Posted on 01/26/2009 3:35:33 PM PST by Mrs. P
A pathologist said a 93-year-old Bay City man froze to death inside his home - his body found days after city workers said they limited electricity flowing to the house.
Marvin E. Schur suffered "a slow, painful death" inside his home at 1600 S. Chilson St. on Bay City's southwest side, said Dr. Kanu Virani, who performed an autopsy on the body.
"Hypothermia shuts the whole system down, slowly," Virani said. "It's not easy to die from hypothermia without first realizing your fingers and toes feel like they're burning."
Funeral services for Schur, a retired pattern-maker who lived alone, are at 11 a.m. Wednesday at the Gephart Funeral Home, 201 W. Midland St. Schur's wife, retired elementary-school teacher Marian I. (Meisel) Schur, died several years ago, and the couple had no children.
Virani, Oakland County's deputy chief medical examiner, performs autopsies for Bay County and numerous other Michigan counties. Of about 15,000 autopsies Virani has conducted, he said Marvin Schur's autopsy "is the first one I can remember doing on someone who froze to death indoors."
Virani said the temperature inside Schur's home was less than 32 degrees when neighbors George A. Pauwels Jr. and his wife, Shannon, found Schur's body Jan. 17.
George Pauwels Jr. said Schur owed almost $1,100 in electricity bills to the city of Bay City, though Pauwels said he noticed money clipped to those bills on Schur's kitchen table the day he found Schur's body.
Bay City Manager Robert V. Belleman said a worker with Bay City Electric Light & Power placed a "limiter" device outside Schur's home, between Schur's electricity meter and electrical service, on Jan. 13.
The device restricts the amount of electricity reaching the home and if a homeowner tries to draw more electricity than the limiter allows, "it blows the limiter, just like blowing a fuse, and then you go outside and reset it," Belleman said.
Belleman said he doesn't know if a city worker made one-on-one contact with Schur to explain the limiter's operation. Virani said he doesn't know if Schur suffered from dementia, which could have interfered with his ability to know how to reset a limiter.
Pauwels said Schur couldn't hear well, and said he believed Schur "had a little bit" of dementia.
Belleman said city workers keep the limiter on a residence for 10 days, at which point the city shuts off all electricity if the homeowner hasn't paid his utility bill or arranged to do so.
Jim Hernden, 41, a neighbor of Marvin Schur, said Bay City Electric Light & Power workers should insist on meeting face to face with a homeowner, or a homeowner's neighbors, before installing a limiter or shutting off power.
"We're a small enough town where someone like Marvin should get a little bit extra care," he said.
Bay City Police Department officers investigated Schur's death, but declined comment, referring all questions to Belleman.
Pauwels said he blames the city for Marvin Schur's death.
"His furnace was not running - the insides of his windows were full of ice the morning we found him," Pauwels said. "This (limiter) is supposed to regulate the amount of electricity he was using, but still allow enough power to run the furnace.Obviously, it didn't work."
Belleman said city officials will review Electric Light & Power policies in the wake of Schur's death. Belleman said he doesn't believe the city did anything wrong.
"I've said this before and some of my colleagues have said this: Neighbors need to keep an eye on neighbors," Belleman said. "When they think there's something wrong, they should contact the appropriate agency or city department."
People need to wake up and realize that if they do this with electricity, they are in for a real treat when government runs everything else.
Can you believe this?? This was NOT Consumers, Bay City has their own power company.
But, but, the city rules were followed, therefore, no one is responsible for an elderly man’s death because the city followed its rules. F*&^ing plutocrats.
They should have called Adult Protection Services to work with the man and seek alternatives.
So the city government thinks it’s up to neighbors to see that someone gets electricity. I can’t believe what I have read here.
Despicable greed on behalf of the city. But they had good intentions mind you....they never intended for their “limiter” to kill and old man. So don’t hold them responsible for it in any way. K?
Who are we to intervene in what happens around us, when liberals claim government is the source of charity and aid?
I used to live in Maryland (patooie), a more socialist state I doubt exists. At least there they had a state law that prohibited power from being cut off between November and April. All bets were off come April 1 if you owed money, but you wouldn’t freeze if you were broke, or old and broke.
Belleman is the Bay City Manager. He is, of course, not his brother's keeper.
Zillow estimates his house was worth 80K. 3 bedrooms, one bath, 900sqft.
Could of put a lien on it. How much longer did he have? No wife, family.
Guy probably paid taxes for decades to the town. Heat and such would of run a few grand a year.
However, someone would of had to get off their arse. Take time from one of five or seven different breaks every day. You can bet they are running around like rats on a hot stove, covering their arses now. Nothing makes a bureaucrat move like having fault fall upon them.
I keep forgetting it’s not negligent murder when it involves a government entity. Either a 93 year old man or a child on special medical equipment.
But, but, he was an old, old man, not worth much to society so I’m sure nothing will be done. When we get unlimited abortion for free, euthanasia will no longer be something one can choose but mandated, the slippery slope is soon going to be a cliff.
“Guy probably paid taxes for decades to the town. Heat and such would of run a few grand a year.”
I wonder if the city will take his house and sell it? You know, to collect what they are owed.
I'm afraid that is how the new generation will handle the up-coming social security problem ... kill the elderly ... or at least let them die
I have a feeling we will see more of this with the elderly as food prices rise. Unfortunately not all states will still keep your utilites on in the cold without a medical reason submitted before the power is shut off. It used to be that they couldn’t but somewhere along the line some of those laws have changed to needing a medical reason to avoid shut offs.
Just think of the money that was saved on monthly government checks though. He probably was on Medicare D and won’t have that expense now. :(
Yes, I think you’re right. This long-term Ponzi scheme called “Social Security” is funding disability checks for drug and booze problems and all manner of mental illnesses, as well, so they can go broker, faster, too. Many of my generations (I’m 58) have no reason to expect their kids to give a damn what happens to them either because they didn’t really take care of those kids. So, the government “plan” fails just as the normal historical pattern of families taking care of their own is close to non-existent, too.
Before the person who always tells me my story was already posted comes in here and tells me THIS story was already posted, I figured it out already so you don’t need to tell me.
The other story did not have the same title, was posted from MSNBC, and did not appear when I did a search using various combinations of “man froze” “man freezes” etc.
The other story is here: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2172255/posts
it just appeared in the Michigan header, after my posting.
But, you know what? I’m not sorry at all that I made a duplicate post. This story needs to be told to everyone we know.
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