Milton should be hot over Foster's firehouse blunder

So, check it out.

Foster’s Daily Democrat gets a tip from a Milton resident on Saturday that the Milton Fire Station is damaged structurally and runs a story on Monday that implies it was intentionally done by Fire and Rescue department staff furious over having their referendum to build a new $2.8M fire station rebuffed by residents.

In the Monday story a Milton resident calls the damage that was innocently done backing a Farmington fire truck into a bay during station coverage an “unusual coincidence” considering recent election results.

The same resident is then quoted as saying, “They (firefighters) are determined to get a new fire station.”

It gets worse.

This person the newspaper is quoting is not a firefighter, but the reporter and editors allow him to then cite fire department policy in this statement reprinted from the article verbatim.”When neighboring fire departments report for station coverage the trucks are usually left out front, not pulled into the garage, (name omitted) said.”

A pipe helps structurally support part of the Milton Fire Station where a new Farmington fire truck accidentally did damage to the bay last week when sheathing that protects its top lights struck the building. The spotter helping the driver back into the stationhouse couldn't see the sheathing from where he was positioned. (Harrison Thorp photo)

At most newspapers you would confirm this with someone at the department.

In fact, Milton Fire and Rescue Chief Nick Marique said on Monday that it is the policy that trucks from neighboring departments DO pull their trucks into the bays to keep them warm and out of the weather.

If there were a Bureau of Newspapers in the Obama administration, such an egregious lapse of journalistic judgment and ethics would likely draw a stiff fine. Now we are not advocating for such a bureau (Lord knows we have a big enough government as it is), but I am advocating for the fine.

If you go to a fire and hear a bystander say, “I think the owner did it intentionally,” you don’t put it in the story. You talk to the fire chief or the fire investigator, unless you’re the Foster’s, I guess.

It’s a wonder they didn’t quote a Sak’s Trailer Park resident with saying it was a “weird coincidence” when Ben Shannon was shot.

Or maybe quote a bystander who said, “Usually they bring three sheriff’s deputies and one officer from probation/parole instead of the other way around.”

When Foster’s ran another story on Tuesday about the firehouse damage I thought, “Bravo, at least they’re going to fix their screwup.” But they didn’t, they ran the same scurrilous quotes that were used on Monday.

I was going to write this column Wednesday, but wanted to see if they were going to “fix” the story anymore. Apparently they’re done.

You may see it again today, however, in the Rochester Times.

If you do, it’s a rare travesty of journalism trifecta.

What they did in these stories disparages the entire Milton Fire and Rescue Department and its volunteers who not only didn’t get the new department they long for, but are now snickered at by townspeople who read rumors in the paper that they did the damage to the fire department, themselves for spite.

They don’t deserve this. These are volunteers who risk their lives to save ours.

Shame on you, Foster’s.

The town of Milton deserves an apology.

The Foster’s and the Rochester Times, where they make fun of the less fortunate with their mean-spirited police log and where in the past staff often downloaded child porn on company computers, deserve a Milton boycott.

Oh, by the way. I didn’t say that. Yeah, I just heard some guy say it. Yeah, that’s the ticket. I’m just saying what I heard him say.  

Oh wait a minutes, that’s not even a rumor. I do believe that’s a fact, according to police.

See, Foster’s? How do you like your brand of “journalism” now?