[Vision2020] Fwd: Moscow fire chief denies drug cover-up

Thu May 10 03:50:24 PDT 2012

Mr. Anonymous Opinion,

Thank you for the inclusion of your opinion on this incident. Being that you won't state your real name, I must assume you are friends with the ladies that filed the complaints and your opinion is tainted with bias as you are not looking at this from a distance. 

I don't disagree that Carscallen and Button made an error. I just disagree with the personal assassination of them as people and their overall performance as leaders of the MVFD. We have a good department and the proof is in the pudding. 

Any legal investigation should not be about the personal integrity of anyone. It should be about the facts, and only the evidence that backs those facts. Starting an investigation about the integrity of two people is nothing more than a pre-planned witch hunt looking for information to back their accusations.  Nor should Moscow City investigations be determined by the merits of the good people at the LMT writing editorials, no matter how well written. 

You claimed, "If the woman in possession of the drugs had a prescription, she would have not been asked to take a drug test." 

This is erroneous thinking on your part. A firefighter on oxycotin, even received legally with a prescription while on duty is still a crime and a career ender so they still needed to take the test. Further, a supervisor would still order a drug test for someone found with suspicious drug paraphernalia. A valid claim to a prescription of one drug doesn't exclude the possibility of them being on other illegal drugs. Usually drug abusers use both legal prescriptions and illegal. 

You also jump to the conclusion that,  

     "She could have easily explained that it was rightfully hers...but instead she admitted and claimed it was oxycodone, and willingly dumped it. If she had the right to have oxycodone she would have fought throwing it away." 

You are not her and you don't know for sure what she had, only her say so.  She might have had the one oxycotin pill left over from a previous surgery and didn't want to argue. Or maybe she thought it was illegal to bring it to work because it was an unlocked narcotic. At places I have worked it is illegal to do so, so I would have to dispose of it. There are many reasons why a person would comply with orders from her supervisor and coworkers even if they thought they were wrong especially if she faced no consequences. 

The evidence was tainted because a dozen hands could have been in the draw.  Carscallen could not have done anything about that, or the police.

You also asked, 

 "I would like to know where you are getting your information concerning complaints against Dan Carscallen? Most people are too concerned for their positions in the MVFD to speak up but there are many volunteers who are concerned with his management style." 

How do you know what most people are too concerned about? Did you ask them all? You and about 100 million other people don't like the management style of their bosses. That is the real world. If they feel Carscallen is a horrible incompetent manager but they say nothing, it shows they are selfish to put the citizens of Moscow at risk to save their positions. If you don't like it, quit, don't take down the entire Fire Department with you. 

The claim by Dill was bogus. The conversation was filmed and there was no assault. If you feel it is just a conspiracy by the County Prosecutor then Dill should take the filmed assault to civil court. But he won't, because it is bogus. It doesn't matter when the non-event happened. The only complaints were this disgruntled boyfriend-girlfriend couple. Had Dill followed HIPPA, Dill would not have been confronted by Capt. Carscallen in the first place. 

Dan Carscallen, and much of his family have been public servants since they were adults, his wife and sister as teachers and he being on the highway district and serving on other committees . His service to the community as a council member and for the fire department are just recent things on his list. 

It sounds to me like a bunch of sour grapes. Being in an administrative job is more than just about putting out a fire and being an advanced EMT. Carscallen is a community leader, he has far more general college education than a paramedic, and he has political community connections that help the department in ways that go beyond just knowing which way to turn the wrench to turn on a fire hydrant or which adhesive bandage to use on a wound. 

I don't know the intentions of the two ladies going through another co-workers personal draws and jewelry boxes were. And I am very curious to hear it and I am sure it would shed light on to what really is going on here.  You can dismiss it or laugh it off. However, it certainly would seriously concern me if I knew a co-worker was doing this. Firefighters and EMTs are in people's houses when the owners are not home and also have jewelry boxes. So this should concern all of us if they feel welcomed to your personal items. 

There may have been a reason to look in her draw, but not her jewelry box as that is not related to the job. If the ladies had a reason to suspect their co-worker was on drugs they should have notified their supervisor, not went on a scavenger hunt. 

Donovan J. Arnold

From: Anonymous Opinion <moscowcityopinion at gmail.com>
To: vision2020 at moscow.com 
Sent: Wednesday, May 9, 2012 6:54 PM
Subject: [Vision2020] Fwd: Moscow fire chief denies drug cover-up

Donovan,

The investigation at this point should be made at the personal integrities for the command officers. The article in the Lewiston Tribune made that very clear. It had a lot of double speak and finger pointing. They were essentially agreeing with the complainants then at the same time, blaming them for the result of this being brought to the attention of the public. 

If the woman in possession of the drugs had a prescription, she would have not been asked to take a drug test. She could have easily explained that it was rightfully hers...but instead she admitted and claimed it was oxycodone, and willingly dumped it. If she had the right to have oxycodone she would have fought throwing it away. 

Evidence is "tainted" because the officers in charge did not come to the station to address the problem. They asked the firefighters who found the drugs to deal with the situation. If those officers truly believed it could have been explosive or hazardous, then a hazmat team should have been activated and police and fire response would have been necessary, but instead those fire officers stayed at home in their own beds and did not address this serious problem.

Also, I would like to know where you are getting your information concerning complaints against Dan Carscallen? Most people are too concerned for their positions in the MVFD to speak up but there are many volunteers who are concerned with his management style. The assault complaint was not bogus. He found it his duty to respond to the hospital in the short amount of time it took the ambulance to drive from Wal-Mart to confront a former MVFD member about riding in the quick response vehicle...not the ambulance. Ben Dill did not have any patient contact, he was merely with Shambaugh at the time of the call and rode in the vehicle like so many other members have in the past. Yet Carscallen felt it was ok to forcefully grab (not some light elbow touch) a former member and citizen and significant other of a paramedic to demonstrate his anger for proper paperwork?! The lead paramedic, and only paramedic on the call was Bonnie Shambaugh, who was operating the
 quick response vehicle to respond to the call. What federal law did Dill refuse to follow? Again, this event happened AFTER the drug discovery. 

Furthermore, Dan Carscallen does not have 10 years of public service. He has been a Basic level EMT for approx 5 years. He has been a firefighter for even less. Yet he has politically won the position of Ambulance 1st Lt and Fire Captain. He has the authority to run EMS operations when he have never sought higher level EMT or firefighting certications. As far as I know, he took the captains position without ever fighting a fire. He is unfit for more reasons than what has been recently apparent in the newspaper. He has proven he cannot think on his feet and he does not have the integrity to admit when he was wrong and instead forces blame on those who reported the problem with the expectation that he would do the right thing too.

To go more into your claim about the discovery of the drugs...what makes you think you know what the intentions of these firefighters were and what they were doing at the time of the discovery? Obviously there is a lot that was left out of the newspapers. To my knowledge the firefighters were all friends, spending time in the room together on that night. A jewelery box was spotted in the top desk drawer of one of the firefighters and thats when it became a serious matter. Are you suggesting the firefighters should have returned the jewelry box and not report the incident? Allow the firefighter to potentially run calls, drive the fire engine, fight fire or assist with medical calls under the influence? I dont know about you, but most college aged young women do not ask permission to open jewelry boxes and what happened was not a crime. There was no snooping in personal belonging or searching while the other firefighter was asleep. That is an assumption on
 your part. These girls were all friends, hanging out and despite that relationship knew they had the duty to report the drugs.

MCO

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