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Laid-Off Gary Indiana Firefighter Panhandles Near City Hall
LAURI HARVEY KEAGLE
The Times of Northwest Indiana
Reprinted with Permission
GARY - For the past 10 years, Jason Pickering made a living helping others. Now, he says he's the one relying on the kindness of strangers.
Laid-off Gary firefighter Jason Pickering, of Valparaiso, stands Monday near Gary City Hall with a sign seeking donations. One of 34 firefighters laid off last month, the father of four said he can't get by on unemployment alone. He said he took in $400 in charity in four hours Sunday.(Kyle telechan/The Times)
Jason Pickering, 34, holds a sign Monday in downtown Gary that reads "Laid off Gary firefighter. Family of six. Thank you and God bless." The Valparaiso father of four was one of 34 Gary firefighters laid off last month.(Kyle telechan/The Times)
Related
Laid-Off Gary Firefighter Takes To The Streets
Pickering, 34, of Valparaiso, is one of 34 Gary firefighters who were laid off last week.
The Times of Northwest Indiana
Reprinted with Permission
GARY - For the past 10 years, Jason Pickering made a living helping others. Now, he says he's the one relying on the kindness of strangers.
Laid-off Gary firefighter Jason Pickering, of Valparaiso, stands Monday near Gary City Hall with a sign seeking donations. One of 34 firefighters laid off last month, the father of four said he can't get by on unemployment alone. He said he took in $400 in charity in four hours Sunday.(Kyle telechan/The Times)
Jason Pickering, 34, holds a sign Monday in downtown Gary that reads "Laid off Gary firefighter. Family of six. Thank you and God bless." The Valparaiso father of four was one of 34 Gary firefighters laid off last month.(Kyle telechan/The Times)
Related
Laid-Off Gary Firefighter Takes To The Streets
Pickering, 34, of Valparaiso, is one of 34 Gary firefighters who were laid off last week.
The married father of four now has taken to begging for money on the streets of the city he served. Dressed in his turnout gear, Pickering holds a sign hand drawn on a square of cardboard that reads:
"Laid off Gary firefighter. Family of six. Thank you and God bless."
In his other hand is the boot he is using to collect donations.
"Yesterday, I was at 31st and Grant and got $400 in four hours," he said. "People were really generous, giving 20s and stuff."
Standing under the sign for the Genesis Convention Center at Broadway and Fifth Avenue, collecting donations Monday morning, Pickering said all he ever wanted to do was be a firefighter.
The South Haven native joined the U.S. Navy after graduating from Portage High School and trained as a firefighter while in the military. When he got out of the Navy, he trained locally and was hired by the Gary Fire Department.
Pickering said he was one of only two in the department trained to serve as a firefighter and paramedic. He served at Station No. 3 at 12th Avenue and Roosevelt Street.
He admits part of his goal while standing on the street collecting donations is to protest the layoffs and raise awareness of them in the city.
But Pickering insists the financial need is real. His wife does not work, staying home with their four daughters ranging in age from 2 to 10.
"Unemployment only pays $350 a week," he said. "I've got a house, car payment, mortgage payment, just like everyone else."
The layoff notices were delivered Dec. 27. City officials blamed the move on 2011 salary budget cuts they expect will be required by the Distressed Unit Appeals Board.
"Laid off Gary firefighter. Family of six. Thank you and God bless."
In his other hand is the boot he is using to collect donations.
"Yesterday, I was at 31st and Grant and got $400 in four hours," he said. "People were really generous, giving 20s and stuff."
Standing under the sign for the Genesis Convention Center at Broadway and Fifth Avenue, collecting donations Monday morning, Pickering said all he ever wanted to do was be a firefighter.
The South Haven native joined the U.S. Navy after graduating from Portage High School and trained as a firefighter while in the military. When he got out of the Navy, he trained locally and was hired by the Gary Fire Department.
Pickering said he was one of only two in the department trained to serve as a firefighter and paramedic. He served at Station No. 3 at 12th Avenue and Roosevelt Street.
He admits part of his goal while standing on the street collecting donations is to protest the layoffs and raise awareness of them in the city.
But Pickering insists the financial need is real. His wife does not work, staying home with their four daughters ranging in age from 2 to 10.
"Unemployment only pays $350 a week," he said. "I've got a house, car payment, mortgage payment, just like everyone else."
