What year is this? A check of the calendar might be in order after 2 recent incidents

Two stories caught my eye in the last couple of days make me wonder what year this is. Both involve remarks made by firefighters that are coming back to haunt them. You would hope neither of these would be issues in 2014.

The latest involves Delaware’s Odessa Fire Company where the chief and two members have been suspended. An investigation is underway into allegations that a racial incident occurred during a bus trip to New York City on St. Patrick’s Day. The trip included firefighters from four New Castle County volunteer fire departments and their relatives:

Adam Taylor, The News Journal:

The argument began on the way home to Delaware, when observers said a white firefighter used the N-word when referring to black members of the Belvedere Fire Company, according to sources briefed on the incident who asked not to be identified.

The use of the racial slur upset the wife of one of the Belvedere firefighters. A woman who organized the trip also was visibly upset by the comment, the sources said.

Odessa Fire Chief Scott Brown as well as a captain and a firefighter were suspended while the matter is reviewed. Brown declined comment Friday when reached by telephone.

“I can’t talk about it at this time,” said Brown, who also serves as a vice president of the New Castle County Volunteer Fire Chief’s Association.

The second incident involved the chief of the Fairfview Fire District in Greenburgh, New York (Westchester County).  This one prompted the local paper, The Journal News, to publish an editorial today (Saturday) titled “Fairview fire chief should leave”. Here’s an excerpt:

It’s the “I’m sorry I got caught” apology. Fairview Fire Chief Anthony LoGuidice, in a letter pleading forgiveness for anti-Semitic remarks aimed at Greenburgh town Supervisor Paul Feiner, said he was “horrified” by his own words. That is, when he “realized that young people, friends, colleagues, and neighbors of the Jewish faith were reading those words” in The Journal News.

Now LoGuidice should step down.

The scurrilous remarks turned up in paperwork related to an age discrimination accusation against the Fairview Fire District commissioners and LoGuidice. Amid testimony about the alleged age discrimination, another kind of discrimination was exposed when a retired firefighter testified that LoGuidice regularly referred to Feiner as with an expletive, followed by “Jew bastard.”