From the silly news desk

There is just so much to blog about today. This is too good to pass up on.

Captain waters lawn with fire truck
Wednesday, July 20, 2005

A Kokomo Fire Department captain has received a written reprimand and has been ordered to pay $120 in costs for watering his yard with water from a fire truck.

Fire Chief Dave Duncan told the Kokomo Board of Public Works and Safety of the punishment for Capt. Kevin Shaffer.

Shaffer and firefighters from Station 4 were training on the south end of town, after which Shaffer wanted to purge the truck's tank.

Instead of dumping the water down on the street or down a drain as is normal procedure, Shaffer put the water on his lawn in the 2900 block of Whitehouse Drive, according to Deputy Chief Pat Donoghue.

"We consider that a misuse of fire department equipment," Donoghue said.

"He said he didn't want to waste it. If he didn't want to waste it, he could have watered the department's lawn."

Shaffer was charged 35 cents per gallon for the water he used, Donoghue said.