Opinion Piece By Linda Sutter – June 24, 2021 Dennis Sutton who works as a volunteer for the Crescent Fire Protection District had choice words to say regarding the Fire Tax. Every other word that came out of his mouth was F**K and that does not stand for fire truck. Mr. Sutton is ANGRY that voters are not allowing themselves to be taken advantage of. Usually when someone does not let you get a word in edgewise, dropping the F bomb, instead of giving a point of view, it is a sign that their argument is weak. These volunteers do not understand voters and property owners that think they should not have to pay for medical services they don’t receive. Keep in mind that 63% of the 2,000 calls that the Fire District takes are medical. Mr. Sutton is under the assumption that the Board of Supervisors prevents the Fire District from charging medical calls to the person’s insurance. If that is in fact the case, this needs to be a topic of discussion at the BOS meetings. Mr. Sutton believes that a few taxpayers should pay for the many (63%). Mr. Sutton reminded me that the Fire Protection District is responsible for up to 27 miles outside the district boundary. WHAAAT? If we the taxpayer is responsible for the outside perimeter as well as the inside of our district, why are we the only ones responsible to receive the tax? Why not everyone? Mr. Sutton complained about the ambulance service which takes up to 12 minutes to respond. Ok, let’s discuss the ambulance service. Why is the ambulance service so sluggish? Who monitors over this service? What needs to be done to get a better service? Do we need competition? Is Del Norte County that irresponsible for ambulance service? To end this madness, it is unfortunate that the fire district volunteers take a hard stance on this taxing of the public. They do not understand that there are laws that protect the homeowners. They do not understand that we homeowners know how to read what is presented before us and currently it is a sham. They refuse to take the matter up with LAFCO because it cost “money.” That’s a rich statement coming from a volunteer who agrees to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on not just one election but two. And if this election is overturned this fire district will be looking at lawsuits and a recall. No Means No. Anyway you look at it, the Fire District wants to continue to RAPE the homeowners even after they say NO.