It used to be that when you called 911 for an ambulance in Cleveland, you were likely to get a fire truck as well. Firefighters played the role of heavy artillery, capable of cutting open a car or extracting the injured from tight situations.
So in April, CFD purchased a paramedic pumper — a fire truck pimped out with life support and medical equipment — to be stationed at Engine Company 36 on East 131st Street. That’s a good thing, right?
Wrong, according to EMS brass.
In many cities, EMS operates within the fire department. But in Cleveland, it’s an autonomous agency. And bosses fear the paramedic pumper is an encroachment on their turf. “The EMS is afraid of a Fire takeover,” says firefighters union secretary Mike Norman.
So EMS has taken to stationing an ambulance outside of Company 36 to ensure that it beats the pumper to emergencies.
Worse, EMS has also changed how it handles calls. It used to automatically relay information to the CFD at the moment it received a call. Now, says Norman, firefighters aren’t dispatched until EMS deems it necessary, meaning they’re significantly slower reporting to accidents, shootings — even fires.
“They’re not sending us on burns,” Norman says indignantly. “They’re not sending us to multiple-victim emergencies. They can’t control the traffic. They don’t have extrication tools. They’re trying to limit our effectiveness. They’re trying to cut our runs down to the point where they can justify being autonomous.”
Dog Killer
In 2003, Scene chronicled atrocities at the Summit County Animal Shelter, where supervisors did their best to channel the spirit of Michael Vick. Dogs were denied food so that they wouldn’t produce waste, and some were purposely euthanized even when they had an adoptive family waiting [“House of Horrors,” October 22, 2003].
At the center of it all was Jim Farrance, an impressively sadistic pound-keeper who enjoyed watching dogs fight to death. The bosses simply turned their heads. But when Scene‘s story appeared, Farrance was fired.
Yet it appears he’s still in the business of playing Josef Mengele on the public dime.
On May 29, Akron Animal Control got a call: Barbara Murphy’s boxer had gotten out again. The excitable four-year-old has a habit of sneaking out of the house and running around Goodyear Heights. “The dog doesn’t bite,” says Murphy’s neighbor, Pam Walker. “She just flies all around.”
Unfortunately, it was Jim Farrance who responded to the call. Turns out he’d gotten a new pound-keeping job with the city.
Farrance reminded the women that he was supposed to be off the clock, eating supper at home with his family. So he made sure to take it out on the dog.
Farrance got in his truck and chased the dog through busy intersections for about 10 minutes. “He was gunning it,” Walker says. “He was chasing that dog through the streets like a cowboy.”
After the high-speed chase, Farrance returned to Murphy’s house. He grabbed his catcher’s pole and flopped the bleeding dog on the driveway like a dead fish, before writing Murphy a ticket for a $300 fine. “I was screaming,” Walker says. “I was sure he was gonna kill her.”
A vet would later confirm that the dog had been strangled to within an inch of her life. Walker called the city to complain. But it turns out Akron had no choice but to hire Farrance. After our 2003 story, Farrance, who had been working for the city and the county, was fired from both jobs. So he sued Akron.
Three years later, the two sides reached a settlement: Farrance was hired back.
“I don’t know why he got his job back,” says Dale Sroka, manager of the city’s 311 call center, which oversees Animal Control. “It was a secret agreement, and I don’t know if the city just didn’t have a case against him or if they just wanted it to go away.”
This article appears in May 14-20, 2008.
This story is a crock of s***! I personally know Jim Farrance and know the TRUE details of this account. Intersting that Scene DID NOT verify the fictious story concocted by a drunken criminal- Pam Walker- and ran with a story of slander and defamation. Perhaps before you try to ruin someone’e life, you have your reporters be ACCURATE AND LEGAL and verify accounts of a story BEFORE you publish it.
Nice, I love the comparison of someone who puts animals to sleep to a Nazi war criminal that experimented on human beings. Way to go Scene! Do you even have editors over there? It is nice to see you trivialize the suffering of all the concentration camp victims that were tortured, experimented on, or killed by using that turn of phrase. You do know that he was known to disect live infants when he was at Auschwitz, right? You can tell the story in a professional manner without trying to sensationalize it. If it is a good story, it won’t need you adding to it to try and make it interesting.
