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Knife Under Pillow Ends Career Of Indiana Firefighter
DAVE STEPHENS
South Bend Tribune
SOUTH BEND - The firefighting career of Jordan Jostes is over with the city of South Bend, but exactly how it ended is not clear.
What is known is that Wednesday morning, during the Board of Public Safety meeting, the board's members voted unanimously to end Jostes' employment by the city.
Board member Patrick Cottrell made the motion that the board give Jostes until 4:30 p.m. Wednesday to resign from the department, or he would be automatically terminated.
But Jostes did not attend the meeting to hear the board's decision and neither did anyone from the firefighters union.
At a hearing two weeks ago, Jostes and the union pushed back against an allegation by Chief Howard Buchanon that the firefighter had violated department rules against weapons by bringing a Bowie knife to work and keeping it under his pillow.
Jostes had claimed the knife was a tool, and union president Ken Marks testified that most of the department's firefighters kept a knife with them while at work.
But Buchanon told the board he pushed for Jostes' termination because the firefighter had already had two suspensions in the past year, with the knife incident being his third.
Although safety board members voted in open session to terminate Jostes, they did not discuss their reasons for giving him the option of resigning.
But after the meeting, Todd Skwarcan, vice president of the firefighters union, said he, Jostes and union lawyer Chip Lewis met with Assistant City Attorney Tom Bodnar the day before and that Jostes had already resigned at that meeting as part of an agreement brokered by the union.
But the board apparently rejected that agreement and made the vote for Jostes to resign or be terminated, a move Skwarcan called "unbelievable."
Bodnar did not return a late Wednesday phone call, and it's not clear if Jostes resigned or was terminated.
Regardless of how he left the department, Jostes' future is already known.
At his earlier hearing, Jostes told the board he had joined the Marines and was leaving for boot camp in October, for what he said was the start of a four-year commitment.
Copyright 2010 South Bend Tribune Corporation
All Rights Reserved
September 16, 2010
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Gary Stevenson on
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I interpret that this knife was the proverbial 'straw that broke camel's back'. Apparently this person already had two strikes against them and he was in the cross-hairs. Usually when someone gets them self this deep, the organization looks for something. I've seen a number of times where an organization will use the 'computer use policy' as the coup de grâce. I don't know any the facts but I do hope the right thing occurred for this individual.
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Permalink Reply by Fabulous Heather Days of Summer on
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OMG
OUCH
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Bedtime Bowie Buddy
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Hazing... too far... How sad if this is true !
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Permalink Reply by 3avin1nbbis3g on
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A armed fire department is a prepared fire department.
How many times have FD shown up to a scene where there is a perp. with knife or gun, and the FD could not do anything till the police get there. In rural towns you might have 2-3 cops but 20 firemen ! The more armed and trained the better prepared your town is. Breach Bang Clear and put out the fire.
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Having been met by a man with a shot-gun to my chest as I arrived to his house fire - I see your point.
The reason his house was ON fire? - He lit it - because his wife locked him out of the house.... and he was gonna burn her out!
Where was his wife? - Still inside the house fire.
Where were the children? - Putting out the house fire with the garden hose.
Why did the wife not come out of the burning building? - Because ALSO ARMED she said she did not want to !!!
The police had to enter the burning building with the fire department - Wife sprung off her bed with a butcher knife pulled from under her pillow at the police - almost got her ass shot - but there was enough PD/FD to gang rush her and drag her out of the burning building.
F'N CRAZY PEOPLE
My best weapon was my mouth as I talked the man into NOT shooting me !!!
Bowie knife really would not have solved the matter...
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Permalink Reply by WestPhilly on
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Heather,
You have several friends who are gang members?
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unfortunately - more than several
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Permalink Reply by Bull Collier on
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Did they ever mention how big this "bowie" knife is? To the general population a knife that I cary on my side might be cosidered a bowie knife when I cosider it a tool. the only place that i do not cary it is at church. Even then i still have a pocket knife. To me there has to be more than just the knife in this man's case for the city to just let him go.
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Permalink Reply by lutan1 on
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When they went through his bunker pants pockets they found:
1x AK47, 1x Kevlar Vest, 4x Hand grenades, 1x Rocket Launcher, 1x Abrams Tank, 1x Apache Helicopter, 1x F14 Tomcat and a platoon of soldiers.
Seriosuly? I don't think we'll ever hear the full story on this one. There's gotta be more to it, but...
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