fires as even normal individuals can become

disoriented by the pounding horns and blinding strobes to the point they could become trapped.

ADD some smoke and it is nearly impossible to find the correct way out of a building full of smoke. I myself have pointed out to manufacturers how i have had individuals including myself become disoriented while testing these Strobe systems and still The ADA  and manufacturers have done nothing to correct the standards.

As much as the Disabled need the strobe system with our population getting older and baby Boomers losing there hearing earlier do to loud music . Something must be done.