Whoever wrote this article is in BIIIIGGGGG trouble!!! To insinuate that Farrence “enjoys watching dogs fight to the death” is an accusation of a felony. That is SERIOUS business! If you aren’t a member of law enforcement, you are in no position to even THINK such a thing. You simply can’t go around spitting out assumptive accusations based on a person’s behavior….no matter how peculiar or offensive that behavior might seem to you. Farrence was never charged with anything…nor was he even investigated for it. To slander someone like that in a public periodical is more of a crime than anything the article supposes Farrence of doing.
I hope he sues the crap out of whoever wrote this article and whoever let it get published…..he’s been pretty successful with lawsuits of this nature in the past.
Jim Farrence has been a neighbor of mine for years. I see the way he treats his dogs and can only hope everyone else treats their animals half as good as he treats his. This man loves dogs and this story couldn’t be any further from the truth. Jim has owned and trained high-quality Belgian Malinois ever since I met him. Some of the dogs he’s produced have found their way into active police duty. He is not the person this article attempts to paint him out to be.
Even if the events described are true, I’m sure Jim did whatever he had to do to control the situation. A dog at large is against the law in Akron. And if a dog at large can’t even be rounded up by its owner, I trust Jim’s discretion in doing what it takes to make sure the law is enforced. No matter how sensationally it can be described, I’m sure he did what was necessary.
No one likes to see their pet get hurt. But if the owner had been responsible in the first place, the dog would never have had to been apprehended. It’s never pretty when a person resists arrest. Why would it be any different with a dog?
This is why no one wants to read a free magazine. Your entire story of how EMS delays CFD is BULLSH*T. Instead of focusing in on one part of the story, why dont you ask both sides. oh, im sorry, that would mean that you would have to do more work to discover the truth, THATS CALLED JOURNALISM, MY TEN YEAR OLD DOES A BETTER JOB ON WRITING AN ARTICLE THAN THE TEN YOUR OLD YOU HAVE REPORTING THIS. Lets dissect your ignorant article; purchase a “paramedic pumper”?? WHERE THE HELL CAN SOMEONE BUY A PUMPER LIKE THAT??? They’re called Fire Trucks and i dont believe the city will “purchase” a stupid product that you just made up to try and sell (OOPS, you dont sell papers), to distribute , your papers. WHAT THE HELL IS A PARAMEDIC PUMPER ANYWAY?!?!?!? A penis pump with the star of life on it??? The “BRASS” in EMS designed this program to put the als ability onto the firetrucks, why would they say this is a bad program, THAT THEY IMPLEMENTED!!!!. Who did you talk to in the fire dept?? THE SECRETARY??? Lets not talk to the president of the union becasue that would be the right thing, lets talk to a SECRETARY!!!! Heres a bit of info to put into your article. Cleveland EMS has been DYNAMICALLY STATIONING units in that area of the fire station for over 2 years, that meanssince 2006 ( you see, when you subtract 2006 from 2008, you get 2, if you cant figure that out, use a calculator) the proces is also called a “D.S.” IF YOU DO A PUBLIC REQUEST ON THE NUMBER OF CALLS CFD GOES ON, YOU’LL DISCOVER THAT THEY ARE GOING TO A SH*T LOAD MORE CALLS THIS YEAR THAN THEY HAVE LAST YEAR AT THIS TIME. BUT SINCE YOUR “SECRETARY” KNOWS EVERYTHING AND SPEAKS ON THE BE-HALF OF THE 1000 FF’S, THAN YOU KNOW THE WHOLE STORY.
