Monday, February 14, 2011

More Scandal for the Watseka Fire Department

By Gus Swenson

In a previous article, "Drunken Watseka Fire Department" we showed a disturbing photograph of the members of the Watseka fire department. At least one of the men dressed in uniform have been identified as Paul Parlich. We will posting the names as they become available. What a disgrace and waste of taxpayers money. We understand that the fire department has 24 volunteer members, but it is still costing our town to train them, and pay for their uniforms that they have disgraced. What kind of example does this set for our young people and what does other communities think about us when they see images like this of what are supposed to be our most upstanding citizens?

This comes after the controversy that resulted in a long session of the Watseka City Council to discuss city personnel. You'll all remember the April 10, 2010 wedding of firefighter Tim Mayotte, son of the fire chief Dave Mayotte. Mayotte used the city fire truck for his personal use at his wedding. Other stories have surfaced about officials using other city equipment for personal use, including the scanners, radios and police background checks.

The photos that we have are of another fireman's gathering at a local pub. Paul Parlich is featured as is his wife Heidi, who while dancing the drunken jig had reportedly just had back surgery and filed for disability. Take a good look at these, folks, at least two men in these photographs are wearing the blue Watseka firefighter's uniforms.




8 comments:

Fed Up said...

Mayor Bob Harwood should fire every last one of these low lifes and start from scratch. We have so many unemployed people here. Move over and let somebody else do the job! Keep up the great work here Gus. Great blog.

Anonymous said...

Being on the Watseka fire department is not a "paying" job! Sure, fire them and pay to train some more people to do a job that doesn't pay?

What said...

Then how are these men supporting themselves? What is there day job so to speak? Paying or not, there is a public safety issue here and the fire department needs to be clean and sober.

Anonymous said...

This aint nothing . I got a story 4 ya. Paul and his wife are members of a swingers clnb

Anonymous said...

Really ridiculous comments. These comments show plenty of ignorance on the WFD and the Volunteer Fire Service. Any other stuppid suppositions, ask me first. I'll tell you the truth.

Anonymous said...

Great reporting Gus. These photos really show us that Watseka is in deseperate need of a clean up.

Anonymous said...

Paul and his wife love the publicity and consider themselves local celebrities. Don't believe me? They created their own fan page on Facebook! The page was established on Sunday June 26 at 3:36 am.

Anonymous said...

That's hilarious! Famous for being drunks. Some celebrities.