CNBNEWS TIPS AND SNIPPETS: Ouch! and A Heated Billboard Debate
Thursday, February 16, 2012
by Bill Cleary
cnbnews.net
OUCH! THAT HAD TO HURT-An anonymous tip was received on Monday about a Gloucester City employee being bit by a dog that was owned by an office worker at the $20 million water treatment plant.
The tip reads,
Dear CNBNews, I would like to keep my name out of this, but I have a huge story in regards to our water treatment plant.
On February 13, 2012 the water treatment office employee brought her dog to work and the dog bit an employee very badly. The dog ripped through the employees skin and you could see the bone. The assistant superintendent and safety coordinator for the City of Gloucester is allowing dogs to be brought to work into our new million dollar treatment plant. He has also brought his dog there too.
How is this not a safety issue for our drinking water? A multi million dollar drinking facility being used as a pet day care? Gloucester City safety coordinator bending rules to suit himself.
We both know this will be pushed under the rug and I need your help so the tax payers know the truth about their drinking water. Also now the injured employee has to worry about infection and also what about the employees handling our water after petting their dog?
CNBNews contacted Plant Superintendent Fred Schindler the following day and asked him if it was true that one of his employees was bitten by a dog at the water treatment plant on Monday? He was asked too whether the dog that bit the employee was brought into the plant by his owner, who happened to be a water treatment plant employee.
Mr. Schindler said, “Not that I know of.”
However after the above comment was read to him he was asked again whether there was any truth to the above remark.
Schindler said, “I did have an employee bit by a dog. It was the secretary’s dog. She just happened to have the dog there at the plant. We have a lot of dogs that walk through the plant. We have dog pens in the back of the plant, we take in stray dogs.
Asked if the injury to the employee was serious, Schindler said, “No. He has a bandaid on his finger.” Asked who paid for the employee’s medical treatment, he said, “The City’s insurance pays for it.”
Schindler was asked why stray dogs are being kept in pens at the plant and he said, “We keep the strays until the animal control officer can come and remove them. This is not new. It is something we have always done.”
Schindler added, “this individual who wrote you is just trying to stir up trouble.”
BILLBOARD CONTROVERSY-Last night’s Gloucester City Planning Board meeting was “hot and heavy”. A heated discussion ensued when the proposal to allow billboards to be constructed under the Walt Whitman Bridge in the area of Collings Road and Sherman Street was put up for a vote. Mayor James and Council via a written letter asked the Board to approve the proposal as it would bring extra revenue into the city treasury. The mayor stood in the back of the room listening to the debate.
But the majority of the Board members were adamantly against the idea. Several Board members cited the view of Gloucester City has you drive over the bridge into New Jersey as the reason for voting no. “The City looks like Mayberry from that vantage point”, said Board member Mark Williams. “You can see Saint Mary’s steeple, the swim club and other landmarks. All that would be lost, blocked by gigantic billboards. It is all about the money. It is time for the public to stand up and say enough is enough.” Williams was one of the members who voted no.
You can read the full story in the next issue of the Gloucester City News.
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