Three and Twenty Fire Department receives $190,000 grant

Powdersville Post

— The Three and Twenty Fire Department is soon going to have a brand new tanker.

Sen. Jim DeMint’s office recently announced that the fire department would be receiving a $190,000 grant from the Department of Homeland Security’s Assistance to Firefighters program. The fire department will also chip in another $10,000, according to Three and Twenty Fire Department volunteer fire Chief Tommy Keaton.

On the face of this one might say “good deal”, I mean after all who does not like fire trucks.  The fact that this volunteer fire department sits just a couple miles from the home that I own ought to make me feel better, yet it does not.

I have to ask myself a few questions:

What portion of the US Constitution authorizes, empowers or enables the Federal government with the authority, right or responsibility to fund local fire departments?

How was it that we survived in this country for 220 or so years without a Homeland Security department – how insecure the homeland must have been with fires burning unchecked and all manner of chaos abounding?

This story is but a microcosm of something larger and more sinister.  Think of it, $190k here, $200k there, no wonder we pay so much in taxes, no wonder our Federal government is so large and bloated.  Consider for a moment that the Federal government stole (yes I said stole because that is essentially the definition of someone that takes money with the threat of violence if you do not pay) 1% less from the citizens of South Carolina.  Do you not suppose that the folks in Anderson living around Three and Twenty could not support their fire department?  I suspect that the money saved in the pockets of the people would far exceed $190k, the county could raise taxes just a bit and the citizens could keep the balance – no need to fund a Federal government middle man.

This sort of story is absurd really, and the Powedersville Post should be called to account for not reporting the story in its entirety – this is not a happy story, this is money taken from the citizens by the government and then parceled out as some faceless agency saw fit.  Jim DeMint is no less guilty here – instead of acting as the hero that brought money home he ought to fight to keep it in the pockets of those that earned it in the first place.

A local community does not need the Federal government to help put out fires!

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