The layoff notices were delivered Dec. 27. City officials blamed the move on 2011 salary budget cuts they expect will be required by the Distressed Unit Appeals Board.
The state board granted the city $21 million in relief from tax caps in each of the past two years. Still, the city's property tax revenue has been cut in half since the tax caps were instituted.
The city also has lost revenue because of the bankruptcy of the Majestic Star Casino. Officials said the firefighter layoffs will save the city about $1.2 million.
The city also has lost revenue because of the bankruptcy of the Majestic Star Casino. Officials said the firefighter layoffs will save the city about $1.2 million.
The explanations are little relief to Pickering, who doesn't know where to turn for the work he was trained to do. The only department hiring anywhere in the state, he said, is in Fort Wayne.
Relocating isn't an option.
"We just want to come back to work," Pickering said of the firefighters who lost their jobs. "We took an oath to help people."
Copyright 2011 nwi.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Relocating isn't an option.
"We just want to come back to work," Pickering said of the firefighters who lost their jobs. "We took an oath to help people."
Copyright 2011 nwi.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by tharte on
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WASHINGTON American International Group Inc. used more than $90 billion in federal aid to pay out foreign and domestic banks, some of whom had received their own multibillion-dollar U.S. government bailouts.
The embattled insurer's disclosure on Sunday came amid outrage on Capitol Hill over its payment of tens of millions in executive bonuses, and followed demands from lawmakers that the names of trading partners who indirectly benefited from federal aid to AIG be made public.
The company, now about 80 percent owned by U.S. taxpayers, has received roughly $170 billion from the government, which feared that its collapse could cause widespread damage to banks and consumers around the globe.
"The ability of AIG to meet its obligations is important to the stability of the U.S. financial system and to getting credit flowing to households and businesses," Federal Reserve spokeswoman Michelle Smith said.
Some of the biggest recipients of the AIG money were Goldman Sachs at $12.9 billion, and three European banks — France's Societe Generale at $11.9 billion, Germany's Deutsche Bank at $11.8 billion, and Britain's Barclays PLC at $8.5 billion. Merrill Lynch, which also is undergoing federal scrutiny of its bonus plans, received $6.8 billion as of Dec. 31.
The money went to banks to cover their losses on complex mortgage investments, as well as for collateral needed for other transactions.
Other banks receiving between $1 billion and $3 billion from AIG's securities lending unit include Citigroup Inc., Switzerland's UBS AG and Morgan Stanley.
Municipalities in certain states, including California, Virginia and Hawaii, received a total of $12.1 billion under guaranteed investment agreements.
The company said it used billions more to fund its Maiden Lane business, which was set up following the federal bailout to purchase toxic assets, and to repay debt and provide capital for some of its operations.
"I've been asking for this information for months. This is a good first step, but I'm concerned by how long it took,' said Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., who is chair of Congress' Joint Economic Committee.
The details from AIG came after Obama administration officials and top Republicans voiced sharp criticism over $165 million in bonus payments AIG said it must make Sunday. The contracts are part of a larger total payout which has been reportedly valued at $450 million.
In a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner dated Saturday, AIG Chairman Edward Liddy said outside lawyers informed AIG that it had contractual obligations to make the payments and could face lawsuits if it did not do so.
Liddy said the company entered into the bonus agreements in early 2008 before AIG got into severe financial straits and was forced to obtain a government bailout.
AIG has agreed to the Obama administration's requests to restrain future payments.
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Permalink Reply by David Earl Gregory on
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Well, I'm late to the party on this one but I'll drop a few thoughts. Back in my day, (70' and 80's), I started out as a tailboard rookie at $197.04 per week, 24 on, 24 off. When I finally made it Captain, I was making the whopping sum of $220.00 a week, again 24 on, 24 off. We all had part-time jobs and John and Jane Public carped and whined that we made too much and our part-timing kept someone else from getting a job.Sure, life was a bit cheaper than it is now, dollar-wise, but that $20,000.00 car today was only $8,000.00 then. What little we made didn't go any further than much more does now.
Our politicians waste money, vote themselves more money, and all the while exempting themselves from what they lay on our backs. Before ANYBODY utters a critical word towards our fire, police, and/or medical folks, you better damn well be 100% sure YOU will never need us. You can pay me enough to fight fire but there's no money that can get me to put on a gun and a badge and tangle with that mess. I cheer the Gary, IN guys and applaud their moxie and guts to stand out there and make themselves known.
