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Foes of sprinklers requirement all wet
Reason is defined as “the power of the mind to think, understand and form judgments by a process of logic.”
Can any person of reason actually equate saving a life to saving money?
Surely, no legislator, lobbyist, nor group would ever seriously consider a bill to prohibit municipalities from passing ordinances to require sprinklers in new single-family homes.
But such is contained in HB 2267.
What goes on in the minds of otherwise reasonable people? Contractors and Realtors are two professions highly respected by me, but something is awry here.
Next, Congress will pass a bill ordering auto makers to cease installing air bags and seat belts in their cars to lower the cost. Then Cunard will opt not to provide life jackets and rafts in case of an emergency, because it will save them money. All this, of course, is acceptable because costs have been lowered.
Apparently, the cost of a sprinkler system in new construction is 1.5 percent of the cost of the home, or $1,500 for a $100,000 home to $15,000 in a $1 million structure. Architecturally, there are probably ways to balance that out by lessening a bit of exterior ostentation.
Additionally, most insurance companies offer a discount on residential fire insurance policies for residences equipped with fire sprinklers. In any event, a life is worth more than any amount of money.
Several years ago, I attended an American Society of Interior Designers seminar on fire sprinklers in residences. This film presentation by Sivon Reznikoff, professor emeritus of interior design at the College of Architecture of Arizona State University, was so powerful the haunting images are still vivid.
It manifested the fire as it started in a home without a sprinkler system, and followed its whirlwind race, engulfing the rooms in flames in a matter of minutes.
Next, the same fire was shown in the same home; but this time, one with fire sprinklers. This fire was extinguished before it could do any damage.
Perhaps the Legislature, especially Phoenix’s Sam Crump, as well as Frank Antenori and David Gowan from Tucson, might want to see this compelling film, “Fire Power,” by the National Fire Protection Association, before moving one more step on this farcical bill.
Surely the Legislature cares about the lives and safety of its constituents.
Beverly Lloyd-Lee
interior designer and writer
Scottsdale
Lawmakers who voted for stimulus are puppets
Our members of Congress were elected to represent the people of their districts. They also took an oath to protect the Constitution of the United States.
How were they able to do either of these when they signed the largest spending bill of all time without even reading it? How did they know that every item in that bill was within the enumerated powers of the Tenth Amendment?
How did they know that our state was to get its “fair share” of President Obama’s “bailout”?
It appears from here that they were just a puppet with their allegiance to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid rather than to the people of this district they swore to represent.
Jack C. McVickers
Scottsdale
Leftists trying to squelch free speech
While George Bush 43 was president, leftists desperately clung to the refrain that “dissent is patriotic.”
Now that Barack Obama is president, though, they not only have abandoned widespread use of that phrase, they actively seek to violate the free-speech rights of radio-station owners and employees via the so-called Fairness Doctrine – a better name for which is the Censorship Doctrine.
This is all because several talk-radio stations and their show hosts dissent from the slouch toward socialism embraced by the Democrats.
Apparently the (cough, cough) “principles” of leftists depend on which political party finds itself in the White House.
Mark Kalinowski
New York, N.Y.