Recent stories on the paramedic ban on Stockton fire engines have produced more material than we can fit into the articles and more questions from readers.
•One reader e-mailed me today to ask whether firefighters certified as paramedics are still receiving their additional pay (they can receive anywhere from 6 to 11 percent on top of their salary if they are certified, according to the union contract).
Short answer: Yes, at least for now. City officials hope to have this dispute resolved within the month, restoring the ability of firefighters to work as paramedics. The city has not indicated whether it would stop paying those additional wages should the issue not be resolved by then.
•Though city officials claim firefighters get to the scenes of emergencies quicker than the county-contracted ambulances, City Hall has complained in recent days (including in their news release Tuesday) that the county won’t give up its ambulance response time data.
Dan Burch, administrator of the county’s Emergency Medical Services division, said that’s not so. He pointed to the agency’s bimonthly ambulance compliance reports (they do not list every call for service, but, rather, the frequency that required response thresholds were met, broken down in a variety of manners). Here is the most recent report.
Readers share their own pit bull stories
Our story about the pit bulls that attacked City Manager Bob Deis and his 5-month-old puppy got readers going.
•One woman e-mailed me today to ask if I could identify the owner of the pit bulls. Her miniature poodle was attacked last week on Thornton road, “causing $2,870 worth of damage.” She wanted the name of the owner of the dogs that attacked Deis, because, “we are trying to find his address to prevent this from happening to anyone else.” I am hoping this was not implying some sort of vigilantism.
Regardless, because there were no arrests yesterday in the city manager’s case, I didn’t have an ID.
•Resident Jerry Bull called me and told me that just last week two pit bulls almost got to him and his own dog while they were walking in the same neighborhood in which Deis was attacked, though Bull said he didn’t think it was the same pair.
Bull loves animals and knows dogs well. He’s a commercial pet food supplier, too. But he also said people should use more caution with pit bulls; it doesn’t make sense to let them roam free. He now carries pepper spray and a metal rod with him on his walks.