This is why no one wants to read a free magazine. Your entire story of how EMS delays CFD is BULLSH*T. Instead of focusing in on one part of the story, why dont you ask both sides. oh, im sorry, that would mean that you would have to do more work to discover the truth, THATS CALLED JOURNALISM, MY TEN YEAR OLD DOES A BETTER JOB ON WRITING AN ARTICLE THAN THE TEN YOUR OLD YOU HAVE REPORTING THIS. Lets dissect your ignorant article; purchase a “paramedic pumper”?? WHERE THE HELL CAN SOMEONE BUY A PUMPER LIKE THAT??? They’re called Fire Trucks and i dont believe the city will “purchase” a stupid product that you just made up to try and sell (OOPS, you dont sell papers), to distribute , your papers. WHAT THE HELL IS A PARAMEDIC PUMPER ANYWAY?!?!?!? A penis pump with the star of life on it??? The “BRASS” in EMS designed this program to put the als ability onto the firetrucks, why would they say this is a bad program, THAT THEY IMPLEMENTED!!!!. Who did you talk to in the fire dept?? THE SECRETARY??? Lets not talk to the president of the union becasue that would be the right thing, lets talk to a SECRETARY!!!! Heres a bit of info to put into your article. Cleveland EMS has been DYNAMICALLY STATIONING units in that area of the fire station for over 2 years, that meanssince 2006 ( you see, when you subtract 2006 from 2008, you get 2, if you cant figure that out, use a calculator) the proces is also called a “D.S.” IF YOU DO A PUBLIC REQUEST ON THE NUMBER OF CALLS CFD GOES ON, YOU’LL DISCOVER THAT THEY ARE GOING TO A SH*T LOAD MORE CALLS THIS YEAR THAN THEY HAVE LAST YEAR AT THIS TIME. BUT SINCE YOUR “SECRETARY” KNOWS EVERYTHING AND SPEAKS ON THE BE-HALF OF THE 1000 FF’S, THAN YOU KNOW THE WHOLE STORY.
This is why no one wants to read a free magazine. Your entire story of how EMS delays CFD is BULLSH*T. Instead of focusing in on one part of the story, why dont you ask both sides. oh, im sorry, that would mean that you would have to do more work to discover the truth, THATS CALLED JOURNALISM, MY TEN YEAR OLD DOES A BETTER JOB ON WRITING AN ARTICLE THAN THE TEN YOUR OLD YOU HAVE REPORTING THIS. Lets dissect your ignorant article; purchase a “paramedic pumper”?? WHERE THE HELL CAN SOMEONE BUY A PUMPER LIKE THAT??? They’re called Fire Trucks and i dont believe the city will “purchase” a stupid product that you just made up to try and sell (OOPS, you dont sell papers), to distribute , your papers. WHAT THE HELL IS A PARAMEDIC PUMPER ANYWAY?!?!?!? A penis pump with the star of life on it??? The “BRASS” in EMS designed this program to put the als ability onto the firetrucks, why would they say this is a bad program, THAT THEY IMPLEMENTED!!!!. Who did you talk to in the fire dept?? THE SECRETARY??? Lets not talk to the president of the union becasue that would be the right thing, lets talk to a SECRETARY!!!! Heres a bit of info to put into your article. Cleveland EMS has been DYNAMICALLY STATIONING units in that area of the fire station for over 2 years, that meanssince 2006 ( you see, when you subtract 2006 from 2008, you get 2, if you cant figure that out, use a calculator) the proces is also called a “D.S.” IF YOU DO A PUBLIC REQUEST ON THE NUMBER OF CALLS CFD GOES ON, YOU’LL DISCOVER THAT THEY ARE GOING TO A SH*T LOAD MORE CALLS THIS YEAR THAN THEY HAVE LAST YEAR AT THIS TIME. BUT SINCE YOUR “SECRETARY” KNOWS EVERYTHING AND SPEAKS ON THE BE-HALF OF THE 1000 FF’S, THAN YOU KNOW THE WHOLE STORY.
I’ve never heard more lame excuses for defending someone’s abusive behavior. And there is a reason why he’s had experience with law suits before. He needs to get a different job, one that doesn’t deal with animals or humans.
I am Barbara Murphy owner of Shanna. She is 11 years old now and has never bitten anyone!!! The women that called the police on her all the time, died of an over dose of heroin, so now i think the city of Akron owes me an apology and they need to refund my fines. Go to hell J. F. You were a real coward on the day of court. You couldn’t even show your FACE! You shouldn’t even be allowed around animals.