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Permalink Reply by Rescue1 on
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It’s a shame that a governments mismanagement and political selfishness and corruption results in jeopardizing the safety of its own people. Those same governments who have misspent and under managed need to start focusing on the safety and protection of its own people. The hundreds of thousands of dollars spent to train a first responder makes for everyone to sleep better at night.
Firefighters do not just respond to fires but yet most of you commenting would run the other way when subjected to danger.
Firefighters are first on the scene to give medical care for ALL medical emergencies. That training saves lives and brings your loved ones home!
Firefighters are first one the scene to mitigate a Hazardous Materials spill with years of irreplaceable training to handle the millions of chemicals transported through your town.
Firefighters are first on the scene to save your family when their car goes in the water. Water Rescue takes years of experience and training.
Firefighters are first in the scene for a building collapse. Building construction, reading a building to protect others is not learned overnight.
Firefighters are first on the scene for a child or any living creature who is pinned or trapped underground or in a hole. It takes more than typing training or experience answering the phone to safely mitigate that emergency and bring your loved one’s home.
Firefighters are first on the scene of traffic accidents where people are squeezed between mangled metal and/or possibly burning alive followed by extremely important medical treatment. Years of training and experience bring those loved ones home.
Firefighters are first on the scene to natural gas leaks, mitigate the emergency to protect others from explosions.
Firefighters are first on the scene to determine the cause of a fire. Those determinations help to prevent the next fire from taking a life.
Firefighters are first on the scene of intentional terrorist attacks against any person within our countries borders. Whether a citizen or not. This new threat has brought a firefighters job description to a whole new level.
The firefighters I work with have much more training and can handle many more incidents that our politicians or other misguided individuals take for granted.
Firefighters and police officers are the first on the scene every single time all of us call 911 for help. Most of the time, life saving decisions are made in a split second or people die. They do this selflessly and repeatedly hoping that all the training that they have paid for on their own, with time away from their families to protect others because they are a rear bread and not everyone can do it.
They will even come to your house help the sick back into bed or get your cat out of a tree. There is no price that you would refuse to pay when calling for assistance for ANY emergency and there are so many to be ready for.
Pride drives them to keep their stations clean, tools painted and uniforms spotless. Respect to all they serve is what motivates them to strive to be the best at ALL their duties.
Our governments should focus on helping its own people first before giving our tax dollars away, padding their own pockets or maliciously mismanaging budgets and shame on all the uneducated comments.
God bless our brothers in Gary and everywhere. The public will only suffer with limited first responder protection. You can’t put a price tag on that!
God bless all the firefighters and police officers who paid the ultimate sacrafice! There seams to be more and more lately.
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Permalink Reply by Erle Miller on
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Dear Paul, I never reply to these things but today felt compelled to. "And in my mind, there's no way that someone who spends a lot of their time, sitting in a firehouse (doing basically busy work and minor maintenance work and training), should rate $50,000 a year" ? What if that person came to your house when it was on fire and saved you, your spouse and if you have any your children? how much would he/she be worth then? I have been in the fire service for 30 years, I started out as most of us do as a VOLUNTEER...thats right doing the job for NO PAY, while still working a 40 hr a week job, going to training classes at night and on weekends. But the fun didn't stop after I got hired there was still mandatory classes that had to be taken along with the regular training hours to stay certified, then the "specialty classes" such as HAZ Mat, confined space, high angle rescue, boat operations, extrication ....the list keeps getting longer. You see Paul we don't just sit around the fire station waiting on a house to catch on fire anymore, we SERVE the public in more ways than you know. So Paul when you work your 9-5 job and go home to your spouse every night and spend that birthday or anniversary with friends and family, remember we are still at work, the shifts vary from town to town but most are 24hrs and while your home safe in your bed we get to risk our lives trying to save someone elses or pulling that intoxicated person from there car at 3 o'clock in the morning or telling that parent that their baby is dead. There is a lot more I would like to say but I hope you get the picture, none of us want to be Donald Trump or some CEO of a corparation making millions while there employees barely put food on the table, so 35,000 to 50,000 a year isn't to much to ask.....I'm just say'in
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Permalink Reply by Vic Silverfish on
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I'm not sure how Wiki (which has references) is worse than your uncredited copy/paste, but whatever.
