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发表于 2009-1-30 22:46
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8# 湘江夏夜
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Posted on Thu, Jan. 29, 2009
WWII veteran froze over an unpaid billThe 93-year-old died after a Michigan utility company installed a power-limiting device.By David Eggert
Associated Press
BAY CITY, Mich. - When neighbors went inside Marvin Schur's house, the windows were frosted over, icicles hung from a faucet, and the 93-year-old World War II veteran lay dead on the bedroom floor in a winter jacket over four layers of clothing. He froze to death - slowly and painfully, authorities say - days after the electric company installed a power-limiting device because of more than $1,000 in unpaid bills. His sad end two weeks ago has led to outrage, soul-searching, and a resolve never to let something like this happen again. "There's got to be a way in today's computer age they can find out if someone's over a certain age," said Chad Sepos, 37, a copy-machine installer who lives a block away in this Lake Huron city of 34,000, about 90 miles from Detroit. "It's just sad." One of the saddest things of all was that Schur appeared to have plenty of money, and, in fact, one of the neighbors who entered the home reported seeing cash clipped to a pile of bills on the kitchen table. Schur's nephew suggested the old man's mind may have been slipping. Schur, or "Mutts," was a retired foundry worker who lived alone, his wife having died a couple of years ago. The couple had no children. On Jan. 13, a worker with the city-owned utility installed a "limiter" on Schur's electric meter after four months of unpaid bills. The device restricts power and blows like a fuse if usage rises past a set level. Electricity is not restored until the device is flipped back on by the homeowner, who must walk outside to the meter. City Electric Light & Power did not contact Schur face to face to notify him of the device and explain how it works, instead following its usual policy by leaving a note on the door. But neighbors said Schur rarely, if ever, left the house in the cold. Neighbors found Schur's body in his home, a yellow house with peeling paint, on Jan. 17. The outside temperature ranged from a high of 12 degrees to a low of minus 9 on Jan. 15, the day he was believed to have died. A heating pad was on his favorite armchair by the window. The oven door was open, perhaps to heat the place. "The body has a tremendous fighting power for survival. He died a slow, painful death," said Kanu Virani, a doctor who found frostbite on Schur's foot when performing the autopsy. Investigators are trying to establish how long he was without electricity. City officials are reviewing their procedures and in the meantime have suspended shutoffs and removed all limiters from homes after using the devices for 18 years. The medical examiner is looking into whether Schur suffered from dementia, particularly after police found enough cash lying around in the home to cover his bills. His nephew William Walworth said Schur told him two years ago he had $600,000 in savings. Schur was a WWII medic in the South Pacific and earned a Purple Heart. Michigan's big, state-regulated utilities are not allowed to shut off power to senior citizens in the winter and must offer payment plans to the poor. But Michigan's 41 smaller municipal utilities - Bay City's included - are not overseen by the state. Schur's death has prompted Michigan lawmakers to start writing legislation that could ban the use of limiters by municipal utilities. |
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发表于 2009-1-29 22:42
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