A sad commentary of where we are in these economically challenged times. Some cities and municipalities have been forced to charge extra fees for basic city services, including emergency service. The story below describes the outcome of someone who did not pay and saw his house burn to the ground.

I can appreciate both sides of the argument here. The homeowner took a gamble to save $75 that his house would not catch fire. Or perhaps he may have felt that the $75 was a pricey fee that he could not justify paying. But in the bigger picture, paying $75 and having the fire department save a burning house is obviously much cheaper than losing a house.

By the same token, there are human decency considerations. For the vast majority of people, our first instinct is to help someone in need. I'm sure some of the firefighters were conflict by standing by watching a house burn to the ground. Yet if they had helped, then their jobs might have been in jeopardy.

Firefighters let home burn; owner didn't pay fee