You seem to have a pretty good grasp of details, but you are missing the larger picture. Most of the Bush (yes, it was passed in 2008 under Bush, not Obama) TARP program money has not only paid back, but paid back with interest!
Originally expected to cost the U.S. taxpayers $356 billion, the most recent final net estimate of the cost, as of October 5, 2010, will be close to $30 billion, including expected returns from interest in AIGhttp://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/110920/exclusive...
The final cost is around $30billion (down from close to $400billion). To put that in perspective, the Iraq war has cost around $700billion to date, Medicare Plan D (the prescription drug benefit) is estimated to cost around $500billion for it's first 10 years.
Same with the automotive bailout...it has cost a fraction of what was anticipated, and is on the way to possibly making a small profit for the taxpayers.
Where I'm going with all of this is: you can't on one hand criticise the government for spending, than turn around and demand more spending! Either you want to see cuts (and these will have to come from somewhere) OR you want to see programs preserved, which will need to be paid for.
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Permalink Reply by Wayne Martin Harvey on
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Why complain about the counties not affording salaries and look towards the same sponsors that pay sports persons the big bucks to entertain us weekly. People who very rarely put their lives on the line earn hundreds if not millions per year playing sport. Somethings not adding up.
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"Firefighters do not just respond to fires but yet most of you commenting would run the other way when subjected to danger." This statement just doesn't seem to fit on this page seeing this is a site for fire fighters, and most if not all have to face danger at any given time. Apart from that i agree with the rest of the message as to how Government mis-managers EMS budget. I'm not entirely up to date with cut-back in the USA but hasn't the military got over their cutbacks and are now earning salaries again. Why does EMS always get the back end of the budget?
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Permalink Reply by Jason on
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Hello, My Name is Jason Pickering, I am the Brother in the News here. Let me start off by saying THANK-YOU to the supporters. Everyone wants something for nothing, fire protection isn't FREE! Where is the brotherhood? Firefighters bashing me? Every single one of you should be supporting us. The City has taken everything from us: 4th man:gone, pay cut! clothing pay cut. Rigs well might as well put a piss pump on your car! We just want our jobs back. As for me collecting, well it's not about the money. I said i will donate the money to a high school athletic group or laid off firefighters fund! We just want to do the job, protect our citizens, and help others.
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Permalink Reply by John Crabbe on
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Jason,
You're right, fire protection isn't free, not even in the volunteer world, unfortunately there are many who don't see that. Just like freedom isn't free, there are many vets in cemetaries like Arlington and many living ones who truly do know that aspect, yet there are many who brush that off when it comes to their wallet.
Jason, look at the firefighters that have "bashed" you and then look at the comments for you. Since you are here, you can look up profiles as well of those who support you and those whom bash, let that also be a guidance for you.
Brother, I feel for you, I know there are many other brother and sister firefighters out there that feel for you. The same fight you are facing is the same fight many other brothers and sisters have to fight as well. However, brother, you are the first one I know of to take action the way you did and the way to put forth the issue of layoffs, etc, and does put an actual "face" to the those issues. Too often, those in control of such decisions see numbers and not faces. Too often the price of safety is negated for arbitary "nice to haves", too often the general lay person/taxpayer has no clue as to what the services they pay for cost. More often the mindest of "not going to happen to me" takes precedence.
Keep up the good fight brother, and THANK YOU, for putting a face to the issue, you speak volumes for those unfortunate to be in your situation and you speak volumes for those who are not, but are on the job. Unfortunately, there is the possibility of doing what you love and your efforts now may not have the impact you or I would like. Brother, all I ask is to take a serious look in bringing your expertise elsewhere. While the city you reside may not give a rat's ass for you, let it be known there are other places that will accept you with open arms.
Whatever your decision, let it be known there are more that truly support you, than the ones who appear againt. Stay strong brother!
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Permalink Reply by Robert Hunt on
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Jason,
I never wish your position on any of our brothers. But I must say that they way you are going about this in my eyes is truely noble. I would have never thought of a better way to catch the eye of the public than what you are doing. I hope that the citizens of Gary take notice of this and make the necassery changes to get you guys your jobs back. Screw all the people who are on here saying otherwise. The nay sayers and people with nothing good to say are just using fire fighters for political tactics. It will come around and bite them in the long run. Hopefully not many more of us have to suffer before that happens.
Keep fighting the fight, stay strong. My prayers are with you and your brothers.
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