Excerpt posted here with permission of pipenozzle dot com.  For the full post, visit the site. 

For alcoholics to seek a cure, they have to hit bottom first.

Before serious leadership emerges to cure the fire protection mess in the Town of Groton, Connecticut, Alan Ackley will take the Poquonnock Bridge Fire District, which provides fire protection for half of the town, to the bottom first.

The New London Day reported today that the PBFD fire commissioners, led by Ackley the Powerful, are pondering closing the Fort Hill station to paid firefighters and starting a new all-volunteer fire company, and for those of you not from the area, the Fort Hill station on US Route 1 used to be the only firehouse in the district with its odd boundaries that place coverage in areas that the City of Groton can get to first. For instance, PBFD covers property, including schools, north of I-95 that used to take more than five minutes to reach, and five minutes or under is the National Fire Protection Association standard from time of emergency call to arrival on scene with apparatus.  And the Fort Hill station housed a combination department since Mr. Ackley ran around in diapers in his daddy’s package store. . . .